Book Review: 'Star Wars: Aftermath' (Book One of the Aftermath Trilogy)
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| (C) 2015 Del Rey Books/Random House and Lucasfilm, Ltd. |
Like all Star Wars novels published since Disney-owned Lucasfilm scrapped the old Expanded Universe in the spring of 2014, Wendig's Aftermath trilogy is part of the "new canon" that includes the six original Saga films, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and the upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Aftermath begins with a brief introduction that sets up the story a la the title crawls of the Saga films:
The second Death Star is destroyed. The Emperor and his
powerful enforcer, Darth Vader, are rumored to be dead. The
Galactic Empire is in chaos.
Across the galaxy, some systems celebrate, while in others
Imperial factions tighten their grip. Optimism and fear
reign
side by side.
And while the Rebel Alliance engages the fractured forces
of the Empire, a lone rebel scout discovers a secret
Imperial
meeting....
Wendig whisks the reader first to Coruscant, where he revisits a scene from the finale of Return of the Jedi: a cheering crowd tears down a giant statue of Emperor Palpatine in Monument Plaza. As the jubilant Coruscanti celebrate the downfall of the oppressive Empire, Imperial police clad in red-and-black armor arrive in armed airspeeders to reassert Imperial authority - by shooting laser cannon into the crowd of revelers.
But still, those gathered are not cowed. They are no longer a crowd. Now they are a mob. They start picking up hunks of the Palpatine statue and lobbing them up at the airspeeders. One of the speeders swings to the side to avoid an incoming chunk of stone - and it bumps another speeder, interrupting its fire. Coruscanti citizens climb up the stone spire behind both speeders - a spire upon which are written the Imperial values of order, control, and the rule of law - and begin jumping onto the police cruisers. One helmeted cop is flung from his vehicle. The other crawls onto the hood of his speeder, opening fire with a pair of blasters - just as a hunk of stone cracks him in the helmet, knocking him to the ground.
Chaos and confusion engulf Coruscant and thousands of other worlds as the victorious Rebel Alliance begins to restore democracy to the galaxy and declares a New Republic. Supreme Chancellor Mon Mothma, against the advice of many Rebel leaders, is considering drawing down the Republic military as a first step to end the war and bring peace and justice to trillions of war-weary beings.
In an effort to discover what the remnants of the Empire are up to, the Republic has dispatched intelligence-gathering agents into the far reaches of space.
Among them is former Red Squadron commander Wedge Antilles, veteran of the battles of Yavin, Hoth, and Endor, and the only Rebel pilot to participate in the destruction of two Death Stars. Now attached to Republic intelligence, Wedge has piloted a small, nondescript freighter on a recce mission to discover how the shards of a shattered Empire are keeping their war effort going after the demise of Emperor Palpatine and his infamous minion, Darth Vader.
After successfully exploring five systems, Wedge arrives over the remote planet of Akiva. Located near Mustafar (home to Vader's private castle), Tatooine, Geonosis, and Raydonia, Akiva lies in the Outer Rim, making it a perfect hideout for Imperial officials on the run.
As Wedge mulls over why he's on this mission, trouble comes - in the shape of three Imperial Star Destroyers, including Admiral Rae Sloane's Vigilance. Though he tries to bluff his way out of this situation, Sloane's ship catches Wedge's smuggling/spy vessel in its tractor beam before Wedge can make the jump to light-speed. The Starhopper is destroyed, and Wedge becomes a prisoner of the Empire.
At the same time, former Alliance fighter returns to her home world of Akiva, eager to reunite with her son Temmin and start a new life on another planet far, far away. Like Wedge, she's a veteran of the Battle of Endor and other engagements in the war against the Empire. She also bears the heavy burden of knowing that her husband, Brentin, was arrested by Imperial authorities when Temmin was a small child. Evading the Imperial forces over Akiva, Norra and smuggler Owerto Nalucho make their way down to the surface.
Determined to preserve
the Empire’s power, the surviving Imperial elite are converging on Akiva for a
top-secret emergency summit—to consolidate their forces and rally for a
counterstrike. But they haven’t reckoned on Norra and her newfound allies—her
technical-genius son, a Zabrak bounty hunter, and a reprobate Imperial
defector—who are prepared to do whatever they must to end the Empire’s
oppressive reign once and for all. - from the jacket flap blurb, Star Wars: Aftermath
My Take
Though fan reaction to Chuck Wendig's Star Wars: Aftermath has not been as open-armed as that to Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire back in 1991, his first novel set "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" is, nevertheless, entertaining and interesting. It is fast-paced, certainly - it only took me three days to get through it when I first read it a year and a half ago.
The book, which was a New York Times Bestseller when it was originally published, has its fair share of positive qualities, including:
- A good, action-packed opening sequence
- Wendig's choice to use Rae Sloane - a character introduced in John Jackson Miller's Star Wars Rebels prequel novel A New Dawn
- The "Interludes" that show what is happening in other worlds across the post-Endor galaxy
- It doesn't lean on the main Saga characters (except maybe Wedge Antilles. who is - at best - a supporting character in the original Star Wars Trilogy)
- Good cast of all-new characters, including Star Wars first gay character, Sinjir Rath Velus
- Formidable Imperial antagonists, including Admiral Sloane and the mysterious fleet admiral who commands the Ravager, last of the Empire's Super Star Destroyers
- The book's sometimes sloppy editing - one Amazon reader, who happens to be a weatherman, had this to say about that topic:
Things which offended
me on a personal level:
- Wait for it...wait
for it...WRONG!!! Nope, not what you're thinking. What offended me was the use
of the word "hale" to identify the pieces of ice present inside a
thunderstorm. As a weatherman for over 20 years, well, my eyes are still rolling.
It's spelled "hail."
- There are other peculiarities, including the use of well-known (but non-Star Wars-like) slang, such as something not being a character's "cup of tea" and other Earthbound terms that could have been replaced by slang used in Star Wars movies and/or other books
- Wendig's choice to tell the story in present tense - it doesn't bother me too, too much, but it might bother other readers
Is Star Wars: Aftermath destined to be a classic in its genre (Star Wars-related fiction)? Probably not quite in the same way that Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy once was, even though those books are now published, per Disney's 2014 edict, under the Legends banner. The characters and situations do connect the Original Trilogy to The Force Awakens and beyond, and Wendig tries manfully to tell a complex and compelling story in a style that a wide range of readers can enjoy. It's just that Aftermath is probably not every fan's cup of blue milk.
Sources:
http://www.starwars.com/news/the-legendary-star-wars-expanded-universe-turns-a-new-page
https://www.amazon.com/Aftermath-Star-Journey-Force-Awakens/dp/034551162X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1492191090&sr=8-4&keywords=star+wars+aftermath+hardcover
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