Lit New Star Wars Lit Timid?

30 years being completely covered in one novel? Not likely. Unless it was an essential guide or something.

 

That wasn't it, rather the Journey to TFA marketing gave the idea that this is where you find out what Luke, Han and Leia were doing after Jedi.

Well, I liked Aftermath a lot, but that wasn't what it was about.

Marketing is supposed to raise interest in an item, but raising expectations so high that the item can never meet them? Not good.

 

Except marketing never said anything about those characters specifically, even though most of the titles did provide insight from the beginning of the journey or the end.
1. Shattered Empire has Han, Leia, and Luke directly after ROTJ
2. Aftermath shows a brief glimpse of Han and Chewie months following what we saw of them in Shattered Empire, as well as relating Leia's New Republic victory declaration.
3. Lost Stars shows the outcome of the Battle of Jakku, and an overall suggestion of the state of the galaxy at this point.
4. The three YA books zoom ahead to have bookends giving insight as to the state of the characters directly leading up to TFA (Han is alone and working, Leia is a General, Luke is an absent Legend)

All important pieces of the puzzle which aided in anticipation, building up lore, etc. I didn't see anything suggesting we'd get a narrative history of the 30 year period of time, whether it was from the perspective of the OT3 or not. In fact, they were advertised specifically as having hidden tidbits and hints. It delivered what it promised, but not what many wanted it to be instead.

 

I think you need to correct your targeting software Taalcon, I've enjoyed all the books, remember?

Regardless, marketing often isn't about facts, it's about perception and that perception clearly arose. Maybe people transferred over the HTTE expectation, the first bi-ig book of the story.

Nor do I think dis-satisfaction with Journey to TFA was limited to Aftermath, might have been more honest for the banner to be Hints For TFA.

As I say, I never expected that sort of major revelation in any of the books, not least as I knew Abrams tendencies, but there's a lot of casual fans who don't read the stuff we do online, who would have higher expectations, which the material fell short on. Personally, all the JtTFA books would be better without that banner but then maybe they wouldn't have sold as much.

 

I never got the impression that Aftermath would have anything to do with the Big Three, nor that it would lead up to TFA.

 

Yeah, but I don't think we, here, would. But there's a wider world out there where I can see how it could have happened.

It's like how Diamond put out comics release info and I post it here because a lot of people don't know about it and going to your local shop in the hope an issue is out when it isn't is a pain. But if you're too busy to be active much online, then that info will likely pass you by.

 

It wasn't as much a reply to you as a reply to the idea of the extent that marketing "gave the idea that this is where you find out what Luke, Han and Leia were doing after Jedi.". You are right to the extent that many assumed that this is what JTTFA meant, even though they didn't set that out anywhere as far as I recall.

I'm not sure what would have been the alternative, short of a red banner saying "THESE BOOKS DO NOT TELL YOU EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED BETWEEN ROTJ AND TFA". It's part of the narrative 'Journey' to the movie. It provides 'hints', and 'hidden' tidbits. Exactly what was on the book covers, and the ad copy. And Lost Star and Aftermath, in particular, make big strides in beginning the narrative Journey to the world we find in TFA. The books had overlap with each other, and most made reference to events/characters in the other. I guess it's a no-win situation, because telling you exactly what it IS still left people unhappy when they bought it found it wasn't something that they wanted it to have been.

But you're right, when it comes down to it, I don't think we're really essentially disagreeing. Many DID overlay their hope of a FILL IN ALL THE GAPS story when the announcement was made, and ran with their original assumption over checking out what was actually said about it. I think the additional promotional material and samples and excerpts and interviews about the project helped make it clearer, but for those who just heard the initial announcement and didn't do any followup, and then just bought the book - yeah. It was just a funky, murky time for Star Wars fiction, tensions were high, and it was a great combo powderkeg and scapegoat.

 

It was still a bad misstep to have only the first book of a trilogy as part of the 'journey' - but that was all part of the flurry of getting as many NEU novels out as possible before the movie.

When people go on about "good business decisions" and "corporate strategy" with reference to Star Wars and Del Rey, that book is always foremost in my mind...

 

How about no banner at all? If the books don't bridge the narrative between the movies, just release them on their own merits.

 

Except they all DID include part of that 'Journey'.

To be honest, I actually wish they'd KEEP that banner on books on continuing key stories in the ROTJ -> TFA timeline. Keep it on each book in the Aftermath Trilogy, and put it on Bloodline.

 

Lucasfilm can't control how people interpret what they say. Them saying it was a Journey to the Force Awakens doesn't make any claims that it will tell everyone exactly what the main characters were up to. The only thing I remember them saying was that it would begin to bridge the gap to Ep. VII. And it did exactly that. It began to bridge the gap.

If people looked at that and thought what they wanted to think instead of what it was actually telling them than that isn't on Lucasfilm or Del Rey for false advertising the product.

 

Who wouldn't expect to find out what was going on with the main characters in lead in like that?

 

If you read Shattered Empire you would have found out what was going on with the main characters right after ROTJ. That was part of JTTFA as well.

 

Me too!
I also think it's a little crazy that Before the Awakening didn't have that banner.

 

Yeah, right after RotJ without absolutely any connection to TFA, not what I would want.

 

You mean the comic about the parents of one of the new Big Three being Rebel heroes/pilots/special ops who muster out to raise their family in relative peace, and which also features Luke seeking out relics from the Old Jedi Temple as a way to begin again?

 

I thought no connection to TFA would be a selling point for you.

 

I meant nothing connected to the Heroes of Yavin in relation to TFA, a vague search for relics is a given after RotJ. I don't care about Poe, he is no Wedge, Tycho, Wes, or Hobbie.

It would be, but that comic is connected to TFA, just not in the way I would want if I was interested in what they are doing.

 

I was first sort of upset they weren't doing more with Wedge and co., but I'm wondering if the novels are being intentionally apprehensive to use them because of their potential to appear in future films. Not necessarily the ST, but maybe the anthologies. The third anthology film could be about Veers's revenge against that one good shot Janson had that brought down his best AT-AT buddy.

It won't be but I'm going to live in my magical world believing that until it's confirmed otherwise.

 

In reference to the original question, Is the EU to timid. Well I think Doctor Aphra is a great character (a bit Harley Quinnish) and clear evidence of not being timid in the character sense for the new EU.

 

It's about the revenge of the one-armed wampa--Veers is simply a supporting character.

 

With Aftermath, i don't think the trouble was that the characters were new, or that the marketing was a little off. The problem is the name. Just the name, 'Aftermath,' is a little too presumptuous for what that book was. It did not show the aftermath of the galaxy. We did get to see snippets, and those were great. But the larger story of the novel was a new groups adventure against Rae Sloane. It just needed a more suiting title.

I did not like Aftermath. I think Chuck Wendig needs to work on his writing. I'll definitely read the next one, especially now that I know what to expect, but hopefully it earns it title by then. If the first book was just set up, then that is fine.

 

I agree, as a character she's not timid at all, nor are her crazed droids!

That said I too feel that some of the stories out about now are a bit timid. My guess is that there's so much in the pipeline that authors are given some pretty heavy restrictions in terms of what they can do and affect in the universe and also in what they can reveal. Being boldly creative under such circumstances might be pretty difficult.

 

If "timid" means "nothing like the Vong or Abeloth," I'm not complaining. I've always felt that the EU's place is to develop the universe, not change the direction of the story.

 

I cannot like this enough.