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Star Wars: Aftermath #3
Empire's End
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 its hunt for the hidden enemy.
For her role in the deadly ambush, Grand Admiral Rae 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.
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.
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 its hunt for the hidden enemy.
For her role in the deadly ambush, Grand Admiral Rae 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.
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.
512 pages, Paperback
First published February 21, 2017
665 people are currently reading
11604 people want to read
About the author
Chuck Wendig
182 books7,231 followersChuck Wendig is a novelist, a screenwriter, and a freelance penmonkey.
He has contributed over two million words to the roleplaying game industry, and was the developer of the popular Hunter: The Vigil game line (White Wolf Game Studios / CCP).
He, along with writing partner Lance Weiler, is a fellow of the Sundance Film Festival Screenwriter's Lab (2010). Their short film, Pandemic, will show at the Sundance Film Festival 2011, and their feature film HiM is in development with producer Ted Hope.
Chuck's novel Double Dead will be out in November, 2011.
He's written too much. He should probably stop. Give him a wide berth, as he might be drunk and untrustworthy. He currently lives in the wilds of Pennsyltucky with a wonderful wife and two very stupid dogs. He is represented by Stacia Decker of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.
You can find him at his website, terribleminds.com.
He has contributed over two million words to the roleplaying game industry, and was the developer of the popular Hunter: The Vigil game line (White Wolf Game Studios / CCP).
He, along with writing partner Lance Weiler, is a fellow of the Sundance Film Festival Screenwriter's Lab (2010). Their short film, Pandemic, will show at the Sundance Film Festival 2011, and their feature film HiM is in development with producer Ted Hope.
Chuck's novel Double Dead will be out in November, 2011.
He's written too much. He should probably stop. Give him a wide berth, as he might be drunk and untrustworthy. He currently lives in the wilds of Pennsyltucky with a wonderful wife and two very stupid dogs. He is represented by Stacia Decker of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.
You can find him at his website, terribleminds.com.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,187 reviews
May 22, 2025
I have to say I was expecting a lot more from this book. For what it was, it was ok. The book was very slow in places, infact I think I fell asleep reading it a couple of points. Then the last 130 pages (the book is divided into 5 parts, it really came alive from half way through part 4 for me) was all out action and I did not want to put the book down from then. However, this was less than a third of the book. It was a little too late. Another thing that disappointed me was the lack of star power in this book. I can understand the choice (but I don't like it) about keeping Luke Skywalker quite till the Last Jedi comes out, but this is at least 30 years before The Force Awakens, and many years before he started his quest TFA said he started this quest after Ben's turn to Kylo Ren. Leia, Han, and Wedge are made after thought. Well, we did our best time to move on. Leia ok she is heavily pregnant, and Wedge is in the dog house for his actions of the last book, but Han and Luke missing the last battle with Empire? I do not think that is really going to happen. Having said that, it did give other characters a chance to shine, and there are some huge heroic sacrifices in the final battle. Though these could have still been done with the Rebel heroes there. Like all ways, not everyone gets out alive.
The Rebel Alliance is not more. It has become the New Republic government and has inherited all the bureaucracy and dirty political manoeuvring that goes along with it. After the Order 66 style attack from the Empire, Mon Mothma's position has been weakened politically mean while she is recovering physically from the attack. Norra Wexley and her team are angry and intend to capture Grand Admiral Rae Sloane, whom they blame as the personification of the Empire and the architect of the diabolical attack. Careful what you wish for as chasing Sloane they find the real threat from the true leader of the Empire Gallius Rax. Now, for me, the Rax was the biggest letdown of the book. Through out the book we are told what a dangerous man he is, but to me he comes across as a pale immation of Admiral Thrawn, I do not see what the Emperor saw in him or how he usurped Sloane's authority. Even though they were many good points of this book and there were the seeds to what would become the First Order, the early pace of the book, and lack of new development in the Star Wars Universe I could not help but be a little disappointed in this book.
The Rebel Alliance is not more. It has become the New Republic government and has inherited all the bureaucracy and dirty political manoeuvring that goes along with it. After the Order 66 style attack from the Empire, Mon Mothma's position has been weakened politically mean while she is recovering physically from the attack. Norra Wexley and her team are angry and intend to capture Grand Admiral Rae Sloane, whom they blame as the personification of the Empire and the architect of the diabolical attack. Careful what you wish for as chasing Sloane they find the real threat from the true leader of the Empire Gallius Rax. Now, for me, the Rax was the biggest letdown of the book. Through out the book we are told what a dangerous man he is, but to me he comes across as a pale immation of Admiral Thrawn, I do not see what the Emperor saw in him or how he usurped Sloane's authority. Even though they were many good points of this book and there were the seeds to what would become the First Order, the early pace of the book, and lack of new development in the Star Wars Universe I could not help but be a little disappointed in this book.
March 8, 2017
There's a lot to be thankful for with this final volume of Chuck Wendig's Aftermath trilogy. For example, just the fact that this horrible series is now finished, and hopefully Wendig will not have anything more to do with Star Wars.
Well . . . I guess that's all I'm thankful for with this final volume of Chuck Wendig's Aftermath, actually.
Truly this has been a disappointing series at every turn. This concluding entry features the same poor prose--writing that makes it sound like Wendig spends all of his time reading social media instead of good books. It really shows, and it's disappointing even though I was braced for it by this point.
What really bothered me about Empire's End is the relentlessly disgusting violence. Star Wars has never really been about realistic, or even action-movie, fighting and gore. You shoot a Stormtrooper, he falls over; end of story. You don't hold a Stormtrooper against a cage while a maniacal battle droid slices him into pieces. When Star Wars shows something truly horrific, like a limb being cut off, it is presented as exceptionally severe and startling. But Wendig is just a cruel author. He delights in descriptions of bones crunching, teeth being knocked out, people gurgling through crushed tracheas, people slicing each others' faces, and yes, people being hacked to pieces. This isn't Star Wars, and it doesn't earn the right to be regarded as "grown-up Star Wars." It's juvenile and ugly. Many fight scenes in Empire's End left me feeling dirty.
The other disappointment is the tying up of loose ends. What is it that Gallius and Palpatine were guarding on Jakku? Seriously, I just couldn't believe how disappointing the answer to that was. Who is Snoke? No solid clues given. Where is Luke? Who knows? (Obvious before starting the novel, from Wendig's cutesy dedication: "To Luke S., wherever you are.") How does the First Order form? Again: just ridiculous.
Other problems: No one has yet "gotten" Mon Mothma. She's a really odd character. Other characters in the book accuse her of being a weak leader, and from what I've seen I kind of agree. Politics is central to this story, yet it always feels distant. It's hard to imagine actual political conversations happening among these mostly nameless senators of the New Republic. (And are there really only 327 senators total, or did I misread that?)
The book actually gets an extra star for the great interlude with Lando returning to Cloud City (and delivering the perfect first line!), and a quick reference to the Lando graphic novel . . . but then it loses that star for a hammy Mad Max homage with a Hutt and her slaves racing across a desert on wheel bikes and speeders to attack the Imperials.
In the end, few of the new main characters were ever in actual peril. The only ones who die are the blandest of the bland who didn't play much of a part in the story. No emotion felt at all, probably because the incessant violence had already numbed me long before any main character died.
Everything in Wendig's writing feels oddly disconnected and unreal. When he writes about expectant parents, it's like he's never been one; about war, like he's never even talked to anyone who's seen combat; about politics, like he's scared of actually trying to figure it out; about love, like he's in middle school. It's really strange.
But at least--at last!--it's over. Let's take a deep breath and move on, hopefully to much better books and better days for the galaxy far, far away (and the other one, that I guess is even further away; or maybe that one is closer; who knows . . . *sigh* Now I'm sad again . . . ).
"I've got a bad feeling about this" alert: p. 291. (Are we really not past this gimmick yet?)
Well . . . I guess that's all I'm thankful for with this final volume of Chuck Wendig's Aftermath, actually.
Truly this has been a disappointing series at every turn. This concluding entry features the same poor prose--writing that makes it sound like Wendig spends all of his time reading social media instead of good books. It really shows, and it's disappointing even though I was braced for it by this point.
What really bothered me about Empire's End is the relentlessly disgusting violence. Star Wars has never really been about realistic, or even action-movie, fighting and gore. You shoot a Stormtrooper, he falls over; end of story. You don't hold a Stormtrooper against a cage while a maniacal battle droid slices him into pieces. When Star Wars shows something truly horrific, like a limb being cut off, it is presented as exceptionally severe and startling. But Wendig is just a cruel author. He delights in descriptions of bones crunching, teeth being knocked out, people gurgling through crushed tracheas, people slicing each others' faces, and yes, people being hacked to pieces. This isn't Star Wars, and it doesn't earn the right to be regarded as "grown-up Star Wars." It's juvenile and ugly. Many fight scenes in Empire's End left me feeling dirty.
The other disappointment is the tying up of loose ends. What is it that Gallius and Palpatine were guarding on Jakku? Seriously, I just couldn't believe how disappointing the answer to that was. Who is Snoke? No solid clues given. Where is Luke? Who knows? (Obvious before starting the novel, from Wendig's cutesy dedication: "To Luke S., wherever you are.") How does the First Order form? Again: just ridiculous.
Other problems: No one has yet "gotten" Mon Mothma. She's a really odd character. Other characters in the book accuse her of being a weak leader, and from what I've seen I kind of agree. Politics is central to this story, yet it always feels distant. It's hard to imagine actual political conversations happening among these mostly nameless senators of the New Republic. (And are there really only 327 senators total, or did I misread that?)
The book actually gets an extra star for the great interlude with Lando returning to Cloud City (and delivering the perfect first line!), and a quick reference to the Lando graphic novel . . . but then it loses that star for a hammy Mad Max homage with a Hutt and her slaves racing across a desert on wheel bikes and speeders to attack the Imperials.
In the end, few of the new main characters were ever in actual peril. The only ones who die are the blandest of the bland who didn't play much of a part in the story. No emotion felt at all, probably because the incessant violence had already numbed me long before any main character died.
Everything in Wendig's writing feels oddly disconnected and unreal. When he writes about expectant parents, it's like he's never been one; about war, like he's never even talked to anyone who's seen combat; about politics, like he's scared of actually trying to figure it out; about love, like he's in middle school. It's really strange.
But at least--at last!--it's over. Let's take a deep breath and move on, hopefully to much better books and better days for the galaxy far, far away (and the other one, that I guess is even further away; or maybe that one is closer; who knows . . . *sigh* Now I'm sad again . . . ).
"I've got a bad feeling about this" alert: p. 291. (Are we really not past this gimmick yet?)
March 13, 2017
4 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2017/03/13/...
The Aftermath trilogy may have gotten off to a shaky start, but the good news is that things have been steadily turning around ever since Life Debt improved on many of the problems that plagued the first novel. I’m happy to report that Empire’s End continues this trend by further developing the story and characters, giving them the depth that they lacked early on.
Looking back my review of Aftermath, my feelings about this series now can’t be any more different. To be honest, I thought the first book was very forgettable. The plot was fun but fluffy, lacking any real weight. None of the new characters were all that compelling or memorable, except maybe the droid. It wasn’t a bad read, but overall it was still a very mediocre addition to the new Star Wars canon, doubly disappointing because of how hugely it was hyped.
Now, fast forward to Empire’s End. We’ve definitely come a long way since the first book. The inclusion of original trilogy characters and connections to other events and stories in the Star Wars universe have helped this trilogy immensely, increasing its relevance and making the second and third books a lot more enjoyable to read. We also know that the title refers to the Empire’s last stand at the Battle of Jakku, so the anticipation for this monumentally important event also helped.
Empire’s End continues the adventures of Norra Wexley and her band of mercenaries as they continue to hunt down the remnants of the Imperial leadership—except now, it’s personal. The events that took place at Chandrila at the end of Life Debt have made Grand Admiral Rae Sloane the primary target of Norra’s revenge. Unbeknownst to our rebels though, Sloane has lost all her power, struck down by the diabolical Gallius Rax, the former protégé of Emperor Palpatine and self-proclaimed Counselor of the Empire.
The hunt to bring Sloane to justice ultimately leads Norra to Jakku, where her team discovers the presence of a large Imperial force attempting to regather their strength. This intelligence is relayed back to the New Republic, where the Galactic Senate now must decide whether or not to bring the fight to the Empire. Meanwhile, Leia Organa and Han Solo are soon expecting their first child and have taken a step back from the limelight. Understanding the need to see the enemy put down once and for all, however, they team up with Chancellor Mon Mothma to convince others in the senate that the vote to bring the fleet to Jakku must pass.
Politics, action, and thrills come together in this final installment of the Aftermath trilogy, and if you’ve been enjoying the ride so far, then you’ll likely be pleased with the results. Empire’s End is much better than the first book, possibly even better than Life Debt; in fact, I think it’s one of the stronger new canon novels to date. Maybe I’m just getting used to the writing, or maybe opting to go with the audiobook format could have improved the experience, but I found Wendig’s style and his use of the present tense much less distracting this time around. And even though I still find them somewhat distracting, I’ve also come to grudgingly tolerate those pesky interludes. Dare I say, a couple of them were actually quite interesting, like that brief glimpse we got into what Jar Jar Binks has been up to since the prequels.
This novel’s greatest achievement though, is character development. Norra, Temmin, Jas, Sinjir, and Jom went from a jumble of names I could barely remember to the heroes that I enthusiastically cheered for in this final showdown between the New Republic and the Empire. And of course we mustn’t forget about Mr. Bones, who has been a favorite since the beginning. Over the course of the trilogy, this crew of ragtag rebels has become a real family. Empire’s End places them all in situations where you can truly sense their loyalty to each other, or understand their growing emotional ties and friendships. In addition, this book did amazing things for Grand Admiral Rae Sloane. Though she was already a fantastic character even going back to her first appearance in A New Dawn, much of her growth has been seen in the Aftermath trilogy. She may be on the wrong side of history, but she has such a strong, interesting backstory and personality that you can’t help but love her too.
If the later books had remained mediocre like Aftermath, I would have said skip this trilogy. Fortunately though, this was not the case. Things have really picked up since the first book, and the number of significant events and ties to other stories and characters in the Star Wars universe have pretty much made this one a must-read. Overall, I’m pretty pleased with how the series has turned out. I have some caveats of course, which you can find in my reviews of the previous books, but on the whole I would encourage Star Wars fans both new and old to check out this trilogy if you think you might enjoy it.
Audiobook Comments: Marc Thompson is a god, that is all.
Okay, fine, I’ll elaborate. More and more, I’m finding myself shifting away from reading Star Wars fiction to listening to them, simply because they always have the best talent narrating these books. Thompson is a perpetual favorite because of his ability to do all these great voices. Some of the ones he does for specific characters are spot on. I loved his voices for Han Solo, Sinjir, and Mr. Bones. He even did a pretty good Lando. And one of my friends who read the hardcover version of book actually asked me if Thompson did the Jar Jar Binks voice for the aforementioned interlude, and I was like, are you kidding me, of course he did! And it was amazing! Star Wars audiobooks are always a treat, and Thompson is a narrator whose reading can really enhance a story even when there’s not a lot happening on a page.
The Aftermath trilogy may have gotten off to a shaky start, but the good news is that things have been steadily turning around ever since Life Debt improved on many of the problems that plagued the first novel. I’m happy to report that Empire’s End continues this trend by further developing the story and characters, giving them the depth that they lacked early on.
Looking back my review of Aftermath, my feelings about this series now can’t be any more different. To be honest, I thought the first book was very forgettable. The plot was fun but fluffy, lacking any real weight. None of the new characters were all that compelling or memorable, except maybe the droid. It wasn’t a bad read, but overall it was still a very mediocre addition to the new Star Wars canon, doubly disappointing because of how hugely it was hyped.
Now, fast forward to Empire’s End. We’ve definitely come a long way since the first book. The inclusion of original trilogy characters and connections to other events and stories in the Star Wars universe have helped this trilogy immensely, increasing its relevance and making the second and third books a lot more enjoyable to read. We also know that the title refers to the Empire’s last stand at the Battle of Jakku, so the anticipation for this monumentally important event also helped.
Empire’s End continues the adventures of Norra Wexley and her band of mercenaries as they continue to hunt down the remnants of the Imperial leadership—except now, it’s personal. The events that took place at Chandrila at the end of Life Debt have made Grand Admiral Rae Sloane the primary target of Norra’s revenge. Unbeknownst to our rebels though, Sloane has lost all her power, struck down by the diabolical Gallius Rax, the former protégé of Emperor Palpatine and self-proclaimed Counselor of the Empire.
The hunt to bring Sloane to justice ultimately leads Norra to Jakku, where her team discovers the presence of a large Imperial force attempting to regather their strength. This intelligence is relayed back to the New Republic, where the Galactic Senate now must decide whether or not to bring the fight to the Empire. Meanwhile, Leia Organa and Han Solo are soon expecting their first child and have taken a step back from the limelight. Understanding the need to see the enemy put down once and for all, however, they team up with Chancellor Mon Mothma to convince others in the senate that the vote to bring the fleet to Jakku must pass.
Politics, action, and thrills come together in this final installment of the Aftermath trilogy, and if you’ve been enjoying the ride so far, then you’ll likely be pleased with the results. Empire’s End is much better than the first book, possibly even better than Life Debt; in fact, I think it’s one of the stronger new canon novels to date. Maybe I’m just getting used to the writing, or maybe opting to go with the audiobook format could have improved the experience, but I found Wendig’s style and his use of the present tense much less distracting this time around. And even though I still find them somewhat distracting, I’ve also come to grudgingly tolerate those pesky interludes. Dare I say, a couple of them were actually quite interesting, like that brief glimpse we got into what Jar Jar Binks has been up to since the prequels.
This novel’s greatest achievement though, is character development. Norra, Temmin, Jas, Sinjir, and Jom went from a jumble of names I could barely remember to the heroes that I enthusiastically cheered for in this final showdown between the New Republic and the Empire. And of course we mustn’t forget about Mr. Bones, who has been a favorite since the beginning. Over the course of the trilogy, this crew of ragtag rebels has become a real family. Empire’s End places them all in situations where you can truly sense their loyalty to each other, or understand their growing emotional ties and friendships. In addition, this book did amazing things for Grand Admiral Rae Sloane. Though she was already a fantastic character even going back to her first appearance in A New Dawn, much of her growth has been seen in the Aftermath trilogy. She may be on the wrong side of history, but she has such a strong, interesting backstory and personality that you can’t help but love her too.
If the later books had remained mediocre like Aftermath, I would have said skip this trilogy. Fortunately though, this was not the case. Things have really picked up since the first book, and the number of significant events and ties to other stories and characters in the Star Wars universe have pretty much made this one a must-read. Overall, I’m pretty pleased with how the series has turned out. I have some caveats of course, which you can find in my reviews of the previous books, but on the whole I would encourage Star Wars fans both new and old to check out this trilogy if you think you might enjoy it.
Audiobook Comments: Marc Thompson is a god, that is all.
Okay, fine, I’ll elaborate. More and more, I’m finding myself shifting away from reading Star Wars fiction to listening to them, simply because they always have the best talent narrating these books. Thompson is a perpetual favorite because of his ability to do all these great voices. Some of the ones he does for specific characters are spot on. I loved his voices for Han Solo, Sinjir, and Mr. Bones. He even did a pretty good Lando. And one of my friends who read the hardcover version of book actually asked me if Thompson did the Jar Jar Binks voice for the aforementioned interlude, and I was like, are you kidding me, of course he did! And it was amazing! Star Wars audiobooks are always a treat, and Thompson is a narrator whose reading can really enhance a story even when there’s not a lot happening on a page.
January 1, 2018
Overall a promising book, and definitely the best book in this trilogy, but if your most intriguing character is going to be an obvious reflection of Grand Admiral Thrawn, why not just make him Grand Admiral Thrawn?
At least, I would recommend this book based on two rather interesting things: first, that the Battle of Jakku, the fall of the Empire and the creation of the First Order from its fragments is brilliantly set up, as opposed to the new movies ignoring any form of coherence. Included in this is an impressive characterisation and backstory for the young General Hux, whose portrayal in the movies makes much more sense now. One might imagine how much less disappointing The Force Awakens would have been if Abrams & co had not been lazy and skipped over all these details.
Second, that the description of the remnants of Imperial leadership is actually just as good as in the old EU (excepting the minor annoyance mentioned above, the removal of which might have earned this book four stars). Rae Sloane is a great protagonist-antagonist, and I understand she is featured in several other new stories. Mas Amedda is stunningly good as the high-ranking Imperial bureaucrat who watched his empire torn to shreds around him. Gallius Rax is the main draw, of course, but I will confess to maintaining the vain hope throughout the trilogy that he would inevitably reveal himself to be Thrawn, despite the guy not being blue. He is an obscure admiral rising as the Empire falls; a mastermind tactician with a brilliant plan, a connoisseur of the arts with a theatrical mind. I am saddened by the wasted potential of not merging the two characters, as this would have been a great way of fully introducing the best post-Endor character to the new canon.
In the end, the Aftermath trilogy was mostly worth reading for more immersion in the new series and its storyline. It has many flaws, but there are also several things Chuck Wendig does much better than the movie script writers.
At least, I would recommend this book based on two rather interesting things: first, that the Battle of Jakku, the fall of the Empire and the creation of the First Order from its fragments is brilliantly set up, as opposed to the new movies ignoring any form of coherence. Included in this is an impressive characterisation and backstory for the young General Hux, whose portrayal in the movies makes much more sense now. One might imagine how much less disappointing The Force Awakens would have been if Abrams & co had not been lazy and skipped over all these details.
Second, that the description of the remnants of Imperial leadership is actually just as good as in the old EU (excepting the minor annoyance mentioned above, the removal of which might have earned this book four stars). Rae Sloane is a great protagonist-antagonist, and I understand she is featured in several other new stories. Mas Amedda is stunningly good as the high-ranking Imperial bureaucrat who watched his empire torn to shreds around him. Gallius Rax is the main draw, of course, but I will confess to maintaining the vain hope throughout the trilogy that he would inevitably reveal himself to be Thrawn, despite the guy not being blue. He is an obscure admiral rising as the Empire falls; a mastermind tactician with a brilliant plan, a connoisseur of the arts with a theatrical mind. I am saddened by the wasted potential of not merging the two characters, as this would have been a great way of fully introducing the best post-Endor character to the new canon.
In the end, the Aftermath trilogy was mostly worth reading for more immersion in the new series and its storyline. It has many flaws, but there are also several things Chuck Wendig does much better than the movie script writers.
March 25, 2017
I had my doubts when I started this series that I would enjoy it, but I'm glad I was wrong. The bloated and evil Empire is finally, properly coming undone, and it's great to see how the found family at the heart of this story (Norra Wexley, Temmin Wexley and his mad, murderous droid Mr. Bones, Jas Emari and Sinjir Rath Velus) have really grown to trust, respect, love and rely on each other. That doesn't mean that they're not all running off in a hundred directions in this story, because they are, as they each deal with Norra's obsession with former Grand Admiral Rae Sloane and with the remnants of the Empire's military.
One thing I've really enjoyed outside of the family's adventures, is seeing more of Mon Mothma and her beliefs and political struggles to now rebuild the government with the Empire's fall.
And Rae Sloane, who makes a smallish appearance in A New Dawn and assumes a large role in this trilogy, is a really interesting character. She's someone I should hate since she's a died-in-the-wool Empire lover, but I found her incredible drive and inner strength compelling, and really wanted her to succeed in her quest.
And all those interludes which initially drove me crazy in book one; I began really looking forward to reading each short story, giving me a wider appreciation for the struggles and pains throughout the galaxy as the Empire was falling apart.
Sinjir continued to be fun to hang out with, and Mr. Bones actually had some pretty funny lines this time around. And Jas -- don't mess with that woman.
One thing I've really enjoyed outside of the family's adventures, is seeing more of Mon Mothma and her beliefs and political struggles to now rebuild the government with the Empire's fall.
And Rae Sloane, who makes a smallish appearance in A New Dawn and assumes a large role in this trilogy, is a really interesting character. She's someone I should hate since she's a died-in-the-wool Empire lover, but I found her incredible drive and inner strength compelling, and really wanted her to succeed in her quest.
And all those interludes which initially drove me crazy in book one; I began really looking forward to reading each short story, giving me a wider appreciation for the struggles and pains throughout the galaxy as the Empire was falling apart.
Sinjir continued to be fun to hang out with, and Mr. Bones actually had some pretty funny lines this time around. And Jas -- don't mess with that woman.
June 11, 2018
*Re-read in June 2018 - The conclusion to the Aftermath trilogy by Chuck Wendig is one of the more under appreciated books in the Star Wars Disney Cannon. Empire's End adds so much to the broader Universe and links in stories from The Force Awakens (film), Thrawn (book), Lando (graphic novel), and the prequel trilogy.
From the original review in 2017:
Semi-spoilers follow...
The conclusion to Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath trilogy is a nice bridge between the events directly after Episode VI and prior to Episode VII. We see how the fallen destroyers came to be on Jakku, why there is a presence on the desolate landscape, and a glimpse into future story-lines leading to the resurrection of the fallen Empire / The First Order (read Bloodline by Claudia Gray, set after the Aftermath trilogy for a little more on this). In addition, there is a bevy of cameo’s thanks to the short story-like interludes including well-known characters Lando, a much older and interesting Jar Jar, and Chewbacca to name a few. While key characters in the Aftermaths trilogy continue to evolve and feel nature in the greater Star Wars universe, namely Nora (who is very well written) and Sloane (perhaps my favorite character of the series along with Mr. Bones, the homicidal droid built by Tem). Another solid book in the Star Wars cannon.
My rating; 5/5 star, I bumped this up to a 5 from my earlier rating of 4 purely because of the added depth this book gives to the broader Star Wars universe. It's very well written and has a cast of characters who would hold their own in any other sci-fi series. I hope some of them transend to the big screen.
From the original review in 2017:
Semi-spoilers follow...
The conclusion to Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath trilogy is a nice bridge between the events directly after Episode VI and prior to Episode VII. We see how the fallen destroyers came to be on Jakku, why there is a presence on the desolate landscape, and a glimpse into future story-lines leading to the resurrection of the fallen Empire / The First Order (read Bloodline by Claudia Gray, set after the Aftermath trilogy for a little more on this). In addition, there is a bevy of cameo’s thanks to the short story-like interludes including well-known characters Lando, a much older and interesting Jar Jar, and Chewbacca to name a few. While key characters in the Aftermaths trilogy continue to evolve and feel nature in the greater Star Wars universe, namely Nora (who is very well written) and Sloane (perhaps my favorite character of the series along with Mr. Bones, the homicidal droid built by Tem). Another solid book in the Star Wars cannon.
My rating; 5/5 star, I bumped this up to a 5 from my earlier rating of 4 purely because of the added depth this book gives to the broader Star Wars universe. It's very well written and has a cast of characters who would hold their own in any other sci-fi series. I hope some of them transend to the big screen.
February 23, 2017
If you liked Life Debt, you'll definitely like Empire's End. While not quite as good as the second Aftermath book, Empire's End definitely pulls out all the stops for this crazy ride to the end of the Empire at the Battle of Jakku. I liked it and found it to be a very satisfying ending.
Full review available over at Tosche Station: http://tosche-station.net/review-afte...
Disclaimer: I received an early copy of this book from Del Rey in return for a fair review.
Full review available over at Tosche Station: http://tosche-station.net/review-afte...
Disclaimer: I received an early copy of this book from Del Rey in return for a fair review.
April 16, 2017
Good
A well-told end to an important coda to Return if the Jedi with some delicious bridges to The Force Awakens.
A well-told end to an important coda to Return if the Jedi with some delicious bridges to The Force Awakens.
February 27, 2017
Why are we here?
It's a reasonable question to ask in this case, because really, what is even the point of looking into this work? Twice now we have delved deep into the gibbering insanity of this failing series, and found nothing but the antithesis of good storytelling in our path. The reason is simple. Many years ago, another universe was trying to revamp itself and failing horribly. With an ill thought out multi-book story arc, Doctor Who tried to kick-start its own growing universe with Timewyrm. It was a mess of incoherent and poorly planned books, right until the end, where it closed out in one of the most spectacular releases of the franchise. Personally, I was hoping to see the same again here.
Unfortunately, hope is the first step on the road to disappointment.
Rather than the legendary why-the-hell-hasn't-he-been-knighted Paul Cornell, we have been left at the mercy of a madman who may have unintentionally forged a multi-part Necronomicon. This is a man who understands storytelling like Donald Trump comprehends charisma. Everything plastered onto this paper is a poorly ham-fisted attempt to ape storytelling devices of other books. A man whose Aftermath trilogy is the Chinese knock-off of an epic saga, falling apart at the seams even as the creator drunkenly swerves about trying to steer it towards its intended goal, almost fighting against the very thing he was hired for. A man whose only skills in life seems to be riling up hordes of hipsters on social media with cries of homophobia and injustice, while basking in sheer narcissism.
Ladies and Gentlemen, what we have is Chuck Wendig. Brace yourselves, this is going to be painful.
The Good
Now, to give credit where it is due, this book does seem to at least try to give some indication of improvement over past releases. In fact, in some regards it is a hundred times better than its past book. The problem is that zero multiplied by a hundred is still zero, so what we end up with is something which might pass as a sub-par start if you were feeling charitable. Rather than invoking sheer incomprehension and extreme pain, what we get is intrigue and mild pain. It's difficult to get through, poorly crafted and almost destroys the very atmosphere it's trying to set-up, but any opening with Palpatine issuing secret orders right before Luke shows up is going to get the reader's attention.
In addition to this, this trilogy at long last tries to actually do what it was supposed to bloody well do in the first place(!) and builds a road towards The Force Awakens. We get some insight and a few brief moments of something which might be interesting if given to a better writer in the future, and it does at least grant a brief look into what Jakku was like before the big war went down. Yes, it's three books late and it's forced in at the end, but quite frankly i'm going to count its presence here alone as a win.
Finally - and this is an even bigger double edged sword than the rest - Jar Jar shows up and is verbally slapped about for his stupidity. The good news is that we're shown him living as a homeless man, wracked with guilt over his actions in bringing the Empire about, and is on the receiving end of some righteous karma as a result. The bad news is that we have to read about it, and Wending teases the reader with suggestions something horrible is going to happen only to promptly forget about him entirely, making the whole thing rather unsatisfying. It certainly doesn't make up for having to read Jar Jar's insipid dialogue here, which managed to burst a whole new layer of veins in my already bleeding eyes.
If this sounds back-handed for the "good" bits it's only because i've been forced to actively hunt down anything remotely decent here. This is also all I can honestly praise, with the rest falling into the kind of swirling mass of near unreadable garbage that it might well be the fabled singularity of science fiction suckitude; an ancient manifestation capable of ruining any setting no matter its strengths.
The Bad
Now, let's start with the other half of those moments praised AKA the really bad bits which followed on from them. Take the road to The Force Awakens for example. We all know the conflict between the Empire and the New Republic ended in a big battle over Jakku right, so surely this should be the big focus? Well, not if you're this writer it seems. Instead most of the book pushes to sideline everyone besides Wendig's pet characters, reducing their roles further and further while actively pushing the spotlight onto his crew saying "No, no, you want to see these guys instead!"
His efforts to sideline the big actions in the broader galaxy eventually veer into an almost surreal tone worthy of parody. We get brief mentions or asides of stuff going on in the universe, even signs of a big battle with the Empire, before the book smash-cuts to a trivial meandering scene with his pet creations. Few of these ever actually tie into the big grand finale in play until the very end, resulting in scene upon scene of what's effectively dead air. It's Tarantino in reverse, where you're not left enjoying the wordplay, just screaming at the book to shut up and get back to the important bits. Or, in the rare moments when it isn't doing this, it's brushing off everything else and downplaying the abilities of others until the Wendig bunch are the only competent people in the galaxy.
Take the opening chapters for example. What we get from Han and Leia is something out of a bad rom-com, with more than a few painful jokes about Han being overly worried (and insisting that Leia consume a small jungle's worth of fruit) and covering her impending pregnancy. This is delivered with the kind of forced, farcical smugness of a daytime television drama show, and the only entertaining bits suggested stem from the New Republic having some difficulties in establishing its new domain.
Apparently no one else is actually keeping a close eye the Empire though, and rather than suggesting that the Republic is doing its best, the new characters are shilled with several insane victories in quick succession to make up for its failings. This starts with managing to track down the one bounty hunter with knowledge of Jakku being the Empire's staging ground, threatening to torture the information out of him, getting to Jakku to confirm the Imperials are there, escaping a fleet of over a dozen Star Destroyers, then simultaneously bringing word to the Republic and starting scouting/resistance efforts on the surface.
Now, such a series of stunts would indeed be quite impressive were it not for two things: One, this is front-loaded within the first fifty pages. You barely get anyone re-introduced at all before it tries to breeze through the actual set-up necessary for this book to work, with a few extremely forced emotional moments shoved in amid the action. Two, the book is trying so hard to make them look impressive that the story makes the New Republic increasingly incompetent with every passing chapter.
Now, not knowing about a full scale assault fleet and a super star destroyer on a remote world? It's questionable that they would overlook this to be sure, but it's a big galaxy, so let's give them the benefit of the doubt. However, the rest of the book keeps pushing things further and further until you're left uttering the line "You have got to be fucking kidding me!" at every passing chapter. It eventually becomes so bad that, to try and justify the Resistance and greater involvement of the new characters, the New Republic repeatedly opts to veto and blocks efforts to break the military force holding Jakku hostage. The story would honestly make more sense if every politician's line was replaced with "#YOLO!" for the entire book!
Oh, if you're hoping that the politics of the book might actually offer some greater insight to the tale or even interesting counterpoints to various subjects, don't kid yourself. Bloodline's mangled attempts at political intriguer were bad enough, but here we're left with such a stunningly simplified and utterly moronic take on politics that it couldn't pass for a bad episode of Yes Minster. The ploys are so obvious you'll be predicting the twists five chapters in advance, and the few you don't pick up on will come so far out of left field that they might as well come with an asterisk with small notes stating "The Force did it!" The story doesn't evolve or develop here, it just bulldozes through everything to try and get from point A to point B. This is something which would usually elicit anger at one author destroying another's efforts to build the galaxy, were this not the same author!
So, what about the characters then, do they work well at all? Nope. No, not in any way. On the one hand we have a few returning faces who end off generally bad on the whole. Han and Leia's chemistry dissipates in every scene until you're left with a weeping pile of cliches over actual characters, both of who are usually pushed to one side in favour of the newer figures. Chewbacca is initially so far outside of the story that his own plot might as well be stuck in an entirely different book for the first act, and the wookiee himself is little more than a walking plot device to help shove things along when he does get involved. Wedge and Mon Mothma are no better, treated once again as excuses for the plot to pile humiliating abuse unto them; with the former kicked so far upstairs he's practically a joke, while the latter seems to be suffering from amnesia. At least she presumably is, as the political leader of the Rebellion apparently can't get anyone to agree on anything, with the book presenting her as an ineffectual failing leader.
Even the new heroes are no better, and you'd be hard pressed to summarize them beyond their general role and species. This is amateurishly shoved into the rushed opening, which might as well be summed up as "Exposition, Expoisition, Exposition, By The Way We're Mother And Child, Oh Shit, It's The Empire!" for all the effect it has upon the reader. There is little to no re-introduction of anyone here at first, and what little we do get not only doesn't make you want to root for them, but comes across as forced and flawed. Starting with the above example first, what we get is little more than a page-and-a-half of exchanges between the two before they start getting shot at. It boils down their relationship to, once again, a lot of cliches about the mother being protective and the son wanting to prove himself. This is a terrible way to introduce the characters to a new reader as it displays none of their depth or dynamic. Or, at least it would, were there anything more to actually be had between the two.
Matters are only made worse with the rest of the bunch, who are introduced ready to torture information out of a bounty hunter. Not a very nice hunter to be sure, and one protagonist is established to be somewhat immoral to justify this, but there's an almost gleefully sadistic tone to the scene. The story quickly goes into details about smashing his hands, cutting off his hands, poisoning his blood, ripping out his bones, and threats to devolve into a Star Wars snuff story. Thankfully they don't go ahead with it, but it is made very clear to the reader they would have happily reduced the man to a bloody wreck. Now, this sort of angle could work with a kind of Suicide Squad style story, but scene after scene keeps treating these guys like unambiguous heroes. So, yes, apparently the shining paragons of hope of this particular tale happily condone torture; either by actively practicing it or happily turning a blind eye to the act. Feel free to pick your narrative poison!
Of course, it hardly helps matters that half the time you can't tell one person from the other. It's always essential in every book that each character have their own voice, their own personality quirks or even just basic ideas they represent to help them stand out. Without it, the reader just starts to see one person in every single role. You can probably guess what happened here. If not, please allow me to sum up the length and breadth of this book's emotional spectrum with one word: Snark. We have a lot of it. A ton of it. A veritable smorgasbord of sarcastic terms and moments thrown in between lines to try and turn everyone into Deadpool. Don't believe me? Please read the following:
"I'm sorry? Am I short-circuiting like a wet droid? What are we talking about here exactly?"
"Hardly, I quit drinking Kowakian rum, because even though it tastes like the sweet, syrup of pure liquid stardust, it invokes the kind of hangover that makes you feel as if you've been romanced by an irascible rancor. It is the kind of hangover that makes you plead for death while hiding in the darkness under your bedcovers or even under the bed itself. No more Kowakian rum for me."
"You insignificant spec of insect waste-"
"Your mind is wandering like a child in a toy market."
"I'm going to either give you these credits, or i'm going to throw you out the hole in that wall over there. You can leave here with some extra currency in your pocket, or with two broken legs. Maybe even two broken arms."
"Your son, Armitage. I know you don't like him. I suspect you hurt him - psychologically or physically, I don't know, and I don't care. You will leave him alone. And you will teach the boy everything that you know. Are we clear?"
Those words were spoken by an Imperial defector, a battle droid, a bounty hunter, a combat eager son, an Imperial loyalist, and a character from the old films. Really, can you even begin to guess which one might be which? It becomes so bad that the only one who ever stands out is the bloody combat droid, as the author drops all pretenses of turning him into a poor man's HK-47, and has him speak exactly like HK-47 for the entirety of the last act. This runs throughout the entire book, and you'll be forgiven for not only losing track of who is who in each conversation, but who is even in the damn scene because of this. Or, for that matter, where the hell the scene is even set. If the dialogue was bad, the environmental descriptions and planetary establishments are downright unforgivably atrocious. Usually these boil down to perhaps one or two sentences at the start followed by nothing else.
Star Wars is infamous, of course, for having films full of single-biome worlds, but the book takes things a step further by practically defining scenes by just a scant few details. If it's set on a forest world we just get "there were some trees nearby" or with a desolate planet nothing but "oh, there was a lot of sand" accompanied by a few background oddities. The story is much more obsessed with the minor odd or strange details, or background people who help make them up, rather than actually describing where they are or what it's like. In fact, the rare exceptions such as the lengthy outline of Nakadia's environment are so broad that it loops back around to being damn near useless, obsessed with nation scale details without ever bothering to outline anything nearby. Combined with the story's habit of bouncing about, from one end of the galaxy to the next, after extremely short chapters (or even mid-chapter in a few unfortunate cases) you can be left reading about an entirely new world and not realise it for several pages.
So, we have poor characters, poor environments, poor storytelling, poor dialogue, and a plot which is fueled by the sheer stupidity of others to make the author's pet favourites look better. Some of you might be wondering, well, if it at least does the world-building any justice.
Short answer:
No.
Long answer:
AarrghaarrghpleeassennononoUGH!
The world building here consists of quite frankly one of the most bizarre mixes of great-but-mishandled and downright terrible ideas I have ever seen. Time and again - like so many of Disney's creations - the book opts to loot bits and pieces from the old Expanded Universe and treat them like its own. The problem is, rather than keeping them in a decent state, apparently no one can help but meddle with them, resulting in a number of self-contradictory ideas or retcons thrown in purely for a cheap gag. Or at least what I assume was supposed to be a cheap gag. The problem is that it's hard to tell when the book is being serious or not.
Take, for example, the big driving plan behind this whole event: Palpatine's fall. Apparently, like all good villains, the Emperor had a contingency plan ready to be rolled for the moment of his defeat. Okay, not a bad idea and the Expanded Universe has something to work with, so what's Palpatine's come-back plan? Nothing. Nope, not one thing. Nothing to maintain the Empire, nothing to restore his rule, nothing to establish a dynasty. Apparently, rather than pulling ye olde clone trick, his plan was to blow up the entire galaxy. His reasoning? No empire incapable of defending its Emperor deserves to exist.
Yes, this is in the book. Yes, apparently this is supposed to be some great grand ending to the whole thing, despite it showing up with little to no prior establishment in any way. There is no word in English, German or Mandarin which could possibly describe the sheer unrelenting stupidity of this reveal. Believe it or not, but the execution is even worse, as that's lobbed in at the last moment as well. Having read this twice over now, folks, we owe Kevin J Anderson an apology. At least his stuff never reached levels so inhumanly bad that I am left questioning if a book's publication was some kind of Springtime for Hitler stunt in the making.
When Empire's End does try to add in new things, it also keeps making the same old mistakes over and over again. A big one back in Aftermath was how everyone knew about the Jedi, the Force, the history of the Republic and things the Emperor was established to have wiped out back in A New Hope. A very basic mistake to be sure, but one which could be forgiven if you have a trilogy to go back and fix it with, right? Nope, wrong. Instead, if you're the creator of this series, you double down and make this error as dementedly egregious as possible!
Rather than there just being a few sects or people left who know about the Force, there are entire bloody cults! Everywhere! By this book if a character walks down a road, they're going to stumble across three different Force cults without even bothering to look under a rock. Part of the book delves into this, trying to make them menacing and threatening, but rapidly turning them into something the average Chaos Magos would just laugh at and call them adorable. We're given the impression that these things were bubbling under the surface for an age, kept barely in line and only just about hidden away from the world. Why didn't Palpatine stamp them out, to prevent the obvious competition rising to threaten his power-base? Because without them we wouldn't have yet another inane sub-plot adding bugger all to the book past padding out its word count.
----Apologies, the review is too long to fit in the actual box here. Please click on the link to finish off the review, or if you want the short version: Please, do not buy it, people hate it because it's bad, not because they're homophobic.----
It's a reasonable question to ask in this case, because really, what is even the point of looking into this work? Twice now we have delved deep into the gibbering insanity of this failing series, and found nothing but the antithesis of good storytelling in our path. The reason is simple. Many years ago, another universe was trying to revamp itself and failing horribly. With an ill thought out multi-book story arc, Doctor Who tried to kick-start its own growing universe with Timewyrm. It was a mess of incoherent and poorly planned books, right until the end, where it closed out in one of the most spectacular releases of the franchise. Personally, I was hoping to see the same again here.
Unfortunately, hope is the first step on the road to disappointment.
Rather than the legendary why-the-hell-hasn't-he-been-knighted Paul Cornell, we have been left at the mercy of a madman who may have unintentionally forged a multi-part Necronomicon. This is a man who understands storytelling like Donald Trump comprehends charisma. Everything plastered onto this paper is a poorly ham-fisted attempt to ape storytelling devices of other books. A man whose Aftermath trilogy is the Chinese knock-off of an epic saga, falling apart at the seams even as the creator drunkenly swerves about trying to steer it towards its intended goal, almost fighting against the very thing he was hired for. A man whose only skills in life seems to be riling up hordes of hipsters on social media with cries of homophobia and injustice, while basking in sheer narcissism.
Ladies and Gentlemen, what we have is Chuck Wendig. Brace yourselves, this is going to be painful.
The Good
Now, to give credit where it is due, this book does seem to at least try to give some indication of improvement over past releases. In fact, in some regards it is a hundred times better than its past book. The problem is that zero multiplied by a hundred is still zero, so what we end up with is something which might pass as a sub-par start if you were feeling charitable. Rather than invoking sheer incomprehension and extreme pain, what we get is intrigue and mild pain. It's difficult to get through, poorly crafted and almost destroys the very atmosphere it's trying to set-up, but any opening with Palpatine issuing secret orders right before Luke shows up is going to get the reader's attention.
In addition to this, this trilogy at long last tries to actually do what it was supposed to bloody well do in the first place(!) and builds a road towards The Force Awakens. We get some insight and a few brief moments of something which might be interesting if given to a better writer in the future, and it does at least grant a brief look into what Jakku was like before the big war went down. Yes, it's three books late and it's forced in at the end, but quite frankly i'm going to count its presence here alone as a win.
Finally - and this is an even bigger double edged sword than the rest - Jar Jar shows up and is verbally slapped about for his stupidity. The good news is that we're shown him living as a homeless man, wracked with guilt over his actions in bringing the Empire about, and is on the receiving end of some righteous karma as a result. The bad news is that we have to read about it, and Wending teases the reader with suggestions something horrible is going to happen only to promptly forget about him entirely, making the whole thing rather unsatisfying. It certainly doesn't make up for having to read Jar Jar's insipid dialogue here, which managed to burst a whole new layer of veins in my already bleeding eyes.
If this sounds back-handed for the "good" bits it's only because i've been forced to actively hunt down anything remotely decent here. This is also all I can honestly praise, with the rest falling into the kind of swirling mass of near unreadable garbage that it might well be the fabled singularity of science fiction suckitude; an ancient manifestation capable of ruining any setting no matter its strengths.
The Bad
Now, let's start with the other half of those moments praised AKA the really bad bits which followed on from them. Take the road to The Force Awakens for example. We all know the conflict between the Empire and the New Republic ended in a big battle over Jakku right, so surely this should be the big focus? Well, not if you're this writer it seems. Instead most of the book pushes to sideline everyone besides Wendig's pet characters, reducing their roles further and further while actively pushing the spotlight onto his crew saying "No, no, you want to see these guys instead!"
His efforts to sideline the big actions in the broader galaxy eventually veer into an almost surreal tone worthy of parody. We get brief mentions or asides of stuff going on in the universe, even signs of a big battle with the Empire, before the book smash-cuts to a trivial meandering scene with his pet creations. Few of these ever actually tie into the big grand finale in play until the very end, resulting in scene upon scene of what's effectively dead air. It's Tarantino in reverse, where you're not left enjoying the wordplay, just screaming at the book to shut up and get back to the important bits. Or, in the rare moments when it isn't doing this, it's brushing off everything else and downplaying the abilities of others until the Wendig bunch are the only competent people in the galaxy.
Take the opening chapters for example. What we get from Han and Leia is something out of a bad rom-com, with more than a few painful jokes about Han being overly worried (and insisting that Leia consume a small jungle's worth of fruit) and covering her impending pregnancy. This is delivered with the kind of forced, farcical smugness of a daytime television drama show, and the only entertaining bits suggested stem from the New Republic having some difficulties in establishing its new domain.
Apparently no one else is actually keeping a close eye the Empire though, and rather than suggesting that the Republic is doing its best, the new characters are shilled with several insane victories in quick succession to make up for its failings. This starts with managing to track down the one bounty hunter with knowledge of Jakku being the Empire's staging ground, threatening to torture the information out of him, getting to Jakku to confirm the Imperials are there, escaping a fleet of over a dozen Star Destroyers, then simultaneously bringing word to the Republic and starting scouting/resistance efforts on the surface.
Now, such a series of stunts would indeed be quite impressive were it not for two things: One, this is front-loaded within the first fifty pages. You barely get anyone re-introduced at all before it tries to breeze through the actual set-up necessary for this book to work, with a few extremely forced emotional moments shoved in amid the action. Two, the book is trying so hard to make them look impressive that the story makes the New Republic increasingly incompetent with every passing chapter.
Now, not knowing about a full scale assault fleet and a super star destroyer on a remote world? It's questionable that they would overlook this to be sure, but it's a big galaxy, so let's give them the benefit of the doubt. However, the rest of the book keeps pushing things further and further until you're left uttering the line "You have got to be fucking kidding me!" at every passing chapter. It eventually becomes so bad that, to try and justify the Resistance and greater involvement of the new characters, the New Republic repeatedly opts to veto and blocks efforts to break the military force holding Jakku hostage. The story would honestly make more sense if every politician's line was replaced with "#YOLO!" for the entire book!
Oh, if you're hoping that the politics of the book might actually offer some greater insight to the tale or even interesting counterpoints to various subjects, don't kid yourself. Bloodline's mangled attempts at political intriguer were bad enough, but here we're left with such a stunningly simplified and utterly moronic take on politics that it couldn't pass for a bad episode of Yes Minster. The ploys are so obvious you'll be predicting the twists five chapters in advance, and the few you don't pick up on will come so far out of left field that they might as well come with an asterisk with small notes stating "The Force did it!" The story doesn't evolve or develop here, it just bulldozes through everything to try and get from point A to point B. This is something which would usually elicit anger at one author destroying another's efforts to build the galaxy, were this not the same author!
So, what about the characters then, do they work well at all? Nope. No, not in any way. On the one hand we have a few returning faces who end off generally bad on the whole. Han and Leia's chemistry dissipates in every scene until you're left with a weeping pile of cliches over actual characters, both of who are usually pushed to one side in favour of the newer figures. Chewbacca is initially so far outside of the story that his own plot might as well be stuck in an entirely different book for the first act, and the wookiee himself is little more than a walking plot device to help shove things along when he does get involved. Wedge and Mon Mothma are no better, treated once again as excuses for the plot to pile humiliating abuse unto them; with the former kicked so far upstairs he's practically a joke, while the latter seems to be suffering from amnesia. At least she presumably is, as the political leader of the Rebellion apparently can't get anyone to agree on anything, with the book presenting her as an ineffectual failing leader.
Even the new heroes are no better, and you'd be hard pressed to summarize them beyond their general role and species. This is amateurishly shoved into the rushed opening, which might as well be summed up as "Exposition, Expoisition, Exposition, By The Way We're Mother And Child, Oh Shit, It's The Empire!" for all the effect it has upon the reader. There is little to no re-introduction of anyone here at first, and what little we do get not only doesn't make you want to root for them, but comes across as forced and flawed. Starting with the above example first, what we get is little more than a page-and-a-half of exchanges between the two before they start getting shot at. It boils down their relationship to, once again, a lot of cliches about the mother being protective and the son wanting to prove himself. This is a terrible way to introduce the characters to a new reader as it displays none of their depth or dynamic. Or, at least it would, were there anything more to actually be had between the two.
Matters are only made worse with the rest of the bunch, who are introduced ready to torture information out of a bounty hunter. Not a very nice hunter to be sure, and one protagonist is established to be somewhat immoral to justify this, but there's an almost gleefully sadistic tone to the scene. The story quickly goes into details about smashing his hands, cutting off his hands, poisoning his blood, ripping out his bones, and threats to devolve into a Star Wars snuff story. Thankfully they don't go ahead with it, but it is made very clear to the reader they would have happily reduced the man to a bloody wreck. Now, this sort of angle could work with a kind of Suicide Squad style story, but scene after scene keeps treating these guys like unambiguous heroes. So, yes, apparently the shining paragons of hope of this particular tale happily condone torture; either by actively practicing it or happily turning a blind eye to the act. Feel free to pick your narrative poison!
Of course, it hardly helps matters that half the time you can't tell one person from the other. It's always essential in every book that each character have their own voice, their own personality quirks or even just basic ideas they represent to help them stand out. Without it, the reader just starts to see one person in every single role. You can probably guess what happened here. If not, please allow me to sum up the length and breadth of this book's emotional spectrum with one word: Snark. We have a lot of it. A ton of it. A veritable smorgasbord of sarcastic terms and moments thrown in between lines to try and turn everyone into Deadpool. Don't believe me? Please read the following:
"I'm sorry? Am I short-circuiting like a wet droid? What are we talking about here exactly?"
"Hardly, I quit drinking Kowakian rum, because even though it tastes like the sweet, syrup of pure liquid stardust, it invokes the kind of hangover that makes you feel as if you've been romanced by an irascible rancor. It is the kind of hangover that makes you plead for death while hiding in the darkness under your bedcovers or even under the bed itself. No more Kowakian rum for me."
"You insignificant spec of insect waste-"
"Your mind is wandering like a child in a toy market."
"I'm going to either give you these credits, or i'm going to throw you out the hole in that wall over there. You can leave here with some extra currency in your pocket, or with two broken legs. Maybe even two broken arms."
"Your son, Armitage. I know you don't like him. I suspect you hurt him - psychologically or physically, I don't know, and I don't care. You will leave him alone. And you will teach the boy everything that you know. Are we clear?"
Those words were spoken by an Imperial defector, a battle droid, a bounty hunter, a combat eager son, an Imperial loyalist, and a character from the old films. Really, can you even begin to guess which one might be which? It becomes so bad that the only one who ever stands out is the bloody combat droid, as the author drops all pretenses of turning him into a poor man's HK-47, and has him speak exactly like HK-47 for the entirety of the last act. This runs throughout the entire book, and you'll be forgiven for not only losing track of who is who in each conversation, but who is even in the damn scene because of this. Or, for that matter, where the hell the scene is even set. If the dialogue was bad, the environmental descriptions and planetary establishments are downright unforgivably atrocious. Usually these boil down to perhaps one or two sentences at the start followed by nothing else.
Star Wars is infamous, of course, for having films full of single-biome worlds, but the book takes things a step further by practically defining scenes by just a scant few details. If it's set on a forest world we just get "there were some trees nearby" or with a desolate planet nothing but "oh, there was a lot of sand" accompanied by a few background oddities. The story is much more obsessed with the minor odd or strange details, or background people who help make them up, rather than actually describing where they are or what it's like. In fact, the rare exceptions such as the lengthy outline of Nakadia's environment are so broad that it loops back around to being damn near useless, obsessed with nation scale details without ever bothering to outline anything nearby. Combined with the story's habit of bouncing about, from one end of the galaxy to the next, after extremely short chapters (or even mid-chapter in a few unfortunate cases) you can be left reading about an entirely new world and not realise it for several pages.
So, we have poor characters, poor environments, poor storytelling, poor dialogue, and a plot which is fueled by the sheer stupidity of others to make the author's pet favourites look better. Some of you might be wondering, well, if it at least does the world-building any justice.
Short answer:
No.
Long answer:
AarrghaarrghpleeassennononoUGH!
The world building here consists of quite frankly one of the most bizarre mixes of great-but-mishandled and downright terrible ideas I have ever seen. Time and again - like so many of Disney's creations - the book opts to loot bits and pieces from the old Expanded Universe and treat them like its own. The problem is, rather than keeping them in a decent state, apparently no one can help but meddle with them, resulting in a number of self-contradictory ideas or retcons thrown in purely for a cheap gag. Or at least what I assume was supposed to be a cheap gag. The problem is that it's hard to tell when the book is being serious or not.
Take, for example, the big driving plan behind this whole event: Palpatine's fall. Apparently, like all good villains, the Emperor had a contingency plan ready to be rolled for the moment of his defeat. Okay, not a bad idea and the Expanded Universe has something to work with, so what's Palpatine's come-back plan? Nothing. Nope, not one thing. Nothing to maintain the Empire, nothing to restore his rule, nothing to establish a dynasty. Apparently, rather than pulling ye olde clone trick, his plan was to blow up the entire galaxy. His reasoning? No empire incapable of defending its Emperor deserves to exist.
Yes, this is in the book. Yes, apparently this is supposed to be some great grand ending to the whole thing, despite it showing up with little to no prior establishment in any way. There is no word in English, German or Mandarin which could possibly describe the sheer unrelenting stupidity of this reveal. Believe it or not, but the execution is even worse, as that's lobbed in at the last moment as well. Having read this twice over now, folks, we owe Kevin J Anderson an apology. At least his stuff never reached levels so inhumanly bad that I am left questioning if a book's publication was some kind of Springtime for Hitler stunt in the making.
When Empire's End does try to add in new things, it also keeps making the same old mistakes over and over again. A big one back in Aftermath was how everyone knew about the Jedi, the Force, the history of the Republic and things the Emperor was established to have wiped out back in A New Hope. A very basic mistake to be sure, but one which could be forgiven if you have a trilogy to go back and fix it with, right? Nope, wrong. Instead, if you're the creator of this series, you double down and make this error as dementedly egregious as possible!
Rather than there just being a few sects or people left who know about the Force, there are entire bloody cults! Everywhere! By this book if a character walks down a road, they're going to stumble across three different Force cults without even bothering to look under a rock. Part of the book delves into this, trying to make them menacing and threatening, but rapidly turning them into something the average Chaos Magos would just laugh at and call them adorable. We're given the impression that these things were bubbling under the surface for an age, kept barely in line and only just about hidden away from the world. Why didn't Palpatine stamp them out, to prevent the obvious competition rising to threaten his power-base? Because without them we wouldn't have yet another inane sub-plot adding bugger all to the book past padding out its word count.
----Apologies, the review is too long to fit in the actual box here. Please click on the link to finish off the review, or if you want the short version: Please, do not buy it, people hate it because it's bad, not because they're homophobic.----
March 27, 2017
This. Book. Took. Me. Over. Two. Weeks. To. Read.
There were exactly 2 reasons for that. They are:
Like, first of all... the writing. This whole series has been [so-so hand motion] as far as writing quality. This one, though, was the first book in which the writing became actually emotionally irritating. Between the constant heavy-handed "telling" about every single onscreen character's emotional state at all times, and the story itself, which was disappointing in at least 2 major ways, I am overwhelmingly relieved that I'm finally free from Empire's End and can move on to reading something actually interesting.
(The rest of the review will contain 100% spoilers and whining.)
First, cause it'll take less time, let's make a list of what was good about the book!
Now, on to the much longer and probably less coherent list of Things That Made Me Angry:
1. Let's start out small. I continue to really dislike Wendig's characterization of Han for some vague reason. Is it because Han comes off as stupid? Is it because he's reduced to literally 2 characteristics: stupidity, and wanderlust? Is it because we are ACTUALLY incapable of EVER mentioning Han Solo in any scene without a stirring description of how his eyes glisten with the ghosts of his previous bachelor freedoms and current discomfort with the role of settled-down father and husband?
FULL OFFENSE Han in the Thrawn Trilogy was literally eight hundred percent more of a round, complex actually living, mature character than Wendig's sad cardboard caricature. I hate this. It's setting up Bloodline, in which Han and Leia were actually not married, but instead some kind of long distance pen pals who skyped every 2 weeks. Absolutely not. Blocked, unfollowed, reported. Give me a good, turbulent, solid, us-against-the-world HanLeia partnership or give me DEATH.
2. Luke is literally a myth. Still. *sighs and pokes fingers through own eyeballs* Here is a literal passage from the book, referring to the event of Ben Solo's birth: "Some say that the golden boy, Luke Skywalker, made an appearance and then was off again, off on some untold mission. Others say that his absence was conspicuous."
Give me a BREAK? Like Luke wouldn't have been there, when his own sister and only living family is giving birth? Also, "some say"???? WHY IS HE A CRYPTID. WHAT IS THIS. Also apparently Chewbacca wasn't there either? I'm sorry but I reject this entire premise. Bye Felicia.
3. All right! Let's talk about... the horrible... new canon... approach to galactic government. TFA stomped on the New Republic and then ground it into the dirt with the heel of its boot. I assume they did that for some reason, but only Episode VIII and Episode IX will be able to tell. So. We already know that whatever Leia and Mon Mothma are sacrificing blood, sweat and tears to build in Empire's End... is not going to turn out to mean anything in the long run. From Bloodline, we ALSO know that already, six years before TFA, the New Republic government was a crumbling, corrupt wreck. Empire's End seems to tell us that, in fact, at NO POINT was the New Republic government ever the least bit viable.
Obviously this is a point at which the New Republic was very new and could be expected to be unstable. But over and over it's just. Wow. Mon Mothma doesn't come off as very smart. Corruption and dysfunction consume pretty much literally everyone involved in the New Republic except for the core OT cast, who are surprisingly inactive the whole time. All of this just really makes me want to start the Star Wars version of a MAGNETO WAS RIGHT campaign. Why are we even on the side of the rebellion? Where's my t-shirt that says ANAKIN WAS RIGHT. Dictatorship is really the only way to stave off total anarchy. Watch out, I'm about to join the Acolytes of the Beyond.
4. Leia's worried because she senses a thread of darkness inside Unborn Fetus Kyle Ron. She comforts herself with remembering Luke's reassurance that "we all have that." Frankly... I find this deeply objectionable because, as a famous rebellion general/smuggler once said, "That's not how the Force works!"
NOTE: In the unlikely-but-still possible event that Snoke is somehow on the scene and is? manipulating Kylo somehow? before he's even born? the following complaints are invalid and should be disregarded.
However, if that's not the case, all I can say is "please stop." Aside from the question of whether there even is a real "dark side" that should be totally avoided, rather than a balance that should be achieved -- WHICH WAS EVEN A QUESTION MENTIONED IN THIS BOOK, I MIGHT ADD -- I cannot emphasize enough that baby Ben is literally not even fully formed at this point.
Even when Anakin stood before the Council in TPM, Yoda didn't say he sensed darkness in him. He said he sensed much fear which was concerning, because it often leads to darkness. But, as a nine year old, even Anakin Skywalker hadn't done anything to be labeled as a scion of darkness. It would have been valid to sense darkness in Anakin after he'd wielded the Dark Side, after he'd allowed his mind to dwell on dark thoughts, after he'd acted in anger, jealousy, etc. etc. By contrast, baby Kylo Ren has not even taken a breath yet, and his baby synapses are exclusively full of formless sensation and proto-emotions. Leave him alone. Gosh.
5. Going back to the stupidity of the New Republic government... the general stupidity in this book became pretty stifling over time. Norra Wexley just fricking parachuted down onto Jakku for absolutely no good reason. Sloane's plans were always just "punch that person" and "take that thing." Wow. No wonder she and Brentin were dragged all over the surface of Jakku as prisoners. The absolute crowning example of this, though, was Sinjir, Han, and Temmin's attempt at saving Mon Mothma's bacon from her political opponent.
Their plan was to crash a senatorial gala and literally just... stand around... waiting for "visible signs of corruption" so that they could pounce and level blackmail on the "no" votes that they needed to change to "yes." Honestly, I was so taken aback. Like. My gosh. This is. This is not remotely realistic. Do NONE of you have a brain? Are you waiting for someone to wave a sign that says WILL SELL VOTE FOR CASH? I'm so ashamed. Sinjir's boyfriend is literally a hacker. Surely you could have come up with SOMETHING else. Is there no one competent in the entire New Republic? Just let me die, peacefully, in my own bed, before things get any more embarrassing.
6. About those vignette "aside" chapters...? Let's not do those anymore. Thanks, it was a cool idea, but I hate them. This book is already chock full of characters I barely care about. Let's not leap halfway across the galaxy to randomly visit with 5 more for 3 pages before they get dropped and never mentioned again. It's exhausting.
7. This last point ticks me off a lot. One of the good things about Empire's End that I mentioned earlier was that now we have information that we didn't have before! Always a cause to celebrate. However... I, personally, feel a little betrayed at how badly this book tied off the BIG REVEAL it was all leading up to, about how the First Order began. Life Debt started the process of hyping up whatever sekrit plans Palpatine had planted on Jakku, and Empire's End spent almost the whole book steadily building up to when we'd finally find out about "the Contingency."
Clearly, "the Contingency" involved the exploration of heretofore unknown regions of the galaxy, and fleeing there with the Imperial remnant to found the First Order. That was pretty clear. The ENTIRE rest of everything remains absolutely muddled, though. For instance:
I feel like I completely missed something here. Given that the main point of this entire book was to convey canon facts to me, since it couldn't seem to convey an enjoyable story or likable characters, I am disappointed that Empire's End couldn't even really do that very well. I'm glad this trilogy is over. I'm glad I know -- sort of? -- how the First Order began, now. That's about all there is to be glad about when it comes to this book.
There were exactly 2 reasons for that. They are:
1. IT'S BORING
2. IT'S FRUSTRATING
Like, first of all... the writing. This whole series has been [so-so hand motion] as far as writing quality. This one, though, was the first book in which the writing became actually emotionally irritating. Between the constant heavy-handed "telling" about every single onscreen character's emotional state at all times, and the story itself, which was disappointing in at least 2 major ways, I am overwhelmingly relieved that I'm finally free from Empire's End and can move on to reading something actually interesting.
(The rest of the review will contain 100% spoilers and whining.)
First, cause it'll take less time, let's make a list of what was good about the book!
• Sinjir Rath Velus was alright most of the time. He had his annoying moments, but towards the end of the book I was mostly back to liking him, so I'm putting him on this list.
• PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN CONTENT! The #1 reason I read these books in the first place and the single only reason I actually powered through to the end. Finally... we know some things... about the First Order. At last my information-parched tongue feels the taste of sweet, cold, clear drops of precious CANON FACTS.
• LANDO is going to show up in The Last Jedi and save the entire galaxy. I'm calling it right now from that one brief vignette chapter that featured him.
• I guess it was cool to see the end of Lost Stars from a different perspective? Kinda?
• Armitage Hux. Listen, I'm sorry. I really enjoy when Sloane straight up physically thrashes his abusive dad.
Now, on to the much longer and probably less coherent list of Things That Made Me Angry:
1. Let's start out small. I continue to really dislike Wendig's characterization of Han for some vague reason. Is it because Han comes off as stupid? Is it because he's reduced to literally 2 characteristics: stupidity, and wanderlust? Is it because we are ACTUALLY incapable of EVER mentioning Han Solo in any scene without a stirring description of how his eyes glisten with the ghosts of his previous bachelor freedoms and current discomfort with the role of settled-down father and husband?
FULL OFFENSE Han in the Thrawn Trilogy was literally eight hundred percent more of a round, complex actually living, mature character than Wendig's sad cardboard caricature. I hate this. It's setting up Bloodline, in which Han and Leia were actually not married, but instead some kind of long distance pen pals who skyped every 2 weeks. Absolutely not. Blocked, unfollowed, reported. Give me a good, turbulent, solid, us-against-the-world HanLeia partnership or give me DEATH.
2. Luke is literally a myth. Still. *sighs and pokes fingers through own eyeballs* Here is a literal passage from the book, referring to the event of Ben Solo's birth: "Some say that the golden boy, Luke Skywalker, made an appearance and then was off again, off on some untold mission. Others say that his absence was conspicuous."
Give me a BREAK? Like Luke wouldn't have been there, when his own sister and only living family is giving birth? Also, "some say"???? WHY IS HE A CRYPTID. WHAT IS THIS. Also apparently Chewbacca wasn't there either? I'm sorry but I reject this entire premise. Bye Felicia.
3. All right! Let's talk about... the horrible... new canon... approach to galactic government. TFA stomped on the New Republic and then ground it into the dirt with the heel of its boot. I assume they did that for some reason, but only Episode VIII and Episode IX will be able to tell. So. We already know that whatever Leia and Mon Mothma are sacrificing blood, sweat and tears to build in Empire's End... is not going to turn out to mean anything in the long run. From Bloodline, we ALSO know that already, six years before TFA, the New Republic government was a crumbling, corrupt wreck. Empire's End seems to tell us that, in fact, at NO POINT was the New Republic government ever the least bit viable.
Obviously this is a point at which the New Republic was very new and could be expected to be unstable. But over and over it's just. Wow. Mon Mothma doesn't come off as very smart. Corruption and dysfunction consume pretty much literally everyone involved in the New Republic except for the core OT cast, who are surprisingly inactive the whole time. All of this just really makes me want to start the Star Wars version of a MAGNETO WAS RIGHT campaign. Why are we even on the side of the rebellion? Where's my t-shirt that says ANAKIN WAS RIGHT. Dictatorship is really the only way to stave off total anarchy. Watch out, I'm about to join the Acolytes of the Beyond.
4. Leia's worried because she senses a thread of darkness inside Unborn Fetus Kyle Ron. She comforts herself with remembering Luke's reassurance that "we all have that." Frankly... I find this deeply objectionable because, as a famous rebellion general/smuggler once said, "That's not how the Force works!"
NOTE: In the unlikely-but-still possible event that Snoke is somehow on the scene and is? manipulating Kylo somehow? before he's even born? the following complaints are invalid and should be disregarded.
However, if that's not the case, all I can say is "please stop." Aside from the question of whether there even is a real "dark side" that should be totally avoided, rather than a balance that should be achieved -- WHICH WAS EVEN A QUESTION MENTIONED IN THIS BOOK, I MIGHT ADD -- I cannot emphasize enough that baby Ben is literally not even fully formed at this point.
Even when Anakin stood before the Council in TPM, Yoda didn't say he sensed darkness in him. He said he sensed much fear which was concerning, because it often leads to darkness. But, as a nine year old, even Anakin Skywalker hadn't done anything to be labeled as a scion of darkness. It would have been valid to sense darkness in Anakin after he'd wielded the Dark Side, after he'd allowed his mind to dwell on dark thoughts, after he'd acted in anger, jealousy, etc. etc. By contrast, baby Kylo Ren has not even taken a breath yet, and his baby synapses are exclusively full of formless sensation and proto-emotions. Leave him alone. Gosh.
5. Going back to the stupidity of the New Republic government... the general stupidity in this book became pretty stifling over time. Norra Wexley just fricking parachuted down onto Jakku for absolutely no good reason. Sloane's plans were always just "punch that person" and "take that thing." Wow. No wonder she and Brentin were dragged all over the surface of Jakku as prisoners. The absolute crowning example of this, though, was Sinjir, Han, and Temmin's attempt at saving Mon Mothma's bacon from her political opponent.
Their plan was to crash a senatorial gala and literally just... stand around... waiting for "visible signs of corruption" so that they could pounce and level blackmail on the "no" votes that they needed to change to "yes." Honestly, I was so taken aback. Like. My gosh. This is. This is not remotely realistic. Do NONE of you have a brain? Are you waiting for someone to wave a sign that says WILL SELL VOTE FOR CASH? I'm so ashamed. Sinjir's boyfriend is literally a hacker. Surely you could have come up with SOMETHING else. Is there no one competent in the entire New Republic? Just let me die, peacefully, in my own bed, before things get any more embarrassing.
6. About those vignette "aside" chapters...? Let's not do those anymore. Thanks, it was a cool idea, but I hate them. This book is already chock full of characters I barely care about. Let's not leap halfway across the galaxy to randomly visit with 5 more for 3 pages before they get dropped and never mentioned again. It's exhausting.
7. This last point ticks me off a lot. One of the good things about Empire's End that I mentioned earlier was that now we have information that we didn't have before! Always a cause to celebrate. However... I, personally, feel a little betrayed at how badly this book tied off the BIG REVEAL it was all leading up to, about how the First Order began. Life Debt started the process of hyping up whatever sekrit plans Palpatine had planted on Jakku, and Empire's End spent almost the whole book steadily building up to when we'd finally find out about "the Contingency."
Clearly, "the Contingency" involved the exploration of heretofore unknown regions of the galaxy, and fleeing there with the Imperial remnant to found the First Order. That was pretty clear. The ENTIRE rest of everything remains absolutely muddled, though. For instance:
• How did Gallius Rax and later Hux Senior get their elite fanatic child soldiers? There seemed to be something more than just intensive training involved, given their extreme behavior? But what, and how?
• What the hell was drilling down into Jakku's planet core even about? I guess it was to make the planet self-destruct and cover up the evidence of the Imperial remnant's flight to the outer rim? Wouldn't want the Republic to find Thrawn's map? If that's the case, though... why didn't the Republic find Thrawn's map, since the self-destruct failed? Are you telling me that they won the Battle of Jakku, Norra Wexley was literally INSIDE Gallius Rax's secret Jakku lair, and she just... forgot... to notify anybody from the Republic about it later, so they could sweep the place?
• What was the deal with Palpatine's secret star destroyers? He had not only ONE flagship... but actually TWELVE IDENTICAL SHIPS just to throw people off the scent...?
• Was "the Contingency" really just "run the hell away and hide"? What were all the "sacrifices" Gallius Rax was supposed to have to make? Running away is not a sacrifice, when the alternative is dying.
I feel like I completely missed something here. Given that the main point of this entire book was to convey canon facts to me, since it couldn't seem to convey an enjoyable story or likable characters, I am disappointed that Empire's End couldn't even really do that very well. I'm glad this trilogy is over. I'm glad I know -- sort of? -- how the First Order began, now. That's about all there is to be glad about when it comes to this book.
February 24, 2021
I... I don't feel sad, really. I mean, I am sad, but it feels empty, in a way. I knew that things had to happen - I knew that these characters wouldn't be together forever, and I knew that there was the possibility of death. But still - I feel so physically ill. This ending got me so, so much.
The writing in these books probably isn't everyone's taste - but let me tell you, the audiobooks are utterly out of this world. Highly, highly recommend. They're like full movies.
I am so disappointed that we haven't seen any of these characters again - some of them in bits and places but, oh my goodness, I will miss Sinjir and Jas so much. Those two are my favorite. And oh my gosh, that stuff with Sinjir and Condor was AMAZING. "I am the brightest beam of light." Oh my gosh, please, could Chuck Wendig write a book about Jas and Sinjir? Please?
That death at the end - that one pilot - that got me so bad, I swear. I hate how attached I got to all of these characters.
One thing that did let me down a little was Chewbacca's presence, or lack thereof, in this book. I mean, look, Han and Leia are his family. I get that his EU family is now canon to the books, apparently, but I thought that Chewie would come back to see Han at some point, and he didn't. I mean, we know that they're back together in TFA, but that's in 30 years!
Side note: I found all of the interludes really cool. Especially that one: "All hail the light, the dark, and the gray." Aah, what a line!
Norra, Temin, Sinjir, Jas, Jom, Mr. Bones, Wedge, even Rae Sloane - these have all been such great Star Wars characters. I loved all of them, and I really wish they had more stuff. I'd read a whole other series about where they are now and about them coming back together for another one last mission - argh, I miss them already. Well, this was a blast. I had so much fun with these guys. 5/5 stars.
update: Well, last night I literally had a whole dream where the character who died didn't die and was actually alive and had a reunion with the other characters so yeah I'm coping superbly over here.
The writing in these books probably isn't everyone's taste - but let me tell you, the audiobooks are utterly out of this world. Highly, highly recommend. They're like full movies.
I am so disappointed that we haven't seen any of these characters again - some of them in bits and places but, oh my goodness, I will miss Sinjir and Jas so much. Those two are my favorite. And oh my gosh, that stuff with Sinjir and Condor was AMAZING. "I am the brightest beam of light." Oh my gosh, please, could Chuck Wendig write a book about Jas and Sinjir? Please?
That death at the end - that one pilot - that got me so bad, I swear. I hate how attached I got to all of these characters.
One thing that did let me down a little was Chewbacca's presence, or lack thereof, in this book. I mean, look, Han and Leia are his family. I get that his EU family is now canon to the books, apparently, but I thought that Chewie would come back to see Han at some point, and he didn't. I mean, we know that they're back together in TFA, but that's in 30 years!
Side note: I found all of the interludes really cool. Especially that one: "All hail the light, the dark, and the gray." Aah, what a line!
Norra, Temin, Sinjir, Jas, Jom, Mr. Bones, Wedge, even Rae Sloane - these have all been such great Star Wars characters. I loved all of them, and I really wish they had more stuff. I'd read a whole other series about where they are now and about them coming back together for another one last mission - argh, I miss them already. Well, this was a blast. I had so much fun with these guys. 5/5 stars.
update: Well, last night I literally had a whole dream where the character who died didn't die and was actually alive and had a reunion with the other characters so yeah I'm coping superbly over here.
March 3, 2017
"Many of them still have rebel hearts beating in their chests—it's in them to question orders, to fight back when something doesn't seem right. Even if it's coming from someone you trust. People trusted Palpatine, once."
-Chuck Wendig, Aftermath: Empire's End
I want to be totally clear about one thing before I start this review: the Aftermath trilogy is my Thrawn trilogy. I haven't been reading Star Wars books for a terribly long time. When I first began obsessively collecting and reading Star Wars novels, the Legends/new canon announcement was just months away. Honor Among Thieves by James S. A. Corey was the first new Star Wars book I bought when it was released, and it's also the final book to be released before the switch to the new canon. So I'm a newb. To that end, I (gasp) don't hold the Thrawn trilogy in the same regard as the folks who have been reading these books for decades. I enjoyed the hell out of the books, and I have a ton of respect for Timothy Zahn, but that trilogy could never mean the same thing to me as it does to the fans who were there when it was a new and vital piece of the Star Wars universe.
But I'll never forget buying Aftermath on Force Friday, and starting it that night. My excitement levels (and my son's) over The Force Awakens were THROUGH THE ROOF, and I was so eager to jump into the book! I also got very emotionally involved in all the hateful online backlash over Wendig's inclusion of some gay characters, and that only bolstered my opinions of Chuck Wendig, and made me want to support him and this trilogy even more. And after all that...I fucking loved the first book. His writing style (third-person, present-tense) is apparently not for everyone. Or at least it wasn't for a lot of the Bring Back Legends crowd. And that's OK. But I'm sure a fan of it!
Having finished the trilogy, I'd say with a lot of confidence that book two, Life Debt, is my personal favorite. I loved every single page of that book, and would likely consider it my all-time favorite Star Wars book.
Empire's End is a fitting end to the trilogy. It ties up a bunch of loose ends, while unraveling a few fresh ones. The Interludes continue to be some of the most interesting & effective looks at what a post-Palpatine galaxy looks like. My absolute favorite one, played out across all three books, is a Star Wars western! I think the bones for a GREAT standalone story about Sheriff Cobb Vance are there, and I would love to see that become a reality!
There is a bit of a lull through the middle of the book, and I really struggled with it. I wanted this to be the BEST THING EVER, but I just feel like the middle dragged a little, and affected the overall pace of the book. That said, it picks up steam towards the end, and Wendig's vision of this fractured version of the Empire returns to the truly nightmarish heights we saw in Life Debt. There are some brutal and shocking moments, for sure.
I think Chuck Wendig did an admirable job with the Aftermath trilogy, and it will always hold a special place in my heart. He took some risks with beloved characters, introduced some truly memorable ones, and did some really interesting and audacious things with his time playing in the Star Wars sandbox. And I really, really hope he gets invited back to play again.
-Chuck Wendig, Aftermath: Empire's End
I want to be totally clear about one thing before I start this review: the Aftermath trilogy is my Thrawn trilogy. I haven't been reading Star Wars books for a terribly long time. When I first began obsessively collecting and reading Star Wars novels, the Legends/new canon announcement was just months away. Honor Among Thieves by James S. A. Corey was the first new Star Wars book I bought when it was released, and it's also the final book to be released before the switch to the new canon. So I'm a newb. To that end, I (gasp) don't hold the Thrawn trilogy in the same regard as the folks who have been reading these books for decades. I enjoyed the hell out of the books, and I have a ton of respect for Timothy Zahn, but that trilogy could never mean the same thing to me as it does to the fans who were there when it was a new and vital piece of the Star Wars universe.
But I'll never forget buying Aftermath on Force Friday, and starting it that night. My excitement levels (and my son's) over The Force Awakens were THROUGH THE ROOF, and I was so eager to jump into the book! I also got very emotionally involved in all the hateful online backlash over Wendig's inclusion of some gay characters, and that only bolstered my opinions of Chuck Wendig, and made me want to support him and this trilogy even more. And after all that...I fucking loved the first book. His writing style (third-person, present-tense) is apparently not for everyone. Or at least it wasn't for a lot of the Bring Back Legends crowd. And that's OK. But I'm sure a fan of it!
Having finished the trilogy, I'd say with a lot of confidence that book two, Life Debt, is my personal favorite. I loved every single page of that book, and would likely consider it my all-time favorite Star Wars book.
Empire's End is a fitting end to the trilogy. It ties up a bunch of loose ends, while unraveling a few fresh ones. The Interludes continue to be some of the most interesting & effective looks at what a post-Palpatine galaxy looks like. My absolute favorite one, played out across all three books, is a Star Wars western! I think the bones for a GREAT standalone story about Sheriff Cobb Vance are there, and I would love to see that become a reality!
There is a bit of a lull through the middle of the book, and I really struggled with it. I wanted this to be the BEST THING EVER, but I just feel like the middle dragged a little, and affected the overall pace of the book. That said, it picks up steam towards the end, and Wendig's vision of this fractured version of the Empire returns to the truly nightmarish heights we saw in Life Debt. There are some brutal and shocking moments, for sure.
I think Chuck Wendig did an admirable job with the Aftermath trilogy, and it will always hold a special place in my heart. He took some risks with beloved characters, introduced some truly memorable ones, and did some really interesting and audacious things with his time playing in the Star Wars sandbox. And I really, really hope he gets invited back to play again.
July 24, 2019
This is definitely my favourite book out of the trilogy! It really does pack one hell of a punch and wraps the trilogy up really nicely in my eyes. This book is nonstop action from start to finish, it really doesn’t let up for a single second! My only minor complaint is that there’s so much going on that at a certain point I had a hard time keeping up with it all. I really love the Interludes in this one, especially the one featuring my favourite (unpopular opinion I know) Star Wars character, Jar Jar Binks. He just makes me laugh so much and I adore it! And a special shout out to Mr. Bones, that’s one hell of a droid!
February 26, 2017
Again, like the previous aftermath books the story surrounds a bunch of characters that are just uninteresting and some that even harken back to the annoyance of the prequels. I read this book of course because I'm fascinated by the world of Star Wars and wish to know more about the story and while you get a sprinkling of the characters and worlds that make the Star Wars movies so great you must bare your teeth and force your way through this book. If you want an interesting story based after Return of the Jedi I would recommend Bloodlines.
February 25, 2017
I really liked this, and the trilogy as a whole. Weird pacing attacks all three books occasionally, though.
Ps SO MANY TIE-INS TO OTHER STAR WARS STORIES????? They're doing a great job.
Ps SO MANY TIE-INS TO OTHER STAR WARS STORIES????? They're doing a great job.
May 23, 2024
Just like the previous two books: Messy plotting, fantastic characters, and a writing style that takes getting used to, except the overall quality is higher this time. Fantastic ride from start to finish, I’ll miss these characters.
June 21, 2017
"When they say to one another, ‘May the Force be with you,’ it is precisely this that they mean: It is a wish that when the time comes to leap into the void and to make a decision based on instinct and trust, you are rewarded for that act and not punished. The hope is that if you meet the galaxy halfway, it meets you in the middle and carries you the rest of the distance.”
I literally checked this book out of the library four times before I finally finished it (and kept it until forced to return it all four of those times, accruing several dollars worth in fines each incidence). So that’s probably not the best sign. I did end up liking this, and I did end up giving it four stars, though, because I really think the problem in this case was me, not the book. It was pretty on par with its predecessors in terms of story and quality, and my having a hard time keeping with it doesn’t really have a basis in the book itself. It’s just mostly that during the last five months or so I have wanted almost nothing but to read a specific subset of kissing book. And this book has almost no kissing in it. Very much not what my brain wanted slash still wants right now. I’ve been in id-mode, guys. This is also why my reading pace has literally halved itself. Ugh, I need to be medicated.
But enough about not-the-book; let’s talk about the book.
As you might be able to tell from the title, this book finally dramatizes the fall of the Empire (and the birth of what will become the First Order). There’s lots of political maneuvering, sweet moments of sadness and revenge and regret (mostly between Norra and Temmin and Brentin) but I also thought it did well by its ostensible antagonist, Sloane. Big Bad Rax, though, I thought kind of piddled out. The whole book its hinted he has this secret mission, but when it’s finally revealed, it was mostly anti-climactic, although I was pleased the reveal here related to Grand Admiral Thrawn. (After just having finished Thrawn, it was a nice tie-in.)
I also enjoyed seeing the bittersweet moment of Ben Solo’s birth. It was a lovely moment, tempered by our knowledge of what happens to that character (and his parents).
All in all, I’ve enjoyed my time with this series, but it’s not a favorite. Of the new Star Wars Disney canon, I’ve much preferred Claudia Gray’s works, or the aforementioned Grand Admiral Thrawn book that Zahn published a couple of months ago. There was just a little too much expectation riding on this one, and it had just a tad too many moving pieces for my taste.
Giving this 3.5 stars, but rounding up to four, because most of my dissatisfaction with it is almost entirely my fault and not the book's.
I literally checked this book out of the library four times before I finally finished it (and kept it until forced to return it all four of those times, accruing several dollars worth in fines each incidence). So that’s probably not the best sign. I did end up liking this, and I did end up giving it four stars, though, because I really think the problem in this case was me, not the book. It was pretty on par with its predecessors in terms of story and quality, and my having a hard time keeping with it doesn’t really have a basis in the book itself. It’s just mostly that during the last five months or so I have wanted almost nothing but to read a specific subset of kissing book. And this book has almost no kissing in it. Very much not what my brain wanted slash still wants right now. I’ve been in id-mode, guys. This is also why my reading pace has literally halved itself. Ugh, I need to be medicated.
But enough about not-the-book; let’s talk about the book.
As you might be able to tell from the title, this book finally dramatizes the fall of the Empire (and the birth of what will become the First Order). There’s lots of political maneuvering, sweet moments of sadness and revenge and regret (mostly between Norra and Temmin and Brentin) but I also thought it did well by its ostensible antagonist, Sloane. Big Bad Rax, though, I thought kind of piddled out. The whole book its hinted he has this secret mission, but when it’s finally revealed, it was mostly anti-climactic, although I was pleased the reveal here related to Grand Admiral Thrawn. (After just having finished Thrawn, it was a nice tie-in.)
I also enjoyed seeing the bittersweet moment of Ben Solo’s birth. It was a lovely moment, tempered by our knowledge of what happens to that character (and his parents).
All in all, I’ve enjoyed my time with this series, but it’s not a favorite. Of the new Star Wars Disney canon, I’ve much preferred Claudia Gray’s works, or the aforementioned Grand Admiral Thrawn book that Zahn published a couple of months ago. There was just a little too much expectation riding on this one, and it had just a tad too many moving pieces for my taste.
Giving this 3.5 stars, but rounding up to four, because most of my dissatisfaction with it is almost entirely my fault and not the book's.
March 25, 2017
I enjoyed the audiobook. I also like the original cast of Star Wars characters better than those who followed next, so that was a plus in this book. I also enjoy the sound effects. Those make these books even more enjoyable. The story was fast paced with lots of fight scenes. It may have been too much if I had actually read this, but the sound effects helped keep them interesting. So 4 stars.
November 27, 2019
This review is not just for Empire's End but for the Aftermath trilogy as a whole.
Reading the other reviews it's fair to say that Chuck Wendig upset a lot of readers with his take on Star Wars. Wether it was his staccato style of writing ,the new characters or the lack of the ones we know and love, people got pretty angry. Maybe they just don't like Disney owning the rights ; for the record, I've found the new film trilogy to be a big let down .They've essentially just remade the original films. Having said that, I'll be straight to the cinema for The Rise of Skywalker!! Anyhoo, I digress.
So having read all of the negative reviews I was quite prepared to not like the books. But, I have to say I really enjoyed all of them. Full of great Star Wars action, these were great entertainment. Liked the style of writing and all the new characters and I thought the use of the established characters from the wider Star Wars canon was well done. Some readers didn't like the Interludes, but for me I liked how they expanded the story giving a overview of what was happening in the wider universe. I enjoyed the story arc and how it led to the formation of the First Order. Each book was better than the last culminating in a huge battle in Empire's End. I honestly don't see what Star Wars fans have to complain about. I didn't even mind a guest appearance from JarJar Binks !
A solid ⭐⭐⭐⭐ from me for this book and the whole trilogy. Definitely give these a go.
Reading the other reviews it's fair to say that Chuck Wendig upset a lot of readers with his take on Star Wars. Wether it was his staccato style of writing ,the new characters or the lack of the ones we know and love, people got pretty angry. Maybe they just don't like Disney owning the rights ; for the record, I've found the new film trilogy to be a big let down .They've essentially just remade the original films. Having said that, I'll be straight to the cinema for The Rise of Skywalker!! Anyhoo, I digress.
So having read all of the negative reviews I was quite prepared to not like the books. But, I have to say I really enjoyed all of them. Full of great Star Wars action, these were great entertainment. Liked the style of writing and all the new characters and I thought the use of the established characters from the wider Star Wars canon was well done. Some readers didn't like the Interludes, but for me I liked how they expanded the story giving a overview of what was happening in the wider universe. I enjoyed the story arc and how it led to the formation of the First Order. Each book was better than the last culminating in a huge battle in Empire's End. I honestly don't see what Star Wars fans have to complain about. I didn't even mind a guest appearance from JarJar Binks !
A solid ⭐⭐⭐⭐ from me for this book and the whole trilogy. Definitely give these a go.
June 6, 2017
In STAR WARS AFTERMATH: Empire’s End (2017), Chuck Wendig shows us the fateful battle on the desert planet Jakku; we see the Contingency left in place by Emperor Palpatine, and we discover that none of Leia and Han’s friends understands the concept of a baby gift.
The AFTERMATH trilogy starts immediately after the destruction of the second Death Star. Empire’s End follows Wendig-original characters Norra Wexley, her son Temmin, his crazed battle-droid Mr. Bones, a bounty hunter named Jas Emari and a turncoat Imperial loyalty officer named Sinjir, as they track Imperial war criminal Admiral Rae Sloane. We follow some canon-characters, too; Leia Organa, Han Solo and Mon Mothma primarily. Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
The AFTERMATH trilogy starts immediately after the destruction of the second Death Star. Empire’s End follows Wendig-original characters Norra Wexley, her son Temmin, his crazed battle-droid Mr. Bones, a bounty hunter named Jas Emari and a turncoat Imperial loyalty officer named Sinjir, as they track Imperial war criminal Admiral Rae Sloane. We follow some canon-characters, too; Leia Organa, Han Solo and Mon Mothma primarily. Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
March 17, 2023
3 Stars for Empire’s End: Book 3 (audiobook) by Chuck Wendig read by Marc Thompson.
I just didn’t enjoy the characters that much and the story is forgettable.
I just didn’t enjoy the characters that much and the story is forgettable.
February 27, 2017
Before starting this book, I intended to refresh myself on what came before by reading the plot summaries on the Wookieepedia. This was a mistake. I barely had the patience to get through the summary of Part One of Aftermath, because the entire summary is 4,819 words. Take that and add it to the length of the summary for Life Debt (3,954 words), and you have enough words for a novelette. It's pretty clear: lots of stuff happens in this series.
For all that happens, though, reading the series is a tremendous chore. There's so much happening, and there are so many characters, it's hard to keep up with the plot. The interludes don't help, since Wendig feels the need to cram as many characters into this story as he can. He even brings Jar Jar back into the story, and I hear that the new canon is trying to distance itself as much as possible from the prequel trilogies.
The book ends the trilogy that's intended to bridge the gap between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, but it only takes us a little of the way toward the latter story. It sets things in motion, but the real focus of the trilogy is to show how the Empire doesn't just fade away when the credits roll at the end of Jedi, and how much it takes to actually eliminate the threat. Along the way, Wendig introduces us to new characters with their own trials, and those trials come to a close in the book.
The biggest event of the book is that we finally get to Jakku to see the battle between the Empire and the New Republic. We get to see why there is so much debris on the planet, and what made it important to the Empire overall. I have to give credit to Wendig for writing some engaging action scenes involving this battle. I went into this book expecting to be disappointed, and I think it helped me appreciate the story a bit more. I'm not going to seek out Wendig's other books, mind you, but I at least was able to recognize that he could get a few things right.
Character names, however, are not one of those things. I'm used to character names in the Expanded Universe sounding like they were made by shaking a box of Alpha-Bits, but Tolwar Wartol? Come on. This smacks of just giving up on creating a new name. Near the end of the story, Wendig tries to make a joke out of it, but it's a little too late, and if he's trying to be sly, instead it comes across as being obnoxious.
Wendig doesn't give us the whole picture of his story, even when it doesn't affect the narrative for him to do so. There's an important scene near the middle of the book where it feels like the entire plot has fallen apart, but then fifty pages later, it's revealed that it wasn't the end of that particular point, and it's told to us in an "Oh, didn't you already know that?" sort of tone. It's like we're learning to play a game from Wendig, but he only tells us the rules we're supposed to know when we come across a situation where they benefit him the most.
I powered through this book only because I committed to reading everything in the EU. After the painful experience of reading Aftermath, and then following it up with the even worse Life Debt, I would have passed on this book all together save for that commitment. I do think this is the best book in the trilogy, but this is sort of like saying The Phantom Menace is the best of the prequel trilogy movies; it may be true, but that's not to say it's going to win any major awards.
For all that happens, though, reading the series is a tremendous chore. There's so much happening, and there are so many characters, it's hard to keep up with the plot. The interludes don't help, since Wendig feels the need to cram as many characters into this story as he can. He even brings Jar Jar back into the story, and I hear that the new canon is trying to distance itself as much as possible from the prequel trilogies.
The book ends the trilogy that's intended to bridge the gap between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, but it only takes us a little of the way toward the latter story. It sets things in motion, but the real focus of the trilogy is to show how the Empire doesn't just fade away when the credits roll at the end of Jedi, and how much it takes to actually eliminate the threat. Along the way, Wendig introduces us to new characters with their own trials, and those trials come to a close in the book.
The biggest event of the book is that we finally get to Jakku to see the battle between the Empire and the New Republic. We get to see why there is so much debris on the planet, and what made it important to the Empire overall. I have to give credit to Wendig for writing some engaging action scenes involving this battle. I went into this book expecting to be disappointed, and I think it helped me appreciate the story a bit more. I'm not going to seek out Wendig's other books, mind you, but I at least was able to recognize that he could get a few things right.
Character names, however, are not one of those things. I'm used to character names in the Expanded Universe sounding like they were made by shaking a box of Alpha-Bits, but Tolwar Wartol? Come on. This smacks of just giving up on creating a new name. Near the end of the story, Wendig tries to make a joke out of it, but it's a little too late, and if he's trying to be sly, instead it comes across as being obnoxious.
Wendig doesn't give us the whole picture of his story, even when it doesn't affect the narrative for him to do so. There's an important scene near the middle of the book where it feels like the entire plot has fallen apart, but then fifty pages later, it's revealed that it wasn't the end of that particular point, and it's told to us in an "Oh, didn't you already know that?" sort of tone. It's like we're learning to play a game from Wendig, but he only tells us the rules we're supposed to know when we come across a situation where they benefit him the most.
I powered through this book only because I committed to reading everything in the EU. After the painful experience of reading Aftermath, and then following it up with the even worse Life Debt, I would have passed on this book all together save for that commitment. I do think this is the best book in the trilogy, but this is sort of like saying The Phantom Menace is the best of the prequel trilogy movies; it may be true, but that's not to say it's going to win any major awards.
October 13, 2017
I made it.
I didn't think I would finish this audio book. It was slow, poorly paced. I cared little for the characters that Wendig had forced me to deal with in previous books. And now, I had to deal with poorly contrived political wrangling.
I was initially promised this series would be this generations' Thrawn Trilogy. It is most certainly not. The entire audio book was a 16 hour placeholder for perhaps 45 minutes of interesting story. Portions dealing with where the Empire of the First Order came from, good. Portions dealing with Palpatine's plan to 'wipe the board' should he lose power, even better, fits the character.
Unfortunately the political enemy of the book has no redeeming quality. He's a 1-dimensional caricature. The vote to attack the Empire, despite already being in a declared war, is puzzling. (You can't hold public votes on strategic decisions, your enemy gets free intelligence). And the absolute, thought-bereft character decision that starts the novel angers me deeply, considering the character then spends 90% of the rest of the story saying: "I don't know!" and having the decisiveness of your girlfriend when you ask where she wants to eat for dinner.
I forgive Mr Wending. I imagine he's forced to leave many story holes as we await Episodes 8 & 9. He's only allowed to tease so much, and as a result we get by with filler. Rather than a story that makes sense or has compelling elements.
I didn't think I would finish this audio book. It was slow, poorly paced. I cared little for the characters that Wendig had forced me to deal with in previous books. And now, I had to deal with poorly contrived political wrangling.
I was initially promised this series would be this generations' Thrawn Trilogy. It is most certainly not. The entire audio book was a 16 hour placeholder for perhaps 45 minutes of interesting story. Portions dealing with where the Empire of the First Order came from, good. Portions dealing with Palpatine's plan to 'wipe the board' should he lose power, even better, fits the character.
Unfortunately the political enemy of the book has no redeeming quality. He's a 1-dimensional caricature. The vote to attack the Empire, despite already being in a declared war, is puzzling. (You can't hold public votes on strategic decisions, your enemy gets free intelligence). And the absolute, thought-bereft character decision that starts the novel angers me deeply, considering the character then spends 90% of the rest of the story saying: "I don't know!" and having the decisiveness of your girlfriend when you ask where she wants to eat for dinner.
I forgive Mr Wending. I imagine he's forced to leave many story holes as we await Episodes 8 & 9. He's only allowed to tease so much, and as a result we get by with filler. Rather than a story that makes sense or has compelling elements.
September 19, 2018
My favourite of the trilogy. Enjoyed reading the Battle of Jakku and the last days of the Empire. I'd still say there's still too many characters here. It's easier to follow than the previous two because we know them better, but some are more interesting than others.
I'm also not sure if I'd recommend the trilogy? There's some good stuff in there but it feels you have to get through a lot to get to it.
I'm also not sure if I'd recommend the trilogy? There's some good stuff in there but it feels you have to get through a lot to get to it.
April 21, 2017
I liked it. Even in this series there was no Luke Skywalker. Almost everyone else. A lot of back story to bring the gap between the Star Wars movies. Not essential, but nice to know info. A lot of new characters to digest.
November 5, 2017
Executive Summary: A decent conclusion, but not as good as Life Debt.
Audiobook: I love the Star Wars audiobooks. At least when Marc Thompson is narrating. He does so many voices and really adds that extra something that makes this a mandatory audio selection for me. Ordinarily I'd be opposed to the sound effects and music, as in most audiobooks they seem distracting or make it hard to hear the narration, but once again the people who do the Star Wars books did a fantastic job.
Full Review
This series was a bit of up and down for me. I'm not sure what I was expecting when I first picked it up. I've never read anything by Chuck Wendig outside of this series. I found Aftermath a little underwhelming, although not for the reasons most people did. I thought Life Debt was the best of the trilogy, but that this book was better than the first one.
This was pitched to bridge the gap between episodes 6 and 7, and I thought by the end it did a so-so job of that. Often times it felt like the main plot was too far removed from the bigger events. Likely this is due to Disney saving it for one of the 500 movies they have in the works.
There are some good ties to some of the movies, but not enough for my liking. I think it would have been better pitched as simply a story that takes place in-between the two movies rather than a bridge.
I will say Mr. Wendig's original characters really grew on me. It's always tough to come into a series with such well known/loved characters and then proceed to create your own to tell a story. It definitely took awhile for me to warm up to them, but I liked them all by the end of this trilogy. I wouldn't mind seeing them show up again somewhere else.
Overall this was a decent series, but easily skippable. If you're looking for some extra Star Wars stories, there are probably some better options out there. If you're a fanatic and just have to read it all, this series was certainly enjoyable enough for me anyways.
Audiobook: I love the Star Wars audiobooks. At least when Marc Thompson is narrating. He does so many voices and really adds that extra something that makes this a mandatory audio selection for me. Ordinarily I'd be opposed to the sound effects and music, as in most audiobooks they seem distracting or make it hard to hear the narration, but once again the people who do the Star Wars books did a fantastic job.
Full Review
This series was a bit of up and down for me. I'm not sure what I was expecting when I first picked it up. I've never read anything by Chuck Wendig outside of this series. I found Aftermath a little underwhelming, although not for the reasons most people did. I thought Life Debt was the best of the trilogy, but that this book was better than the first one.
This was pitched to bridge the gap between episodes 6 and 7, and I thought by the end it did a so-so job of that. Often times it felt like the main plot was too far removed from the bigger events. Likely this is due to Disney saving it for one of the 500 movies they have in the works.
There are some good ties to some of the movies, but not enough for my liking. I think it would have been better pitched as simply a story that takes place in-between the two movies rather than a bridge.
I will say Mr. Wendig's original characters really grew on me. It's always tough to come into a series with such well known/loved characters and then proceed to create your own to tell a story. It definitely took awhile for me to warm up to them, but I liked them all by the end of this trilogy. I wouldn't mind seeing them show up again somewhere else.
Overall this was a decent series, but easily skippable. If you're looking for some extra Star Wars stories, there are probably some better options out there. If you're a fanatic and just have to read it all, this series was certainly enjoyable enough for me anyways.
February 25, 2017
The end of the empire, Chuck Wendig is almost as bad of a Star Wars Writer s John Jackson Miller.
Aftermath was a hard read, Life Debt was a little better and finally Empires End was as good as book 2. I truly hoped that book 3 would have again improved on Wendig`s ability to write within this franchise however, it did not. The ending was decent, The battle of and over Jakku was second rate as far as large scale Star Wars battles go, The addition of Jar Jar was not required, it had no cause or effect upon the story, the homosexuality of both of the Former Imperial officers, again had no effect or cause and felt purely as if it is mentioned just to pander to the LGBT community, Politics and Sexuality from real life have no place in this franchise. I think it is great that Disney wants to show how PC it is, however after 40 years of having this franchise in existence, it hasn`t had to do this until Disney took Over. Again it neither effected the story or the enjoyment of the trilogy of so so books for me in the end.
Aftermath was a hard read, Life Debt was a little better and finally Empires End was as good as book 2. I truly hoped that book 3 would have again improved on Wendig`s ability to write within this franchise however, it did not. The ending was decent, The battle of and over Jakku was second rate as far as large scale Star Wars battles go, The addition of Jar Jar was not required, it had no cause or effect upon the story, the homosexuality of both of the Former Imperial officers, again had no effect or cause and felt purely as if it is mentioned just to pander to the LGBT community, Politics and Sexuality from real life have no place in this franchise. I think it is great that Disney wants to show how PC it is, however after 40 years of having this franchise in existence, it hasn`t had to do this until Disney took Over. Again it neither effected the story or the enjoyment of the trilogy of so so books for me in the end.
May 26, 2019
"HELLO. I AM ENJOYING THIS HUG, TOO. HUG HUG HUG. A HUG IS LIKE VIOLENCE MADE OF LOVE."
I'll begin by giving myself a congratulatory pat on the back because LOOK, FOLKS! I FINISHED ANOTHER SERIES!! Trust issues, be damned! I did it!!
::ahem::
Anynoodles.
Empire's End is the final book in the Aftermath trilogy. The series takes place between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, with war the ongoing focus. It began as a rebellion, but has since transformed into this power struggle between the Empire and the Republic. As you may have guessed from the title.. this is the story of the fall of the Empire. This conclusion shows us various perspectives in those last days, which added another layer to the politics of the government. We also find out how the First Order begins. This is all important lore that happens before The Force Awakens, which just adds that much more depth to the Battle of Jakku. And yet.. we've *still* just barely scratched the surface of this particular timeline. ::brain explodes::
Norra Wexley and her ragtag crew have been tracking Grand Admiral Rae Sloane after the events that took place on the New Republic planet of Chandrila at the end of Life Debt (which was my absolute favorite installment in this series!) They are determined and they want revenge.
Sloane is on a mission all her own - one that involves hunting down the mysterious Gallius Rax, Palpatine's protégé.
Eventually, the stories collide on the sandy planet of Jakku and the fate of the galaxy is determined.
"Suddenly she understands Gomm--the sun and dust have blasted his sanity away, like a coat of paint scoured free. And she wonders if sanity is really just that--something to be worn off, a veneer that with enough pressure and effort can be stripped away. Civilization, too, can fail the same way, can't it? Scraped down to nothing, leaving only the raw metal of anarchy and oppression behind. And madness. That is the Empire. That is what it has done to her and to the galaxy. A corrosive force, eating away at everyone and everything."
Yet again, Wendig's interludes were some of the best within Empire's End. This time, we are given a beautiful story surrounding one of the most.. erm.. controversial, characters to have graced Star Wars. The one and only Jar Jar Binks. Then.. then there is Lumpy. FUCKING LUMPY OF ALL CHARACTERS!! Only Wendig would be able to bring us Lumpy in the way that he does. Spoiler alert - at least part of the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special is now canon!
There were intense battles, brutal deaths, twisty revelations.. but also incredibly gut-punchy, tender moments, especially between the little Solo/Organa family unit. One scene that has stuck with me since finishing the book happens towards the end with Han and newborn Ben. It was bittersweet, to say the least. It's also a bit of foreshadowing, I'm hoping. FINGERS FIRMLY CROSSED!
Empire's End wrapped up many loose threads, but also left some dangling. The Aftermath trilogy is definitely worth checking out for its iconic characters, a tightly paced plot and passionate storytelling!
I'll begin by giving myself a congratulatory pat on the back because LOOK, FOLKS! I FINISHED ANOTHER SERIES!! Trust issues, be damned! I did it!!
::ahem::
Anynoodles.
Empire's End is the final book in the Aftermath trilogy. The series takes place between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, with war the ongoing focus. It began as a rebellion, but has since transformed into this power struggle between the Empire and the Republic. As you may have guessed from the title.. this is the story of the fall of the Empire. This conclusion shows us various perspectives in those last days, which added another layer to the politics of the government. We also find out how the First Order begins. This is all important lore that happens before The Force Awakens, which just adds that much more depth to the Battle of Jakku. And yet.. we've *still* just barely scratched the surface of this particular timeline. ::brain explodes::
Norra Wexley and her ragtag crew have been tracking Grand Admiral Rae Sloane after the events that took place on the New Republic planet of Chandrila at the end of Life Debt (which was my absolute favorite installment in this series!) They are determined and they want revenge.
Sloane is on a mission all her own - one that involves hunting down the mysterious Gallius Rax, Palpatine's protégé.
Eventually, the stories collide on the sandy planet of Jakku and the fate of the galaxy is determined.
"Suddenly she understands Gomm--the sun and dust have blasted his sanity away, like a coat of paint scoured free. And she wonders if sanity is really just that--something to be worn off, a veneer that with enough pressure and effort can be stripped away. Civilization, too, can fail the same way, can't it? Scraped down to nothing, leaving only the raw metal of anarchy and oppression behind. And madness. That is the Empire. That is what it has done to her and to the galaxy. A corrosive force, eating away at everyone and everything."
Yet again, Wendig's interludes were some of the best within Empire's End. This time, we are given a beautiful story surrounding one of the most.. erm.. controversial, characters to have graced Star Wars. The one and only Jar Jar Binks. Then.. then there is Lumpy. FUCKING LUMPY OF ALL CHARACTERS!! Only Wendig would be able to bring us Lumpy in the way that he does. Spoiler alert - at least part of the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special is now canon!
There were intense battles, brutal deaths, twisty revelations.. but also incredibly gut-punchy, tender moments, especially between the little Solo/Organa family unit. One scene that has stuck with me since finishing the book happens towards the end with Han and newborn Ben. It was bittersweet, to say the least. It's also a bit of foreshadowing, I'm hoping. FINGERS FIRMLY CROSSED!
Empire's End wrapped up many loose threads, but also left some dangling. The Aftermath trilogy is definitely worth checking out for its iconic characters, a tightly paced plot and passionate storytelling!
April 13, 2017
This is the final book of a trilogy. I strongly recommend reading the first two before this one. Well, this is it. The final battle between the Republic and the Empire. We all know the Empire falls and this book details it's final stand. It also concludes the characters that we have followed in this trilogy and their involvement in the final stand.
I have to first say that I have not been a fan of this trilogy but this is definitely the best book out of the three. I loved the story. This is the culmination between these warring sides and I was looking forward to it. I loved the Empire's demise in this book and I believe it works with all the movies. Finally I was able to connect with the characters in this book as I could not in the previous two. Why only three star rating? I am not a fan of this author. This trilogy was my introduction to him and will most likely be the last of me reading his works. I do not like his writing style. The interludes (they were fewer and better in this book) are such a momentum killer. I am reading the final battle and I am forced to read several pages about new characters that I most likely will never see again. Why? I also don't care for his way of trying to convey action and pace. There was one page where there were five sentences in a row with just two words. I believe the author was trying to convey dire and action of the scene with these sentences but to me, it felt amateurish.
This trilogy is an important trilogy for the lore of this universe and the story is there for fans. I just wish that someone else told it as this author is not for me.
I have to first say that I have not been a fan of this trilogy but this is definitely the best book out of the three. I loved the story. This is the culmination between these warring sides and I was looking forward to it. I loved the Empire's demise in this book and I believe it works with all the movies. Finally I was able to connect with the characters in this book as I could not in the previous two. Why only three star rating? I am not a fan of this author. This trilogy was my introduction to him and will most likely be the last of me reading his works. I do not like his writing style. The interludes (they were fewer and better in this book) are such a momentum killer. I am reading the final battle and I am forced to read several pages about new characters that I most likely will never see again. Why? I also don't care for his way of trying to convey action and pace. There was one page where there were five sentences in a row with just two words. I believe the author was trying to convey dire and action of the scene with these sentences but to me, it felt amateurish.
This trilogy is an important trilogy for the lore of this universe and the story is there for fans. I just wish that someone else told it as this author is not for me.
April 13, 2020
Okay, so like. I keep seeing people post that the movies don't make sense, and this book series in particular is weak. And while I do enjoy everyone having like opinions and all that-- but I'm convinced a big chunk of the Star Wars fandom is just toxic a-holes. Now-- hear me out. So this book answers so many questions that are in the new trilogy. Like why are all those imperial ships and At-at on Jakuu? When and how did the first order get birthed-- what about the cloned emperor?
So this book came out in 2017, two years before Rise of Skywalker. And it literally sets up the events in rise of Skywalker-- but apparently rise of Skywalker didn't make sense to "fans". But they apparently read this book. This book teases at leia being a Jedi, Ben is born and Leia senses the light and dark in him. There is so much Han-- basically the sith way finder is established-- and they go to Exogol at the end.... but they were all just making up rise? I was shook the moment they went into the mapping room and talked about the way finder. I was like OHMYGOD LOL
I'm most saying-- as a reader, I'm amazed at how well they cohesively bring together and link it all in place like a puzzle. This series is a must read to kinda put things into place in the universe. A nonstop adventure. Some of your favs will perish-- but I really liked that they committed to it.
So this book came out in 2017, two years before Rise of Skywalker. And it literally sets up the events in rise of Skywalker-- but apparently rise of Skywalker didn't make sense to "fans". But they apparently read this book. This book teases at leia being a Jedi, Ben is born and Leia senses the light and dark in him. There is so much Han-- basically the sith way finder is established-- and they go to Exogol at the end.... but they were all just making up rise? I was shook the moment they went into the mapping room and talked about the way finder. I was like OHMYGOD LOL
I'm most saying-- as a reader, I'm amazed at how well they cohesively bring together and link it all in place like a puzzle. This series is a must read to kinda put things into place in the universe. A nonstop adventure. Some of your favs will perish-- but I really liked that they committed to it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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