A Guide to the Star Wars Book Canon

Star Wars is a legendary creation by director and screenwriter George Lucas (born May 14, 1944). Few people don't know Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader. Even if it's just from the countless memes referencing these heroes from a galaxy far, far away.

Jedi Knights, Sith, clone troopers, and even Mandalorians have gained billions of fans over the last forty years. Thanks to the EU (Expanded Universe) books, we were able to discover entirely new characters and experience the fates of heroes who never made it to the big screen. Let's not forget video games either. I believe Kyle Katarn and Revan are still among the most popular Star Wars characters ever. But younger fans don't talk about them anymore. Why?

Well… Disney arrived.

No, okay. That's certainly not the only reason, and Cal Kestis is a more than worthy successor to the Star Wars heroes found on our PCs and consoles. However, when Disney gobbled up Lucasfilm in 2012, along with all of Star Wars, the popular company's executives faced a difficult task. At that time, there were over a hundred books under the EU. Reading through them, placing them correctly into the vision of "future" Star Wars (especially since inconsistencies sometimes appeared in the EU), and fitting them into a timeline just didn't work. So they did what any savvy entrepreneur would do – they wiped everything clean and started with a blank slate.

Since then, we have divided Star Wars works into Legends and Canon.

Legends (formerly known as the EU) are, simply put, all the books, comics, games, toys, etc., released before 2014. Legends do not include the original films (I-VI) and certain supplementary works like the Clone Wars series.

Canon is everything released after 2014.

Simple, right?

Forget about the beautiful and complicated Mara Jade, Ben Skywalker (not Solo), the talented Starkiller, or Darth Nihilus, and welcome Rey, porgs, nerf sausages, and cooing loth-cats! Yay! Ahem… I'm probably getting into details. Emotions aside, back to the topic.

Star Wars Canon Book Order

So, how do you make sense of the official Star Wars canon?

Star Wars Books from the High Republic Era

We are in the era approximately 200 years before the events of Episode I – The Phantom Menace. The High Republic series is backed by authors like Charles Soule, Claudia Gray, Justina Ireland, Cavan Scott, or Daniel José Older.

• The High Republic: Light of the Jedi
• The High Republic: Into the Dark
• The High Republic: The Rising Storm
• The High Republic: Out of the Shadows
• The High Republic: The Fallen Star
• The High Republic: Midnight Horizon
• The High Republic: Tempest Runner
• The High Republic: Convergence
• The High Republic: The Battle For Jedha
• The High Republic: Cataclysm
• The High Republic: Quest For Planet X
• The High Republic: Path of Vengeance

Books Before Episode I – The Phantom Menace

The Queen's trilogy by E. K. Johnston tells the story of Queen Padmé before she met Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Qui-Gon.

• Queen’s Peril
• Queen’s Shadow
• Queen’s Hope

Books Between Ep. II – Attack of the Clones and Ep. III – Revenge of the Sith

From the adventures of Obi-Wan to the unfilmed events of the Clone Wars and the reappearance of Thrawn (the Thrawn character, created by Timothy Zahn, is simply too good not to be revived for the canon).

• Brotherhood
• Catalyst
• Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising
• Dark Disciple

Books Between Ep. III – Revenge of the Sith and Ep. IV – A New Hope

You can experience a lot in 19 years. And the writers hired by Disney, like James Luceno, took full advantage of that.

• Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Good
• Thrawn Ascendancy: Lesser Evil
• Ahsoka
• Thrawn
• Lords of the Sith
• Tarkin
• Most Wanted
• Solo: A Star Wars Story (novelization)
• Rebel Rising
• A New Dawn
• Lost Stars
• Battlefront: Twilight Company
• Leia, Princess of Alderaan
• Thrawn: Alliances
• Thrawn: Treason
• Rogue One (novelization)
• Battlefront II: Inferno Squad

Books Between Ep. IV – A New Hope and Ep. V – The Empire Strikes Back

Nerf sausages, yeah. Luke's favorite delicacy.

• Heir to the Jedi
• The Weapon of a Jedi
• Smuggler’s Run

Books Between Ep. V – The Empire Strikes Back and Ep. VI – Return of the Jedi

• Moving Target

Books Between Ep. VI – Return of the Jedi and Ep. VII – The Force Awakens

We are getting to the new Star Wars, which both burns and warms millions of fans around the world.

• The Princess and the Scoundrel
• Hunters: Battle for the Arena
• Alphabet Squadron
• Aftermath
• Shadow Fall
• Aftermath: Life Debt
• Victory’s Price
• Aftermath: Empire’s End
• Last Shot
• Poe Dameron: Free Fall
• Shadow of the Sith
• Bloodline
• Before the Awakening
• Force Collector
• Phasma
• The Force Awakens (novelization)

If you want to know your way around the galaxy far, far away even better, reach for one of our Star Wars guides and encyclopedias. You can find the complete selection in the Star Wars books category, and if you're also interested in the order of Star Wars movies and series, we have a separate article for you.

author Eva Lassler

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