SPOILER FREE
Star Wars Aftermath, the sixth book released in the new Star Wars Canon. Aftermath is written by Author Chuck Wendig. The story takes place after the battle of Endor and the destruction of the second Death Star. Spoiler alert, this book does not follow our core characters. What happens to Luke, Han, Leia, and Lando? Only one of these names gets dropped in this tale and the usage is very lame.
Summary: Aftermath, Although the emperor and his right hand man Vader are dead, the Empire is still with us, though they have been scattered to the outer rim. We discover this as our favorite rebel pilot Wedge Antilles stumbles across a few Star Destroyers outside the planet, Akiva. The New Republic is quickly established. Chuck Wendig doesn’t go into detail at all about the formation of the Republic other than the fact that Mon Mothma is acting as Chancellor. She wants to cut the military by 90% because she doesn’t like war. Yet, the war isn’t over, right there in the prelude it reads …the war is just beginning.
The remaining top dogs of the empire have set up a meeting on the planet to discuss the future of the Empire. Right off the bat things get shaky, Wedge is captured by the imperials, therefore the search begins and the introduction of a few new characters.
Characters: Nora Wexley is a rebel pilot suffering PTSD. She was actually flying inside the second Death Star as it was exploding. She comes home to Akiva, to her son, Temmin Wexley. Temmin is a bit of a stubborn brat, who’s pissed at his mother for abandoning him to his lesbian aunts, who unfortunately, couldn’t raise him. Yes, Nora left her son to join the rebel alliance. Temmin has a pet/friend droid that just so happens to be a B-1 Battle Droid… yes… those annoying droids from the Clone Wars. (Roger Roger). Well, the boy is in trouble by some local gangster, Surat.
We meet Jas, a bounty hunter. She attempts to collect her bounty, an imperial officer, and discovers that in fact several officers have come together in one location. Well, she runs into some bad luck. Eventually, she gets caught up with Surat.
We meet Sinjir, a former imperial loyalty officer. He’s hopping bars drawing himself in liquor. He wants to get off Akiva, so he seeks out a pilot. Well, long story short, he also gets caught up with Surat.
Eventually they escape the grasp of Surat and meet with Nora. They decide to work together as a team and help Jas take out the imperial targets. It gets a little messy and strange, the plan devised by Nora and the bounty hunter is disrupted and the imperials flee with our hero’s held captive. But! the New Republic comes to the rescue.
Overall Review: The present tense writing style isn’t good for a tale that takes place “A long time ago” in a galaxy far far away. There are interludes every few chapters, a short story about something else going on in the galaxy. It’s a distraction from the boring story he’s trying to tell. The diversity in the book comes off forced, it doesn’t read natural at all. Chuck Wendig just wants to let us know that there are plenty of gays in the Star Wars universe. One weird thing, Wendig substitutes the “F word” with “frag.” In this book, there was absolutely nothing at stake.
I give this book a 1 out of 5
