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First off, as much as it pains me to say this, you really do need to read Aftermath before reading Life Debt. Think of it like you're eating your vegetables so that you get to enjoy that tasty dessert later. Even though the first book is a chore at times, it's a necessary setup for Life Debt and [b:Aftermath: Empire's End|30213123|Aftermath Empire's End (Star Wars Aftermath, #3)|Chuck Wendig|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1469404967s/30213123.jpg|47282998].
For all the criticism lobbed at [b:the first Aftermath book|25131600|Aftermath (Star Wars Aftermath, #1)|Chuck Wendig|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1426620007s/25131600.jpg|44828548], this one is a big improvement. There's considerably more stuff happening in Life Debt, as Wendig isn't spending a bunch of time to introduce all the characters and the setting, political climate of the galaxy, etc. The main characters that we just begin to get to know in Aftermath are fleshed out in Life Debt, and they're actually really fun to read. In addition to Wedge, and a dash of Ackbar, this time there's a bit of Leia, and Han Solo gets a good-size chunk of page-time as Nora and her team assist him on a special assignment. I got through Life Debt a lot quicker and enjoyed it a lot more than the preceding book.
In my review of Aftermath I mentioned that Wendig seemed a little heavy handed with the quantity of LGBT characters written into the book. While only one of those characters (Sinjir - who is VERY well written and quickly becoming a favorite character of mine) is in Life Debt, this time my "Wow" moment/issue was in an entire chapter that is told from the perspective of a pirate captain whose personal pronouns are zhe/zher. I really never would have guessed that my first encountering of gender-neutral pronouns in a novel would be in a Star Wars book. Putting aside my personal feelings about gender-neutral pronouns, it was strange how this was shoehorned into the book. This lone "Interlude" chapter about 100 pages in didn't really service the story in any meaningful way. The whole thing could have been cut and it wouldn't have adversely affected the book. Again, the way Wendig went about this seems strange to me - was this chapter his way of trying to be edgy and/or create controversy? Enough about pronouns...
My bottom line is this: Wendig does a phenomenal job here of striking the perfect balance between drama, action and comedy that makes Star Wars so great, and I'm starting Empire's End TONIGHT.
For all the criticism lobbed at [b:the first Aftermath book|25131600|Aftermath (Star Wars Aftermath, #1)|Chuck Wendig|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1426620007s/25131600.jpg|44828548], this one is a big improvement. There's considerably more stuff happening in Life Debt, as Wendig isn't spending a bunch of time to introduce all the characters and the setting, political climate of the galaxy, etc. The main characters that we just begin to get to know in Aftermath are fleshed out in Life Debt, and they're actually really fun to read. In addition to Wedge, and a dash of Ackbar, this time there's a bit of Leia, and Han Solo gets a good-size chunk of page-time as Nora and her team assist him on a special assignment. I got through Life Debt a lot quicker and enjoyed it a lot more than the preceding book.
In my review of Aftermath I mentioned that Wendig seemed a little heavy handed with the quantity of LGBT characters written into the book. While only one of those characters (Sinjir - who is VERY well written and quickly becoming a favorite character of mine) is in Life Debt, this time my "Wow" moment/issue was in an entire chapter that is told from the perspective of a pirate captain whose personal pronouns are zhe/zher. I really never would have guessed that my first encountering of gender-neutral pronouns in a novel would be in a Star Wars book. Putting aside my personal feelings about gender-neutral pronouns, it was strange how this was shoehorned into the book. This lone "Interlude" chapter about 100 pages in didn't really service the story in any meaningful way. The whole thing could have been cut and it wouldn't have adversely affected the book. Again, the way Wendig went about this seems strange to me - was this chapter his way of trying to be edgy and/or create controversy? Enough about pronouns...
My bottom line is this: Wendig does a phenomenal job here of striking the perfect balance between drama, action and comedy that makes Star Wars so great, and I'm starting Empire's End TONIGHT.