Top 10 Novels: Part 1

You voted for it, so here it is, my Top 10 Favorite Novels.

Before we had movies to tell us epic quests to save the world or whodunit murder mysteries, there were books and novels. While not the earliest form of storytelling, literature, particularly fiction, has captivated the masses for centuries. Novels are not really my area of expertise. Even though my ability to decipher an author's meaning and better analyze literature from a critical perspective has certainly improved since taking English 2 in college, which I received an A in, I am not particularly experienced when it comes to literature. While I am no expert on movies, having seen around 800 movies and having written well over 100 reviews, my knowledge of what defines a "good" movie is most definitely higher than my knowledge of books. Why am I telling you this you may ask? Unlike my list of favorite movies, this list of my favorite novels is heavily based on my personal preference and the fact that I am a fan of certain franchises, however the top three on my list are undeniable classics. Also, unlike movies, reading highly recommended books is not an easy task. Reading a book takes a lot of time that I simply do not have. Ever since I started college, all of my book reading has been relegated to the Bible and the tons of textbooks. If I wanted to read more books, I would have to stop writing this blog and stop reading your blogs, and that is not something I would ever want to do. I know a lot of avid book readers follow my blog and basically all of my friends are aspiring authors (online and real life), so I do not have anything against reading books in the slightest. That being said, I much rather watch 6 movies than read one book because reviewing movies and other visual media is my passion. One last thing to keep in mind while reading my list, I am a massive Star Wars fan, and even though some of the Star Wars books are not necessarily "great" books, they are the ones that I typically enjoy more because they are about some of my favorite characters in all of fiction. I have read a few "classics" but few have interested me to a great degree. If most of your favorite novels are "classics" that is great, but they are not my favorites. Keeping all of that in mind, here is my list.

At Number 10: Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Scarlet

"A Study in Scarlet" is currently the only Sherlock Holmes story I have read to completion in recent years. Despite the odd side story with the Latter-day Saints and the lack of clues given to the reader to solve the mystery, "A Study in Scarlet" is a fun origin story of sorts for the iconic detective. Reading how Sherlock and Watson got started is fun, which, as a fan of multiple adaptations, is a lot of fun to read.

Note: I did not read the graphic novel of A Study in Scarlet, but I could not find a good cover picture for the book.

At Number 9: Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan

Being a massive fan of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game, which I still hold as the second greatest story ever told in video games, "The Old Republic: Revan" continues the story of the game and it provides a satisfyingly bittersweet conclusion to the character. The novel is far from a masterpiece, but fans of the video game and Star Wars will sure find something to enjoy. *Massive spoilers for the video game* Since you, the player, are literally Revan in the game, although you do not know it through most of the game, reading about what you basically did was a unique reading experience. That is particularly emphasized by the fact that I unknowingly made choices that fall in line with the cannon version of Revan's story, which made the connection even greater for me. *End Spoilers* 

At Number 8: Star Wars: Darth Plagueis

In Revenge of the Sith, Emperor Palpatine tells Anakin the story of Death Plagueis, a Sith Lord that had supposedly discover how to prevent death itself. The novel essentially tells this story in great detail. Darth Plagueis is an intriguing character with a lot of depth that could be explored in a film, if Disney so chooses. Since many of the events of the book affect the events of the Phantom Menace, reading the novel makes the Phantom Menace a better movie in retrospect since it fills in most of the plot holes from the film. Throughout the book, there are references to The Clone Wars and other Star Wars expanded universe works, which fans of the franchise will surely enjoy. 

Hopefully you have enjoyed the list thus far, even if almost no would rank these books so highly on their lists. Also, since I had such a long opening, I have decided to only three entries of the list on this post and have the rest on the next one so that the word count is even. 

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