Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Alan Dean Foster (credited to George Lucas)

1976 – Ballentine

0 ABY

Farm chores sure could be dull, and Luke Skywalker was bored beyond belief. He yearned for adventures out among the stars—adventures that would take him beyond the furthest galaxies to distant and alien worlds.

But Luke got more than he bargained for when he intercepted a cryptic message from a beautiful princess held captive by a dark and powerful warlord. Luke didn’t know who she was, but he knew he had to save her—and soon, because time was running out.

Armed only with courage and with the light saber that had been his father’s, Luke was catapulted into the middle of the most savage space war ever…and he was headed straight for a desperate encounter on the enemy battle station known as the Death Star!

Scoundrels

Timothy Zahn

2013 – Del Rey

0 ABY

Han Solo should be basking in his moment of glory. After all, the cocky smuggler and captain of the Millennium Falcon just played a key role in the daring raid that destroyed the Death Star and landed the first serious blow to the Empire in its war against the Rebel Alliance. But after losing the reward his heroics earned him, Han’s got nothing to celebrate. Especially since he’s deep in debt to the ruthless crime lord Jabba the Hutt. There’s a bounty on Han’s head—and if he can’t cough up the credits, he’ll surely pay with his hide. The only thing that can save him is a king’s ransom. Or maybe a gangster’s fortune? That’s what a mysterious stranger is offering in exchange for Han’s less-than-legal help with a riskier-than-usual caper. The payoff will be more than enough for Han to settle up with Jabba—and ensure he never has to haggle with the Hutts again.

All he has to do is infiltrate the ultra-fortified stronghold of a Black Sun crime syndicate underboss and crack the galaxy’s most notoriously impregnable safe. It sounds like a job for miracle workers . . . or madmen. So Han assembles a gallery of rogues who are a little of both—including his indispensable sidekick Chewbacca and the cunning Lando Calrissian. If anyone can dodge, deceive, and defeat heavily armed thugs, killer droids, and Imperial agents alike—and pull off the heist of the century—it’s Solo’s scoundrels. But will their crime really pay, or will it cost them the ultimate price?

Allegiance

Timothy Zahn

2007 – Del Rey

0 ABY

The destruction of the Death Star by the Rebel Alliance was a decisive blow against the Empire, but Palpatine and his monstrous enforcer, Darth Vader, are no less of a threat. The brutal extermination of Alderaan not only demonstrated the magnitude of their murderous power, but served as a chilling testament to their resolve to crush the Rebel uprising. Standing against them, Skywalker, Solo, and the Princess remain uncertain opponents. Luke is gifted and brave, but unschooled in the power he possesses. Han has doubts about waging someone else’s war—and his contentiousness is one more burden for Leia to bear as she struggles to help keep the Rebellion alive. The three have been sent to mediate a dispute between Rebel Alliance factions in Shelsha Sector—agitating matters by forcing Han to deal not only with pirates, but with his more dreaded enemy, politics. At the same time, Mara Jade—all of eighteen and years away from her fateful meeting with Luke—is serving her evil master, Palpatine, well in her role as the Emperor’s Hand: tracking suspected treachery in the Empire to what may be high places—while trying to stay out of Darth Vader’s way.

But the Rebels will prove to be only one of the Empire’s concerns. For Imperial Stormtrooper Daric LaRone, his faith in the Empire shaken by the wanton destruction of Alderaan, will commit a sudden and violent act of defiance, and take four other enforcers with him, in a desperate bid to elude their masters’ wrath.

Each of these fateful actions, whether sanctioned, secret, or scandalous, will expose brutality and corruption, spur upheavals destined to shake the Empire to its core, and shape momentous events yet to come.

Choices of One

Timothy Zahn

2011 – Del Rey

0 ABY

Eight months after the Battle of Yavin, the Rebellion is in desperate need of a new base. So when Governor Ferrouz of Candoras sector proposes an alliance, offering the Rebels sanctuary in return for protection against the alien warlord Nuso Esva, Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie are sent to evaluate the deal.

Mara Jade, the Emperor’s Hand, is also heading for Candoras, along with the five renegade stormtroopers known as the Hand of Judgment. Their mission: to punish Ferrouz’s treason and smash the Rebels for good.

But in this treacherous game of betrayals within betrayals, a wild card is waiting to be played.

Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine

Voronica Whitney-Robinson & Haden Blackman

2004 – Del Rey

1 ABY

It is a time of great turmoil. The oppressive Empire is close to seizing complete control of the galaxy. The ragtag guerrilla army of the Rebel Alliance fights on, striking wherever it can, but now something has come to light that could spell certain doom. Hidden in the Jedi ruins of Dantooine is a Holocron containing a list of high-level Rebel sympathizers. If that list were to fall into the hands of Darth Vader, the Rebel Alliance would lose its most valued support, and possibly the war itself.

As an Imperial bio-engineer who frequently visits other worlds, Dusque Mistflier is the perfect cover for a Rebel who needs to travel far and wide without arousing suspicion. And so she agrees to help Rebel spy Finn Darktrin in his quest to recover the crucial Holocron. Despite help from Han, Luke, and Leia, the mission is fraught with peril. And as their journey takes them into the fiery belly of the beast that is galactic civil war, Dusque and Finn will learn that the hardest part of all is figuring out whose side are you’re on-and how far you’re willing to go to win….

Splinter of the Mind’s Eye

Alan Dean Foster

1978 – Del Rey

2 ABY

Stranded on a jungle planet, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia found themselves desperately racing Imperial Stormtroopers to claim a gem that had mysterious powers over the Force.
Luke Skywalker expected trouble when he volunteered to follow Princess Leia on her mission to Circarpous to enlist their Rebel underground in the battle against the Empire. But the farm boy from Tatooine hadn’t counted on an unscheduled landing in the swamplands of Mimban…hadn’t counted on any of the things they would find on that strange planet.

Hidden on this planet was the Kaiburr crystal, a mysterious gem that would give the one who possessed it such powers over the Force that he would be all but invincible. In the wrong hands, the crystal could be deadly. So Luke had to find this treasure and find it fast.

Accompanied by Artoo-Detoo and See-Threepio—his two faithful droids—Luke and the Princess set out for the Temple of Pomojema…and a confrontation deep beneath the surface of an alien world with the most fearsome villain in the galaxy!

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Donald F. Glut

1980 – Ballantine

3 ABY

Although they had won a significant battle, the war between the Rebels and the Empire had really just begun. Soon, Luke, Han, the princess and their faithful companions were forced to flee, scattering in all directions…the Dark Lord’s minions in fevered pursuit…

Shadows of the Empire

Steve Perry

1996 – Bantam

3-4 ABY

It is a time of crisis. Han Solo, frozen in carbonite, is being taken to the vile gangster Jabba the Hutt. As Princess Leia mounts a rescue mission including Luke Skywalker, Lando Calrissian, and a brilliant young pilot, Darth Vader pits himself against a cunning and ruthless rival. Xizor is the leader of a powerful crime syndicate who seeks to supplant Vader for the favor of their mutual master, the dreaded Emperor. Their target: Luke Skywalker. Suddenly Luke finds himself the potential prize of the two most evil entities in the galaxy – one who wants him alive…and one who wants him dead.

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Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

James Kahn

1983 – Del Rey

4 ABY

It was a dark time for the Rebel Alliance… Han Solo, frozen in carbonite, had been delivered into the hands of the vile gangster Jabba the Hutt. Determined to rescue him, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Lando Calrissian launched a hazardous mission against Jabba’s Tatooine stronghold.
The Rebel commanders gathered all the warships of the Rebel fleet into a single giant armada. And Darth Vader and the Emperor, who had ordered construction to begin on a new and even more powerful Death Star, were making plans to crush the Rebel Alliance once and for all.

The Bounty Hunter Wars 1: The Mandalorian Armor

K.W. Jeter

1998 – Bantam

0-4 ABY

He’s the most feared and successful bounty hunter in the galaxy. He is Boba Fett, and even the most hardened criminals tremble at his name. Now he faces the deadliest challenge of his infamous career—an all-out war against his most dangerous enemies.
As the Rebellion gathers force, Prince Xizor proposes a cunning plan to the Emperor and Darth Vader: smash the power of the Bounty Hunters Guild by turning its members against each other. Only the strongest and most ruthless will survive, and they can be used against the Rebellion. It’s a job for the fiercely independent Boba Fett, who jumps at the chance to destroy his rivals. But Fett soon realizes the game is rigged, as he finds himself the target of murderous factions, criminal conspiracies, and the evil at the Empire’s dark heart. Boba Fett has always finished first. And in this game, anything less is death.

The Bounty Hunter Wars 2: Slave Ship

K.W. Jeter

1998 – Bantam

0-4 ABY

He’s both feared and admired, respected and despised. Boba Fett is the galaxy’s most successful bounty hunter. Now he finds himself hunted in the oldest game of all: survival of the fittest.
The once powerful Bounty Hunter’s Guild has been shattered into warring factions. Now the posting of an enormous bounty on a renegade Imperial stormtrooper is about to start a frenzy of murderous greed. Hoping to fuel rumors of his death, Boba Fett abandons his ship, Slave I, and sets out to claim the prize. Yet his every move leads him closer to a trap set by the cunning Prince Xizor. Fett will die before becoming Xizor’s pawn in the Emperor’s war against the Rebels. And he may have to. For in order to gain his freedom he must outwit a sentient weapon that feeds on Human spirits. Then he must escape a galaxy of deadly enemies who want to make the rumors of his death a reality.

The Bounty Hunter Wars 3: Hard Merchandise

K.W. Jeter

1999 – Bantam

0-4 ABY

Feared and admired, respected and despised, Boba Fett enjoys a dubious reputation as the galaxy’s most successful bounty hunter. Yet even a man like Boba Fett can have one too many enemies….
When Boba Fett stumbles across evidence implicating Prince Xizor in the murder of Luke Skywalker’s aunt and uncle, Fett makes himself an enemy even he fears: the unknown mastermind behind a monstrous deception, who will kill to hide his tracks. Fett also finds himself in possession of an amnesiac young woman named Neelah, who may be the key to the mystery—or a decoy leading Fett into a murderous ambush. Fett’s last hope is to run through the list of Xizor’s hidden enemies. And since Xizor’s hidden enemies are almost as legion as Fett’s, the chance of survival is slim—even for someone as skilled and relentless as Boba Fett.

The Truce at Bakura

Kathy Tyers

1994 – Bantam

4 ABY

No sooner has Darth Vader’s funeral pyre burned to ashes on Endor than the Alliance faces a new challenge at the far-flung Imperial outpost of Bakura. The Ssi-Ruuk, a race of cold-blooded reptilian invaders, plan to enslave human minds to pilot their invincible machines of war and destruction. With the hope of turning Bakura’s loyalties toward the fledgling New Republic with defensive aid, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia race to the besieged planet. Yet as the eve of the final onslaught rapidly approaches, Rebel and Imperial forces still must come to terms with each other. And there is already evidence of a traitor hidden in their midst…