Splendid narration for a truly terrible book
So I grew up with Star Wars audiobooks. All the way back when they were on cassette tapes during the days when my father was in the military and he'd come to drives cross country to stay with him for while, before driving us back home during Summer and Winter vacations. And these days, I listen to them while doing my artwork. They're nostalgic, as well as really entertaining. I own every single Star Wars audiobook, to my knowledge and now, I've just bought the Aftermath trilogy. I was so happy to see that the books were still being written after my hopes for more of them were crushed when Disney declared that the EU was no longer canon. But to my horror, the new line of books are worse than the new line of films in so many ways. Firstly, I want to talk about the quality of the writing itself. The previous books, dating all the way back to some of the first ones, which only got better as the newer ones came along, had a wonderful flow to them. The story-telling was nearly seamless and very well allowed the readers/listeners to immerse themselves into the time line. They had this way of painting vivid pictures, down to the smallest details without being obstructive to how the events unfold. They built suspense and no detail was wasted. Which is to say that if it was mentioned, it would be used at some point and they always tied up loose ends. And Marc Thompson ALWAYS narrates the story extraordinarily well.

Chuck, I'm sorry to say, does not embody these qualities in his writing. His story-telling has a very stop-go-stop-go mechanic to them. In fact, the herky-jerky feel to his style makes it seem as though an overly ambitious high school freshman was trying (and failing) to live up to the previous standard we have all come to expect from the Star Wars books. He doesn't paint any vivid picture even once in the story, so far as I have read. The descriptions of settings and actions are parsed into what feel like incomplete sentences and, when read, sound almost as though William Shatner were "singing" some obscure song. For example: "It's raining. Thick drops. Thunder rumbles. Inside, Timtom tinkers with his droidbits. He remembers his troubled past. Thunder Rumbles again... it's wet outside". And no this is not a direct quote from the book, but certainly gives the feel of it, albeit a bit exaggerated. Apart from all this, the present tense is just... frankly jarring. For one thing, the story takes place in the distant past, as even the most basic Star Wars nerds knows by seeing the iconic opening to ANY of the Star Wars films. Past tense makes sense. And apart from that, the vast majority of stories of this type are typically written in past tense, so, at least in my opinion, readers are more comfortable with past tense anyway. But in this case, Chuck writes in the present tense in such a way as to make it feel as though he doesn't really know his way around it. This is made even worse during the many interludes that distract the reader from the main story and seem to have nothing to do with the main plot at all. And I highly doubt it ever will. I can't even say for certain that the interludes occur at around the same time as the events that unfold during the main plot. They seems to be there... just to add an artificial note of suspense. But all it does is create confusion using characters that none one knows of or even cares about, for the most part.

As if all this weren't already bad enough; Chuck, like the ever increase number of mainstream writers, has been bitten by the political bug and promotes his social agenda in an equally contrived fashion as the rest. Now, as a full disclaimer: I have many friends within the LGBT community, though I do not belong to it. I am, in fact, celibate and, therefore, don't hold any sexual attraction to any of the characters in the Star Wars universe. Moreover, I am fully aware and well-versed on the current social issues going on today and understand why people are outraged, as well as gratified whenever stuff like this happens. But the fact is that today's social issues should have no bearing on the story here, or on the Star Wars universe as a whole. In a universe that large and diverse, it makes sense that there would be gay relationships. Especially given the inclinations of certain species. To mention that and even to include it would be perfectly fine, but you can tell when it's natural and when it's forced. Much in the same way that Star Trek offended George Takei by making Sulu gay, when he was never portrayed as such in the series (which means they messed with his character/lore in a misguided attempt to appease the gay community... by exploiting the gay community, as well as Takei's character), or when romances develop seemingly out of nowhere and causing an uproar about forced romance and so on, Chuck shoves his agenda into the story, without even finding ways to make it fit.

The specific examples of this "all inclusive" writing involve a lesbian relationship between Nora's sister and her wife raising her child, Temmin, a young child's "two dead fathers" and Sinjir. Now the case of Sinjir is interesting. He's a character I actually rather like. He's mostly looking out for himself in the same way Fin does in the current movie trilogy, but in a much different way. He does his job well and he's not at all incompetent. He's skilled, let's be frank. He's shifty and he's shady, and even sometimes a bit cowardly. He's a genuinely dynamic character and, more or less the typical Imperial... except he has a conscience. But he is written rather inconsistently. The reason why I bring him up as an example here is that, very late in the story, he begins to talk about his past. He talks about his victims and eventually mentions the "beautiful boy" whose "beautiful face" he ruined. Being completely candid here, man, he sounds like a total rapey creep, but it was immediately evident as to what was being done. But I let it go because his past is his past and reveals a bit about his personality.

Now of course, earlier in the story, Sinjir meets Jazz, who he attempts to save from the clutches of Surat by means of acting like he wants to buy her off of him, after being prompted by signs of recognition. The implications of lecherous intent are made, of course, but his plan falls through and they are both captured and caged up next to each other. Jazz makes it perfectly clear that she is disgusted with him and he tries to make it clear that he was only trying ot help and not to buy some sex toy off of a gangster, which the charade may have indicated. She escapes her cage and only comes back for him because on admitting that he is an ex-imperial loyalty officer, she thinks he might be useful to her. At no point in the book does it make it clear that they are attracted to each other in any way. And yet, while navigating the underground catacombs below the city, Jazz straight up says to Sanjir that if they get out of their predicament alive, she'd consent to mate with him. First off, why even? Jazz's internal struggle makes her wary of trusting other people and she is only just breaking out of her shell. Why on Earth would be just come out and say that she wants to hook up with someone she never even showed the slightest romantic interest in? But of course, the answer is made perfectly clear only a moment later in this very awkward exchange. Sinjir reveals to her that he isn't interested. To which she becomes flustered; thinking that he thinks he is too good for her. Sinjir then informs her that he is not attracted to women. And her response is... "Oh... ohhhh". And nothing more is said of the matter. Once again, I have to say that it has no bearing on the story at all. It doesn't even really affect his character either. All it did was create an awkward moment between the characters, and for the readers. Even the gay readers I know said they wish it never happened. And two dead fathers of the young boy in one of the many interludes that doesn't show up or influence anybody ended up just being totally pointless trivia for a character no one's even gonna see anymore of. And finally, the wife or Nora's sister, who only shows up once and has one or two lines... just another meaningless character thrown in to appease the "new aged" readers.

On top of that, the rest of the male characters are presented as either being pigheaded, or altogether weak and brainless while the female characters are, for lack of better phrasing, OP and shallow. On one hand, you have Wedge, who is supposed to be an ace pilot and a hero of the rebellion, reduced to a simpering weak grunt and on the other, you have Timmon, who is supposedly street smart and tech smart enough to survive the criminal world on his own, while building his own business, and yet so stupid and childish when his mother comes around that he constantly finds ways to put everyone in sticky situations that his mother has to get them out of. Then, or course, there is his mother, Nora, who forces the male pilot out of the seat of his own ship because she immediately knows she's going to be a better pilot than he is, despite his credentials, and despite her distaste for war, which is inconsistent throughout the entire story. And Timmon's father, who is supposedly a heroic rebel who was just nabbed by the Imps and never heard from again. Then there's Jazz, who's skilled enough to be a Mandalorian, but has no personality to speak of. She's easily the backbone of the team, however. And then, of course, there is the Imperial side of things. Literally all of the men on this end are blustering, bumbling buffoons. All except for the Sith cultist, who is a creep and never has anything useful to contribute. Rae Sloann and her assistant are the only ones carrying any of the weight while everyone else pitches fits and... well, doesn't demonstrate any of the qualities necessary for becoming Moffs or important Imperial officials.

And this is all just in the first book. I hear from many reviews and ratings that this crap just gets worse and worse. But I have a little bit of wisdom for the writers of this book. One hardcore fan to writers of books that seem to have ignored the greater bits of lore.First off, yes, there are many MANY species in the series, include some hermaphrodites. But even those hermaphrodites referred to their physical gender using conventional terms. And the vast majority of the species only have two genders. But it is common knowledge, as I say, that there are more than two for some species. But they also didn't go around using fad terms like "zhe" and I remain rather certain that they'd be insulted to be compared with the SJW brand of social posturing that much of the LGBT community is already uncomfortable with being associated with. And no, Lando is NOT a pansexual in the old lore. He was ALWAYS a womanizer. Always. There is even a whole book about it and his search for a new wife, which is how he met Tendra. Anytime he was attracted to a member of a nonhuman species, it was a female. Just go back and read it instead of trying to twist Lando's history to fit the new role. But him being a pansexual now is a blatant warping of his character and likely won't even have any bearing on the story. So why even make the change? It's just another extraneous detail added in to appease the so called "new age" viewers. But those same new age viewers are also finding it unnecessary, in large part.

...Oh and by the way... TIE FIGHTERS ARE NOT MANEUVERABLE! Nora pilots a Tie fighter and remarks at just how astoundingly nimble the ship is. But any Star Wars nerd like myself can tell you that this is horribly... horribly inaccurate. As if I needed anymore proof of the fact that the people handling Star Wars now are not even close to being well versed on EU's, or the current canon. They don't even know that the Tie fighter is fast, but not at all maneuverable. In fact, the things are commonly considered to be death traps, especially in atmosphere.

But anyway, I'll be honest. I don't really think the need for romantic advances or relationships were needed for this story, unless they are going to have an impact of the rest of the story. Otherwise, they're just extraneous fanservice and fanservice destroys immersion anyway. None of that shit is important. Instead of pandering to the fans, give them what they actually came for. That's why they are there in the first place; they come back because the story already got them hooked for what it was, regardless of what they might wish for. Fanservice is already a slimy practice, but it's far worse to forgo the greater interest of the fanbase to favor a divisive political agenda that alienates loyal fans. And Chuck shamelessly shoehorns his so called "progressive" political ideals into his story, where they are hopelessly out of place, then attacks anyone that questions it, claiming they are "homophobic, racist bigots". And it's worth mentioning that members of the LGBT and non-white communities among the people questioning his "all-inclusive" antics. Heck, even I'm not white; I'm mostly Greek. To be frank, I've already been told by several members of the LGBT community that they feel misrepresented and embarrassed because people like the Tumblr brand of SJW and overbearing liberal bias is causing uproar where it never should have been in the first place. They are already trying to make it so that they can be accepted for who they are without having to suffer, and now these various forms of media are making all this trouble, irritating the masses and brewing all kinds of ill will on all sides. It's irritating an issue that should have already been resolved without a fight.

I wanted to like these books. Granted, I'm curious to see what happens, but I'm only going to listen to them for the sake of being up to date on the current lore. I already know I am not going to enjoy the journey, but I wish to stay well informed. For what it's worth, the story of the first book so far is at least sort of interesting, but it's delivery is subpar. I'd give it a two of five, but it was such a confusing and frustrating mess that I couldn't possibly give it even that much praise. Realistically speaking, and especially comparing it to the rest of the books, I'd have to give it a 1.5 and that's being generous.