Sorry about that, @Valenthyne. I remember you mentioned you wanted to create a Star Wars thread. My bad.
It's okay! Those posts from earlier just gave me the kick I needed to go ahead and follow through with putting one together.
I remember discussing with my dad about it and it was clear it was a rehashed A New Hope, but it did set up potentially good stuff.
That should have been enough of a red flag for me at the time. It literally was just
A New Hope but... worse. Now, I definitely get the appeal of trying to make this the new generation's version of that, but the multitude of other issues with The Force Awakens prevents that from ever being a valid promotion. And even then, when they tried to more or less do this with the prequels back in the early 2000s,
The Phantom Menance was not a complete rehash of
A New Hope. It might have touched on some of the same points, but they are clearly distinct films.
You are absolutely correct in that it had potential and did some work at least setting things up. Even if it was fairly mediocre in its own right, with clear problems that could easily fester if not addressed (especially those pertaining to Rey, her background, and her unearned proficiency in literally everything), there still could have been so much more. I would really love to learn of the alternate universe where Abrams kept complete control over the entire sequel trilogy, because I really do think it would have been so much more cohesive, if not altogether better.
The Last Jedi had so many issues. It was all over the place. The slowest space chase in history. The whole casino world plot. Leia super-womaning her way back to the ship. Luke abandoning everything and everyone. That's just to gloss over. I am preaching to the choir here.
I firmly believe that
The Last Jedi is not only a terrible
Star Wars film but also a very poorly written and executed film in its own right. All of the godawful points you just mentioned are a mere fraction of its issues. It's truly amazing to me that anyone can legitimately stand by it. You really do not have to be a fan of the franchise to know how badly they've butchered things. I cannot fathom what went so incredibly wrong between the "creators" and the executives that led to such an utter disaster of a film. I would absolutely love to pin it all on Rian Johnson and call him a hack, and while I certainly don't think he's anything special (
Knives Out was decent, but in retrospect it has a lot of the same political faggotry infesting much of modern day film), I feel like there was a lot more to it than his involvement alone.
Also, though I know some aspects of Legends post-Imperial era, if you have any reading suggestions, I would appreciate (even more if you have some links
).
Perhaps the first series I can recommend is that of
The Legacy of the Force, which largely focuses on both Jaina and Jacen Solo, particularly the latter, his fall to the dark side, and ultimate rebirth as Darth Caedus.
Peak
Star Wars basically occurs at
The New Jedi Order, which is where the events of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion take place. It's around twenty or so titles, depending on what you want to include, so it's very much a complete saga on its own. This is more or less what you would want to focus on if you had to choose anything.
The last series I read through was a fitting one, as it more or less "concluded" the post-Imperial Era: the
Fate of the Jedi. Certainly isn't the best the franchise has to offer storywise, but what really appealed to me was how the characters were handled (you know, with respect).
While this list of series worth reading is certainly not conclusive, I do perceive them to be the highlights of
Star Wars literature after the Battle of Yavin. If you want other recommendations, then I'd have to fall back to what is likely my favorite time period in terms of the Old Republic Era.
Also, I should note in response to your last request that the vast majority of my time spent reading
Star Wars were the days when I actually visited libraries. This is pretty much the reason why you may have noticed I have not a single novel belonging to it within my library. So yeah, with that in mind, I'm afraid I don't have any links to
alternative methods of acquisition if that's what you had wanted.
