{"id":9196,"date":"2015-10-05T19:49:28","date_gmt":"2015-10-05T19:49:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scarlet-rhapsody.com\/?p=9196"},"modified":"2017-05-03T00:26:58","modified_gmt":"2017-05-03T00:26:58","slug":"star-wars-aftermath","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scarlet-rhapsody.com\/?p=9196","title":{"rendered":"[Space Capes] Star Wars: Aftermath"},"content":{"rendered":"

Star Wars: Aftermath by Chuck Wendig<\/p>\n

Everyone once in awhile there is a project where the whole does not equal the sum of the parts. \u00a0Star Wars Aftermath is a prime example of a book that has some really good parts, but when it comes together it just doesn\u2019t work. \u00a0This is a book that will only make the most indoctrinated of fanboys happy and will likely leave everyone else feeling unfulfilled.<\/p>\n

On the surface Aftermath is meant to fill in some of the gaps between Return of the Jedi and The force Awakens, but it fails at doing this because the story is more about the current status quo rather than pushing events forward. The book opens by showing that many of the rebels and anti-Imperial citizen are celebrating, while the Imperials are struggling to keep things together with the loss of their leadership. Events quickly narrow down to Akiva, an outer rim planet, where several ranking Imperials are trying to determine the fate of the Empire. \u00a0Wedge Antilles stumbles across the meeting and sends a warning before he gets caught. This then leads into the introduction of the main cast of characters: Norra, a rebel pilot, Jas, a Zabrak bounty hunter, Temmin, a junk dealer and Norra\u2019s son, and Sinjir, a former Imperial officer. \u00a0At first they are all trying to live their own lives, but soon the threat of the Empire draws them together.<\/p>\n

While the story does have some interesting twists and turns it is constantly interrupted by the \u2018interlude\u2019 segments that focus on events on other worlds. \u00a0These interludes explore the press coverage of the establishment of the new senate, Han Solo and Chewie finishing a job, a bar in Jakku, war orphans, and trouble in Cloud City among other stories. \u00a0In some ways these stories feel like an extension of events, especially the scenes on Chandrila where we see the events leading up to the first meeting of the New Republic senate, but other scenes seem like they were added in to tease later books and comics, the way a Marvel movie would. \u00a0The bright side of this comes with the establishing of EU locations as canon including Taris and the 1313 section of Coruscant, which is a nice touch.<\/p>\n

The interludes would have worked really well as part of an anthology book, but in Aftermath they feel like padding for a very shallow story. \u00a0The story does have some twists, but doesn\u2019t use them well and also makes use of the fake out \u00a0death cliffhanger numerous times in the story. \u00a0There are some good ideas in the various stories, but nothing comes together well and it makes for a very bad reading experience. \u00a0As this is the beginning of a trilogy it does set up for a sequel, which will likely fill in more of the inter-movie events, but a book does not deserve points for the possibilities of the sequel.<\/p>\n

On the strong side, the characters are interesting and have more depth than the simple descriptions would show. \u00a0You feel like you get to know the rebel team and even some of the side characters as the story unfolds. \u00a0More importantly returning characters feel accurate in how they behave. \u00a0Wedge Antilles is an honorable soldier who tries not to kill if he can avoid it, Admiral Akbar is a deep thinker worried about leading the army into failure, and Rae Sloane is still intelligent and ambitious as she was in A New Dawn. \u00a0The only drawback to the characters is that it feels like there is an attempt at pandering with adding as much diversity as possible to the cast of characters. \u00a0In some parts it feels natural, but in many cases it feels like it is added as part of the typical Disney rainbow of cultures. \u00a0It becomes very distracting and takes away from the impact of some scenes.<\/p>\n

The book has themes of family and war. \u00a0As Norra\u2019s family is a key focus of the story it does influence many actions and choices made by Norra and Temmin. \u00a0Their estranged relationship works well for creating a more realistic conflict between the characters. \u00a0In addition to that, the shift in point of view allows the reader to understand their feelings as they deal with each other. \u00a0The war theme comes in with how people deal with war. \u00a0Not only do you have the civilian point of view in the interludes, but you also see how soldiers feel about the conflict. However, it all adds up to \u2018war is bad\u2019 and everyone loses something or someone. \u00a0That type of theme has been played out and it would have been nice to see a new twist to the theme of war.<\/p>\n

One risk Aftermath \u00a0does take is adding moral ambiguity to the typical \u2018good vs. evil\u2019 Star Wars story. There are Imperials who try to avenge their friends and stuggle to do their job despite how the populace is acting. Some of the leaders might be evil, but many of the soldiers are just people trying to fight for what they believe in. \u00a0On the other hand we get some very underhanded tactics used by the rebels to win, showing that not all of the rebels are the paragons they are normally written as. \u00a0It is a nice twist to the overall universe, but there is no real consequence when the \u2018heroes\u2019 act like sociopaths, while even good Imperials will be beaten or killed. This may be building to a pay off in a later story, butt that does not help balance out this story.<\/p>\n

Aftermath is a tough read as it is very unbalanced in storytelling, feels like it has editorial mandates adding to the content, most twists do not go anywhere, the structure can be aggravating, and it is lacks the fun of a good Star Wars story. \u00a0The best works in the Star Wars universe (both legends and canon) feature a spark that adds fun and life to everything. \u00a0Even in the darker stories there is still something the reader\/viewer can enjoy on an almost child-like level. \u00a0This book feels like a bad Marvel movie. \u00a0This book was written to sell later stories, just as some of those movies are designed to sell future movies. \u00a0Only the most hardcore of Star Wars fans should read this book, it will likely add little to the movie and anything it might add will be covered (better) in other stories. \u00a0For anyone else just give this book a pass and read anything else from the new canon.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Written by Jared The Greek | Twitter: @JaredTheGreek | IG: @JaredTheGreek<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Star Wars: Aftermath by Chuck Wendig Everyone once in awhile there is a project where the whole does not equal the sum of the parts. \u00a0Star Wars Aftermath is a prime example of a book that has some really good…
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