It's Lit: Star Wars Comfort Reading and New Essential Legends Collection Books
It's a week filled with Star Wars book goodness.
I love new Star Wars book weeks. Okay, technically, the Essential Legends Collection is a series of reprints and the text between the pages isn’t new. But books still got delivered to me that I didn’t own before, so hey, it counts!
Books — holding them, reading them, shelving them — have been a great comfort to me lately, something I talked about in this newsletter earlier this week (and will recap for you below). There’s just something about these books — old and new — that speak to the soul.
But first, let’s talk about on-screen Star Wars altering details from books and comics — and whether or not these books and comics are still worth reading.
New Essential Legends Collection Books Out This Week
In the latest wave of Essential Legends Collection releases, three new books and beautiful covers have arrived!
Knight Errant by John Jackson Miller
Republic Commando: Order 66 by Karen Traviss
Wraith Squadron by Aaron Allston
It’s not often that one of these books arrives on my doorstep that I haven’t yet read. But I have yet to dive into Wraith Squadron, and am very excited to listen to the audiobook in the coming weeks. I always like to say that even if a Star Wars book isn’t technically new, if it’s new to you, it’s worth getting excited about!
I’ve updated my guide to the Essential Legends Collection to include the newest ELC releases so you can more easily collect the ones you might have missed!
Do Star Wars Books Still Matter?
When Lucasfilm released the first teaser trailer for The Bad Batch Season 3, one thing stood out above almost everything else: Asajj Ventress, according to the final moments of the trailer, appeared to be alive.
This was a shock to many Star Wars book fans who had previously read Christie Golden’s Dark Disciple. Spoiler alert: Ventress does not survive the book — a story that takes place during The Clone Wars and before the events of The Bad Batch.
This led to a lot of online panic — people don’t like it when Star Wars TV seems to override the books. StarWars.com made sure to clarify a quote from an interview with the show creators that Season 3 would be honoring, not retconning, Golden’s 2015 novel.
But the “Lucasfilm doesn’t care about books” discussion still persisted. Which inspired me to invite several previous Now This Is Lit guests — Alden from Ahch-To Radio, and show producer Davor — back for a discussion about Star Wars canon, the differences between stories in books and shows, and how much all of it matters.
You can listen to the full episode below, or find it wherever you get your podcasts.
Reading Star Wars Books In Times of Grief
I’m a comfort reading enthusiast despite not gravitating toward the practice normally myself. I see a lot of benefits to reading books because they make you feel better, or help you escape things you need a break from.
Earlier this week, I addressed Star Wars comfort reading through the lens of grief. Never before in my life have I depended as heavily on these books to hold me steady as I am right now. Everything will be OK, but Star Wars books are largely responsible for me being able to say that and mean it.
Grief is a very overwhelming, overstimulating, unbearable thing. It is a universal experience all humans share and recognize. We grieve big things and small things, life-altering things and less shattering inconveniences. We grieve loss, we grieve disappointment. We grieve for things we never even had.
Escapism is a common coping mechanism regardless of what you’re grieving. And it’s healthy, at least to a point — anything in excess can be harmful. I never thought Star Wars books would be my foundation in times like these, but here I am. Holding them. Cherishing them. Hoping I never have to be without them.
I hope that if you’re grieving something — doesn’t matter how big or small, life-changing or annoying — that you’re able to find a way to escape, in a healthy way, just to give yourself some space to breathe and heal and hope.
Now This Is Lit is a podcast (and newsletter!) about Star Wars books, the people who make them, and the readers who just can’t get enough of them. You can find the show wherever you get your podcasts, and subscribe to the Substack for more deep dives, guides, interview transcripts, and book love.