Star Wars: Visions Season 1 was fantastic. The first episode, The Duel, brings in a new character type—a Sith hunter who collects Kyber Crystals. The episode was so well received that it inspired two prequel comics, a sequel in Season 3, and a novel called Ronin: A Visions Novel.

Takashi Okazaki wrote the original story, with studio Kamikaze Douga producing and Takanobu Mizuno directing.

The first chapter of the novel, written by Emma Mieko Candon, retells The Duel. It doesn’t match the animation, but it works if you’ve already seen the short.

That’s about the only positive thing I can say about the book.

I picked up the book because I enjoyed Star Wars: Visions Season 1. I expected the novel to be an anthology and as well written as the series, but it was neither.

I didn’t mind that the book continued and expanded on one of the best shorts in the anthology. What bothered me was the writing. The constant changes in pronouns and names made me put the book down more than once. Only stubbornness kept me going, and it even made me question my love for reading.

One of the best tips for reading more is to remember that it’s okay to stop reading a book you don’t enjoy. Reading shouldn’t feel like a chore, and good books shouldn’t be a struggle.

After making it through about two-thirds of the book, I put it down and tried to figure out why I found it so bad. I learned it was the author’s first novel, which explains the unpolished writing and confusing style. The confusion was made worse by the focus on identity politics, self-projection, and shifting pronouns.

Ronin: A Visions Novel is only for those who have a high tolerance for amateurishly written gender-for-attention-centric fan fiction. For everyone else, at least the paper is soft and absorbent.