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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
Lets preface, the first book in this series, was not my favorite star wars book, nor was wendig my favorite author. Aftermath itself was alot of building on new characters, and i understood the relaunch of canon would bring new characters to the universe, but the book seemed all over the place, which brought me to Life Debt. I committed to reading the series, because a) it was Star Wars, and b) it was new content(AFTER ROTJ). when i finished Aftermath book 1, i said i do hope that Life Debt is a better story, because man, aftermath was a difficult read. Life Debt delivered! great story told, great details in the plot points, the mystery within the book is fantastic, and finally we are seeing characters developed that are not only in movies, but in comics as well. I read all forms of medium when it comes to Star Wars, and Life Debt was one of those books, that quite frankly i just could not put down, and I would highly recommend this series, because the first time i read aftermath it was difficult, but reading Life Debt made sense to why they needed to tell the harder story to begin with.
For those looking for a great action/adventure with mystery twists, and build up to The Force Awakens, and some of the mystery of the battle of Jakku, start the series NOW!!!
For those looking for a great action/adventure with mystery twists, and build up to The Force Awakens, and some of the mystery of the battle of Jakku, start the series NOW!!!
Norra, Sinjir, Jas, and Temmin have formed a team assigned to hunting down top Imperial officers and bringing them back for prosecution by the New Republic. Noticing their huge success rate, Princess Leia asks the team to take on a similar, but slightly less orthodox mission, finding her husband Han Solo who has gone missing after attempting to help Chewbacca free his home planet. This mission may be a bit too much to ask, even for this team.
Lots of fun, but a bit choppily written. I also appreciated the big increase in the amount of smooching as well as Wendig's obvious pokes at his horrid critics. Yeah Star Wars!
Lots of fun, but a bit choppily written. I also appreciated the big increase in the amount of smooching as well as Wendig's obvious pokes at his horrid critics. Yeah Star Wars!
After finishing “Aftermath”, I was very hooked with this trilogy and couldn’t wait to continue with “Life Debt”. I did, however, take my time to listen to it as I had other books on the go.
Please, beware of spoilers below as it is book two in the trilogy.
If you read my review of Aftermath, you probably know how much I love Marc Thompson’s narration of this trilogy. He does a superb job of giving each character their voice. Even the secondary characters who appear in the intermissions.
Obviously, Sinjir is still my favourite. I was hoping for a solid love arc for him since Jas got a relationship with Jom (both of whom seem to deny it). Sinjir did get a “boyfriend”, Conder Kyl, but we had maybe one scene with the two of them (and he was never mentioned before that), and then he was mentioned maybe once more - and that was it. Nevertheless, Sinjir is the first gay character in Star Wars franchise, which is both very cool and disappointing (because seriously? No more queer characters? Seriously? None?).
***There was a moment in which Sloan was changing and her assistant Adea was there, and Adea blushed, which made me hope for some feelings between two women, but alas I was disappointed.***
I like Jas. She went through a lot of character development. Which is why I am very sad that I accidentally spoiled myself regarding something that happens in the final book and which would affect her. This is why you do not check Wikipedia for the series you have not finished!
Even Nora got an expected bit of romance. I liked the fact that her relationship with Temmin began to mend, even though I still don’t like Temmin much. He is really both hot-headed and naive. I may not be very fond of Nora, but the things Temmin does and says to her are mean.
Han Solo and Chewbacca’s friendship is the best portrayed in this book. I loved all the action on Kashyyyk - I think that was the strongest part of Life Debt as it both showed Solo’s and Chewie’s characters. And let me tell you - Marc Thompson does a great impersonation of Harrison Ford.
A part of the plot revolves around Imperial Admiral Rae Sloane, and I found myself liking her more and more. She is strong-willed, focused, and tough, not to mention incredibly smart. I enjoy parts of the story with her, even though I do not understand her loyalty to the Empire.
I enjoyed the book overall, but I still had the same issue with Life Debt as I had with Aftermath: some parts of the plot (like a fake betrayal by Jas) were way too flashy and not thoroughly thought through. We get thrust into a scene right in the middle of the action and have to scramble to understand what is going on and why this is important. And then we are fed information through exposition - telling us what had happened before this scene, instead of showing us. And I did not like that.
There were also two instances of audio editing mistakes. In one part of the book, Sloane was told to be alone in the street, but we could hear the voices in the background. And those noises did not change from when she was in the crowd and when she was alone in the street. Another instance was when there was an opera music play, and we are told specifically that it is the music and there are no words. But in the background, we can hear a singer singing, although the words are not distinguishable.
It may sound as if I am nitpicking, but considering how big Star Wars franchise is and how popular it is, they could have done a better job at editing.
Nevertheless, the book was a lot of fun, and even though some of the plot twists were predictable, the narration and the joy of being in the world of Star Wars again made up for it.
Please, beware of spoilers below as it is book two in the trilogy.
If you read my review of Aftermath, you probably know how much I love Marc Thompson’s narration of this trilogy. He does a superb job of giving each character their voice. Even the secondary characters who appear in the intermissions.
Obviously, Sinjir is still my favourite. I was hoping for a solid love arc for him since Jas got a relationship with Jom (both of whom seem to deny it). Sinjir did get a “boyfriend”, Conder Kyl, but we had maybe one scene with the two of them (and he was never mentioned before that), and then he was mentioned maybe once more - and that was it. Nevertheless, Sinjir is the first gay character in Star Wars franchise, which is both very cool and disappointing (because seriously? No more queer characters? Seriously? None?).
***There was a moment in which Sloan was changing and her assistant Adea was there, and Adea blushed, which made me hope for some feelings between two women, but alas I was disappointed.***
I like Jas. She went through a lot of character development. Which is why I am very sad that I accidentally spoiled myself regarding something that happens in the final book and which would affect her. This is why you do not check Wikipedia for the series you have not finished!
Even Nora got an expected bit of romance. I liked the fact that her relationship with Temmin began to mend, even though I still don’t like Temmin much. He is really both hot-headed and naive. I may not be very fond of Nora, but the things Temmin does and says to her are mean.
Han Solo and Chewbacca’s friendship is the best portrayed in this book. I loved all the action on Kashyyyk - I think that was the strongest part of Life Debt as it both showed Solo’s and Chewie’s characters. And let me tell you - Marc Thompson does a great impersonation of Harrison Ford.
A part of the plot revolves around Imperial Admiral Rae Sloane, and I found myself liking her more and more. She is strong-willed, focused, and tough, not to mention incredibly smart. I enjoy parts of the story with her, even though I do not understand her loyalty to the Empire.
I enjoyed the book overall, but I still had the same issue with Life Debt as I had with Aftermath: some parts of the plot (like a fake betrayal by Jas) were way too flashy and not thoroughly thought through. We get thrust into a scene right in the middle of the action and have to scramble to understand what is going on and why this is important. And then we are fed information through exposition - telling us what had happened before this scene, instead of showing us. And I did not like that.
There were also two instances of audio editing mistakes. In one part of the book, Sloane was told to be alone in the street, but we could hear the voices in the background. And those noises did not change from when she was in the crowd and when she was alone in the street. Another instance was when there was an opera music play, and we are told specifically that it is the music and there are no words. But in the background, we can hear a singer singing, although the words are not distinguishable.
It may sound as if I am nitpicking, but considering how big Star Wars franchise is and how popular it is, they could have done a better job at editing.
Nevertheless, the book was a lot of fun, and even though some of the plot twists were predictable, the narration and the joy of being in the world of Star Wars again made up for it.
I feel like I kind of lukewarm (lol) on the first book in this trilogy, but I don't really remember why. I just, looking back, have a sense of "oh, it was fine", but nothing stronger - probably why it took me about a full year to pick up the sequel.
I kind of want to go back and re-read Aftermath, because I really really enjoyed Life Debt. I think it builds on the central themes and tensions in Star Wars really well, and also gives a nice new scoop of characters, places, and world-building. It was just a good Star Wars story, y'all.
Wendig has to walk a pretty fine line between new and old in this series, and I think he does it really well. The new characters (good and bad) are all really interesting and fun to spend time with, and I was really feeling the found-family dynamics between them. There's also a lot of diversity, which is cool; Norra Wexley is a great character, and it's cool to see a middle aged mom hero. Furthermore, in this book we get to see Leia, Han, and Chewie, who are a really fun addition without overwhelming everything else.
The one weakness I thought this book had was in the story. The story isn't bad by any means, it just feels a little more episodic and a little more wandering. It does eventually have an ending, but it feels like the rest of it just kind of happens without much in the way of build-up or rising tension. This might be a problem of being a second book in a trilogy, and it didn't majorly impact my enjoyment, but it did leave the pacing feeling a bit odd at times.
I kind of want to go back and re-read Aftermath, because I really really enjoyed Life Debt. I think it builds on the central themes and tensions in Star Wars really well, and also gives a nice new scoop of characters, places, and world-building. It was just a good Star Wars story, y'all.
Wendig has to walk a pretty fine line between new and old in this series, and I think he does it really well. The new characters (good and bad) are all really interesting and fun to spend time with, and I was really feeling the found-family dynamics between them. There's also a lot of diversity, which is cool; Norra Wexley is a great character, and it's cool to see a middle aged mom hero. Furthermore, in this book we get to see Leia, Han, and Chewie, who are a really fun addition without overwhelming everything else.
The one weakness I thought this book had was in the story. The story isn't bad by any means, it just feels a little more episodic and a little more wandering. It does eventually have an ending, but it feels like the rest of it just kind of happens without much in the way of build-up or rising tension. This might be a problem of being a second book in a trilogy, and it didn't majorly impact my enjoyment, but it did leave the pacing feeling a bit odd at times.
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I've am happy to see the author is trying to bridge gaps that JJ Abrams created that made no sense, like the remains of both air and land assault on Jakku, why the First Order would have the resources they do, how Hux could create an army by starting with infants when he's only 14 years older than Finn. It doesn't solve all the problems by a long shot and really a book shouldn't have to do that for a movie. But it's a nice try.
The other thing I enjoyed was Jas and Sinjir'a relationship.
Everything else was a struggle to get through. The plot is slow, horribly to the point it's hard to care about a conflict until it's at its climax and then it's over and on to the next one.
The Lucas characters are all poorly dealt with, Han and Chewie's relationship is about the only exception. Leia read the exact same as Mon, the repeated mentions of her baby going to be this smart angel is just laughable because we've all seen the angsty tantrum throwing 30 year old Kylo.
The most irritating bit to me is how everyone must be paired up, Wendig acts like he's very progressive with adding in gay characters, he's not the first to do it, it would be nice if he wouldn't slip into the mindset that people need to be in romantic/sexual relationships to be important.
There are multiple references to Rebels, the comics, Clone Wars, but it seems more like he had a bullet point list rather than was using the references with knowledge. At one point new Mister Big Bad talks of training children, Sloane is shocked, but the Imperial academy is canon in Rebels where young recruits go and train. It's not something new. I would have expected her to be a part of the academy herself.
All but a few parts of this book were frustrating to get through, so thus the low star review.
The other thing I enjoyed was Jas and Sinjir'a relationship.
Everything else was a struggle to get through. The plot is slow, horribly to the point it's hard to care about a conflict until it's at its climax and then it's over and on to the next one.
The Lucas characters are all poorly dealt with, Han and Chewie's relationship is about the only exception. Leia read the exact same as Mon, the repeated mentions of her baby going to be this smart angel is just laughable because we've all seen the angsty tantrum throwing 30 year old Kylo.
The most irritating bit to me is how everyone must be paired up, Wendig acts like he's very progressive with adding in gay characters, he's not the first to do it, it would be nice if he wouldn't slip into the mindset that people need to be in romantic/sexual relationships to be important.
There are multiple references to Rebels, the comics, Clone Wars, but it seems more like he had a bullet point list rather than was using the references with knowledge. At one point new Mister Big Bad talks of training children, Sloane is shocked, but the Imperial academy is canon in Rebels where young recruits go and train. It's not something new. I would have expected her to be a part of the academy herself.
All but a few parts of this book were frustrating to get through, so thus the low star review.
**Warning: this text may contain spoilers** I'm going to file this one under Guilty Pleasures: kind of awful but I really enjoyed it anyway.
I had to do a quick refresh on the first Aftermath novel only to recall that the plot had been an absolute mess, but in hindsight was largely a convoluted setup for Wendig's original characters. Sinjir is the crown jewel of the bunch, but they work well together and it's a fun crew to follow.
As Life Debt really hit its stride I remember a distinct blast of nostalgia: the pacing, action and plot were bringing back the old EU novels I loved. Then everyone started having sex or attempting to and the spell was broken. Each individual romantic subplot was fine on its own, ranging from hilarious to sweet, but all at once the effect was a bit too much.
I'm sensing an unhappy tug of war behind the scenes plotwise; the parts with Han and Chewie should have been an amazing adventure and great character development for both of our old favorites, but it was barely a subplot and clumsily handled. The bare bones of the story still hold enough power though: our carefree smuggler is about to start his own family, and finally realizes on some deep gut level what it must have cost Chewie to leave his own family in slavery all these years in order to gallavant around the galaxy with Han. After his desperate bid to free the Wookie homeworld fails, our original characters find a tormented, driven Han who's piled guilt and failure on top of the typical "holy shit I'm going to be a dad" panic. It all gets resolved happily enough, but it really could have been a full novel by itself instead of shoehorned in sideways. I suspect the masterminds on the Disney story team wanted to include it, but the author wasn't actually all that interested. This increases my faith in the story team and makes me optimistic for the Star Wars universe moving forward, I just hope they look more closely at the implementation.
The narration is extremely hit and miss. I love love love the inclusion of music and sound effects in all the new Star Wars audiobooks, it really works for me. And many of the voices are works of art and a pleasure to hear. But many of them are just as distinctly painful and Marc Thompson's distractingly dramatic style is not my cup of tea. There were several scenes where I couldn't decide which was worse: the bad writing or cheese reading.
I had to do a quick refresh on the first Aftermath novel only to recall that the plot had been an absolute mess, but in hindsight was largely a convoluted setup for Wendig's original characters. Sinjir is the crown jewel of the bunch, but they work well together and it's a fun crew to follow.
As Life Debt really hit its stride I remember a distinct blast of nostalgia: the pacing, action and plot were bringing back the old EU novels I loved. Then everyone started having sex or attempting to and the spell was broken. Each individual romantic subplot was fine on its own, ranging from hilarious to sweet, but all at once the effect was a bit too much.
I'm sensing an unhappy tug of war behind the scenes plotwise; the parts with Han and Chewie should have been an amazing adventure and great character development for both of our old favorites, but it was barely a subplot and clumsily handled. The bare bones of the story still hold enough power though: our carefree smuggler is about to start his own family, and finally realizes on some deep gut level what it must have cost Chewie to leave his own family in slavery all these years in order to gallavant around the galaxy with Han. After his desperate bid to free the Wookie homeworld fails, our original characters find a tormented, driven Han who's piled guilt and failure on top of the typical "holy shit I'm going to be a dad" panic. It all gets resolved happily enough, but it really could have been a full novel by itself instead of shoehorned in sideways. I suspect the masterminds on the Disney story team wanted to include it, but the author wasn't actually all that interested. This increases my faith in the story team and makes me optimistic for the Star Wars universe moving forward, I just hope they look more closely at the implementation.
The narration is extremely hit and miss. I love love love the inclusion of music and sound effects in all the new Star Wars audiobooks, it really works for me. And many of the voices are works of art and a pleasure to hear. But many of them are just as distinctly painful and Marc Thompson's distractingly dramatic style is not my cup of tea. There were several scenes where I couldn't decide which was worse: the bad writing or cheese reading.
3.5 - 4 stars... I rounded up. Much better than the first go. The new crew of characters is pretty cool.
I really enjoyed the story and the action.
My problem with this book is the dialogue. This story definitely deals with some more mature concepts etc., but the dialogue seems to digress when the author tries humor out, or when he tries to write for Temmin who comes across as very childish.
I really enjoyed the story and the action.
My problem with this book is the dialogue. This story definitely deals with some more mature concepts etc., but the dialogue seems to digress when the author tries humor out, or when he tries to write for Temmin who comes across as very childish.
so it pains me to have gone out of order but i read this one right after reading empire's end because of #fetusben content so yeah, nothing to comment on except that han and leia are precious and the entire solo family is perfect and nothing ever went wrong for them in my brain and they all lived happily ever after the end