Star war aftermath: A crime against the English language

With Mikey mouse taking over starwars they began by scrapping all the EU. Which on retrospect may or may not have been a good thing.
Indeed there was a lot of bad books and story’s in the old EU but there was also some gems like the Zahn Thrawn trilogy and the first couple of Dark Forces games.

Now Disney are releasing there new cannon EU and it does NOT get off to a good start with starwars aftermath.
Authored by Chuck Wendig the book is a uninspired mess. Writing in present tense third person the writing style is odd and does not fit in with a starwars book let alone one under adult fiction and comes across as infantile.

Lets have a little look at this so called "writing" style:

It’s nice up here. Quiet. No TIE fighters. No blasts across the bow of his X-wing. No X-wing, in fact, and though he loves flying one, it’s nice to be out. No Death Star—and here, Wedge shudders, because he helped take down two of those things. Some days that fills him with pride. Other days it’s something else, something worse. Like he’s drawn back to it. The fight still going on all around him. But that isn’t today. Today, it’s quiet. Wedge likes the quiet.

The sound like a giant bone breaking. A fracture appears at the base of the statue. More cheering. Yelling. And— Applause as it comes crashing down. The head of the statue snaps off, goes rolling and crashing into a fountain. Dark water splashes. The crowd laughs. And then: The whooping of klaxons. Red lights strobe. Three airspeeders swoop down from the traffic lanes above—Imperial police. Red-and- black helmets. The glow of their lights reflected back in their helmets. There comes no warning. No demand to stand down. The laser cannons at the fore of each airspeeder open fire. Red bolts sear the air. The crowd is cut apart. Bodies dropped and stitched with fire.

No people. This is not: some , bad. Terrible joke. And. It was not. Written by my 6 year old, cousin. A professional author. Is indeed writing. Like; this. Like William Shatter. On meth.

Yes throughout the book the author writes in choppy and jarring sentences in a style Jar Jar binks would be ashamed of. Not only that but he makes mistakes throughout the book changing tense!

To make matters worse the story’s is full on plots that go nowhere and dull characters. And he seems to have no concept of the Starwars lingo instead using common modern earth lingo and slang.

This is not just my opinion just look at the amazon reviews.

The author has hit back. Is the criticism because he is a god awful writer? NO! It because he had a gay character and we are all homophobes according to him in his rant in the guardian.

“If you’re upset because I put gay characters and a gay protagonist in the book, I got nothing for you,” Wendig wrote. “Sorry, you squawking saurian — meteor’s coming. And it’s a fabulously gay Nyan Cat meteor with a rainbow trailing behind it and your mode of thought will be extinct.” “You’re not the Rebel Alliance. You’re not the good guys. You’re the f****** Empire, man. You’re the s*****, oppressive, totalitarian Empire. If you can imagine a world where Luke Skywalker would be irritated that there were gay people around him, you completely missed the point of Star Wars. It’s like trying to picture Jesus kicking lepers in the throat instead of curing them. Stop being the Empire. Join the Rebel Alliance. We have love and inclusion and great music and cute droids.” He later told a reader who attacked his confrontational approach to his critics that he would not engage in a conversation on the issue. “Because on this, I am not interested in conversation,” he wrote on his blog. “If your problem with the book is only the inclusion of gay characters, then no conversation is possible. Because that’s homophobia, that’s bigotry, and there’s nothing to be done or said. Someone wants to talk to me about the writing style or whatever, sure, I can have that discussion. On this, no.”

Hate to break it to you Chuck old boy but hardly anyone has mentioned the gay character. Most the criticism is because your writing just plan sucks.

Funny enough the writer admits and even boasts it only took him 60 days to write the book. Well we can tell.

My advice is to skip this book that is a atrocity against starwars and the English language. And my advise to Disney is sack Chuck ASAP and replace him with a tried and true starwars author like Zahn.

If writers like Chuck is what Disney has for the future of stars then I fear for the upcoming movies......

Right on brother!

originally posted by: Brotherman
Right on brother!

You burn your money on this garbage to?

a reply to: crazyewok

What is even worse this book is meant to be one of three........

Please let someone else write the other two.....

Reading the five stars review it seems that is his writing style, pretty wizard is you ask me.

Sometimes you speak backwards and instead of looking dumb you end up with the fan favorite yoda, sometimes you try to be cool and end up with anakin saying pretty wizard now and then, is the risk of trying something new, doesnt work too well 100% of the time, but until you make a lulu album you don't really know if it will work out.

But really the prequels were bad, it was 90% dialog in a corridor, deliberation in the senate, anaking saying dumb stuff to padme, midicrorians... Just by the trailer of the new movie you can see it will have more space pew pew (oddly not in space :duh so it will be better than the precuels. Will it be an impact as the orginal star wars? No everyone got expectations now and nothing will fill everyone expectations. The stand alone movies will be hit and miss, episode 8 will determinate the fate of star wars in the long run.

Oh don't mind my crimes to English, I been awake for 35 hours and I don't really speak English

a reply to: crazyewok

You are on point.

I couldn't spend 5 minutes reading that drivel before I would throw that thing in the trash. Also, I enjoy the Star Wars universe as an escape from reality. I don't need my escapism served with a side of social engineering and political correctness.

originally posted by: crazyewok

originally posted by: Brotherman
Right on brother!

You burn your money on this garbage to?

Kind of, I'm more into the comic books and such but I heavily relate to your criticism of half ass writing especially in a book without pictures. Then to boot the ahole brags he does it in 60 days, pathetic. I've been wanting to pick up a star wars book lately too.
Look at Me

a reply to: Brotherman

I started Tarkin which is another new book. That actually is a good book. And its done by one of the old school EU writers.

I will do a review when I finnish it.

originally posted by: Metallicus
a reply to: crazyewok

You are on point.

I couldn't spend 5 minutes reading that drivel before I would throw that thing in the trash. Also, I enjoy the Star Wars universe as an escape from reality. I don't need my escapism served with a side of social engineering and political correctness.

I know what your saying. Wendig put tons of gay and bi characters in the book. I would not be so bothered if it was one or two in passing references but the author seems to make a big thing about it and make it a core trait. Starwars in NOT about social justice and politics (leave that to star trek!) its about as you say escape not about pushing bounderys. And be it homo or hetro Starwars has always been non sexual with a few rare exceptions. To make a third of your characters in the book gay is a joke too, as they are a MINORITY, to make them out as majority is just gay fantasy and belongs in gay litrature.


But I may have forgiven all the above if the writer had given me a intresting story AND could use grammer in a corrcet fashion.

a reply to: Indigent
If you notice though the good reviews were outnumbered hugely by the bad.

His writing style fell flat.

It might be good some artsy fancy novel. But this is starwars. Its not a place for pushing boundary’s with prose and writing. You read it to have a bit of fun and enjoy and good story.

If he wants to write like that he needs to find a better franchise and medium.

I have not read a Star Wars book but I am a massive fan of the movies and games, love the whole universe.Those quoted paragraphs read like crap and would not inspire me to read this mans work.








a reply to: crazyewok

a reply to: crazyewok

Until I go with my son to see the new movie when it comes out, which I will be doing for his benefit, not my own, I have given up on the Star Wars universe. I fully intend, once I have seen that movie, to ignore any further elements of the franchise, until the next time Disney want to trade on the glories of others, and my son insists on an evening out at the pictures.

I was a massive fan of some of the books that have been authored over the years, involving the universe and characters from Star Wars, and although I have not read the book around which this thread revolves, I can now say, having read the quoted excerpt, that I have no wish to do so. Not even in the slightest or remotest manner.

Make no mistake, I am not incapable of enjoying good, old fashioned nonsense. I am a great fan of top quality bunkum. However, reading written works created by a person whose grasp of the art of language is as tenuous as the grasp one might have upon a greased eel, is never a pleasant or rewarding task in which to engage oneself. This very much seems, from what I have heard from the membership here, and indeed from reviews else where, to be one of those examples of a book which could have been quite good, if not for the ham fisted, talent free, artless manner in which the author approached the work.

How disappointing.

a reply to: TrueBrit

My thoughts exactly.

If he had just written the material with a bit more talent and in a appropriate prose and developed the characters out of the catchphrase wooden cuts outs.

O Yes I forgot to tell you the characters are awful, Akbar reduced to saying "trap" every time he speaks and Mon Montha going full retard and going on about demilitarisation when most the freaking empires still intact and out for blood!

It may have been a passible book.

Still it would never have been a Thrawn trilogy. RIP Grand Admiral Thrawn, Mara Jade and Talon Karrade.

originally posted by: Athetos
I have not read a Star Wars book but I am a massive fan of the movies and games, love the whole universe.Those quoted paragraphs read like crap and would not inspire me to read this mans work.








a reply to: crazyewok

How he became a award winning author is beyond me. I wrote better fan fiction in my high school English class. Least I could uses my tenses right


Each sentance was like being raped in the eyes by Jar Jar binks.

a reply to: crazyewok

Akbar? The author reduced Akbar to a meme spouting, gaping moron?

Good God... Is nothing sacred?

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: crazyewok

Akbar? The author reduced Akbar to a meme spouting, gaping moron?

Good God... Is nothing sacred?

O yes indeed.

It like he had no orginal ideas or had no way to expand him beyond the few lines he said in the films.

a reply to: crazyewok
Dear Crazywok, a very serious question has arisen concerning your post and it's causing a right kerfuffle between my wife and I.
In his answer to the Guardian Mr Wendig uses swear words a couple of times. Now I get the f******, but what the heck is s*****. This goes beyond pure academics as my wife is now making up swear words and telling me they are true.

originally posted by: crayzeed
a reply to: crazyewok
Dear Crazywok, a very serious question has arisen concerning your post and it's causing a right kerfuffle between my wife and I.
In his answer to the Guardian Mr Wendig uses swear words a couple of times. Now I get the f******, but what the heck is s*****. This goes beyond pure academics as my wife is now making up swear words and telling me they are true.

Here is the guardian rant it seems to be a variation of #

In fact #ty sums up his novel!

a reply to: crazyewok
Thank you very much. How simple, we never even guessed that. And to tell you the truth it never even entered my head to check the actual guardian report. It's funny isn't it that The Guardian allows the word to be published but not ATS.