path of vengeance

Star Wars: The High Republic: Path of Vengeance is a novel published by Disney Lucasfilm Press, so is is a novel or is it film related merchandise? I'm not sure, but it does seem clear that the author is likely working for the publisher, or is (was) under contract to produce this novel. Why do I say that? Well, if this author decided to write this on their own and just submitted it to Disney in hopes that they'd publish it, then this is fan fiction, and if this was an assignment that Disney gave to them then its merchandise, right? At least it is first and foremost; in my mind anyway.

Why is that important? For the same reason that when you pick up a book in the bookstore that has Tom Clancy or James Patterson's name on it. Those people aren't writing the stories, someone else is. Who? Somebody, but you'll probably have to dig a little to find their name. you can find your own links, I'm not going there

So what is the difference between an author who has been published in their own right, and an author who works for a corporation like Disney or James Patterson? Well, I don't think these companies are author mills, but the focus does appear to be more on cranking out the material (merch) rather than publishing the highest quality novels they can.

Long introduction (rant?) concluded. That said, here's where I am on Path of Vengeance and its author, Cavan Scott: The story was interesting, the writing isn't that great. 

I looked up Cavan Scott, who seems to be a good comic artist, and many comic artists are talented story tellers. Scott seems to have come up with a pretty good story, and it also seems like he originally started with Disney doing comics for them, and then started writing for them more recently. When you take a look at his work, it seems mostly to be comics. The writing isn't awful, its just a little flat, and has way too many clichés and idioms. Clichés aren't the worse things, but when you're writing about people living in a galaxy far, far away, its just unlikely that they are going to say things like we do, and that takes us out of the narrative. It lifts the veil. see what I did there? It disturbs our need to suspend disbelief while reading fiction. Here are some examples from the first few pages:

"the skin of her... teeth" p. 4 

"his nose had... been put out of joint" p. 8

They're pretty regular all the way through, and even the similes pull the reader out of the galaxy where the story takes place. Like the slur about Evereni being "sharks" or describing a creature that "ran on four legs like a lion." I assume they don't have sharks and lions in their galaxy. Its just the easy way out.

One cliché I couldn't find when writing this entry was something like 'lit up like a Light Festival bough.' That's just a lit up like a Christmas tree, with a few words changed. Try harder, bro.

Am I a snob? Maybe, but I probably won't go looking for more of these books. This one was a gift, and I'm very grateful. The story was fun, and it was interesting to look back at the Star Wars universe at a time when the republic was at peace, and things were good. This era seems ripe for stories, shows and movies, as well as books and comics. I just think the production value should be there regardless of the medium.

Here's an interview with Cavan Scott and 4 other authors working for Disney on these books and comics.