Droids

            From the time they bleep-blooped on the screen in 1977, droids have captured the hearts of Star Wars fans. C-3PO and R2-D2 argued and shuffled through the halls of the Tantive IV, across the deserts of Tatooine, and straight into film history. They even received their own stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame decades before Mark Hamill! There’s something endearing about the childlike and mischievous nature of R2-D2 and C-3PO’s talkative know-it-all mentality that forms a dynamic duo that just works perfectly alongside the likes of Jedi, smugglers, Wookiees, princesses, and bounty hunters.

            Since ’77, Star Wars storytelling has had a long tradition of standout droids to grace both the screen and the page: the armies of the Trade Federation and subsequent Separatists in the Prequels were able to provide both a threat and comic relief in the Clone Wars, BB-8 bounced from the Force Awakens into the Last Jedi and into Star Wars immortality with a thumbs-up from everyone young and old, K-2SO brought his brutal honesty in Rogue One, L3-37 liberated the droids of Kessel with her quirky panache. And that’s not to mention Rebels’ Chopper, AP-5, Darth Vader & Doctor Aphra’s Triple Zero and Beetee One, Star Wars Legends books’ standout droid 1-5, bounty hunter IG-88, the red droid R5 unit featured in From a Certain Point of View, or other fan-favorites like R2-KT and Wedge’s droid “Gate” from the X-Wing novels! Star Wars isn’t quite Star Wars without a good droid in the mix.

            This collection is a mix of the best stories about the droids of Star Wars, ranging from canon to Legends, novels to comics to children's’ books, astromechs to protocol droids, delightful to demented. None of the books featured here require prior knowledge of prior Star Wars storytelling, with the exception of Doctor Aphra, for which we recommend starting with Kieron Gillen’s Darth Vader run if at all possible. We won’t tell you the odds, but chances are, there’s something here for you to discover!

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