Each month Abington Library will feature a favorite book from a faculty, staff member, or student. They will give a brief synopsis of their chosen book.
Ron Russ is the Electronic and Public Services Librarian at ASU-Beebe.
Review of Star Wars: Aftermath by Chuck Wendig
By Ron Russ
Aftermath is one of the new canon novels in the Star Wars pantheon. It was released as part of the “Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens” series. The decision to kick to the curb all of the novels in the Star Wars Expanded Universe has met with a lot of anger among Star Wars fans. So, it didn’t surprise me when a lot of the reviews of this book were mixed at best. In some regards, I think many fans let their fury out on this book. But, I was pleasantly surprised by the level of writing and the development of the storyline. It is part one of a trilogy, so there are items that are left unresolved.
The story is set right after the destruction of the second death star on the moon of Endor. While the Emperor and Darth Vader are dead, there are still people who want to keep the Empire alive. The novel shows how the war continues on and how regular people deal with this situation. Meanwhile, there are people who want to consolidate power in the Empire and plan a counterstrike against the New Republic. The meeting is doomed to failure, due to ruthless in-fighting among the participants, as well as a small band of rebels who want keep the Empire from becoming strong again
I’ve read a number of Star Wars novels going back to 1977, and I don’t think this is written in a way that is that much different than the other novels. Yes, they might be creating new story lines from the old Expanded Universe, but other than that, the writing seems to flow well and the characters don’t seem any better or worse than the previous novels that Disney kicked aside. Whether or not the characters will have some sort of lineage to the new movie is unknown at this time. But, I’m willing to keep reading and find out more.
Aftermath by