Star Wars: Aftermath

[theradicalchild]

Aftermath by Chuck Wendig
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Aftermath was one of the first canon Star Wars books occurring after Return of the Jedi but before The Force Awakens (which its publishers promoted as part of a Journey to Episode VII). The Rebel Alliance has destroyed the Second Death Star, and Emperor Sheev Palpatine and his lethal enforcer, fellow Sith Lord Darth Vader, are dead. While some systems across the galaxy celebrate, the remnants of the Empire tighten their clutch on others, with the rebels engaging the fractured forces. However, a rebel scout encounters a secret meeting with top Imperial leaders spearheaded by Admiral Rae Sloane and Grand Moff Valco Pandion.

In the prologue, Admiral Ackbar, one of the heroes of the Battle of Endor, indicates that while the rebellion against the Galactic Empire has ended, the war has just begun. In the first of the main chapters, Rebel pilot Wedge Antilles breaks out of hyperspace near an Imperial Star Destroyer overseen by Admiral Sloane, where he becomes a captive of the surviving Imperial Forces. The remnants of the Empire have the planet of Akiva in their sights, where Temmin Wexley runs a shop out of his old home and reunites with his mother Norra, with whom he eludes Imperial forces, along the way meeting bounty hunter Jas Emari and Imperial turncoat Sinjir Rath.

Interrupting the main chapters are occasional interludes, the first occurring on Chandrila, home to the reinstated Galactic Senate of the New Republic. The next involves the Taffral family on Saleucami, whose allegiances lie between the Republic and the Empire. That which follows sees the new Chancellor of the Republic, Mon Mothma, who had headed the Rebel Alliance, at the remains of a village on the world of Naalol, where she proposes cutting military costs while diverting funds to training local planetary forces. Rebel hero Han Solo and his Wookiee companion Chewbacca have their own Interlude, along with veterans of the Anklebiter Brigade on Naboo, one of the chief settings of Episode I

Several parties loyal to the Rebel Alliance eventually join a battle for Akiva that is full of action and a few good twists, culminating in a satisfying read that indicates that the Battle of Endor at the end of Return of the Jedi was not the total death of the Galactic Empire, and began to fill in the long chronological gap between the Original and Sequel Trilogies of the Skywalker Saga. The X-Ray feature for Kindle gives some good insight into many of the characters and settings of the novel. In many cases, however, the reader's imagination must fill in the appearances of some of the human and alien dramatis personae for those not versed in the multimedia Star Wars saga.

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