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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really enjoyed this second book in the trilogy. The climax was very tense! I am looking forward to reading the third book.
Star Wars: Cut Away
This book frustrated me, not just in that it took me several months to finish but in a way that made me want to chuck it out of the window every single time I read the words ‘Rae Sloan’
…I do not care for Rae Solan and you may quote me on that! Every single time one of her chapters came up I would count ahead how many pages I had to slog through to get to the characters I actually cared about. I don’t care about her, her views on the empire (I switched off when her character said that ‘slavery was necessary up to a point’-a sentence you would expect an imperial to say, but why was it presented in such a way that it felt like the author was playing devils advocate?) I don’t care about Rax, about Adea, I don’t care about any of it. Important to the plot maybe, but a boring stuck-in-a-room-talking villain also.
So…aside from that…the book was okay. I liked it in ways I didn’t the previous book, and disliked it in new ones. I felt that we were told about this bond between the crew, but never really saw it as we spent so much time focussing on other characters. Sinjir and Jas continue to be my favourite people to read as I truly get a great sibling vibe that grew from a reluctant friendship from the two of them, but the others? I wanted more but never got it.
To the ‘life debt” section of Aftermath: Life Debt, I like Han Solo well enough, and I love to read about Kashyyyk, but the book took so long getting to that point that it felt tacked on to me. Also by that time, half of the group have split off to serve the R*e Sl**n third act storyline that has been building up like a broken air-horn in the background, so the focus of the story is muddled and pulled in several different directions. ‘We freed the Wookiees, yay! But enough of that, SHOEHORNED POLITICS!’
I don’t want to sound too negative, I genuinely enjoy these characters and this book series, but as I try not to start a new book before I’ve finished my current one, Aftermath: Life Debt gave me enough time to marinate in my annoyance. It was long in all the most boring parts but short in all the one you actually want to read about. What I think this book suffers from the most is a case of ‘second book in a trilogy’. The story stands alone, but I can’t help thinking ‘let’s get this over with and get on to the more exciting bits’.
…and the Interludes……I’ve suffered through quite enough of those to last me a life time.
3/5 Stars for Life Debt, disappointing in regards to how much I enjoyed the first book. I’m hoping that Empires End will be far better than this.
This book frustrated me, not just in that it took me several months to finish but in a way that made me want to chuck it out of the window every single time I read the words ‘Rae Sloan’
…I do not care for Rae Solan and you may quote me on that! Every single time one of her chapters came up I would count ahead how many pages I had to slog through to get to the characters I actually cared about. I don’t care about her, her views on the empire (I switched off when her character said that ‘slavery was necessary up to a point’-a sentence you would expect an imperial to say, but why was it presented in such a way that it felt like the author was playing devils advocate?) I don’t care about Rax, about Adea, I don’t care about any of it. Important to the plot maybe, but a boring stuck-in-a-room-talking villain also.
So…aside from that…the book was okay. I liked it in ways I didn’t the previous book, and disliked it in new ones. I felt that we were told about this bond between the crew, but never really saw it as we spent so much time focussing on other characters. Sinjir and Jas continue to be my favourite people to read as I truly get a great sibling vibe that grew from a reluctant friendship from the two of them, but the others? I wanted more but never got it.
To the ‘life debt” section of Aftermath: Life Debt, I like Han Solo well enough, and I love to read about Kashyyyk, but the book took so long getting to that point that it felt tacked on to me. Also by that time, half of the group have split off to serve the R*e Sl**n third act storyline that has been building up like a broken air-horn in the background, so the focus of the story is muddled and pulled in several different directions. ‘We freed the Wookiees, yay! But enough of that, SHOEHORNED POLITICS!’
I don’t want to sound too negative, I genuinely enjoy these characters and this book series, but as I try not to start a new book before I’ve finished my current one, Aftermath: Life Debt gave me enough time to marinate in my annoyance. It was long in all the most boring parts but short in all the one you actually want to read about. What I think this book suffers from the most is a case of ‘second book in a trilogy’. The story stands alone, but I can’t help thinking ‘let’s get this over with and get on to the more exciting bits’.
…and the Interludes……I’ve suffered through quite enough of those to last me a life time.
3/5 Stars for Life Debt, disappointing in regards to how much I enjoyed the first book. I’m hoping that Empires End will be far better than this.
I enjoyed this more than the first installment, as the backstories and personalities of the cast of new characters introduced in Book 1 become more vivid, and they intersect more often with familiar characters from the freshly expanding Star Wars universe. There's a nice balance of street-level stories of regular denizens of the universe (a la Rogue One) and command-level stories of icons like the Skywalkers. The book moves forward in connecting the dots between Episodes VI and VII. Looking forward to reading the final piece.
I’m enjoying this trilogy. It has everything that’s great about Star Wars.
Better than the first book in this series and we get to witness classic Han Solo and Chewie!
I recently finished listening to the audiobook version of this. I had been listening to this with one of my kids in the car, anytime we were out and about running errands we would listen to this.
It is great. My son loved it, and I did too.
This series is set shortly after the Return of the Jedi. It primarily follows a set of new characters, but they do interact with characters from the movies (Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, etc.). It is plot heavy and involves the New Republic fighting against the remnants of the Empire.
I have to call out the narrator on this series. He is excellent. He does great voices, it's alway clear which character is speaking and they are all distinct. He does a pretty good job with the movie characters voices, too.
Another nice thing with this audiobook is that it has some sound effects and music. Not overwhelming, but enough to make it interesting. Like a background hum when they are on a spaceship, some blaster sounds in a space battle, and occasional bits of Star Wars music at important moments. It's a really nice touch.
We have already started the third bool.
It is great. My son loved it, and I did too.
This series is set shortly after the Return of the Jedi. It primarily follows a set of new characters, but they do interact with characters from the movies (Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, etc.). It is plot heavy and involves the New Republic fighting against the remnants of the Empire.
I have to call out the narrator on this series. He is excellent. He does great voices, it's alway clear which character is speaking and they are all distinct. He does a pretty good job with the movie characters voices, too.
Another nice thing with this audiobook is that it has some sound effects and music. Not overwhelming, but enough to make it interesting. Like a background hum when they are on a spaceship, some blaster sounds in a space battle, and occasional bits of Star Wars music at important moments. It's a really nice touch.
We have already started the third bool.
Everyone got horny and it was hilarious.
Wendig's idea of true love appears to constitute not much more than mutual attraction over a brief period of time. His main OC (his creation TM do not steal) has been awkwardly asked out on a date and this is of course the makings of a real and deep love that we should ship ahead of her existing marriage because:
a) her husband's PTSD makes him unattractive
b) OC is too special to be paired with anyone but an OT character
c) it's the relationship we read about
Reviews suggested this was a better book than the first. It was not. It might have been a bit less obnoxious with respect to a few of the author's tics, but I'm not sure if that was a deliberate scaling back of the stupid stuff or if I'm just getting used to it. It certainly wasn't very good, regardless. Also, I expected much more from Mr Bones and I'm disappointed that he hasn't been explored any further.
Wendig's idea of true love appears to constitute not much more than mutual attraction over a brief period of time. His main OC (his creation TM do not steal) has been awkwardly asked out on a date and this is of course the makings of a real and deep love that we should ship ahead of her existing marriage because:
a) her husband's PTSD makes him unattractive
b) OC is too special to be paired with anyone but an OT character
c) it's the relationship we read about
Reviews suggested this was a better book than the first. It was not. It might have been a bit less obnoxious with respect to a few of the author's tics, but I'm not sure if that was a deliberate scaling back of the stupid stuff or if I'm just getting used to it. It certainly wasn't very good, regardless. Also, I expected much more from Mr Bones and I'm disappointed that he hasn't been explored any further.
Overall, I think this book was better than the first in this trilogy. Where I struggle, is that I really want novels that focus on the Big Three (Han, Leia, and Luke). Star wars has been about the Skywalker family for so long that it is somewhat challenging to read a novel in which Luke especially is non-existent. I think this novel does a good job, however, of continuing to build the world post ROTJ. I think as more stories are told in the era between ROTJ and TFA, I will come to enjoy it more.
It was a lot easier for me to get into this one since I knew all the characters going in. I appreciated seeing Nora's team work as Imperial Hunters in this book. It felt like all the set up in the first one paid off with those moments.
It's funny, because on one hand I appreciated getting so much of Han, Chewie, and Leia in this installment, but on the other hand, I'd gotten so invested in Nora, Sinjr, Jas, and Temmin that I almost didn't like spending the time away from them. (Sinjr especially, because I love him.) Not that I didn't like the storyline about freeing Kashyyyk! Give me wookies and give them freedom! The action sequences on Kashyyyk were some of the very best.
All that praise aside, Chuck Wendig is mean to Wedge and should feel bad about it. All I'm going to say is: flowers, are you kidding me? Chuck Wendig is why Wedge can't have nice things.
Again, the character work was extremely engaging. Jas and Sinjr get the most interesting development and I love how their arcs both encompass relationships and how they look at those relationships so very differently. I love scenes with the two of them. They're a nice foil to the Han & Chewie friendship since they have that same kind of trust, but it's built on something else. I don't think either of them envisions the other playing with their kids (PS another reason Chuck Wendig should feel bad, re: comments about Chewie being involved in the life of Han's son), but they would be there for each other if someone kicked dirt in their face. They're not good people, necessarily, but they have a code that is honorable, even if it's just among thieves (and that is what makes interesting characters).
I decided to listen to this one on audio book. I really enjoyed the voice work for the different characters and about 90% of the sound effects. There were some sound effects, like a whirring during comm communication, that were annoying, and a handful of times when the sound effects didn't quite align with what Star Wars had taught me to expect. The music was also about 80% effective. The times when it didn't work was when specific themes were used that didn't align with the characters/events in the book. The most egregious to me was using "Across the Stars," for Han and Leia. Dudes, they literally have their own theme. Use that one.
It's funny, because on one hand I appreciated getting so much of Han, Chewie, and Leia in this installment, but on the other hand, I'd gotten so invested in Nora, Sinjr, Jas, and Temmin that I almost didn't like spending the time away from them. (Sinjr especially, because I love him.) Not that I didn't like the storyline about freeing Kashyyyk! Give me wookies and give them freedom! The action sequences on Kashyyyk were some of the very best.
All that praise aside, Chuck Wendig is mean to Wedge and should feel bad about it. All I'm going to say is: flowers, are you kidding me? Chuck Wendig is why Wedge can't have nice things.
Again, the character work was extremely engaging. Jas and Sinjr get the most interesting development and I love how their arcs both encompass relationships and how they look at those relationships so very differently. I love scenes with the two of them. They're a nice foil to the Han & Chewie friendship since they have that same kind of trust, but it's built on something else. I don't think either of them envisions the other playing with their kids (PS another reason Chuck Wendig should feel bad, re: comments about Chewie being involved in the life of Han's son), but they would be there for each other if someone kicked dirt in their face. They're not good people, necessarily, but they have a code that is honorable, even if it's just among thieves (and that is what makes interesting characters).
I decided to listen to this one on audio book. I really enjoyed the voice work for the different characters and about 90% of the sound effects. There were some sound effects, like a whirring during comm communication, that were annoying, and a handful of times when the sound effects didn't quite align with what Star Wars had taught me to expect. The music was also about 80% effective. The times when it didn't work was when specific themes were used that didn't align with the characters/events in the book. The most egregious to me was using "Across the Stars," for Han and Leia. Dudes, they literally have their own theme. Use that one.
I have started a new obsession of star wars books because of this series. I really wanted to know what happened before the sequels, and this answered a lot of my questions and helped me understand some theories I’ve been seeing online. It is a really good idea for any fan wondering the same thing to read these books and a lot of the other ones two, which I also found helpful.