Take a photo of a barcode or cover
toggle_fow 's review for:
Life Debt
by Chuck Wendig
Better than the first one!
A list of good things:
1) Sinjir Rath Velus! Love that dude. He's the only OC from this series that I feel any actual fondness toward.
2) I really enjoy the ability to watch TFA, elbow whoever's sitting next to me, and whisper obnoxiously, "Hey, see Matt Parkman from Heroes standing behind Poe? Yeah. That's Temmin 'Snap' Wexley. Let me tell you his entire backstory." Not that I actually do that, but I enjoy that I have the ability to do so, should I choose to exercise it.
3) Han and Leia! Finally.
4) The droid's dialogue, while often straying dangerously close to cartoonish, is still hilarious.
What's unfortunate is that what makes up the meat of this book - Wendig's original characters, their individual lives and motivations and existential struggles and crises of faith - is not something I can really, truly care about. No matter how much I try. This is not ideal and makes me sad, because I want to like Star Wars books. I don't read them because I just love flaming them on Goodreads afterward. I want to be invested.
I had moderately high hopes for this book because I was told it was better than the first one (it was) and it seemed like the first Aftermath had set up Wexley & Co. to spend the second Aftermath working together and becoming an ever-more-closely-knit strike team/misfit family, which is always something I'm a fan of. I hoped that if this were the case, I might be able to invest a little more in the characters and their relationships. However, this last hope did not pan out.
Most of the team relationship-building was focused on a random romance that I didn't care about. The rest managed to have a fast-moving plot that crowded out any time that could have been spent on showing the team growing closer together. However, it somehow DIDN'T crowd out all the time that was spent on each character, individually, musing over their existential angst. Guys. I don't care. Even you, Sinjir Rath Velus, who I sincerely like and enjoy, do not need to fill all these pages with deep ponderings on your individual malaise. Gosh.
That basically only leaves the presence of our OT heroes to rescue Aftermath 2 from enjoyable mediocrity. Alas, there is no salvation to be found here either. Given that this trilogy is functionally replacing Zahn's "Thrawn Trilogy" in the new canon timeline it's inescapable that a large part of Aftermath's evaluation will come in the form of comparisons and contrasts with that Iconic™ work of fiction. It's kind of obnoxious, but it's the truth. Sadly for Aftermath, it's carried by OC characters whereas the Thrawn trilogy had Luke, Leia, and Han front and center. That inherently makes Aftermath inferior. I'm very sorry. This is the law.
At least they're in this book though! Well, two of them. Han didn't really seem that much like Han, though? Maybe it was the outsider points of view that were describing him, but I couldn't shake the feeling that he seemed more like a far-removed fandom caricature of Han rather than the Han Solo reflected in canon. Though, I don't have any specific things to point to, so it's possible it was just me.
Leia, however, I was frustrated with. She seemed very much like the Leia in Bloodlines and, maybe I'm being a little optimistic, but I would expect those Leias - removed from each other by 25 odd hard years and experiences - to not have the exact same perspectives and reactions to things! Honestly, even Bloodlines Leia seemed a tad more circumspect than Aftermath Leia. Really? Insulting and threatening Mon Mothma? Really! I can understand frustration with the awkward nascent New Republic bureaucracy and hypocrisy but really?
Wasn't Leia raised by Bail Organa? Wasn't she a junior senator before Palpatine completely dissolved the senate? Doesn't Leia understand how these things work? Not to sound like a neckbeard OT purist throwing a hissy fit but, uh - the Leia in a more Thrawn-y version of this canon was just as frustrated with the New Republic's dithering and infighting. She, however, knew how to get things done despite this and without burning every single one of her bridges 0.2 seconds after ROTJ. Her plan in Aftermath worked, I guess, but flinging herself into the teeth of the Empire, essentially blackmailing all her friends to save her and by so doing also accomplish her strategic objective? I really believe Leia is a smarter and better person than that.
No wonder she's so isolated by the time Bloodlines rolls around. "Political capital" my foot.
AND ANOTHER THING. Let's talk about the elephant in the room. The non-subject subject of the entire new canon. The hint that is continuously hinted but never quite dropped.
Why the frick is Luke Skywalker such a cryptid.
I understand that some of Luke Skywalker's non-presence in LITERALLY ANYTHING might have to do with the ~mystery~ that currently surrounds him in the sequel trilogy. Can't spoil anything. Gotta keep the complete opaqueness that surrounds Luke, any potential love interests, any possible new Jedi Order, any possibility of children who may or may not be named Rey and abandoned on a desert planet accidentally or on purpose for whatever the frick unimaginable reason- I get that. But, I don't know... if you can't write about Luke until after "The Last Jedi" comes out or, heaven forbid, Episode IX... can I ask that you please press pause on creating content that should have Luke Skywalker (or at least an explanation for his weird absence) in it?
It's getting a little ridiculous. Luke is almost approaching the status of manic pixie dream girl at this point. Everyone tells stories of him. Leia is guided by his past words even as he's randomly just not around and it's not explained why. He's the greatest, the unbeatable, the Last Jedi, the myth that gives the entire galaxy hope... Blossoms of brotherly love and peace grow and sparkle in the hollows of his unseen footprints as he moves like a wraith, presence always felt but never actually seen... Everything is about Luke Skywalker, but he himself is never actually present.
Please stop. He's a person, not a plot device. This is starting to feel like "The Guns of Will Sonnett."
Remember that time when the whole trio worked together to solve the galaxy's problems? When Luke Skywalker existed? When Luke and Leia were brother and sister? When Han and Leia charted their course together instead of basically doing entirely separate things and meeting up to kiss each other every once and a while? When all three of them were actually a part of each others lives and adventures? Ah yes, those were the days.
A list of good things:
1) Sinjir Rath Velus! Love that dude. He's the only OC from this series that I feel any actual fondness toward.
2) I really enjoy the ability to watch TFA, elbow whoever's sitting next to me, and whisper obnoxiously, "Hey, see Matt Parkman from Heroes standing behind Poe? Yeah. That's Temmin 'Snap' Wexley. Let me tell you his entire backstory." Not that I actually do that, but I enjoy that I have the ability to do so, should I choose to exercise it.
3) Han and Leia! Finally.
4) The droid's dialogue, while often straying dangerously close to cartoonish, is still hilarious.
What's unfortunate is that what makes up the meat of this book - Wendig's original characters, their individual lives and motivations and existential struggles and crises of faith - is not something I can really, truly care about. No matter how much I try. This is not ideal and makes me sad, because I want to like Star Wars books. I don't read them because I just love flaming them on Goodreads afterward. I want to be invested.
I had moderately high hopes for this book because I was told it was better than the first one (it was) and it seemed like the first Aftermath had set up Wexley & Co. to spend the second Aftermath working together and becoming an ever-more-closely-knit strike team/misfit family, which is always something I'm a fan of. I hoped that if this were the case, I might be able to invest a little more in the characters and their relationships. However, this last hope did not pan out.
Most of the team relationship-building was focused on a random romance that I didn't care about. The rest managed to have a fast-moving plot that crowded out any time that could have been spent on showing the team growing closer together. However, it somehow DIDN'T crowd out all the time that was spent on each character, individually, musing over their existential angst. Guys. I don't care. Even you, Sinjir Rath Velus, who I sincerely like and enjoy, do not need to fill all these pages with deep ponderings on your individual malaise. Gosh.
That basically only leaves the presence of our OT heroes to rescue Aftermath 2 from enjoyable mediocrity. Alas, there is no salvation to be found here either. Given that this trilogy is functionally replacing Zahn's "Thrawn Trilogy" in the new canon timeline it's inescapable that a large part of Aftermath's evaluation will come in the form of comparisons and contrasts with that Iconic™ work of fiction. It's kind of obnoxious, but it's the truth. Sadly for Aftermath, it's carried by OC characters whereas the Thrawn trilogy had Luke, Leia, and Han front and center. That inherently makes Aftermath inferior. I'm very sorry. This is the law.
At least they're in this book though! Well, two of them. Han didn't really seem that much like Han, though? Maybe it was the outsider points of view that were describing him, but I couldn't shake the feeling that he seemed more like a far-removed fandom caricature of Han rather than the Han Solo reflected in canon. Though, I don't have any specific things to point to, so it's possible it was just me.
Leia, however, I was frustrated with. She seemed very much like the Leia in Bloodlines and, maybe I'm being a little optimistic, but I would expect those Leias - removed from each other by 25 odd hard years and experiences - to not have the exact same perspectives and reactions to things! Honestly, even Bloodlines Leia seemed a tad more circumspect than Aftermath Leia. Really? Insulting and threatening Mon Mothma? Really! I can understand frustration with the awkward nascent New Republic bureaucracy and hypocrisy but really?
Wasn't Leia raised by Bail Organa? Wasn't she a junior senator before Palpatine completely dissolved the senate? Doesn't Leia understand how these things work? Not to sound like a neckbeard OT purist throwing a hissy fit but, uh - the Leia in a more Thrawn-y version of this canon was just as frustrated with the New Republic's dithering and infighting. She, however, knew how to get things done despite this and without burning every single one of her bridges 0.2 seconds after ROTJ. Her plan in Aftermath worked, I guess, but flinging herself into the teeth of the Empire, essentially blackmailing all her friends to save her and by so doing also accomplish her strategic objective? I really believe Leia is a smarter and better person than that.
No wonder she's so isolated by the time Bloodlines rolls around. "Political capital" my foot.
AND ANOTHER THING. Let's talk about the elephant in the room. The non-subject subject of the entire new canon. The hint that is continuously hinted but never quite dropped.
Why the frick is Luke Skywalker such a cryptid.
I understand that some of Luke Skywalker's non-presence in LITERALLY ANYTHING might have to do with the ~mystery~ that currently surrounds him in the sequel trilogy. Can't spoil anything. Gotta keep the complete opaqueness that surrounds Luke, any potential love interests, any possible new Jedi Order, any possibility of children who may or may not be named Rey and abandoned on a desert planet accidentally or on purpose for whatever the frick unimaginable reason- I get that. But, I don't know... if you can't write about Luke until after "The Last Jedi" comes out or, heaven forbid, Episode IX... can I ask that you please press pause on creating content that should have Luke Skywalker (or at least an explanation for his weird absence) in it?
It's getting a little ridiculous. Luke is almost approaching the status of manic pixie dream girl at this point. Everyone tells stories of him. Leia is guided by his past words even as he's randomly just not around and it's not explained why. He's the greatest, the unbeatable, the Last Jedi, the myth that gives the entire galaxy hope... Blossoms of brotherly love and peace grow and sparkle in the hollows of his unseen footprints as he moves like a wraith, presence always felt but never actually seen... Everything is about Luke Skywalker, but he himself is never actually present.
Please stop. He's a person, not a plot device. This is starting to feel like "The Guns of Will Sonnett."
Remember that time when the whole trio worked together to solve the galaxy's problems? When Luke Skywalker existed? When Luke and Leia were brother and sister? When Han and Leia charted their course together instead of basically doing entirely separate things and meeting up to kiss each other every once and a while? When all three of them were actually a part of each others lives and adventures? Ah yes, those were the days.