English language
Published Oct. 30, 2015 by Random House Publishing Group.
As the Empire reels from its critical defeats at the Battle of Endor, the Rebel Alliance—now a fledgling New Republic—presses its advantage by hunting down the enemy’s scattered forces before they can regroup and retaliate. But above the remote planet Akiva, an ominous show of the enemy’s strength is unfolding. Out on a lone reconnaissance mission, pilot Wedge Antilles watches Imperial Star Destroyers gather like birds of prey circling for a kill, but he’s taken captive before he can report back to the New Republic leaders.
Meanwhile, on the planet’s surface, former rebel fighter Norra Wexley has returned to her native world—war weary, ready to reunite with her estranged son, and eager to build a new life in some distant place. But when Norra intercepts Wedge Antilles’s urgent distress call, she realizes her time as a freedom fighter is not yet over. What she doesn’t know is just how close …
As the Empire reels from its critical defeats at the Battle of Endor, the Rebel Alliance—now a fledgling New Republic—presses its advantage by hunting down the enemy’s scattered forces before they can regroup and retaliate. But above the remote planet Akiva, an ominous show of the enemy’s strength is unfolding. Out on a lone reconnaissance mission, pilot Wedge Antilles watches Imperial Star Destroyers gather like birds of prey circling for a kill, but he’s taken captive before he can report back to the New Republic leaders.
Meanwhile, on the planet’s surface, former rebel fighter Norra Wexley has returned to her native world—war weary, ready to reunite with her estranged son, and eager to build a new life in some distant place. But when Norra intercepts Wedge Antilles’s urgent distress call, she realizes her time as a freedom fighter is not yet over. What she doesn’t know is just how close the enemy is—or how decisive and dangerous her new mission will be.
Determined to preserve the Empire’s power, the surviving Imperial elite are converging on Akiva for a top-secret emergency summit—to consolidate their forces and rally for a counterstrike. But they haven’t reckoned on Norra and her newfound allies—her technical-genius son, a Zabrak bounty hunter, and a reprobate Imperial defector—who are prepared to do whatever they must to end the Empire’s oppressive reign once and for all.
Decent transmedia book but as always the tone is hard to get right.
Se nota que es relleno, la historia es irrelevante, los personajes insulsos (menos Mr Bones) y situaciones forzadas cada dos por tres. La trama parece que no aporta prácticamente nada a la situación que te dan en el Episodio 7.
Además, meten interludios poco interesantes, que se supone que están para dar más trasfondo a la historia.
Some atrocious dialogue but fun to read between viewings of Episode VII
My God, what a crappy book. I mean it's a Star Wars novel so it's not like I was expecting Of Mice and Men, but jeez.
The characters were ridiculously flat, every single one of them. There's not a character in the book i cared about at the end. There's so little action it's immensely boring in places. The characters we all know barely (and only 3-4 of them) make an appearance in this. It read like "we need to tell a star wars story, but don't have the rights to the names, so you know have fun with that" except they totally do have the rights and totally could have come up with a story that was even kinda good, but they didn't and this book sold like crazy because we're suckers and "STAR WARS!!!" :|
If it hadn't taken me so long to get to reading it, I …
My God, what a crappy book. I mean it's a Star Wars novel so it's not like I was expecting Of Mice and Men, but jeez.
The characters were ridiculously flat, every single one of them. There's not a character in the book i cared about at the end. There's so little action it's immensely boring in places. The characters we all know barely (and only 3-4 of them) make an appearance in this. It read like "we need to tell a star wars story, but don't have the rights to the names, so you know have fun with that" except they totally do have the rights and totally could have come up with a story that was even kinda good, but they didn't and this book sold like crazy because we're suckers and "STAR WARS!!!" :|
If it hadn't taken me so long to get to reading it, I would have tried to return it.
I started reading and put the book down, it was that bad. i came back to finish it for two reasons;
1. so I could honesty review it
2. in the hopes it got magically better, it didn't
There's some foreshadowing for future books (I assume that's the intent), but even that isn't that interesting and when I finally finished, i wasn't at all anxious to read the next part of the story. I honestly couldn't care less about even one of the characters in this story and certainly have no interest in what happens to them next.
A book that needs to be read quickly. Not because it's a page-turner that you can't put down, but to avoid most of the terrible writing. There are some awful descriptions and horrendous similes sprinkled throughout the books like Bantha droppings at a Tusken Raider barbecue. The majority of these descriptions are unnecessary, more Wookiepedia name-dropping than actual useful exposition.
But you don't read a Star Wars book for the quality of its prose. (I recently reread Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire, and even though I enjoyed the book as much as I did when I first read the series, the writing is not good.) You read Star Wars books for the adventures of Han and Luke and Leia. Or at least that's why you used to read Star Wars books. This book is rebooting the canon away from a focus on the characters of the original trilogy. There's …
A book that needs to be read quickly. Not because it's a page-turner that you can't put down, but to avoid most of the terrible writing. There are some awful descriptions and horrendous similes sprinkled throughout the books like Bantha droppings at a Tusken Raider barbecue. The majority of these descriptions are unnecessary, more Wookiepedia name-dropping than actual useful exposition.
But you don't read a Star Wars book for the quality of its prose. (I recently reread Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire, and even though I enjoyed the book as much as I did when I first read the series, the writing is not good.) You read Star Wars books for the adventures of Han and Luke and Leia. Or at least that's why you used to read Star Wars books. This book is rebooting the canon away from a focus on the characters of the original trilogy. There's a brief interlude feature Han and Chewie (which could be setting up another Star Wars story line, one that seems much more interesting than what's going on here), Leia appears in a hologram message, and there are a few of the more minor characters like Ackbar, Mon Mothma, and Wedge Antilles. Unfortunately, there are also references to the detestable prequel trilogy, with unneeded mentions of Naboo and General Grievous. However, I admit that I enjoyed the battle droid character, Mr. Bones. He reminded me of HK-47 from the Knight of the Old Republic Game.
Without the original heroes to drive the story like in the Zahn novels, Aftermath relies on a bevy of new characters who band together to challenge the remnants of the Empire. For the most part, the characters aren't all that well-developed (again, we don't read Star Wars novels for Proustian insight into human nature), but they're likeable. The Imperial villains, while not as catchy as an Admiral Thrawn, present a realistic view of the broken, but not defeated Empire. They squabble, jockey for power, and struggle to determine the best course forward against the burgeoning New Republic. They are transitional villains, leading up to the last-minute reveal of a mysterious Big Bad. But they are appropriate villains, as this is a transitional novel, with the apparent goal of moving Star Wars nerd away from the Luke and Leia Star Wars of our youth.
I earlier compared this novel to the Timothy Zahn Star Wars novels, but I think the better comparison would be Avengers: Age of Ultron. Like Ultron, Aftermath is an enjoyable experience, but it lacks the greatness of works that came before it. And like Ultron, Aftermath strikes me as a very corporate production, a work designed to promote and set up upcoming Star Wars properties rather than stand alone as a work of its own. I recommend the book, especially for Star Wars fans. It's a fun return into the world of the original trilogy. And even though the major characters from that trilogy aren't present, this isn't a prequel-level disaster. It's a solid step forward towards what I hope will be a return to quality Star Wars films.
