Book Review: Aftermath (Book #1 in the Aftermath trilogy) (A “Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens” book) by Chuck Wendig

Right off the bat, I have to admit that I definitely went on quite a rollercoaster ride when it came to me simply trying to decide whether or not I should actually read Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath. When I first saw Aftermath at Barnes & Noble back when it was first released in 2015, I immediately became intrigued by the book and interested in reading it after seeing the cover of the book, and reading the plot description that’s on the cover of the book. However, seeing that Aftermath had gotten a lot of mixed, if not bad, reviews really made me reluctant to read this book. I’m a big fan of the Collider YouTube channel’s weekly show, Collider Jedi Council, and Kristian Harloff, who’s one of the show’s regular panelists, repeatedly criticizing Aftermath on Jedi Council, even calling it garbage at one point, really scared me away from reading Aftermath even more than I already had been for a very long time. However, I ultimately started to have some serious doubts about whether or not I should actually avoid reading Aftermath simply because it had gotten a lot of mixed reviews, and because Kristian Harloff had repeatedly trashed the book, after I read James Luceno’s book, Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel. I read Catalyst partly because Kristian Harloff had repeatedly raved about the book, and called it a must read; and I ended up hating it when I read it. The fact that I hated Catalyst really made me question if I should actually let Kristian Harloff’s thoughts on Aftermath be the primary basis of whether or not I decided to read it. Ultimately, I decided to read Aftermath, and I have to admit that I went into reading this book with low expectations.

With that being said, while Aftermath does have its fair share of flaws, I ended up really enjoying this book for the most part, and I’m so glad that I read it. After actually reading Aftermath and seeing for myself what I thought of the book, I definitely have to disagree with most of the comments that Kristian Harloff has made regarding Aftermath. I think it’s safe to say that my taste in Star Wars books definitely differs from his to a certain degree, and I personally feel like people in general have been way too harsh when it comes to their critiques of this book. I definitely regret letting the fact that Aftermath has gotten a lot of bad or mixed reviews be the reason that I didn’t read it sooner, because I’ve never let a TV show, movie, or in this case a book, getting bad or mixed reviews keep me from giving it a chance, and enjoying it in the past. I honestly have no idea why I let that keep me from reading this book back when it first came out, and I immediately became interested in it.

Perhaps it’s because I’ve always considered myself to be more of a Star Trek fan than a Star Wars fan; even though I’ve been a fan of both Star Trek and Star Wars since the prequel trilogy was released, and I was a kid at the time. I definitely know very little about all of the Star Wars books that are out there, and I’ve been trying to prioritize which Star Wars books I want to read based on which books have been recommended by various Star Wars fans on YouTube. I’m just now really getting into reading Star Wars books, and I ultimately feel like Aftermath definitely succeeded in getting me truly interested in reading more Star Wars books, which is definitely something that Catalyst failed to do. For the record, I’ve recently finished reading Timothy Zahn’s new book, Thrawn, and I hope to post a review for the book relatively soon, but I digress.

Book Review: Dark Intelligence (Book #1 in the Transformation trilogy) by Neal Asher

While I usually like to start off my reviews on a positive note, especially when I’m reviewing a book that I liked, and for the record, I really loved Dark Intelligence for the most part; I feel like I need to begin this review by discussing what’s definitely the biggest complaint that I have about this book. The reason why I want to start off this review by discussing the biggest complaint that I have about Dark Intelligence is because I want to preface this review by saying that Dark Intelligence is the first book by Neal Asher that I’ve ever read. I feel like I need to be upfront about that right from the start of this review in case people who’re much more familiar with Asher’s books read this review, and feel like I don’t know what I’m talking about. If people read this review and feel that way, I definitely apologize for that. I always try my best to get the details regarding a book straight whenever I write a review for it. That being said, while I really loved this book and I was definitely blown away by the overall quality of Asher’s writing; the biggest problem that I think this book has is that it definitely lacks a sense of accessibility to people like me, who’ve never read any of Asher’s books before.

When I originally bought my copy of Dark Intelligence, which was well over a year ago, I was initially unaware of the fact that while it’s the first book in the Transformation trilogy, it’s also a part of the Polity universe that the majority of Asher’s books take place in; and that it builds upon events that take place in some of Asher’s earlier books. It was only after I had already started reading the book that I really started to realize how tied in and connected to Asher’s previous books Dark Intelligence truly is. I definitely found that rather frustrating and confusing since this is the first book by Neal Asher that I’ve ever read, and I had been really excited to read it ever since I first saw both Dark Intelligence, and the second book in the Transformation trilogy, War Factory, at Barnes & Noble.

While I think it’s great that Asher has created an elaborate universe for his books to take place in, I can definitely see some people viewing the fact that a lot of Neal Asher’s books are set in his Polity universe, and the fact that his books clearly build upon each other as a deterrent from deciding to check out his books. I think that would be a real shame, because Asher is definitely a very talented writer. That being said, I really feel like Asher could have done a better job of writing Dark Intelligence in such a way that makes it accessible to new readers who’re relatively, if not entirely, unfamiliar with his books; while also expanding the mythology of the Polity universe that he’s introduced and developed in his previous books for his long-time fans.