......or should I save my money and wait for the highlights on Wookieepedia?

Hey Fantasy Flight Games community!

I'm Vor Trex, a rather pathetic attempt at a Star Wars RPG name from "vortex" that I've now gotten used to.

So what this all comes down to is that I'm really excited about Episode VII, especially since I've not read any EU so nothing has been "thrown out" for me. But I'd like to know what happened between Return of the Jedi and Force Awakens. Allegedly, the book "Aftermath" was being hailed as the book to reveal just that.

Between book reviews and posts around the forums, it seems it isn't all it was hyped up to be.

Have any of you read the book and, if so, would you recommend it?

You might find it helpful to know that I'd be happy if it was full of galaxy spanning facts and little actual story. Unless it was horrifically written.

I bought and read it, here's my two cents: it was a decent book. The story took about 100 pages before it really got going and got me invested in it. Throughout the whole book there where about a dozen interludes, on different planets that show the state of the galaxy from different points of view. I did not know he was going to do that, so it was a little disconcerting at first, but knowing it ahead of time helps. If you are really into the new canon right now, it's full of references to rebels, clone wars, and the other books. I personally found a few of those to be a little too shoehorned into the book just to have them there. Many people did not like the way he changed tense and other bad grammar mistakes. I got around it, but if you can't get past that, you may want to pass. It is by far not the best, but it is way better than Heir to the Jedi.

So if you aren't obsessed with knowing every little detail, you probably could take a pass, however it is the first of a trilogy so the story may get better. I would say wait for paperback, then it would be worth it.

Hope that helps!

I'm about a third of the way through. The writing style is pretty unique, but the overall story isn't bad. Plus you get to see what happened after Endor! Wookiepedia highlights won't catch the mood and conversations, especially among the empire.(the more interesting strategic position after Endor IMO).

The writing style is pretty unique

this is perhaps the only non-negative way to describe the "writing".

It's not bad. Not great, but not at all bad. Worth it if you enjoy the whole Star Wars story, but maybe not if you're looking for a good book on its own merits.

It's not bad. Not great, but not at all bad. Worth it if you enjoy the whole Star Wars story, but maybe not if you're looking for a good book on its own merits.

All the comments have been very helpful.

I think "wait for the paperback" is a suggestion I'll take.

But I quoted Punning Pundit because I do "enjoy the whole Star Wars story" and don't need the book to be Tolkien or Clive Cussler to enjoy.

The writing style is pretty unique

this is perhaps the only non-negative way to describe the "writing".

I heard it's a chore to read through and its getting alot of hate, as a result I'm in no rush to grab it.

I heard it's a chore to read through and its getting alot of hate, as a result I'm in no rush to grab it.

You've probably read the same reviews and opinions as me.

That's why I posted this topic. Big community here, all of whom are Star Wars fans, so I expected a more fan-based opinion.

The writer is trying to say the hate comes from him introducing gay characters, but I don't buy that honestly nerds are the least likely group to hold a bigoted view due to being fairly secular.

It's just like me3 trying to shame critics into being quiet.

Read the first couple pages. If you can handle the writing style, read the rest. It's not going to win any awards, but if you're considering reading Star Wars fiction you're grading on a curve anyway. As far as tie-in fiction goes? It's better than most other examples of the form, though it's not top-tier.

looooooool

I absolutely loved it. Couldn't put it down. Read it in three days. Was awesome seeing new characters with the interludes giving us a view of events all over the galaxy. Great start to the trilogy.

The writer is trying to say the hate comes from him introducing gay characters, but I don't buy that honestly nerds are the least likely group to hold a bigoted view due to being fairly secular.

It's just like me3 trying to shame critics into being quiet.

Check the comments section on any review site or youtube video, nerds are some of the most hateful people around. Comments usually revolve around writers 'forcing the liberal/gay agenda'.

I read an excerpt that was floating around for a bit and I thought it was awful. To me, it's just lazy writing for lazy readers (sorry to those of you who liked it, not trying to pass judgement) and I couldn't get over it. I'm not one to appreciate the art of prose (I hate Tolkien books as well) but this was just terrible in the opposite direction.

For you Americans who know your TV Networks, it's like an ABC show...it makes sense if you just kinda zone out and stare at the screen, but if you want to get involved any more than that and start asking questions, it's just going to frustrate you.

The writing style comes across to me like an 8 year old who is just learning how to construct sentances.

See wedge.

See wedge fly.

Fly wedge fly.

Also, rolled my eyes pretty hard at the guy playing "settlers of catan in space" with a droid.

I hated it. It's paced like he wrote it in a chat window. Approximately half of the book is incomplete sentences that read like this:

The TIE jukes left.

And right.

And left again.

Then out of nowhere: an explosion.

And stuff.

It also did nothing to separate itself from the super-cheese of the EU or the most cartoony bits of Clone Wars and Rebels.

Edit: Half-ninja'd

Well my pre order off amazon UK is estimated to arrive tomorrow because regardless of the reviews I gotta have them all. My OCD strikes again.

The writer is trying to say the hate comes from him introducing gay characters, but I don't buy that honestly nerds are the least likely group to hold a bigoted view due to being fairly secular.

It's just like me3 trying to shame critics into being quiet.

Check the comments section on any review site or youtube video, nerds are some of the most hateful people around. Comments usually revolve around writers 'forcing the liberal/gay agenda'.

Yeah because trolls on YouTube represent an entire subsection of culture...it's YouTube trolls go after everyone.

Anonymity will always lead to bad behaviour.

If you could point to a large organization that'd be one thing but trolls on YouTube, that's weak dude and you know it.

*****SPOILERS*****

I was not impressed that I found a spelling mistake, not once but twice.

Chapter 3, page 31(near beginning of chapter)

"As with many of the worlds on the Outer Rim- wheeling on their axes at the edges of space-.."

Chapter 28, page 265 (3rd sentence from the top)

"She lunches in, knees him in the gut."

I just took the whole book as bits of information but I found I wasn't liking anyone really that well. There were random one off stories, like Dengar fighting Mercurial Swift, or Han and Chewie going to free Kashyyk, that did nothing to help the main story.

I would give this 2.5 rounded up to 3 starts out of 5.

See wedge.

See wedge fly.

Fly wedge fly.

You two have retroactively improved my opinion of the writing, as it's quite a bit better than your attempted mimicry. Thanks!

This was reasonable to believe back when Penny Arcade first coined their theory of greater anonymity. Since then we've had twitter and facebook has exploded. It's trivially easy to find loads of people saying horrid stuff under their real names on twitter and facebook. It's trivially easy to find people engaging in harassment under their real name. And so we now know that anonymity is not the problem, and never was.

The writer is trying to say the hate comes from him introducing gay characters, but I don't buy that honestly nerds are the least likely group to hold a bigoted view due to being fairly secular.

It's just like me3 trying to shame critics into being quiet.

You really haven't been keeping up with the "culture wars" have you. I have seen far, far too much evidence to ignore some of the ugly core of the fandom. Just look at some of the reactions to John Boyega...

And, no, he is not saying all the hate is coming from his inclusion of gay characters. He pretty much divided the criticism into three groups. Those that legitimitly don't like his present tense style, who he doesn't have an issue with, but isn't going to change how he writes to appease. Those who are still really sore about the old EU, who he pretty much calls out on their turning fandom into hate. And the group that is upset that he included gay characters, who he rightly calls out on.

I've seen his tweets and he came off as very peevish.

I do think his humor can come off bad at times. And I think people have been combining his attacks on the EU die hards (who he is actually sympathetic for, if he doesn't excuse their behavior) and the homophobes. Just because he doesn't apologize for his writing style, doesn't mean he is upset with those that don't like it, or even genuinely don't like his books.

And I don't blame him for letting loose a little anger at times. I'm sure he has been getting plenty of crap since it was announced that he got the gig. No one deserves it.

Though not going to lie, his "Dear Guy Who is Angry That I Wrote a Gay Character in a Book" blog entry made me a fan.

Old man riding a donkey led by a boy.

Passersby say: "it's terrible how that boy is leading the donkey while that old man just sits there."

So the old man gets down and the boy sits on the donkey.

Passersby say: "it's terrible how that old man is having to walk while the boy gets to ride on the donkey."

So both sit on the donkey.

Passersby say: "that poor donkey, having to carry the weight of those two sitting on it."

So they both walk.

Passersby say: "that poor old man having to walk when he could easily ride on the donkey."

There's an easy way to avoid the writing style: audio. When narrated, it sounds like every other SW audiobook.

But if you've never listened to a SW audiobook, you should be warned that they are slightly dramatized with sound fx, music, etc. Not quite up to 'audio drama' levels, but a fair amount. I personally like that, but some people can't stand it.