Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule

[unspeakablehorror]

I finished Light of the Jedi.

Wow, that was a lot of manifest destiny nonsense composed of forgettable characters and awkwardly written description.  I found out that Charles Soule is primarily a comic book writer, though, and to be honest I think that might explain a lot about why this novel seems so amateurish.

Comic book writers are often writing for existing characters and thus have little to no need to create their own.  Much like fanfic writers, this can potentially mask a lack of skill with characterization.  This novel, taking place in an entirely new time period in the Star Wars universe, is composed almost completely of OCs.  I feel like  Soule is simply not equipped to handle the characterization requirements of this story.

In addition, comic books are a highly visual medium, so I imagine most description the writer creates is primarily intended as notes for the artist.  Considering the novel's descriptions in this context explains a lot, I think, as to why they seem so awkward.  The descriptions in this story actually seem very apt as utilitarian notes intended for an artist, but there is, for the most part, no artistry to the words themselves, no attempt to consider word choice, and no attempt to paint a mood or a tone or a theme along with the image.

I'll give this story some points for actual use  of a hard scifi concept (acceleration weapons), taking advantage of established Star Wars world building, and a serviceable (though hardly inspired) plot, but overall I do not recommend.

I do have a lot of thoughts on this novel, though, and how the High Republic time period in general has been constructed by Disney, so I might expand on all that later.

Rating: 3/10