Lit Wendig and Aftermath - why the hate?

I don't like Wendig's books and I don't think that's ever going to change, to the point that I won't be buying A:EE unless I see some glowing reviews from people I trust. It's just not for me, just like Kevin Anderson or Troy Denning were not for me.

But the response was disproportionate, and it came from the usual suspects. From the crazies and the bigots, in case you were not sure what I meant. Another of the many things that make me ashamed to call myself a nerd.

 

A good number of the people harping the loudest about the book were ones that seemed to have a bit of an agenda. If people read the reviews on amazon it wasn't a rare ocurrence at all for a reviewer to bash Wendig's novel while in the same review say how great the EU was and what a mistake it was to reboot the Expanded Universe.

 

Eh, as useless waste goes, it's pretty small potatoes. I agree a charity would have been awesome and probably more effective but the world is full of people who waste millions on boats, cars, and clothes they don't even enjoy.

At least this was something people were passionate about and brought them joy.

 

I hear Lucasfilm is going to allow the group that put that billboard together to have a fan booth at celebration this year where they are going to give away prizes for people who bring them 'legends' books that they can donate to libraries. Hopefully if they are intent on only giving prizes away for 'legends' books they advertize it well and if someone comes willing to donate a 'canon' book they aren't bumbs about it.

 

I'm glad to see I've promoted some discussion with my question! I found the present tense a bit tough at first but then got over it. I found them both an easy read. That may be because I'm hungry to learn what happened in those missing years.

Sinjir and the aunts weren't an issue for me and I'd only heard/read folk had issues with homosexual characters being included - I didn't expect anyone here to take the negative stance.

Someone else mentioned they enjoyed this because they never delved much into the EU - I think I'm the same. I'd like to read the Thrawn trilogy but never have.

 

It's sad some people had an issue with Sinjir because he has the best arc in the series by far.

 

Well, contrary to what some might say, there's really nothing stopping you from doing so.

 

Ahem...points to signature...

It's a good series you should read it.

 

I think Wedge is a goner since Dennis Lawson had a falling out with SW when he called it "boring".

 

I have to be honest, I was so excited for this book when it came out, and I do believe at the time it WAS being marketed as "The beginning" of the NEU in the sense that this was where we were going to start getting into the stuff that was the bread and butter of the old EU. I found the book itself to be all but impossible to get into. Style aside, this is not how you start the main thrust of the NEU. If there was no way to tell a story about even the formation of the New Republic without spoiling TFA then by gods just don't release this book at all until after the movie. Journey to the Force Awakens was certainly a marketing gimmick that didn't pay off in any meaningful way. The Clone Wars multimedia project this was not. In addition I don't necessarily think its unfair for old EU fans to have expected well....something better then this. I'm not one of those extreme EU people who were boycotting this thing but I do think we deserved a better written and more interesting opening novel in this era of the canon. People were going to compare it to Heir to the Force. They had to expect that. More then Wendigs writing I quesiton the decision to give this novel to someone who writes in the genrally off-putting way he does.

And yes the interludes were way more interesting then the actual story. That is really not a good thing for this book. ANY one of the interludes would have made a more interesting novel on their own then Aftermath.

 

Aftermath was meh. Life Debt was much better so I'm hoping EE is better then I suspect.

 

I love Shattered Empire and Lost Stars, but putting the Journey logo makes these stories a importance that in fact, doesn't have for TFA.

 

I get what you're saying and disagree at the same time. Just because there are more frivolous and wasteful people, less wasteful doesn't get a pass. I'm sure the boats and cars make those people happy too.

I generally argue in defense of Wendig because I Mostly thought the negative criticism disproportionate as well.

The book was mediocre...A pretty typical Star Wars novel. There was so much blatant bigot bashing and BBL butthurt... It's a little surprising people have seemed to have forgotten that already. (The end was pretty good, and I did like Life Debt a great deal more though.)

The bigots even posted a little here. I was glad to see the mods crack down hard and immediate on that and really make clear it just wouldn't be tolerated.

On the flip side, due to the good modding, it may have also functioned to shield a lot of TFN forum posters from realizing the scale.

 

That's entirely possible, but my memory's a finicking thing, I'm willing to just concede the issue. I often joke with my girlfriend that I'm gonna be 120 one day, unable to remember my robot grandchildren's names, but at least I will be able to recite the first six Star Wars movies to them to keep them entertained.

 

So I've noticed that many of you disliked his writing style and how the way Chuck handled his reviewers, but I'm curious, did you guys like the overall plot?
For me I like the plot very much, I liked the Imperial talking to one another, trying to figure out a way to get back on their feet.

 

Aftermath's plot was kind of small-scale and low-key; I feel like AND did the "disparate misfit rebels save a planet" thing much better, to say nothing of many older stories. Life Debt was much cooler in that regard. As people have noted, I blame the "mystery box" for most of this.

 

I'm hoping there isn't a journey to the last jedi coming up.......

Lucasfilm seemed to have learnt the lesson that it was a pointless marketing ploy that didn't go down well with fans as I don't recall there being a road to rogue one

 

To be fair, he said Star Wars was boring for him, and his roles in Star Wars have been pretty limited and boring: show up, get dressed like a fool, say three or four lines, and then spend the rest of your life getting asked about movies you were barely in. I understand why he wouldn't want to sign up for that again. I just think that refusing to take a day out of your life to work a job that will make millions of people happy is a little selfish, particularly if you're going to trash-talk when doing so.

The solution, of course, would be to give Wedge something to do in these new movies. Seeing him around the table at D'Qar would have been cool, but not as cool as him actually having a real impact on the story.

I can't bring myself to like Wendig's style. Present tense is weird enough, but he uses a lot of dashes and semicolons, which destroy and sense of pace or flow for me. That being said, I am hugely interested in the story he is telling, and he seems to be doing a good job at that.

 

Exactly. Lawson isn't a young, inexperienced actor, he can afford to pick his roles, but the TPTB seemed to assume he'd just come back at their call.

That said I wouldn't see him describing it as boring to be him slagging off SW, that we'd have heard about and it would likely be far sharper.

 

I've said it before but I hated how in the first aftermath Wendig would do the technique of "And everything went black" far too many times especially at the end with Norra doing a suicide run with a tie fighter only to wake up the next page safe and sound.

Also, what's people's opinions on Wendig making Wedge a Milf hunter in canon

 

I really wanted to, but I just do not like Sinjir. What's stopping me from liking him is just a lot of his dialogue. The things he says just do not seem like things a real person would say at all. He seems like he's some weird caricature that just makes these really strange jokes and remarks that break your immersion. It feels like Wendig just uses Sinjir as his "joke man" to make this kind of remarks even if they don't seem natural at all.

 

Warning.....

Spoilers.....







I can partially explain that. Wedge was in/will be in a few more episodes of Rebels. He seems to have feelings for . There being shipped by fans. That covers now, but doesn't explain back then when the book came out. Oh is my broadcast order incorrect? Anyway Wedge/Nora ( NorWed? ) is over since Nora's husband is alive.

 

So... Ezra strikes Wedge down in a jealous rage over Sabine and turns to the dark side?