Star Wars Aftermath Trilogy 3 Books Collection Set By Chuck Wendig

Star Wars: Aftermath #1-3

by Life Debt: Aftermath By Chuck Wendig (contributor)

Star Wars Aftermath Trilogy 3 Books Collection Set By Chuck Wendig Titles in the Set Aftermath, Life Debt, Empires End

Genres: Star Wars, Science Fiction

Paperback

First published October 10, 2018

Reviews

[EscapistBookReviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary: These are the new-canon tie-in novels that relate what happened in the galaxy far, far away, after the Battle of Endor in Return of the Jedi. More precisely, they are the adventures of a rag-tag group of New Republic operatives, told against the backdrop of the fall of the Empire and rise of the Republic. There is also a storyline from the Empire side, in which a Grand Admiral vies with an Imperial Counsellor for control of the Empire's remains, and numerous vignettes showing ground-level views of how the conflict plays out on various planets. Original Trilogy protagonists like Princess Leia, Han Solo, and Chewbacca (and minor characters like Admiral Akbar, Wedge, and Mon Mothma) make appearances and play parts in the story, but the focus on is on the original characters.

The first book is about how the rag-tag team comes together: a Rebel pilot home from the war, the son she left behind, his robot buddy (there's got to be a robot buddy, this is Star Wars), a nonhuman bounty hunter, and an Imperial deserter all team up to interfere with a secret conclave of Imperial officials who are trying to regroup after the deaths of the Emperor and Darth Vader. The second book takes the team to Kasshyk (the wookie planet), and the third to Jakku (the planet where Rey lives at the start of The Force Awakens).

Thoughts: This approach worked for me quite well, because it lines up with my preferred form of tie-in novel: stories about minor characters, or stories about original characters in the same setting as the main property. Such stories explore and add richness to the setting, but don't annoy me with depictions of major characters which don't jibe with my own.

The book's characters keep with the welcome trend towards diversity in modern Star Wars. Depending on who you count as "main" characters, it's about a 50-50 split between male and female characters. One member of the rag-tag team is gay (this has apparently caused some great consternation on the part of assholes, another point in its favor), and the bad-ass Grand Admiral who carries the Imperial side of the story is a black woman.

All in all, the series feels like "real" Star Wars, largely due to the stories being focused this rag-tag team of likable characters fighting the Empire. That is, I think, quintessential Star Wars.

Escapist Rating: 3/4
Recommended for: non-toxic Star Wars fans
Dis-recommended for: people who don't care about Star Wars, Star Wars fans who can't let go of the old EU

[Gillian Hampton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read these as they came out.

Wendig weaves and interesting story about what comes next after Return of the Jedi. However, there were some missteps along the way. His style is short and choppy sentences that seemed redundant. I appreciate the attempt to weave in a diverse cast in terms of identity however some of this could be done better. For example Sinjar a male former Imperial operative develops a fantastic chemistry with Jas (a female Zabrak bounty hunter). This chemistry overpowers the subtle hints that Sinjar is gay. So when at the end she makes a move on him and he lets her know he's gay--it feels forced.

In the end it feels like the editing was rushed with this trilogy and it could've used some more time to bake.

[Jakub Brudny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nie wiem do końca jak cała ta seria ma się do aktualnych kierunków wytyczonych przez Disneya, bo wygląda na to, że dokonali zwrotu ze ścieżki "wyznawców Mocy" typu akolici z Jedhy/Rycerze Ren/obecni w tej książce kultyści Ciemnej jak i Jasnej Strony, z drugiej strony mamy ten cały masterplan oczyszczenia imperium, który nie wydaje się oddziaływać na to co widzimy chociażby w Mandoverse, a sama Nowa Republika wydaje się tu być spełnieniem marzeń rebeliantów o wolnej galaktyce, co nijak ma się do tej skorumpowanej, nieefektywnej biurokracji, jaką widzieliśmy w ostatnim sezonie Mando. Dlatego też cała ta seria zapadnie mi w pamięć głównie ze względu na wyjaśnienie bitwy o Jakku, ciekawe scenki poboczne, a także niewielkie znaczenie całej trylogii.

[Zachary Hartung · Rating 2 out of 5]

So many fake deaths, that when characters do die, all the impact is lost. Some of the interludes were interesting, but a lot of the time, feels more like an interruption. Especially in the first one, where they were much more frequent. Additionally, while not a fault of the book, many of the plotlines introduced here haven't been expanded on in other Sequel-era media, but it does contribute to how isolated this trilogy feels. By the end, I felt completely whelmed. At least Embo was cool, can always count on that.

[Glenn Saitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty decent Star Wars books. They were fine.

[JOSHUA]

Shame this series did a good job of setting up an interesting change for the sequels.