A review by iddylu
Aftermath by Chuck Wendig

4.0

So, I'm not a Star Wars fan. I don't dislike it, I just never really got into it, you know? But man, this book. I read it on a complete whim because a friend was posting excerpts on social media and I got drawn in, and I ended up enjoying it so much more than I thought it would. I'm sure there were references that went over my head, but for the most part it was surprisingly accessible for my I-saw-some-of-the-movies-fifteen-years-ago self. The main cast bounced off each other really well, and it was a lot of fun to read the progression from grudgingly working together to becoming a cohesive and loyal team. The interludes focusing the lives of everyday people around the galaxy were really interesting (and sometimes heartbreaking). I also really liked the references to the realistic, human moments of the bad guys: somebody remembering free drinks night in the Death Star mess hall, one of the generals sitting in brace position during the entire final battle because she wasn't used to actually being up in space during these things, the fact that the Imperial ship apparently has a game room, etc. Exploring how ordinary humans can become monstrous is so much more interesting to me than making all the villains either depthless mooks or cackling overlords, and this book does it so well.

"This isn’t some kind of inspirational story. Some scrappy, ragtag underdog tale, some pugilistic match where we’re the good-hearted gladiator who brings down the oppressive regime that put him in the arena. They get to have that narrative. We are the ones who enslaved whole worlds full of alien inhabitants. We are the ones who built something called a Death Star under the leadership of a decrepit old goblin who believed in the 'dark side' of some ancient, insane religion."

Mic fuckin' drop.