Opening Chapter for the new Star Wars novel Aftermath

By Imperial Advisor Arem Heshvaun, in X-Wing

"Leaked" excerpts from the early chapters of Aftermath.

I find it hard to believe this was an error, I think this is a from of "teaser."

My general comments of what I think of the writing I will hold off for now, but I will say that it's NO Heir to the Empire.

It's also no Heir to the Jedi.

Gee, I didn't know a T-16 had a hyperdrive. Can I have one for X-wing now? (Oh, wait, it's an HH-87, whatever that is.)

Edited by Hawkstrike

Gee, I didn't know a T-16 had a hyperdrive. Can I have one for X-wing now? (Oh, wait, it's an HH-87, whatever that is.)

http://www.starwars.com/databank/hh-87-starhopper

Starhopper, not Skyhopper. One of these: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/HH-87_Starhopper

It's the pirate fighter from TCW. The new canon likes its internal consistency.

So why is Wedge still in an X-wing?? shouldn't by now he at least be in an e-wing? or is he in a "Stealth-X"??

Ugh, that writing, it's... wrong. Like someone took all the right words and used them in all the wrong ways. Like it was written by someone who had read plot summaries of the movies but had never seen them.

Edited by EdgeOfDreams

Chapter one is just a few months after ROTJ, there are no e-wings yet.

The writing is, um, not my favorite style. Too familiar, I guess. Authors for SW books need to read Brian Daly's stuff. That's how you capture the feel.

It's not that bad, the writing is much better the Shadows of the Empire at least, I tried rereading that when Scum & Villainy was released and the writing was so terrible I couldn't get past the second chapter.

Terrible style... It's very rough and disjointed. Couldn't make it very far before it felt like I was reading a bad fanfic story. This will be a painful read when released.

Present tense? Really? The modern fad for this format is frustrating and terrible.

To use present tense correctly, look at how Jane Austen does it. For narrative, past tense is the only thing that makes grammatical sense. It's bad enough having so much present tense in YA (which often follows inferior forms to pander to what they perceive to be their audience), but seeing it infect this trilogy in particular disenheartens me. I guess I'll have to forego reading it and just wait for the summaries to go up. Correcting the amateurish present tense writing in my head as I read gives me a headache.

I guess the author forgot that it's a fantasy, almost fairy-tale-like story. Those work best as 'once upon a time'...you know, since it's a long time ago in a galaxy yada yada Yoda. This isn't science fiction, it's not a spy thriller, it's Star Wars.

Now I remember why I stopped reading anything EU around the time of the special editions.

The previous EU novels suffered from other major problems. The base style however was not the issue.

So why is Wedge still in an X-wing?? shouldn't by now he at least be in an e-wing? or is he in a "Stealth-X"??

ok reread Wedges part. so it takes place even before Rogue squadron is formed..

Well I for one welcome this new era of EU. Feels like I'm in middle school again, a whole new timeline of adventures to read!

The writing style isn't spectacular but then again none of the old EU was either. It's a pulp sci-fi novel based on an existing IP, I don't have high standards.

Also people are missing the important part. This confirms that the First Order is a direct continuation of the Empire! The Empire soldiers on! All glory to the Empire!

So why is Wedge still in an X-wing?? shouldn't by now he at least be in an e-wing? or is he in a "Stealth-X"??

ok reread Wedges part. so it takes place even before Rogue squadron is formed..

Not quite. rogue squadron was around for Empire Strikes Back. Red group at Endor included the Rogues as well as several other squadrons.

Well I for one welcome this new era of EU. Feels like I'm in middle school again, a whole new timeline of adventures to read!

The writing style isn't spectacular but then again none of the old EU was either. It's a pulp sci-fi novel based on an existing IP, I don't have high standards.

Also people are missing the important part. This confirms that the First Order is a direct continuation of the Empire! The Empire soldiers on! All glory to the Empire!

First Order being Imperial is of little surprise and I expect should slide in nicely. No problems foreseen here. I'm hesitant on this new EU supplanting the old. Admittedly I started the old with Zahn 's series, so that is my baseline. I will not miss the first EU book to be rectoned though... Truce at Bakura anyone?

Ugh yea. Good riddance there.

That was painful...

Truce at Bakura was far from my favorite Star Wars novel but it wasn't in my top 10 worst novels of the Legends continuity. Top 25 maybe and I mean maybe. Slots on that list filled fast once NJO ended.

Hmmmm I don't know what to think of that. The writing style is one which I don't believe I have ever read anything like. This is going to replace everything I have spent my money on in the past, I feel tempted to try it as if I like it, it would be easier to keep up with the new canon.

I don't like the titles of some of the more recent books, very basic!

I do like the idea of how this book starts. It's a long time since I read bakura but this new book could possibly tell a story that I would rather hear.

Truce at Bakura was so forgettable and rediculous, at least aftermath takes a more realistic approach than trying to shoehorn the author's favorite freaky aliens and weird sci fi tech into the already well established 'world'. Plus the meeting between Leia and Anakins force ghost was pretty stupid.

I'm no stranger to massive amounts of EU being ignored or axed. Pretty much everything from the original marvel comics might as well have never been as soon as the 90s books started, as well as anything before WEG existing outside its own media. To me that stuff was just as valid as anything else, but it's long gone.

I've got a bad feeling about this...

Buying it anyway, though...

Truce at Bakura was so forgettable and rediculous, at least aftermath takes a more realistic approach than trying to shoehorn the author's favorite freaky aliens and weird sci fi tech into the already well established 'world'. Plus the meeting between Leia and Anakins force ghost was pretty stupid.

I'm no stranger to massive amounts of EU being ignored or axed. Pretty much everything from the original marvel comics might as well have never been as soon as the 90s books started, as well as anything before WEG existing outside its own media. To me that stuff was just as valid as anything else, but it's long gone.

It actually wasn't super bad (though definitely not a "work of art"), but atleast the overall writing style wasn't crap.

I'd take all the crap in the EU over this if it meant I'd never have to read a present tense (or 1st person) SW book again.

Crystal Star should clearly stay in the canon. By far the greatest EU novel.