Does anyone know where to start in either Star Trek or Star War's Book series?

Hey Bro I just asked the same question on one of my post no one answered yet but hopefully this will get us both an answer. I’ve been wanting to read these books for a while now. By the way we should get together soon my fiance misses you and your family coming around all the time. It is not like you live that far away. Call me this week, and we will have a cook out or something.

I would start and “Heir to the Empire” by Timothy Zahn. Its the original trilogy that kicked off all the books that have spawned since. It takes place after Return of the Jedi.

I have never been a Trekkie, but I did read the Star Wars books at one time. From what I remember, they were mostly pretty easy to get into as long as you started at the start of a specific series.

Personally, I started with the “Heir to the Empire” trilogy and worked from there. I think it’s a decent place to start since it is the introduction to the character of Mara Jade, who becomes a fairly important character as the timeline progresses. You could always read in order of what happens chronologically as well, but that might be more of a chore since books come out in no particular order according to the Star Wars timeline.

Here’s a link to the timeline if you decide to go that way.

@amujinx Agreed. :)

I third the “Heir to the Empire” trilogy.

AFAIK the Star Trek books are not considered canon; as such, you could read whichever one you want first.

As for Star Wars, I always felt that Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy was the best continuation of the series; I would start there. Theoretically, every single scrap of published Star Wars media is canon and fits someplace, as illustrated in @amujinx‘s link. Ultimately, the books tend to provide enough setting detail that you could read them in any order you like (at least, the non-serials) and put them together later.

I recommend starting with the first X-wing book. They are the first Star Wars books I read and I still think they’re the best. It’s a series, but each is a stand alone book so you can take as much or as little as you want. Plus, it really is an island in Star Wars continuity. The series is pretty much self contained so you don’t need to know anything going in or worry about elements from other books appearing and possibly spoiling other stories.

The first four books in the series follow the Rogue Squadron and after that it switches to the Wraith Squadron. None of these books follow the main characters of the movie which I think is their strength they allow the universe to grow to include new heroes rather than pretending Luke and Han are the only ones that save the galaxy every time something goes wrong. Thank god it’s in a galaxy far, far away. Shit’s always going down there.

Whatever you do don’t start with any book that mentions the “Yuuzhan Vong” on the back. Their plot goes on and on and you just don’t want to start there. It’s like being digested by a sarlacc for a thousand years or so.