Naturally, Star Wars novels net a mention in Charlie Jane Anders’ complete history of tie-in novels over at io9. (The ‘complete’ is a bit of a misnomer, but it’s decent enough as a basic overview.) As someone with only a token interest in the prequels and a enduring puzzlement towards the appeal of fill-in-the blank stuff like The Clone Wars and Shadows of the Empire I though this bit makes some good points:
The really breathtaking thing about the Expanded Universe novels, starting with the Zahn books, is the fact that they’re the only continuation after Return Of The Jedi we’ve got. Most people, in George Lucas’ shoes, would have insisted that only they should be allowed to tell the authoritative story of what happens to Luke, Leia and Han Solo after the third movie of the trilogy — but Lucas seems to be totally content with letting the novels be the final word on those characters’ fates, reserving for himself the right to go back and annotate the stuff that happened before Luke came of age in increasing detail. At times, it feels like Lucas’ Star Wars movies and Clone Wars cartoons are occupying the space that’s normally reserved for tie-in novels — filling in backstory — while the tie-ins forge ahead answering the question, “What happens next?”
And some don’t get why folks keep wondering when they’re going to make Thrawn trilogy movies…