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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
3.5! Definitely enjoyed this one more than the first. I will be reading the conclusion.
i listened to the audiobook. I loved the readers reading of sinjir. Thats about the only thing that I liked about this book. The 100 different povs and interlude chapters are soooooo ugggghhhhh.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Life Debt was even more enjoyable than the first novel. The characters were already well established, so we could dive right into the story. Basically the band of characters has to come back together to help Han, Chewie and Leia. I think the addition of more familiar characters felt natural and helped fill some gaps in storytelling that were missing from the movies. This is the best depiction of Leia that I have seen outside of the original movie content. She is nuanced and has so much depth here. We see her struggle to keep the New Republic on it's feet with her husband missing while she's pregnant with their child. We see her conflict with Mothma and how Leia gets her name and face slapped on the rebellion, even when she didn't always believe in their methods.
Han and Chewie get their time to shine, as they take on a lead to Chewie's home planet in an attempt to free his enslaved people. We see the deep connection between Han and Chewie and how they're willing to do anything for each other. Both of them are fleshed out and well rounded characters here, instead of Chewie getting pushed to the side because he's a "side character" or because he's difficult to understand. I loved the moment where Han tells Chewie he loves him. This again felt like one of the best characterizations of Han and Chewie that I've seen in the expanded universe.
And as for the characters we came to know and love in the first book, they're still as wonderful and intriguing in the second. Norra's story is such an interesting one, where she must learn to live with being reunited with a husband she barely knows anymore and feeling a deep sense of loss and disconnect from someone she once loved. She gets tangled up with Wedge Antilles, which doesn't go well here. Temmin is acting out like any child would in his situation, where he doesn't understand his parents new relationship and had hopes of his family being "normal" again, only to have those hopes squashed. His droid is absolutely bonkers in this story, as well, and provides some good comic relief. Sinjir, my love and my life, continues on with his journey to self acceptance. He's become fiercely loyal to the group they've established, while still remaining doubtful that he deserves the second chances he's getting after leaving the Empire. His relationship with Conder is lovely and we see a lot of angst from Sinjir about how deserving he may or may not be of Conder's love. WE LOVE A WELL DEVELOPED GAY STAR WARS CHARACTER WITH A LOVE INTEREST!!!
These are simply well written novels that contribute so much to the Star Wars universe, with a new set of characters and old, familiar characters. I hope that Disney will one day see the advantages in including diverse characters in their narrative. One day, maybe we'll see gay characters on screen who are the main focus of the story, instead of meaningless side characters thrown on screen for the sake of diversity points. Until then, I will continue to devour the small morsels of representation available in the expanded universe.
Han and Chewie get their time to shine, as they take on a lead to Chewie's home planet in an attempt to free his enslaved people. We see the deep connection between Han and Chewie and how they're willing to do anything for each other. Both of them are fleshed out and well rounded characters here, instead of Chewie getting pushed to the side because he's a "side character" or because he's difficult to understand. I loved the moment where Han tells Chewie he loves him. This again felt like one of the best characterizations of Han and Chewie that I've seen in the expanded universe.
And as for the characters we came to know and love in the first book, they're still as wonderful and intriguing in the second. Norra's story is such an interesting one, where she must learn to live with being reunited with a husband she barely knows anymore and feeling a deep sense of loss and disconnect from someone she once loved. She gets tangled up with Wedge Antilles, which doesn't go well here. Temmin is acting out like any child would in his situation, where he doesn't understand his parents new relationship and had hopes of his family being "normal" again, only to have those hopes squashed. His droid is absolutely bonkers in this story, as well, and provides some good comic relief. Sinjir, my love and my life, continues on with his journey to self acceptance. He's become fiercely loyal to the group they've established, while still remaining doubtful that he deserves the second chances he's getting after leaving the Empire. His relationship with Conder is lovely and we see a lot of angst from Sinjir about how deserving he may or may not be of Conder's love. WE LOVE A WELL DEVELOPED GAY STAR WARS CHARACTER WITH A LOVE INTEREST!!!
These are simply well written novels that contribute so much to the Star Wars universe, with a new set of characters and old, familiar characters. I hope that Disney will one day see the advantages in including diverse characters in their narrative. One day, maybe we'll see gay characters on screen who are the main focus of the story, instead of meaningless side characters thrown on screen for the sake of diversity points. Until then, I will continue to devour the small morsels of representation available in the expanded universe.
Lots of filler. I struggled with this. I wanted to like this series - the first after the collapse of the Empire, but it was tough through the first and a difficult slog through the second. I ended up using audible narration and several weekend road trips to complete it. I don't plan to read the third of the trilogy.
If your looking for something as good as Empire Strikes Back... well, you won’t find it here. But you will find a fun continuation of the original trilogy that sets up the new trilogy. And maybe even a hint at the really lame twist that seemed to come out of nowhere in Rise Of Skywalker.
Of course, this is the second chapter, so I’d pretty dark. Much darker and edgier than I thought Star Wars would get. Arms are ripped off, heads are crushed, people (gasp!) have sex! It’s almost as if it’s a real war and people are real!
I had a lot of fun with it. The third volume is on its way to me now.
Of course, this is the second chapter, so I’d pretty dark. Much darker and edgier than I thought Star Wars would get. Arms are ripped off, heads are crushed, people (gasp!) have sex! It’s almost as if it’s a real war and people are real!
I had a lot of fun with it. The third volume is on its way to me now.
Just like Aftermath, Aftermath: Life Debt was an action-packed good read from start to finish. The plot is well thought out and the story told from a variety of perspectives. I know others have complained about The interludes, but I rather enjoyed them as they help to provide context to what others in the galaxy are going through during the overarching battle between the Empire and New Republic. Can’t wait to read Aftermath: Empire’s End.
I had a lot of fun with this book, but it wasn’t the same kind of page turner that the first was. I still light up every time that Sinjir, Sloane, or Jas enter a scene, and I appreciated the grounding of the story with Han, Leia, or Mon Mothma. But there are more than a couple of characters that I don’t care at all for, and that hurts the ensemble nature of the story. That said, it is very awesome to see a liberated Kashyyyk and having the story culminate on Jakku feels right (even if the sequel movies aren’t the best in the series). I am excited to finally wrap this trilogy up!
These are not great books, but I want to know what happens in the storyline. So, I'm going to keep reading even though they're just okay.
So, the book picks up what seems as if maybe a month or so after the events of the first. Enough time has gone by so that the characters are a bit more comfortable with each other and have picked up on each others habits.
Right off the bat, Nora Wexley is the worst mother of all time. She literally says she'd rather put her son in the way of death rather than retire. What the hell kind of mother says that?? I almost like the fact that she's this flawed, and hope something comes of it, cause… that's pretty horrible of her.
Our first 'cold open' chapter is about a young kid on Jakku. We're given more scenes and setup of just how much of a wasteland Jakku is. I mean they really hammer it home that anything that comes to Jakku, is pretty much doomed to a life of rust, death, and abandonment. The boy see's a shuttle enter the atmosphere and touch down. It's black, sleek and new looking so it stands out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the junk he's surrounded by. He gets very close to the ship and a man and some droids step out. (this could be the character of some importance to the fledging Empire that we see Rae Sloane address at the end of Aftermath). He orders are view various droids to unload some boxes connected by a web of green laser light. (actually going back over the chapter with the physical book, I notice that it's 3 decades prior to the events in Aftermath, putting it roughly in the time period of early A New Hope? And also that the character's name is Advisor Tashu.)
Spoilers ahead but that the end of the chapter the boy, is called "Galli"… the name and sound rang very familiar to me. And I suddenly recalled the name Gallius Rax, but I didn't know who or what this character was and how it related to anything. (Too many episodes of Jedi Council) So I googled Gallius Rax and bingo, was slapped across the face with a fist full of spoilers:
"Gallius Rax, formerly known as Galli, was a human male officer from the planet Jakku who served the Galactic Empire during the reign of Emperor Sheev Palpatine. At the time of Palpatine's death in 4 ABY, Rax had risen in the military ranks and became Fleet Admiral of the Imperial Navy. The Super Star Destroyer Ravager served as his flagship.
So from the get go we are immediately thrown for a twist. Once again… we have a potential betrayal by a team member. (previous book it was Teimen…) Now have Jas "selling them out". This trope and "twist" is probably the most used and cliché device Star Wars pulls and it's become to the point that it doesn't even phase me anymore. I'm reading this knowing for a fact that Jas is going to just reveal a better superior double agent cross and rescue them… And guess what? It happens.. But honestly I'm not sure why it needed to be done aside from 'dramatic' appeal. They get turned over by Jas and are put in easily escapable cages…again…just like the first book. Wendig really…really needs to make a more creative effort to put our characters into danger. "Backstabbing" and imprisoned in cages has run it's course..Anyway as expected and of almost no surprise, they escape thanks to a that cliché double agent rescue plan… We get yet another jail break scene. Teimen is called and he shows up with their ship, "the halo" and of course they're chased by TIE's but manage to escape.
I'll say this, some good character interaction makes the group feel more deep. Jom didn't and still doesn't trust Sinjir since he's a devote New Republic trooper, and doesn't trust Jas since she's a bounty hunter. There's some tension here between the group. And this doesn't seem to be reconciled with the actions of Jas.
Chuck does a good job in blending near seamlessly the characters from the original trilogy and the sequel trilogy. We're given a chapter (one of the Interludes) that deals with Maz Kanata. The story is rather flat and worn out by now of a guy who was bombed during the war, his family was killed and now he's a drunk lost soul. Okay, this has never been done before… Anyway it was nice though to see Maz Kanata show up and have her be fleshed out a bit. I didn't really enjoy Maz's character in the first FA movie, but the more I see of her, the more I enjoy her.
I'll also say this..Chuck is really keeping on top of the sexual tension. I haven't read a star wars book with more sexual innuendo and mentioning about "having a go" or "climbing her" ever… I don't mind it, but it's really apparent.
Rax, makes contact with on Bith agent who informs him that the Emperor's Contingency plan is working…
He summons Rae Sloane and tells her that he wants to plan an assault on the New Republic Stronghold of Chandrilla. He's not very forthcoming with the details. Sloane though is stunned. I'm really not liking his character, just far to methodical to be a realistic villain. He's apparently "testing" her just like any overly amped up moustache twirling villain. All part of his master plan yada yada, but everyone is just too beneath him to know about it. This trope kills me…
Interlude…
Wow, seriously Wendig actually creates a sorrowful and real backstory and fleshed out character of the Rancor keeper from Return of the Jedi…Very nice.. His tears and weeping will mean so much more to me now…Mala'keely apparently is now lost, unemployed, and wanders Tatooine… He has no direction or purpose.. He's heavily in debt to Tuskans and Jawa's. He's attacked by some 'collectors' but they're quickly dispatched by two vigilante's… by two people in Mandaloreon armor… One of them is a Twi'lek, the other is a man. They offer Mala'keely protection and a stay in their town on Tattooine if he can provide some use and follow the law. Apparently these two are sort of mayors of the town. A very wild west feel to the story here. Mala'keely relates that he used to own and train Rancors. The two "lawmen" tell him that they could use his work with some pesky feral beasts lately. He's over joyed and joins them…
Now I'm happy to say I really enjoyed the sort of 'mini villain' that is Gollas Aram. He's a Sinieteen, which is a pretty deep cut in terms of species. But it's pretty much a very large brained type of race that has a very analytical mind. They capture him trying to flee and despite their normal best efforts they can't scare him into giving him any information on the prison. It's not until Sinjir, sadly must stoop to a very long level and threaten to jab an antennae into his ear lobe and cause him massive brain damage. Aram values high intelligence, and unlike the over the top Rax Gallius, he doesn't come off as just a pompous and cringy big bad. The character here reminds me of an old retired Nazi being brought in on war crime charges. Another level of great writing here is that Sinjir feels monstrous for doing this. He, for the first time, takes no joy in this or actually wants to or has any intention to follow though with it. Great character pivoting here. He does eventually "break" Aram and we don't know exactly what it took, but as he leaves the chamber of Aram…he's clearly disguisted with himself.
We then are given a sort of oddly written and thought about prison break scene. They Falcon and accompanying Halo touch down on Kashykk, and the area that Gollas gave as the co-ordinates is a desolate and completely empty and dead area. Tree's are grey and dried up, armormants are abandoned and broken. Looks like a battle scoured the landscape decades ago. They indeed locate the prison, which actually isn't ground based, but it's on a ship that's presumably docked or on the ground. The complex itself appears almost ancient, and deserted. And apparently Chewie, who they captured perhaps at the most a week ago, is somehow stationed here? If this were an active Imperial prison where they are still stocking with P.o.W's then how is it abandoned and left in such a place of refuse. They enter the prison ship and it's pretty much HAL 3000. They are put on lockdown and have to escape the only creatures on board, some droids. I just don't think it's very realistic in the slightest that they would capture the mighty Chewbacca, just to put him in some very random remote desolate prison that seems like it's pretty much forgotten. I mean this deserted prison makes for some good creep factor but having it be active just sort of leaves me scratching my head at the logistics of it…
One of the interludes is on Ryloth, home of the Twi'lek's. A lone storm trooper is abandoned by his garrison company who's sick. A roving group of freedom fighting Twi'leks, they encounter the trooper and kill him. They're surprised to see that the garrisons are packing up and leaving. We're introduced to a character that sounded very familiar…a Twi'lek named Yendor:
"He later served in the New Republic as an emissary to the senate from his homeworld of Ryloth, when he informed the Senate about the Nikto crime lord Rinnrivin Di's cartel, that was threatening Ryloth's external trade. As a result, Senators Leia Organa and Ransolm Casterfo traveled to the planet Bastatha to investigate and discovered that Yendor's concerns were valid. Later, Yendor hosted Leia when she and her team visited the Ryloth archives to look for information on Rinnrivin and his cartel."
Again I love Wendig's use of canon and already established characters and villains. I hope this continues.
Rae and Norra. Big big showdown, hand to hand. And normally I'm not a huge lover of fight scenes, this one felt earned. It was really well described, gritty and you can tell both had a very deep grudge against the other. They hammer at each other, pounding away. Rae was also fleeing from Adea and apparently Senate guards (?) they catch up to the fight, and Rae who was about to take out Norra, flee's. Norra gives chase and shoots her off a cliff.
I swear this act of ending a chapter with someone being "Shot" is getting really freaking old and fast…
Sloane and apparently her new BFF Brenten, arrive at Jakku to try to get a lock on who and where Rax came from…now I'm not really sure as to what they could find that would help Sloane in any case… What I really enjoy though is that Sloane is sort of a very idealistic Imperial. Reminds me very very much of Ransolm Casterfo in the Claudia Grays bloodline novels. In fact as an aside, I really like how Gray and Wendig seem to be lock n step with each other regarding the canon and the stories. Anyway on Jakku, Sloane is wandering through the dusty market places, when they see a fleet of Star Destroyers and one Super, come out of hyperspace. This also questions the plausibility that a huge mass like a Star Destroyer can enter atmosphere from hyperspace…pretty sure it can't…
Any way our last scene in the book is in the form of an epilogue that continues from the preface of the book. It's the young Rax Galius right when he climbs into the ship on Jakku. Hidden, the ship takes off after setting up the mining equipment… He's then confronted on board the ship by none other than Shevv, aka Palpy Palpatine. In an interesting twist, I think I was expecting him to ask the boy to be his student and let him teach and train him in the ways of the force and sith. But instead, palpatine tells the boy to return to Jakku, and to guard the area in which he placed the excavation equipment. Seems like a pretty cool idea, and I enjoy that Wendig made this decision for Rax, instead of him becoming yet another XYZ sith bad guy. Unfortunately what we got with Rax is that he's pretty much, yet another XYZ Imperial bad guy, but atleast he's not going to be shooting lightening from his hands..(As far as I know…there is indeed one more book that follows).
So…all in all this series has really done it for me. While I think I may put Bloodline a bit ahead of this one still, I really had fun with this. It wasn't over the top in too many area's, the dialogue was so far better than A New Dawn. It felt real. That was something in A New Dawn that I was disappointed by, the dialogue was too 'cartoonish', too many one liners, ill placed sarcasm, etc, it just didn't feel like anyone would talk like that in real situations. With BloodLine and both of Wendig's works, the dialogue not only feels natural, it fits almost like a glove to our characters that we know. So well done Mr. Wendig. The only draw backs I really have are the (very) repetitive uses of cliff hangers at the end of the chapters… C'mon we all know Norra is not going to die by a laser shot…or Sinjir dying from a stab wound or something, not every chapter needs this 1950's Buck Rogers cliff hanger..
Again, was very disappointed in the cliché-ness of Rax's character and personality. Too much like a moustache twirling bad guy trying to impress daddy Thrawn or something. I actually enjoy the other Imperial "mini bosses" that we get through the novel. These characters like Yupe, And the moff of Kashsyyk are far more interesting.
Great job Mr. Wendig, I think he scored yet another win here. Life Debt (a title which looking back..I don't think is a good fit for this series) should be, along with this entire series so far, a must read for the new canon junkies..
Last but not least is the great job done by the narrator of the audio novel Marc Thompson. If you are a vet of Star Wars audio books, this is not news to you, but he does such a great job in capturing the voices of our known heroes. Han Solo's voice sticks out to me as new perfect, likewise his Emperor Palpaltine is amazingly spot on as well. Palpatine is thankfully only very very briefly here, but once he speaks, Thompson knows it out of the park.
Right off the bat, Nora Wexley is the worst mother of all time. She literally says she'd rather put her son in the way of death rather than retire. What the hell kind of mother says that?? I almost like the fact that she's this flawed, and hope something comes of it, cause… that's pretty horrible of her.
Our first 'cold open' chapter is about a young kid on Jakku. We're given more scenes and setup of just how much of a wasteland Jakku is. I mean they really hammer it home that anything that comes to Jakku, is pretty much doomed to a life of rust, death, and abandonment. The boy see's a shuttle enter the atmosphere and touch down. It's black, sleek and new looking so it stands out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the junk he's surrounded by. He gets very close to the ship and a man and some droids step out. (this could be the character of some importance to the fledging Empire that we see Rae Sloane address at the end of Aftermath). He orders are view various droids to unload some boxes connected by a web of green laser light. (actually going back over the chapter with the physical book, I notice that it's 3 decades prior to the events in Aftermath, putting it roughly in the time period of early A New Hope? And also that the character's name is Advisor Tashu.)
Spoilers ahead but that the end of the chapter the boy, is called "Galli"… the name and sound rang very familiar to me. And I suddenly recalled the name Gallius Rax, but I didn't know who or what this character was and how it related to anything. (Too many episodes of Jedi Council) So I googled Gallius Rax and bingo, was slapped across the face with a fist full of spoilers:
"Gallius Rax, formerly known as Galli, was a human male officer from the planet Jakku who served the Galactic Empire during the reign of Emperor Sheev Palpatine. At the time of Palpatine's death in 4 ABY, Rax had risen in the military ranks and became Fleet Admiral of the Imperial Navy. The Super Star Destroyer Ravager served as his flagship.
So from the get go we are immediately thrown for a twist. Once again… we have a potential betrayal by a team member. (previous book it was Teimen…) Now have Jas "selling them out". This trope and "twist" is probably the most used and cliché device Star Wars pulls and it's become to the point that it doesn't even phase me anymore. I'm reading this knowing for a fact that Jas is going to just reveal a better superior double agent cross and rescue them… And guess what? It happens.. But honestly I'm not sure why it needed to be done aside from 'dramatic' appeal. They get turned over by Jas and are put in easily escapable cages…again…just like the first book. Wendig really…really needs to make a more creative effort to put our characters into danger. "Backstabbing" and imprisoned in cages has run it's course..Anyway as expected and of almost no surprise, they escape thanks to a that cliché double agent rescue plan… We get yet another jail break scene. Teimen is called and he shows up with their ship, "the halo" and of course they're chased by TIE's but manage to escape.
I'll say this, some good character interaction makes the group feel more deep. Jom didn't and still doesn't trust Sinjir since he's a devote New Republic trooper, and doesn't trust Jas since she's a bounty hunter. There's some tension here between the group. And this doesn't seem to be reconciled with the actions of Jas.
Chuck does a good job in blending near seamlessly the characters from the original trilogy and the sequel trilogy. We're given a chapter (one of the Interludes) that deals with Maz Kanata. The story is rather flat and worn out by now of a guy who was bombed during the war, his family was killed and now he's a drunk lost soul. Okay, this has never been done before… Anyway it was nice though to see Maz Kanata show up and have her be fleshed out a bit. I didn't really enjoy Maz's character in the first FA movie, but the more I see of her, the more I enjoy her.
I'll also say this..Chuck is really keeping on top of the sexual tension. I haven't read a star wars book with more sexual innuendo and mentioning about "having a go" or "climbing her" ever… I don't mind it, but it's really apparent.
Rax, makes contact with on Bith agent who informs him that the Emperor's Contingency plan is working…
He summons Rae Sloane and tells her that he wants to plan an assault on the New Republic Stronghold of Chandrilla. He's not very forthcoming with the details. Sloane though is stunned. I'm really not liking his character, just far to methodical to be a realistic villain. He's apparently "testing" her just like any overly amped up moustache twirling villain. All part of his master plan yada yada, but everyone is just too beneath him to know about it. This trope kills me…
Interlude…
Wow, seriously Wendig actually creates a sorrowful and real backstory and fleshed out character of the Rancor keeper from Return of the Jedi…Very nice.. His tears and weeping will mean so much more to me now…Mala'keely apparently is now lost, unemployed, and wanders Tatooine… He has no direction or purpose.. He's heavily in debt to Tuskans and Jawa's. He's attacked by some 'collectors' but they're quickly dispatched by two vigilante's… by two people in Mandaloreon armor… One of them is a Twi'lek, the other is a man. They offer Mala'keely protection and a stay in their town on Tattooine if he can provide some use and follow the law. Apparently these two are sort of mayors of the town. A very wild west feel to the story here. Mala'keely relates that he used to own and train Rancors. The two "lawmen" tell him that they could use his work with some pesky feral beasts lately. He's over joyed and joins them…
Now I'm happy to say I really enjoyed the sort of 'mini villain' that is Gollas Aram. He's a Sinieteen, which is a pretty deep cut in terms of species. But it's pretty much a very large brained type of race that has a very analytical mind. They capture him trying to flee and despite their normal best efforts they can't scare him into giving him any information on the prison. It's not until Sinjir, sadly must stoop to a very long level and threaten to jab an antennae into his ear lobe and cause him massive brain damage. Aram values high intelligence, and unlike the over the top Rax Gallius, he doesn't come off as just a pompous and cringy big bad. The character here reminds me of an old retired Nazi being brought in on war crime charges. Another level of great writing here is that Sinjir feels monstrous for doing this. He, for the first time, takes no joy in this or actually wants to or has any intention to follow though with it. Great character pivoting here. He does eventually "break" Aram and we don't know exactly what it took, but as he leaves the chamber of Aram…he's clearly disguisted with himself.
We then are given a sort of oddly written and thought about prison break scene. They Falcon and accompanying Halo touch down on Kashykk, and the area that Gollas gave as the co-ordinates is a desolate and completely empty and dead area. Tree's are grey and dried up, armormants are abandoned and broken. Looks like a battle scoured the landscape decades ago. They indeed locate the prison, which actually isn't ground based, but it's on a ship that's presumably docked or on the ground. The complex itself appears almost ancient, and deserted. And apparently Chewie, who they captured perhaps at the most a week ago, is somehow stationed here? If this were an active Imperial prison where they are still stocking with P.o.W's then how is it abandoned and left in such a place of refuse. They enter the prison ship and it's pretty much HAL 3000. They are put on lockdown and have to escape the only creatures on board, some droids. I just don't think it's very realistic in the slightest that they would capture the mighty Chewbacca, just to put him in some very random remote desolate prison that seems like it's pretty much forgotten. I mean this deserted prison makes for some good creep factor but having it be active just sort of leaves me scratching my head at the logistics of it…
One of the interludes is on Ryloth, home of the Twi'lek's. A lone storm trooper is abandoned by his garrison company who's sick. A roving group of freedom fighting Twi'leks, they encounter the trooper and kill him. They're surprised to see that the garrisons are packing up and leaving. We're introduced to a character that sounded very familiar…a Twi'lek named Yendor:
"He later served in the New Republic as an emissary to the senate from his homeworld of Ryloth, when he informed the Senate about the Nikto crime lord Rinnrivin Di's cartel, that was threatening Ryloth's external trade. As a result, Senators Leia Organa and Ransolm Casterfo traveled to the planet Bastatha to investigate and discovered that Yendor's concerns were valid. Later, Yendor hosted Leia when she and her team visited the Ryloth archives to look for information on Rinnrivin and his cartel."
Again I love Wendig's use of canon and already established characters and villains. I hope this continues.
Rae and Norra. Big big showdown, hand to hand. And normally I'm not a huge lover of fight scenes, this one felt earned. It was really well described, gritty and you can tell both had a very deep grudge against the other. They hammer at each other, pounding away. Rae was also fleeing from Adea and apparently Senate guards (?) they catch up to the fight, and Rae who was about to take out Norra, flee's. Norra gives chase and shoots her off a cliff.
I swear this act of ending a chapter with someone being "Shot" is getting really freaking old and fast…
Sloane and apparently her new BFF Brenten, arrive at Jakku to try to get a lock on who and where Rax came from…now I'm not really sure as to what they could find that would help Sloane in any case… What I really enjoy though is that Sloane is sort of a very idealistic Imperial. Reminds me very very much of Ransolm Casterfo in the Claudia Grays bloodline novels. In fact as an aside, I really like how Gray and Wendig seem to be lock n step with each other regarding the canon and the stories. Anyway on Jakku, Sloane is wandering through the dusty market places, when they see a fleet of Star Destroyers and one Super, come out of hyperspace. This also questions the plausibility that a huge mass like a Star Destroyer can enter atmosphere from hyperspace…pretty sure it can't…
Any way our last scene in the book is in the form of an epilogue that continues from the preface of the book. It's the young Rax Galius right when he climbs into the ship on Jakku. Hidden, the ship takes off after setting up the mining equipment… He's then confronted on board the ship by none other than Shevv, aka Palpy Palpatine. In an interesting twist, I think I was expecting him to ask the boy to be his student and let him teach and train him in the ways of the force and sith. But instead, palpatine tells the boy to return to Jakku, and to guard the area in which he placed the excavation equipment. Seems like a pretty cool idea, and I enjoy that Wendig made this decision for Rax, instead of him becoming yet another XYZ sith bad guy. Unfortunately what we got with Rax is that he's pretty much, yet another XYZ Imperial bad guy, but atleast he's not going to be shooting lightening from his hands..(As far as I know…there is indeed one more book that follows).
So…all in all this series has really done it for me. While I think I may put Bloodline a bit ahead of this one still, I really had fun with this. It wasn't over the top in too many area's, the dialogue was so far better than A New Dawn. It felt real. That was something in A New Dawn that I was disappointed by, the dialogue was too 'cartoonish', too many one liners, ill placed sarcasm, etc, it just didn't feel like anyone would talk like that in real situations. With BloodLine and both of Wendig's works, the dialogue not only feels natural, it fits almost like a glove to our characters that we know. So well done Mr. Wendig. The only draw backs I really have are the (very) repetitive uses of cliff hangers at the end of the chapters… C'mon we all know Norra is not going to die by a laser shot…or Sinjir dying from a stab wound or something, not every chapter needs this 1950's Buck Rogers cliff hanger..
Again, was very disappointed in the cliché-ness of Rax's character and personality. Too much like a moustache twirling bad guy trying to impress daddy Thrawn or something. I actually enjoy the other Imperial "mini bosses" that we get through the novel. These characters like Yupe, And the moff of Kashsyyk are far more interesting.
Great job Mr. Wendig, I think he scored yet another win here. Life Debt (a title which looking back..I don't think is a good fit for this series) should be, along with this entire series so far, a must read for the new canon junkies..
Last but not least is the great job done by the narrator of the audio novel Marc Thompson. If you are a vet of Star Wars audio books, this is not news to you, but he does such a great job in capturing the voices of our known heroes. Han Solo's voice sticks out to me as new perfect, likewise his Emperor Palpaltine is amazingly spot on as well. Palpatine is thankfully only very very briefly here, but once he speaks, Thompson knows it out of the park.