Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Woodring Stover

First off, I should give some credit to George Lucas. According to Stover, Lucas went over Stover's Revenge of the Sith novel "word for word", suggesting changes as minute as a single phrase.

The best way to describe this work is that it is Star Wars at its finest. It is painted in elegant, broad strokes, and the prose is not only easy to read, but very memorable as well. The poetry included is particularly brilliant, assisting the story, and Stover's descriptions of the various scenes add layers of meaning and context.

Even this review can only pathetically describe the sense of grandeur and mythic feeling that permeates the novel. If you will only read one Star Wars novel, this is it.