Star Wars: Aftermath gives us our first post-Return of the Jedi glimpse at the galaxy according to the new canon. Here, we see a suddenly-leaderless (yet still powerful) Empire struggle with this latest defeat, and factions of Imperial leaders gather on the Outer Rim world of Akiva to decide their next steps. Should they withdraw entirely? Seek a new Emperor? Or will their forces splinter and the ambitious surviving leaders fight amongst themselves? While this conference is going on, several Rebels on Akiva catch wind of the meeting, and seek to capture the valuable participants while trying to break the communications blockade and warn the New Republic. Will they succeed? Or is the Empire still strong enough to overcome?
In the original Expanded Universe post-ROTJ tales, the Empire essentially rolled over after the Battle of Endor, and the New Republic formed immediately. Some have (rightly) pointed out the implausibility of that, and so this new canon presents a more realistic view- one of the Empire in turmoil but not defeated; leaderless, but not without might. That part, I liked. Much of the rest, regrettably, I did not. Here were the problems:
- The book tells us precious little. I'll summarize: "Remaining Imperial leaders decide what to do as the fledgling New Republic begins to set up a new government." I would have liked more detail; more story progression. We get snippets or hints of good things- new leaders, mentions of old characters, etc.- but not much.
- Wendig's writing style and chosen vocabulary are . . . different. Choppy. Full of fragments. Present tense. Unusual. In a bad way. You get the point.
- There were the standard flaws that plague many Star Wars tales: unnecessary or unrealistic plot elements, shallow/poor character development, and poor dialogue.
Overall, this was okay, but not compelling. That concerns me only because this was the big release before the new movie. If this is the best they can do, I may stop reading these.
Rating: B-
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