“As the final showdown between the New Republic and the Empire draws near, all eyes turn to a once-isolated planet:
Jakku.
The Battle of Endor shattered the Empire,
scattering its remaining forces across the galaxy. But the months following the Rebellion's victory have
not been easy. The fledgling New Republic has suffered a devastating attack
from the Imperial remnant, forcing the new democracy to escalate their hunt for the hidden enemy. For her role in the deadly ambush, Grand Admiral Sloane is the most wanted Imperial war criminal—and one-time rebel pilot
Norra Wexley,
back in service at Leia's urgent request, is leading the hunt. But
more than just loyalty to the New Republic drives Norra forward: Her husband was turned into a murderous pawn in
Sloane's assassination plot, and now she wants vengeance as much as justice. But Sloane, too, is on a
furious quest: pursuing the treacherous Gallius Rax to the barren planet Jakku. As the true mastermind behind the Empire's
devastating attack, Rax has led the Empire to its defining moment. The cunning
strategist has gathered the powerful remnants of the Empire's war machine,
preparing to execute the late Emperor Palpatine's final plan. As the Imperial fleet orbits Jakku, an
armada of Republic fighters closes in to finish what began at Endor. Norra and
her crew soar into the heart of an apocalyptic clash that will leave land and
sky alike scorched. And the future of the galaxy will finally be decided.”
I’ve had some trepidation finishing
this series (and this after struggling through Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s
GOOD OMENS for the second time and finally setting that aside). Once again,
Chuck Wendig’s writing style is…difficult; he’s certainly not a traditional
novelist. And maybe the long-running STAR WAR series needs writers who don’t do
it the way one expects.
But in the end, the entire AFTERMATH series problems for me were it introduced a bunch
of meaningless subplots that ruin the pacing and took me out of the main narrative.
As I wrote before, I can’t figure out why Wendig (or DINESY/LUCASFILM) chose to
expand the new canon series this way. Part of me thought that maybe other
writers would pick-up some of these stray stories that don’t figure into the
main plot. Then I thought Wendig was being clever, showing us glimpses of
action in other parts of the galaxy (stuff, another words, we don’t ever see in
books or movies). But in the end, I just figured Wendig was given creative
license –he was mandated what he needed to tell and then went off in many wild
directions, which allowed what should’ve been a 300 page book to be bloated
into close to 500 pages.
There are
some plot points that fill in the gaps that STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS does
not get into. It is revealed that Emperor Palaptine had a contingency plan just
in case the Rebellion proved successful and that the planet of Jakku –isolated,
dirty, and out in the uncharted region of space- would be a perfect place to
hide the remnants of the Empire. Still no idea whom Rey is, but it explains why
Jakku is part of the new movie trilogy.
But along
with a distracting political subplot, there was a bunch of interludes that all seemed
forced, and all unnecessary, and baffling to boot. This was part of the reason
I stopped reading the STAR WARS books that were part of the original Expanded
Universe years ago, as I found most of the books sort of pointless.
I was hoping –and still am- that
this new unified canon would put an end to these futile looks into the “other”
areas of the STAR WARS universe. But I guess to get the good, you got to put up
with a few lesser tomes.
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