The first Star Wars novel I picked up was junior novel of The Phantom Menace but wasn't until I saw Champions of the Force in my high school library, that I really got into the Star Wars extended universe. I soon read the first Jedi Apprentice Novel, Vision of the Future and Vector Prime not long after finding that book.
I loved the idea of continuing and expanding on the original movies and getting new and different stories based on these characters. Mara Jade quickly became my second favorite Star Wars character after Luke Skywalker, and I loved the fact the Han and Leia got hitched and a couple of kids - seriously they were the only things that saved The Crystal Star from being total waste of pages.
That being said there were some truly awful Star Wars novels out there (Children of the Jedi, anyone?) and the continuity didn't always line up, but on the general side of things it was a great story line that all the authors and people working behind the scenes put together.
When the new movies were announced post Jedi we were at first horrified that Disney was taking over but after the dust settled we thought that the characters that we read about and grown to love over the years would finally get to join their originally on screen counterparts in the spotlight.
We knew somethings were going to change especially after they announced that the new films were going to set 30 years after Jedi - okay we were willing to let you have that because the stories after the NJO were not that great - but we all thought that they would keep most of the story lines and characters that made that era great.
That's the thing about wishful thinking... It hurts a lot more when doesn't come to pass.
As of the 25th of April 2014 all EU material, with the exception of the Clone Wars and Rebels TV series, will no longer count as any from of continuity and will be re-branded as "Legends", to make way for a new continuity so the movie makes can have "creative freedom".
Well talk about a punch in the face and a kick in the guts... with a bitter pill to swallow.
All those stories... All those characters... Brushed aside like they were nothing, with no grantees that they will be brought into the new canon in any shape or form.
Great move Disney... Tick off your core fan base and still expect it to stand behind you 100% all the way... You were on thin ice before... now the cracks are starting to show...
But I'm not giving up on Star Wars just yet - I want to see if this "new canon" sink or swim. I'll save the you were right's or the I told you so's until then.
