Oh and...
Ethril wrote:
I wrote for my highschool and college newspapers, I've written movie reviews for several sources, I've had short stories published various places, and I'm at around the 400 page mark in what I hope will be about a 500 page novel. I suppose none of that proves that I can write, but it proves that some people seem to think so, and it proves I've certainly put some thought and time into the subject. Maybe I'll rewrite a page later.. I don't really feel a need to prove myself, though.. for one thing, no insult intended, but I don't really care what people here think of me.. and for another thing, you and I seem to actually be agreeing.. I admited that the novel was a fun read, I just said it certainly wasn't "well-written".. it's certainly not literature with a capital L by anybody's standards. The main point of my post wasn't to prove my vast knowledge of writing, it was just to defend the person who got all attacked just for daring to say that the prose was disjointed and simpleminded.. which it obviously is..
Ethril, ( hi

), if I understand you (a claim I'm hesitating to make) your problem with Stover's storytelling is that it's "disjointed" and "simpleminded." alright, the first sounds like 1 part personal preference and 2 parts cemented mind conditioned with a dash of "rules of thumb" made law, for seasoning. this doesn't go a long way toward supporting your claim, IMNSHO, so, hopefully, you have other points warming the bench.
As for it being "simpleminded," I'm sort of wondering what brand of flowery language were you expecting to find in a Star Wars novelization? Besides, how often do you find prosey prose in a book anymore? the trend for at least four decades now has leaned toward minimalism but I know you know that so no need to get into it.
also curious if your opinion of Stover's style hinges entirely on those excerpts? His non-SW fiction
is "Literature with a capital 'L' " and I know plenty of people far more well-read and well-written than either of us who would agree.
Now, just from all of the snippits I've come across here and elsewhere, I'm on the verge of calling this the best novelization put into print. Now, that's not a very tall order and I haven't read all that many novelizations but if I can be convinced otherwise, I'm willing to eat those words.