Second attempt at a Star Wars fanfiction search.

This time I'm looking for training fics i.e. stories which focus on a Jedi (or, I guess, a Sith) in training. I'm more interested in stories where they're at the Jedi temple than going around doing missions. More coming of age with a Jedi twist than action.

 

Pretty sure that fic where Anakin gets thrown back into his childish body has pretty extensive sections on Jedi Temple classes and training. It has its main plot, sure, and its problems, but it also has what you described.

The Dangers of Foresight. Don't think it counts as 'coming of age', exactly, but an argument can be made.

 

Looks like a good rec. Took me a while to realise it was a sequel, though.

First volume is here: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6969605/1/Hindsight-Is-Not-Perfect

 

I'm a fan of Path of Choice. It's not exactly what you're looking for, but it's along the same lines.

Story starts about 5 years post-ROTS, with Yoda calling Obi-Wan out of the blue and foisting a young force-sensitive red-headed girl he just rescued from the Sith as an apprentice. It then follows primarily Obi-Wan, with a secondary focus on Mara Jade and Luke as they grow up and are trained into Jedi. It's currently only a couple updates before the events of Episode IV kick off too, which I'm rather looking forward to.

 

Hmm, The Dangers of Foresight is a bit disappointing. It's more of psychological drama where Anakin is constantly making the same errors and the reader is treated to a load of armchair psychoanalysis of his mental state, apparently resolving that issue before in fact it comes up yet again. It's basically the Star Wars version of Saving Connor.

It's a real pity too, because the non-angst elements of the story are great - the rare peeks we get of Jedi training, the storyline with Dooku, etc. It's just that the ratio of angst to plot is about 10:1.

 

Agayek: Path of Choice is tagged as Hurt/Comfort, which makes me distinctly uneasy...how big an aspect is this?

 

It's not insignificant. A decent chunk, especially early on, is Obi-Wan being angsty over Anakin and adjusting to teaching Padawans. So yeah, there's a good bit of that, but it's generally well-written and I found it reasonable enough. About a third-to-halfway through what's currently written, he pulls up his frilly stockings and tightens his thong and the story moves right along from that.

 

A pretty decent coming of age fanfiction that fits your criteria. The story has two sequels. It's old but still an enjoyable read with a pleasant style to it. Not many fanfics that I enjoyed reading when I was younger hold up to age so well as this one has. Although in terms of plot there might be two things that could've been left out or changed somehow.

If I Don't Catch You

Summary:
When events at the end of The Phantom Menace change, Anakin, Qui-gon and Obi-wan find themselves on a different -- and dangerous -- path to destiny.

I Won't Fail You

Summary:
Sequel to "If I Don't Catch You" - Anakin's training with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan leads to new friendships -- and new threats.

I'm Counting On You

Summary:
Sequel to "If I Don't Catch You" and "I Won't Fail You". You must read those stories to fully understand this one.

 

You know, this discussion suddenly makes me want to go back and read the old Jedi Apprentice series. It was aimed at young teenagers, so had that sort of juvenile feel, but focusing on a young Obi Wan as he starts off as Qui Gon's Padawan. It wasn't epic, galactic level stuff they were dealing with - it was all local sort of issues with a focus of the Jedi Temple being a common base they came back to.

There was actually some pretty cool stuff in there. Obi Wan failing to get selected as a Padawan and sent to the AgriCorps, Xanatos, the whole Melidaa/Daan thing (where Obi Wan quits the Jedi for two books to join a revolutionary movement), etc.

But last time I went and tried to reread my old Star Wars EU books, I realized it was really, really bad fanfiction. Think the book was The New Rebellion? Yeah, that was awful.

 

Somehow I never got into EU stuff. I remember reading the first book from the Jedi Apprentice series and trying very hard to like it. I couldn't. I don't even think I finished it. At the same time I read a LOT of subpar detective stories and sci-fi. So, quality of writing couldn't be the problem, right?

It could be that pre-prequels are just an intrinsically boring setting for most readers: you simply know what happens with the characters in prequels and sequels.

And all those EU novels about Thrawn, Vong and even Mara Jade and Solo twins (never heard of The New Rebellion) always were merely published fanfiction to me, acknowledged bastard children of your adopted grand uncle on you mother's side. I thought everyone knew that. Now browsing reddit I am surprised how many SW fans thought that they would see their favourite fanfic characters on big screens.

 

To be fair, the Thrawn trilogy is fucking amazing and could have very easily been the backbone for Ep. 7-9 without batting an eye.

Honestly, I am actually mildly surprised they didn't go that route; it's quick, easy, has a very large existing fanbase and name recognition among most anyone who even vaguely considers themselves a Star Wars fan, and the actual plot is well suited to the silver screen, especially in the style of the original Star Wars. It seemed a sure thing that Disney would roll with that instead of forking out the cash to come up with their own version of the EU.

 

Given how much Han, Leia, and Luke are central characters there, age would be a Thing. IIRC, the Thrawn trilogy is set like ~7sh years after RotJ?

I mean, I'd have loved it. The books definitely have a cinematic quality, like you mentioned, and casting for Mara Jade, Thrawn, Talon Karrde, etc. could have been amazing.

 

The Thrawn trilogy very well may be amazing and very much fucking but I still don't get how anyone could be surprised that they didn't. Every fan of Admiral Thrawn will buy a movie ticket to a Star Wars movie regardless. Most of them will also buy other associated SW goods, they're Star Wars fans first.

The studio and executives, on the other hand, will also strive to get as much creative control as possible for various reasons. I doubt the costs are too high to write a new story for sequels if you consider how much money they will want to generate (i.e. gazillions). I doubt the original trio can carry the film, too. Then you will also have to consider if people like J.J. Abrams would want to work with preexisting material.

 

It was 5 years, I think, but somewhere around there either way. They could have easily gotten around it by simply casting other people in the roles. It's not like it's unheard of for long-running film series to do that (case in point, the new Star Trek movies), or hard to find people willing to play the lead in a Star Wars movie. There'd be a lot of impotent nerd-rage from people who will still pay twice the normal ticket price to watch the movie at midnight anyway, but nobody in any position of relevance gives much of a shit about that in the first place or the whole project would've never happened.

Man, fuck J.J. Abrams. Possibly the only worse choice they could have made for director would be Michael Bay. His bullshit fixation with his extremely tired and even more toxic 'mystery box' marketing schtick did terrible things to both Lost and the new Star Trek movies, and there's zero indication that it will be any different with Star Wars. I really don't give a fuck what he wants.

That said, the rest of your points are salient and why Episode VII isn't a Thrawn movie.

From where I'm sitting, there's definitely an argument to be made, from a creative and fiscal standpoint, that picking the best pieces of the EU, beating them into a more cohesive form, and going forward with the franchise based on that is a rather good move. It reduces production costs, establishes the tone and thematic structure of the franchise under new management, and ensures that the audience will have at least some small piece of familiarity with the new universe to reassure them that 'yes, this really is Star Wars'.

Obviously, the people who matter disagree, but eh, nobody's perfect.

 

My goodness, you lot have pretty strong opinions. Starting a rant about EU wasn't my intention. I'm sorry for digression.

Anyone has other recommendations? I'm sure I've missed a good fic or two.

 

Off the top of my head:

-The Rogue Squadron series by Michael Stackpole, which features the eponymous squadron of fighter pilots as the Rebellion tries to take control of Coruscant

-The Thrawn Trilogy, which is basically Timothy Zahn's vision of Ep. VII

-I, Jedi by Stackpole again, which is somewhat hard to summarize. It starts with the main character's wife getting kidnapped and him going off to sign up for Jedi training to try and get her back, but ends up turning into something of a spy thriller halfway through. I wouldn't say it's the best EU novel, but it is the one I've enjoyed the most.

-Parts of the New Jedi Order series. A lot of this particular series (which tells the story of an extra-galactic invasion by a species that's immune and invisible to the Force) isn't particularly good, but there's a few books in it that I really liked. The first book (Vector Prime by RA Salvatore) was quite good and pulled me in well enough to suffer through the next several. Star by Star by Troy Denning (I wanna say the 9th book, but could easily be wrong) is also decent enough. And finally, the last couple of books were rather good I felt, especially the whole philosophy behind the Unifying Force thing that it ends with, but they'd probably be rather confusing without reading several of the books before it, so take that as you will.

 

- The Hand of Thrawn Duology. I won't even bother to explain why, if you read the trilogy it'll be explanation enough.

- Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Woodring Stover. A rare gem of novelizations which is a massive improvement on the film it works off, and realises all of the potential of the underlying story. Quite dark for a Star Wars story, as all of his are.

- Any other EU novel by Stover or Zahn.

 

Seconding this so hard. I actually think I like those two more than the original Thrawn trilogy. The end is just a perfect capstone to the EU and to the story that started in A New Hope. (I like to pretend that the EU stops there.)

Also, seconding the Rogue Squadron rec. The first couple are a little shaky, but by the third the characters are established enough that it starts to gel.

I actually like the Wraith Squadron (I guess technically they're part of the same series?) books a ton. Aaron Allston writes pretty well, and he's funny. I mean, grading on the "Star Wars EU" curve. He's not Christopher Moore or anything. But Starfighters of Adumar is a pretty damn fine Star Wars novel.

 

I loved the Rogue Squadron and Wrait Squadron books, but I read them when I was like 14 or so. Would they still hold up now?

Loved the book Shadows of the Empire back then as well, but when I reread it two years ago, it really didn't measure up again.

 

I've never been able to get into Rogue Squadron. Is it worth starting with number three, or should I just soldier through the first two?


And yeah, HoT is so awesome. Especially if you read it after reading some of the really bad EU novels that came in between (looking at you, Black Fleet Crisis). It also works really well as a culmination of the view of the Force developed in the Original Trilogy, and its relationship with the dark side, before the prequel elements start corrupting the later novels.