Star Wars Aftermath by Chuck Wendig

[vilakins]

This sounded good so I went on the waiting list for it at a the library. I picked it up yesterday.

SO DISAPPOINTED.

Crap style. Seriously bad writer. Short sentences. Choppy and disconnected. Many with no verbs. Present tense is OK for good writers. But not bad ones.

Did this guy have an editor? I ask myself.

Can't cope. Giving up.

Comments

[ideealisme.livejournal.com]

I read his blog on writing a few times but could hardly reach the end of the entry because of all the bad language.

Yes. You read that right. Me, thinking there's too much bad language.

FFS :)

It's like, f***, the guy can't put a f***ing d**checanoe sentence the f*** together...

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I really don't know how he ever got published. All the fanfic writers I know are infinitely better. He might make a decent action film screenwriter with his choppy dialogue, but he can't write books.

[ideealisme.livejournal.com]

the longer I'm in the game, the less convinced I am that the whole game has much to do with merit.

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

Shame you didn't see these reviews ahead of time. Some people liked it (I think mainly because they would have liked anything Star Wars) but there were a lot of people making the same points you did about the quality of the writing, and they had bought the book, so were in more pain than you.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25131600-aftermath

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I'm not on Goodreads. [goes to look] They're far too complimentary and what's with all those 3, 4, and 5 stars?

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

I'm not on Goodreads either, but when I google for book reviews sometimes I wind up on there, and hardly ever do I see *any* one stars. So when I see several on first glance, I figure it must be pretty bad. I wish they did like Amazon and averaged them, and also let you sort by Most/Least favorable reviews. That way you could figure out what it is the folks who liked it liked about it.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I went to look at Amazon and there was much the same mix with an average of 2.5 stars (indiscriminating idiots ranking it high drove it up). I added a review.

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

Good! Maybe you'll save someone from wasting money on a disappointment.

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

I read one of the 3 stars, and I suspect they're just being generous out of pity. When a 3 star view includes the phrase 'I've read worse' I scratch off at least one star.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I have rarely if ever read worse. I sometimes stop reading because I'm bored or the story isn't to my taste or too violent or whatever, but this had no good points at all.

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

And you've probably read 'Avon: A Terrible Aspect' so you have a basis for comparison. At least that had amusing points among the WTF?

[imhilien.livejournal.com]

I saw it at a bookshop, but after looking through it I wasn't really impressed. :( Still haven't read it.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It's not worth trying. The characters didn't grab me either. It's a terrible book with no redeeming features at all.

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

It's worse when it's something you're looking forward too... I know someone on my flist was bewailing the dearth of good Star Wars fanfic too. You'd think with the size of the fandom, both the tie-ins and the fanfic would be good.

(Mind you, I think starting with B7 the Sentinel fanfic, I got spoiled and expect too much sometimes...)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I've heard that other Star Wars novels are generally very good. I just haven't read them because there are so many I don't know where to start - plus the latest film has jossed a lot of them. This is my first and last as apparently Chuck (he's well-named) Wendig is writing more.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Your parody of his style shows what a seriously good writer like yourself can achieve with short sentences. (Though keeping that style up for a whole novel while remaining readable would be quite a challenge.)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

The thing is, the novel wasn't readable. I really don't know how this guy gets published.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

"The thing is, the novel wasn't readable."

I gathered that. You wouldn't be a seriously good writer if I hadn't. :)

[thisbluespirit]

LOL...

And, oh dear. Oh dear... /o\

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Just nope.

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

I am coming to the conclusion that with modern spell checkers some publishing houses do not bother to proof read any more, but you would have thought that a good editor would have tossed the book as c**p. The only Star Wars novel I have read is Splinter of the Mind's Eye

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I've heard this one is the worst, that others are so much better (but now jossed).

I know published writers and editors do still proof-read, but the whole style of this is at fault. I might have got past it if I could have brought myself to care about the characters, but no.