You read my mind! Thrawn is definitely the most interesting expanded universe character IMHO but there are a few other good ones too like Mara Jade and Kyle Katarn.

Garm Bel Iblis comes in a close 2nd, IMO, and was also the only flag officer in the New Republic who had a chance of fighting Thrawn to a draw. Talon Karrde was another character who received a fair bit of development in the EU novels.

I started reading the Yuuzhan Vong novels, but quickly got bored with them. IMO if you can't finish a Star Wars story in a trilogy there's no sense writing it. Perhaps 3 or 4 separate trilogies covering different parts of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion would have been better. As it was, it was more like a never-ending Star Wars soap opera.

I like the classic Battletech novels, although the Dark Age stuff is pretty weak other than maybe the first couple of novels.

I also enjoy the Forgotten Realms series of books if you enjoy fantasy.

Actually, most feel the first couple of Dark Age novels are weak, but once you hit "The Scorpion Jar" they pick up.

I thought "Ghost War" was pretty good but it was the only one written by Stackpole I believe, after that everything just sort of wandered around not making much sense to me, maybe a couple others were ok as well

My favourite science fiction novel... is actually by an amateur.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/251974/1/New_World_Order

It's set in the Battletech universe and takes off slightly from the beaten canon path. Highly recommended for anyone looking to do some casual reading on the comp.

"The Scorpion Jar" is the 13th of the Dark Age novels, and from there on the quality was mostly good. Before then it was very hit and miss. Dark Age went on to produce 30 novels, before WizKids/RoC stopped producing them. And they are being picked back up again by Catalyst Game Labs which are continuing the storyline.

Here is a site (okie, so it's mine ) with some of the maps published in the Dark Age novels, giving ya a little overview of how the story progresses.

http://home.ifi.uio.no/~oysteint/btech/MWDA.html

And for those wondering what we're on about, here is a small list of the Battletech/Dark Age novels:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_BattleTech_novels



Øystein

Good thread. As a result of reading these posts I checked out Dune from the library. I haven't read it since the early '80s so it is very fresh for me. I plan to read at least the next two or three Dune novels after this.

On a side note, I haven't read a book in years and have forgotten how completely absorbing it can be.

Good for you LB. I've read Dune twice and I'm sure I'll read it several more times before I leave this world. The first 3 Dune books are classics in my opinion while the last three are still very good but not quite on the same level as the first three.

So far this year I've finished the Saga of the Seven Suns by Kevin J Anderson which interested me enough to finish all seven books but never really sucked me in, or left me caring much for the characters.

Seeds Of Earth by Michael Cobley which is the beginning book of a series. It was quite good though a tad confusing with a multi stranded plot and lot's of characters. Much more techno sci-fi than the Suns saga.

I followed that up with my first Iain M. Banks book the " Algebraist ". I found the writing style very hard to follow at first but after the first hundred pages I really grew to appreciate it and enjoy the story.

Having seen " Hyperion" by Dan Simmons recommended in an earlier post I read that next and was blown away by it. It's just sucked me in from the beginning. I really look forward to reading the next book in the series.

My favourite sci-fi series are the Night's Dawn and Commonwealth sagas by Peter F. Hamilton. I don't think his current Void books are as good as his previous work.