The cross-media project known as "The High Republic" has finally launched after a year of promotion- and it's off to a great start.
Charles Soule's novel "Light of the Jedi" has found it's way to the top of The New York Times Best Seller List and it's only the 7th Star Wars book in history to do so.
Here is some information about all of the Star Wars books that have hit #1 on the The New York Times Best Seller List.
1983: Return of the Jedi Storybook- A hardcover kid's book complete with full-color pictures from the film is an odd thing to see at the top of the Best Seller List, but every kid in 1983 just had to have this book. It spent a full two months at the #1 position and also became the bestselling hardcover of the year.
1991: Heir to the Empire - Star Wars did not have success outside of the films in the 70s and 80s. There was a terrible holiday special, a terrible holiday album, some questionable comics, and some really weird books based on Lando. When Bantam Books decided to release some novels for an adult audience, no one thought it was going to work, but Timothy Zahn's "Heir to the Empire" started to climb the best seller list in May of 1991. But the last day of June the novel had topped the list and the Star Wars Expanded Universe was born. So many of Zahn's characters and plot lines still have a major impact on the new Disney Star Wars Universe, especially the character of Grand Admiral Thrawn. The sequels to Zahn's novel also spent many weeks on the Best Seller List but never quite cracked the #1 spot.
1999: The Phantom Menace Novelization- During my youth 1999 was the Summer of Star Wars. The franchise was back in cinemas after a 16-year absence. Star Wars was found on Pepsi Cans, in MTV music videos, a Weird Al Parody, it was everywhere. The Phantom Menace Novelization debuted in April of 1999- a full month before the movie released. Spoilers were everywhere. I remember my brother's friend straight up telling me that Qui-Gon and Maul were both going to die in the film. The concept of a spoiler wasn't really a thing before "The Phantom Menace", but Star Wars fans quickly learned how dangerous a spoiler could be.
It is notable that the book "The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime" also debuted in the fall of 1999. It peaked at #10, but launched a 19-novel series, many of which hit the Best Seller List.
2008: When "Revenge of the Sith" released in 2005, it seemed like Star Wars was finished. Lucas told fans that he would never release another film in the franchise. The future was Star Wars was now tied in with comics, books, cartoons, and video games. One such game was "The Force Unleashed" which told the story of Darth Vader's secret apprentice "Starkiller". The game became the fastest selling Star Wars game of all time and the book tie-in obviously did well too.
2016: The Force Awakens Novelization- 2015 was the Winter of Star Wars. After a decade away from screens Star Wars was back. Not only did it become the Highest Grossing Domestic Film of all time (a record it still holds), the merchandise tie-ins were flying off of shelves, even in book stores. Alan Dean Foster had written the first ever Star Wars novel in 1976, the first novel which was a sequel to the film Star Wars in 1978, and first showed up on the New York Times Best Seller list in 2002 for the Star Wars novel "The Approaching Storm". Now Foster had a #1 Star Wars book to add to his impressive library.
2018: Thrawn Alliances- Timothy Zahn had 8 Star Wars books appear in the Top 15 of the Best Seller List prior to 2018. He had narrowly missed the top position when his 2017 Thrawn book hit #2 in April of that year. Zahn has released a Thrawn book every year since 2017 and they always make the list. Zahn is arguably the most prolific Star Wars author. His next novel, Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Good releases on April 27th, 2021.
2021: Light of the Jedi- With several Star Wars novels releasing every year it can be hard to predict which ones could top the Best Seller List. 2017 alone saw seven books in the Top 15. Six books have peaked at #2 narrowly, missing the mark- "Attack of the Clones", "Revenge of the Sith", "The Last Jedi", two of Zahn's books, and "Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse".
It is a delightful surprise and a testament to the Star Wars marketing team that "Light of the Jedi" had debuted at #1. Charles Soule does an amazing job on launching this sub-franchise "The High Republic", which will include 4 Novels, 2 Comic Series, a Graphic Novel, a Manga, and 2 Junior Novels in Phase 1 alone. And upcoming Disney+ series " The Acolyte" will also be tied into the High Republic Era.
The novel feels like a true Star Wars Event. The only book I have ever read quite like it is probably "Vector Prime" all the way back in 1999 when the "New Jedi Order" was launched. The "Light of the Jedi" isn't just a good Star Wars novel however, it's also a really good book despite being tied to the franchise. The concepts herein could work as a generic sci-fi book worthy of a Hugo award (fingers crossed).
Charles Soule has previously written several Star Wars comics including the current mainline Star Wars series.
*Much of the New York Times Best Seller List research for my blog was compiled from another blog:
https://puerto-pirata-veracruz.blogspot.com/2019/08/star-wars-books-in-new-york-times-best.html
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