May the Force Be With You https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/ An independent fan reading log of the Star Wars saga in print: book reviews, character dossiers, in-universe history and reading-order guides across canon and Legends. en Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT An independent fan project. Star Wars and all related properties are trademarks of Lucasfilm Ltd. This site is unaffiliated with and unendorsed by Lucasfilm or Disney. Why I am cataloguing the whole saga https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/why-i-am-cataloguing-the-whole-saga.html https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/why-i-am-cataloguing-the-whole-saga.html Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT From the Desk B. Mays A launch note: what this site is, what it will never do, and how a reading log ended up with a filing system attached. Where to start with Star Wars books https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/where-to-start-with-star-wars-books.html https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/where-to-start-with-star-wars-books.html Fri, 14 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Reading Guides Staff Four honest doors into a shelf that has been growing since 1976, depending on which part of the saga you already like. Canon and Legends, explained without the headache https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/canon-and-legends-explained.html https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/canon-and-legends-explained.html Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Explainers Staff What Lucasfilm actually announced on 25 April 2014, what stayed canon, and why a Legends book is still a real book. How to read the Thrawn novels without losing the thread https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/thrawn-reading-order-guide.html https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/thrawn-reading-order-guide.html Tue, 04 Aug 2026 12:00:00 GMT Reading Guides B. Mays Two continuities, one character, and a nine-book spine. A practical order for anyone starting from zero. The High Republic: publication order versus chronological order https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/high-republic-publication-order.html https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/high-republic-publication-order.html Thu, 30 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Reading Guides Staff Three phases that travel backwards and then forwards again. Here is why publication order wins anyway. How to read the X-Wing novels https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/how-to-read-the-x-wing-novels.html https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/how-to-read-the-x-wing-novels.html Fri, 24 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Reading Guides Staff Ten Legends books, two authors and one squadron: a practical route through the series that made Wedge Antilles a lead character. The reference shelf, from the Essential Guides to the Visual Dictionaries https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/the-reference-shelf-from-essential-guides-to-visual-dictionaries.html https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/the-reference-shelf-from-essential-guides-to-visual-dictionaries.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Craft & Analysis B. Mays The least discussed corner of Star Wars publishing is also the one that taught everybody else how the galaxy is supposed to work. Matthew Stover and the best-written book on the shelf https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/matthew-stover-and-the-best-written-book-on-the-shelf.html https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/matthew-stover-and-the-best-written-book-on-the-shelf.html Wed, 15 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Craft & Analysis B. Mays An argument, clearly labelled as one, for the Revenge of the Sith novelisation as the high-water mark of Star Wars prose. Zahn and the pleasure of watching someone be good at their job https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/zahn-and-the-pleasure-of-watching-someone-be-good-at-their-job.html https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/zahn-and-the-pleasure-of-watching-someone-be-good-at-their-job.html Thu, 09 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Craft & Analysis B. Mays Competence as a genre: how one author’s house style became the default register of Star Wars fiction. What a Star Wars novel can do that a Star Wars film cannot https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/what-a-star-wars-novel-can-do.html https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/what-a-star-wars-novel-can-do.html Fri, 03 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT Craft & Analysis B. Mays Interiority, bureaucracy and time: three things prose gets for free and cinema has to pay for. Splinter of the Mind’s Eye and the sequel that never was https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/splinter-of-the-minds-eye-and-the-sequel-that-never-was.html https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/splinter-of-the-minds-eye-and-the-sequel-that-never-was.html Sat, 27 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT Retrospective B. Mays Alan Dean Foster’s 1978 novel was commissioned as insurance against failure. It became the first brick of the Expanded Universe instead. Before Heir to the Empire: the expanded universe nobody talks about https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/before-heir-to-the-empire.html https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/before-heir-to-the-empire.html Mon, 22 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT Retrospective B. Mays Marvel comics, Corporate Sector heists, three Lando novels and a radio drama — what Star Wars publishing looked like from 1977 to 1990. What the 2014 Legends decision actually changed https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/what-the-2014-legends-decision-changed.html https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/what-the-2014-legends-decision-changed.html Tue, 16 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT Publishing History Staff Twelve years on, a precise accounting of what moved, what stayed in print, and what quietly came back. The Bantam years and the Del Rey years https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/the-bantam-years-and-the-del-rey-years.html https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/the-bantam-years-and-the-del-rey-years.html Wed, 10 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT Publishing History B. Mays Two publishing regimes, two completely different ideas of what a Star Wars novel is for. The Yuuzhan Vong War and the risk the Expanded Universe took https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/the-yuuzhan-vong-war-and-the-risk-the-eu-took.html https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/the-yuuzhan-vong-war-and-the-risk-the-eu-took.html Thu, 04 Jun 2026 12:00:00 GMT Retrospective B. Mays Nineteen novels, four years of publishing, and a decision to kill a character from the films in the opening book. Heir to the Empire at thirty-five https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/heir-to-the-empire-at-35.html https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/heir-to-the-empire-at-35.html Thu, 28 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Retrospective B. Mays A retrospective on the 1991 novel that turned a dormant film franchise into a publishing programme. Legends is not a consolation prize https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/legends-is-not-a-consolation-prize.html https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/legends-is-not-a-consolation-prize.html Fri, 22 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Opinion B. Mays Twelve years after the reset, the case for reading the old Expanded Universe on its own terms rather than as a might-have-been. What our scores mean, and what they cannot mean https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/what-our-scores-cannot-mean.html https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/what-our-scores-cannot-mean.html Sat, 16 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT From the Desk B. Mays A note on the ten-point scale, why it exists at all, and why it is the least interesting part of any review here. Review roundup: where the shelf stands https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/review-roundup-where-the-shelf-stands.html https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/review-roundup-where-the-shelf-stands.html Sat, 09 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Reviews B. Mays A pass back over the reviews posted so far, and what they suggest about this site’s taste. Review roundup: reading both Thrawns https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/review-roundup-reading-both-thrawns.html https://bluefrog.ai/holocron/news/review-roundup-reading-both-thrawns.html Fri, 01 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT Reviews B. Mays Our reviews of the 1991 Legends novel and the 2017 canon novel, read against each other.