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3.24 AVERAGE
3.24 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Gives a sort of early Rebels vibe, but with different characters. Fun, although if you’re looking for deeper lore about established characters or planets, there’s a few tidbits here or there but otherwise focuses on new characters and places. Good but not great.
I really, really wanted to like this book. I heard of the negative reviews when "Aftermath" first came out, but I ignored them and got the book anyway, since I'm a Star Wars nerd and I was curious about the direction the new universe is taking. If you're in the same boat, I'd advise skipping this book. Almost nothing of interest happens in the Star Wars universe here (the exception being a few of the interlude chapters sprinkled about).
I wasn't bothered at all by the use of present tense writing. Present tense is great for face paced writing. Unfortunately, Aftermath takes a long time to get going. It felt like a chore to get through the middle and by the final act, I realized I didn't care about the characters at all.
I wasn't bothered at all by the use of present tense writing. Present tense is great for face paced writing. Unfortunately, Aftermath takes a long time to get going. It felt like a chore to get through the middle and by the final act, I realized I didn't care about the characters at all.
I just realized that the current political atmosphere has transformed into Star Wars. Examine it and see. I'll let you decide which side represents the Alliance and the Republicans, oops, sorry, I mean the Empire.
Anyway, will there ever be a Star Wars book where someone just stays on their own side? It seems that in every single one I have read with the exception of 2 (Red Harvest and Death Troopers) either a Sith is forced to help Jedi and gains a new respect for the enemy he/she now realizes they never knew or a Jedi begins to like and enjoy the dark side a little too much. There are literally hundreds of Star Wars books out there so that can't be the content of all of them can it?
Wendig has produced a passable Star Wars novel but it still has a couple of characters that are almost becoming cliche in the series: the headstrong and too-smart teenager, the Imperial officer who turns his back on his own kind, and the too-good rebel that nobody can kill. And for God's sake stop with the similes comparing things to Kowakian monkey lizards!
Ultimately the book is meant to show the unwinding of the Empire (or re-entrenching some may say) throughout known space. There are several little vignettes showing activities on other planets that break up the main story line. It is supposed to start building a bridge between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. I guess it succeeds as a start. I just hope that we can get away from the cliches and produce some good stories featuring the characters and worlds we've all come to love. The Wendig book is good but not as good as it could have been. Disney, I am available to help on a consulting basis if you need some ideas. . .
Anyway, will there ever be a Star Wars book where someone just stays on their own side? It seems that in every single one I have read with the exception of 2 (Red Harvest and Death Troopers) either a Sith is forced to help Jedi and gains a new respect for the enemy he/she now realizes they never knew or a Jedi begins to like and enjoy the dark side a little too much. There are literally hundreds of Star Wars books out there so that can't be the content of all of them can it?
Wendig has produced a passable Star Wars novel but it still has a couple of characters that are almost becoming cliche in the series: the headstrong and too-smart teenager, the Imperial officer who turns his back on his own kind, and the too-good rebel that nobody can kill. And for God's sake stop with the similes comparing things to Kowakian monkey lizards!
Ultimately the book is meant to show the unwinding of the Empire (or re-entrenching some may say) throughout known space. There are several little vignettes showing activities on other planets that break up the main story line. It is supposed to start building a bridge between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. I guess it succeeds as a start. I just hope that we can get away from the cliches and produce some good stories featuring the characters and worlds we've all come to love. The Wendig book is good but not as good as it could have been. Disney, I am available to help on a consulting basis if you need some ideas. . .
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Serviceable and fun and very reminiscent of the classic Star Wars x-wing novels. Should be 5 stars though because it proved Disney did have a plan for this franchise all along
Not terribly well written and does more location / point of view / character jumping than the hyper space hopping in Rise of the Skywalker. Interludes are either totally boring and irrelevant or more interesting than the actual plot ( see the Han and Chewie chapter). There are far too many death fake outs with the main cast of 'good guys', to the point that it just becomes irritating and removes all stakes from the final climax, which was, in essence, relatively exciting. I rooted more for the two female imperials, which says a lot for how the rebel characters are written. Jaz , the Zabrak bounty hunter, was a fantastic character from the start and Sinjir, the ex imperial loyalty officer, definitely grew on me over time.
A Star Wars story in the new universe. The Empire is dead, they just don't know it yet. Remaining Empire factions remain like snakes in the grass, as the Alliance tries to transition to ruling instead of fighting. Nice tie-in to the main stories/movies. Kinda YA, but an enjoyable read.
Stopped reading after one chapter because I found the writing style super annoying. Third person present tense just doesn't work for me (at least not in this case).
The release of Star Wars: Aftermath marks the official relaunch of the Star Wars Expanded Universe into post-Return of the Jedi territory. It is also a release that has been greeted with a rather rabid divisiveness among the Star Wars fandom community. When it released on Force Friday (Sept. 4, 2015 to the rest of the world), it was assailed almost immediately with one star reviews, with online groups devoted to the original Expanded Universe -- titles now marketed under the Star Wars: Legends banner -- encouraging fans to buy the Legends titles in an effort to outsell Aftermath. That doesn't seem to have worked as, at the time of this writing, Aftermath is now sitting in fourth place on the USA Today and NY Times Bestseller lists. The more vocal and ferociously devoted fans of the previous Expanded Universe have also taken umbrage at the inclusion of gay characters, strong female leads, the lack of the film's heroes, and apparently any and all non-one-star reviews posted at Amazon.
Given the intense backlash meeting this new entry to the brand-new Star Wars canon, the immediate question is, is Aftermath any good?
The answer is, thankfully, yes. We're off to a pretty strong start with the relaunch, with a few enticing teases during this book's resolution that promises to only get better.
Opening with the immortal words, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." and giving us a brief "crawl" through recent events to establish this story, you'd be hard pressed to not hear the infamous opening notes of John Williams' score.
As noted, this book is free of Luke Skywalker, while Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Leia pop up ever-so briefly in cameo appearances (the Han Solo cameo in particular is pretty tantalizing and opens up the door for what should be a pretty solid adventure in its own right).
Our characters here are Norra Wexley, an ace Rebel Alliance pilot, her son Temmin, an ex-Imperial Loyalty Officer Sinjir Rath Velus (whose motivations are explained wonderfully and with a gracious bit of depth and truth for a man in his position late in the book), and a bounty hunter, Jas. Temmin has some robot-building mojo and has updated one of those ridiculous, monotonous, and childishly awful battle droids from The Phantom Menace to be his personal bodyguard. More impressive, Wendig has taken this battle droid, named Mister Bones because of the animal bones it wears as a sort of stylized armor, and because it was named by a 15-year-old, and turned it into something interesting and humorous.
On the villain side, we are treated to Admiral Rae Sloane, who has captured Rebel/New Republic pilot Wedge Antilles, and has organized a meeting on the planet Akiva in an effort to reunite the fractured Empire. Among those gathered are a prominent banker and slaver, who is in the crosshairs of the bounty hunter, Jas.
What could have been a pretty good Star Wars story in its own right takes on an epic scope with a series of interludes. In these vignettes, Wendig is able to explore the ramifications of the war between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance, and the reader is able to get a deeper sense of the state of the galaxy, the threat the Empire still poses, and the process of rebuilding as the Alliance shifts gears towards becoming the democratic New Republic. I loved getting a peek into all these various corners of the galaxy and these characters responses to the conflicts affecting their lives, either directly or indirectly.
Writing in third person, present tense - a stylistic choice that Wendig has used in his previous novels - the story is given a sense of graceful urgency, propelling the reader along through the action. Some have voiced their displeasure at this approach, but I have zero problems with it and, as with previous Wendig books, I was able to sink right in and enjoy.
Star Wars: Aftermath is a good, fun start to a new series of books, and one that provides enough galactic intrigue to start building depth across the gap between this title and the release of the film, The Force Awakens, later this year. If, like me, you had no particular attachments to the previous Expanded Universe, it's a good time to dive in without worrying about continuity outside of the films. But, if you did have a strong attachment to those prior novels, I still encourage to approach this work with an open mind and decide for yourself.
On a sliding scale to the film comparisons, I'd say it is not as terrible as The Phantom Menace, but at least as good as Attack of the Clones and a solid follow-on from Return of the Jedi. We might not be into The Empire Strikes Back territory, but the set-up promised in the final chapters of Aftermath looks like there's a very fun story ahead of us.
Given the intense backlash meeting this new entry to the brand-new Star Wars canon, the immediate question is, is Aftermath any good?
The answer is, thankfully, yes. We're off to a pretty strong start with the relaunch, with a few enticing teases during this book's resolution that promises to only get better.
Opening with the immortal words, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." and giving us a brief "crawl" through recent events to establish this story, you'd be hard pressed to not hear the infamous opening notes of John Williams' score.
As noted, this book is free of Luke Skywalker, while Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Leia pop up ever-so briefly in cameo appearances (the Han Solo cameo in particular is pretty tantalizing and opens up the door for what should be a pretty solid adventure in its own right).
Our characters here are Norra Wexley, an ace Rebel Alliance pilot, her son Temmin, an ex-Imperial Loyalty Officer Sinjir Rath Velus (whose motivations are explained wonderfully and with a gracious bit of depth and truth for a man in his position late in the book), and a bounty hunter, Jas. Temmin has some robot-building mojo and has updated one of those ridiculous, monotonous, and childishly awful battle droids from The Phantom Menace to be his personal bodyguard. More impressive, Wendig has taken this battle droid, named Mister Bones because of the animal bones it wears as a sort of stylized armor, and because it was named by a 15-year-old, and turned it into something interesting and humorous.
On the villain side, we are treated to Admiral Rae Sloane, who has captured Rebel/New Republic pilot Wedge Antilles, and has organized a meeting on the planet Akiva in an effort to reunite the fractured Empire. Among those gathered are a prominent banker and slaver, who is in the crosshairs of the bounty hunter, Jas.
What could have been a pretty good Star Wars story in its own right takes on an epic scope with a series of interludes. In these vignettes, Wendig is able to explore the ramifications of the war between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance, and the reader is able to get a deeper sense of the state of the galaxy, the threat the Empire still poses, and the process of rebuilding as the Alliance shifts gears towards becoming the democratic New Republic. I loved getting a peek into all these various corners of the galaxy and these characters responses to the conflicts affecting their lives, either directly or indirectly.
Writing in third person, present tense - a stylistic choice that Wendig has used in his previous novels - the story is given a sense of graceful urgency, propelling the reader along through the action. Some have voiced their displeasure at this approach, but I have zero problems with it and, as with previous Wendig books, I was able to sink right in and enjoy.
Star Wars: Aftermath is a good, fun start to a new series of books, and one that provides enough galactic intrigue to start building depth across the gap between this title and the release of the film, The Force Awakens, later this year. If, like me, you had no particular attachments to the previous Expanded Universe, it's a good time to dive in without worrying about continuity outside of the films. But, if you did have a strong attachment to those prior novels, I still encourage to approach this work with an open mind and decide for yourself.
On a sliding scale to the film comparisons, I'd say it is not as terrible as The Phantom Menace, but at least as good as Attack of the Clones and a solid follow-on from Return of the Jedi. We might not be into The Empire Strikes Back territory, but the set-up promised in the final chapters of Aftermath looks like there's a very fun story ahead of us.
I wanted to give this book at least 3 stars for remaining interesting in action (I have not been fond of the new canon novels this year), but the present-tense and the out-of-context use of language dramatically affected the tone and feel of the writing. I do not approve of the slap-dash use of current American colloquial (stylistic dangling participles, incomplete sentences, stated actions instead of developing character and place) like this was a blog or a comic book or screen play and not an immersive novel.
There are still interesting things in here, like the interludes and some post-Jedi world building teasers. I will be reading the sequels as it is slated to be a trilogy (cringe) but I still don't understand why this novel got past the editing process in its current state? Did they rush everything because of marketing for "Journey to Stat Wars: The Force Awakens"? Wendig's will not be a welcome "fresh voice" to the canon if there is not more editorial oversight to the mechanics of the writing process going forward. I want to look past the style to enjoy the plot more, but as a trained writer myself I cannot.
And what's the point in having Wedge Antilles here if he's not given more than 10 pages of "screen time?" He's set up as the major character, but then his involvement is as lengthy as an interlude. There are far too many characters and not enough character development to share amongst them.
Okay, one fun mechanic: about 1/3-1/2 way into the book, there is a slew of scenes that all begin with a character saying, "we have a problem" which was kind of cheesy, but still worked to tie everything together and be a plot turning-point for every thread of characters spread about. It helped the pacing and kept me from putting down the book right then.
There are still interesting things in here, like the interludes and some post-Jedi world building teasers. I will be reading the sequels as it is slated to be a trilogy (cringe) but I still don't understand why this novel got past the editing process in its current state? Did they rush everything because of marketing for "Journey to Stat Wars: The Force Awakens"? Wendig's will not be a welcome "fresh voice" to the canon if there is not more editorial oversight to the mechanics of the writing process going forward. I want to look past the style to enjoy the plot more, but as a trained writer myself I cannot.
And what's the point in having Wedge Antilles here if he's not given more than 10 pages of "screen time?" He's set up as the major character, but then his involvement is as lengthy as an interlude. There are far too many characters and not enough character development to share amongst them.
Okay, one fun mechanic: about 1/3-1/2 way into the book, there is a slew of scenes that all begin with a character saying, "we have a problem" which was kind of cheesy, but still worked to tie everything together and be a plot turning-point for every thread of characters spread about. It helped the pacing and kept me from putting down the book right then.