Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

“Space Diapers” Star Wars: Aftermath kind of follows Nora Wexley, Snap Wexley's mom. I say it kind of follows her because even with her being roughly the main character she's only maybe in about 60% of the book. The rest of the book is random one-off chapters following characters we either don't care about or have literally never met before, who pop in for a chapter on some remote planet and then disappear again. However, you can count on them resurfacing randomly later in the book to shut down any momentum that might actually give the book a sense of energy. It's all in this attempt to show how the different edges of the galaxy are handling the fallout of Return of the Jedi and the last remnants of the Galactic Empire trying to keep control over a widely-revolting empire that is crumbling beneath them as the Rebel Alliance builds the beginnings of the New Republic. All of this SOUNDS interesting, all of this SHOULD be interesting, but it isn't. First, the book spends three (approximation) chapters following Wedge Antilles being kidnapped, and you think he's going to be the main character of the book but once he gets kidnapped you never hear from him again. By this point we’ve basically burned three chapters of inconsequential action and set up for payoff that won't come until the last couple chapters of the book. I use the word “payoff” loosely since Wedge gets rescued “off-screen.” However, Chuck Wendig didn’t seem to care too much about the actual plot of the book, so neither will this review. The world building of this book is spotty which isn’t too much of an issue since the good thing about a shared-universe book is that world building isn’t as important. Except, Chuck Wendig butchers the Star Wars universe at every opportunity. He squeezes in one-liners from the movies that felt organic in their time, but don't make sense for another character mentioning them for no reason. Wedge says "Oh no they're on me, I gotta do what my pal Han Solo always says and Fly Casual." Han Solo said that once, and it was never a motto, infact he just pulled it out of his ass. Also, Han Solo never talks to Wedge Antilles in the films so I don't know why we're pretending they are best pals. Perhaps Chuck Wendig thought that if we’re suspending disbelief that every dramatic problem in the galaxy focuses on one Skywalker family, that we won’t mind characters quoting characters they’ve never met before. Wrong. Don’t even get me started on Chuck Wendig slipping an Admiral Ackbar “It’s a Trap” meme in the middle of his “Please take this seriously” book. To top off all the terrible call-outs, Chuck Wendig then has a fan-favorite ruthless bounty hunter, Dengar, unironically use the term “Space Diapers.” What makes a diaper a “Space Diaper?” Does it defy gravity? Does it hold in excrement even in the vacuum of space? Why did the word “diaper” need to have “space” in front of it other than a cheap attempt to make something mundane sound cool and sci-fi? Anyway, the story bounces around so much that you end up asking what the hell is going on and why we keep getting parts of the universe told from the viewpoint of random characters. But the thing that really chafes me, that set me off and offended me as a reader and as a writer is that he recycles the same “dramatic” element of the story twice within 100 pages. Nora Wexley on two separate occasions steals a TIE Fighter (With no real explanation of how, she just easily stole one) On both occasions she gets in a dogfight, on both occasions she loses control and decides to Kamikaze her TIE Fighter to save everyone and on both occasions she says "Atleast I saw my son again!" right before the TIE Fighter eats it... and then ON BOTH OCCASIONS SHE JUST MIRACULOUSLY SURVIVES. TIE Fighters have no shields, are cheaply made by the empire to have mass-produced ships and are known to blow-up at the smallest firepower, but somehow Norra Wexley survived not one, but TWO explosions of her TIE fighter and she has never even flown a TIE Fighter before. "Space Diapers" was terrible. Describing TIE Fighters with the same Wasp analogy every time one of them is flying around was terrible. Constant call-outs to popular fan quotes was terrible. But literally reusing the same fake-death sequence for the same character, that inexplicably survives within 100ish pages of one another isn't just like not knowing the Star Wars universe, it's terrible writing, terrible plotting and lazy as hell. HOW IS THIS THE MAIN TRILOGY THAT THE NEW CANON WILL BE BASED AROUND? WHO THOUGHT THIS PERSON COULD BE TRUSTED WITH THIS? Meanwhile Claudia Gray is writing the best Star Wars books I've ever read but the majority of the fandom's only interaction with the new canon is Chuck Wendig’s "14 year old writes terrible rambling fan fiction in one draft that no editor ever looks at twice before sending to print." I give Star Wars: Aftermath 2 Stars. One star for the turncoat imperial officer who helps the main characters and is actually a very interesting character and one star for me finishing this book and knowing I never have to read the probably equally-terrible sequels.