Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Finally finished this one today. It wasn't as abysmal as other reviewers made it out to be, but it definitely wasn't my favorite Star Wars read. Things I liked: - Yay! New post-ROTJ stories leading up to "The Force Awakens"! Cool! - Admiral Sloane. The first real link between the time period depicted in the "Rebels" TV series (and the "A New Dawn" novel) and the post-ROTJ continuity. Plus, she's a pretty well-rounded character. Unlike most of the rest in this book. - The Interludes. Honestly, I would've liked a book with just a bunch of short stories on all these planets dealing with the...uhhhh...aftermath of the destruction of the second Death Star. That would've been much more compelling than the small story we got here. - A reference to "Fulcrum." Interesting. - The last third of the book (roughly). Once the action started picking up I found myself much more eager to find out what happened. Things about which I was indifferent: - All of the previous post-ROTJ continuity built up over the past 25 years is out the window. Meh. Trying to follow all of that would've put everybody in a bind, so I can't blame Disney for that decision. - The present tense narrative style. Not my cup of blue milk (more on that later). That doesn't make it bad writing, just a style for which I don't care. Did make it a little bit more difficult to read, but wasn't a show-stopper. - ANY of the characters besides Sloane. Although I guess that should be a negative. Things I didn't like: - Way too many idioms, metaphors, and terms from our world when a Star Wars term could've been used instead. Inhabitants of the Star Wars universe don't say, "Cup of tea," they would probably say, "Cup of blue milk" or something like that. A special ops guy in trouble wouldn't use words like "pigeon" and "falcon," he'd use "myknock" and "hawkbat." Would somebody in Star Wars say, "Spit in the eye of the giant," or would it be, "rancor" or even, "pull the tail of the gundark"? These are the sorts of things that separate a Star Wars story from any other story. - Is Nora alive or dead? I didn't care the first time, so I really didn't care the fourth or fifth time (I lost count). - A supposed professional combat pilot for the Rebel Alliance didn't know that a TIE fighter had an ejector seat. Oh, and an ejection mechanism isn't placed to where it can be randomly activated by accident. THAT is lazy writing. - Shallow characters with little depth or background. Pretty clichéd, too. The end of the book implied further adventures with this crew. Not excited about that prospect. - The first two thirds of the book with the incessant introspection and interpersonal conflict between mom and son, bounty hunter and former Imperial, Sloane (JUST SHOOT THEM) and the tired stereotypical members of the council, and the insipid Mr. Bones. - Admiral Ackbar and Wedge Antilles. These two (along with the other, even briefer Original Trilogy character appearances) felt shoehorned in. Didn't add much to the story, although with the new continuity there at least is an element of "they might not survive." Yeah, I'm sure they were setups for future books. Things which offended me on a personal level: - Wait for it...wait for it...WRONG!!! Nope, not what you're thinking. What offended me was the use of the word "hale" to identify the pieces of ice present inside a thunderstorm. As a weatherman for over 20 years, well, my eyes are still rolling. It's spelled "hail." THAT, more than anything else, took me right out of the story. :-)