SPOILER Jelena’s Review of Aftermath: Life Debt by Chuck Wendig

I think the insinuation that Yupe Tashu is one of these guys is pretty clear. in both books, he was described as a purple-robed man with a strange hat.

 

i have never wanted to know so bad the nitty gritty details of how on earth something ever went so wrong with this family.

~ * ~

my mostly non-spoilery thoughts about the book now that i've finished it:

• some of you really hated the first Wendig book, but i encourage you to give this one a try. while it still has some of Wendig's stylistic eccentricities (third-person present tense, interludes that serve as wallpaper rather than contribute to the main thrust of the plot), it's a lot more readable, i think, and because it includes a lot of OT characters, feels much more tied-in and balanced.
  
• much as i love Sinjir Rath Velus, i feel like Wendig kinda took him down a notch; he was still awesome, but somehow less effective. chalk it up to negative character growth?
• Jas and Jom: two characters i liked least here; they ended well, so i was ultimately pleased, but neither of their arcs was stellar.
  
• Snap Wexley was kinda irritating in the first book. he's a teenager, so it's understandable; here he starts to grow up.
  
• Han, Chewie, pregnant Leia ~ oh my!
• Admiral Ackbar might have been my favorite surprise in this book; i was madly in love with him when i first saw ROTJ and he was awesome here (Mon Mothma can suck it).
  
• proto-KOR? the graffiti scene was the best interlude of the bunch.
  
• in the first book i liked Sloane as a capable and dangerous villain. here i actually felt for her. Rax is a menace.

many more thoughts are swirling. lots to process. this was quite the book!

--- Double Post Merged, Jul 14, 2016, Original Post Date: Jul 14, 2016 ---

Spoiler

that Rax was determined to "save" Tashu even though the man has clearly lost his ever-lovin' mind (while killing off what would seem far more valuable players) is an interesting curiosity!

 

I am definitely enjoying her arc through the current canon. The first I read from her was in the Kanan comic, then I did A New Dawn and then Aftermath and Life Debt. I haven't read Lords of the Sith but I see her as a villain with a strong sense of what she thinks is right based on her perspective. Not a villain per se, or just a bad one driven by utter ambition. I am truly enjoying the current development of the post-ROTJ arc, since it presents us with characters from both sides of the conflict that can be judged as "good" or "bad" but all of them have their grey areas.

In my opinion, "Aftermath" grows on you. At first it is hard to get used to the way he narrates and then adds interludes but by the second time you read it you start getting it. Also as you say, having more familiar characters helps a lot on this book, including the Wexley gang.

Yep, and I like how he is growing up by what it happens - in some way the first book is him resented of growing without his father but in this book he sort of starts getting it.

Spoiler: Spoiler

I liked how the Brentin development seems to mirror in some way The Winter Soldier story of "Captain America: Civil War".

Yeah, I loved the book even more for them. I love them definitely and enjoyed truly their development on this book.

Spoiler: Spoiler

And Leia piloting the MF!!! You know I love you Rey, you'll be a fine Jedi and you're an amazingly good pilot BUT reading Leia stealing that bucket of bolts to rescue again that scoundrel it's something else!!! Long live the Princess!!

Well, Mon Mothma is a politician. And Ackbar is more driven to be there for his friends. We see him come out of retirement to be with The Resistance years later.

Spoiler: Spoiler: Leia's Quote

And definitely the "Vader's Daughter" moment I loved:

"I would burn down the galaxy if I thought it was right."

(Mic dropped, Your Highness).

 

i love that they are exploring this dichotomy throughout the ST and the new EU ~ it's such a necessary addition to the Star Wars universe that was largely unexplored in the PT/OT in any truly meaningful way.

nothing about the first book was a turnoff for me ~ i struggle more with meandering exposition and lengthy internal monologuing than i do a cinematic, staccato style like Wendig's.

true, true. i actually didn't see it coming, but when it happened, it totally made sense! Rax had set it all up from the start, after all.

i loved Leia here even more than in Bloodline ~ she was practically off-kilter fierce, but you knew exactly why!

Ackbar understands (as a military man) that committees don't get squat done! Mon Motha really kicked my shins in this book. i wanted to ploink her in the forehead.

hahaha ~ well you saw my comment on your message board about this. oh, irony.

 

Yep. Neither Leia nor him are a "committee"! LOL. That's why I think Leia has a lot of Anakin on her from what we saw of him in TCW.

I was literally cheering for her every single time she appeared.

And the big question lingering on the air is: Where on Earth is the Farm Boy?

(If they are leaving all that for future books/comics or please please LFL a movie with Sebastian Stan I'm OK with it!)

That's why I think of Rax like some sort of Grand Admiral Thrawn. In some way, he is mirroring Palpatine with his double agent role in the last days of the Old Republic.

--- Double Post Merged, Jul 14, 2016, Original Post Date: Jul 14, 2016 ---

I can foresee a conversation later on:

Leia: Why did you do all this??
Ben: Mom! I was just following your lead.
Leia: What lead are you talking about?
Ben: When you told Mon Mothma that you would burn down the galaxy if you thought it was right!!
Leia: But you were not born yet!!! How could you remember that?
Ben: The Force is strong in our family.
Leia: (For Force sake...)

 

What are everyone's theories about what has happened to Boba?

 

it would appear Luke was already being weirdly solitary in his questing for Jedi knowledge. perhaps he has been living a monastic/ascetic life according to what few sources we have. or is he looking for other FS peeps to train? does he know Leia is pregnant?

for a moment there i thought:

Spoiler

Leia was going to stay on Kashyyyk with Han and Chewie, which could have made it Ben's birthplace!

bwahahahaha ~ !

 

So far I have not formulated one yet, but I reckon he survived the Sarlacc fall and left his armor. Where he went afterwards, not sure. He could have gotten another armor but we will see what happens. Maybe there is more mention of him on the next book.

He might be looking for more FS people to train, going back to Devaron or something like that. I have a nagging feeling that we won't know for sure until Rebels is done and we know what happened with Kanan, Ezra and Ahsoka. I mean, after Endor Luke might be the only remaining Jedi, but that does not mean that the three I just mentioned are dead. From a certain point of view, as Obi-Wan would say. But we shall see.

Aww that would have been really cool.

I'm really not complaining about the "angels and bandits" conversation, as corny as it might sound, because I'm just enjoying the fact that I liked the whole story regarding the life debt between Han and Chewie and how Leia fitted into it.

And I enjoyed learning more clever ways to call that dashing Corellian scoundrel! Was it "hotheaded, thick-skulled ruffian" this time??

 

yeah, "angels and bandits" didn't bother me. i read it as they were being snarky about it anyway (in their fashion), rather than mushy.

 

@LadyMusashi great review!! I'm not gonna lie, I was joking to myself throughout the whole novel that Rax and Sloane were going to get together eventually and be the parents of Finn, but the timelines are so off it wouldn't be ideal (I just found the idea that if that happened and Rax was Snoke, Snoke would be the father of Finn). But that gets into the whole Rax = Snoke discussion, because while there are similarities (and indeed if it is the case, Rax giving himself up as "The Operator" and then "joining" the New Republic could be how he meets and manipulates Kylo Ren), isn't Snoke confirmed to be alien...? And Rax isn't Force Sensitive, we know that much. The characters were better this time around, and I liked the book overall, so thumbs up! Empire's End should be interesting.

I think, other than Mister Bones (his descriptions of and desire to hug were AMAZING), the crossovers were my favorite part of the novel.

Interesting thoughts, and you're probably right. Maybe they're the "first class," so to speak, and Kylo retools them later on?

I think you're righter here about the Battle of Jakku. I mean, they retold the Battle of Endor from different views in both Lost Stars and Shattered Empire, and to be honest, there's still a lot about the Battle of Jakku I feel we need to learn.

 

i had a blinding moment of certainty that:

Spoiler

Rax and Rite are Rey's parents ~ that she was born on Jakku, and abandoned when Rite is ultimately forced to flee for some reason (possibly hinted at in the third book. Rax is a twisted monster; whatever he's cooking on Jakku might have made Rey FS as a result.

i'm not married to this idea, but it crossed my mind since Jakku is a nexus and i'm about 99% convinced Rey's parents are Imperial.

 

Ohh!! Interesting theory!! But...wouldn't that require...ahem (I forgot how to do spoiler blinds )...certain timelines to match up...? Great idea though! Let's keep a lookout for them in the future!

--- Double Post Merged, Jul 14, 2016, Original Post Date: Jul 14, 2016 ---

Also, what if Benicio Del Toro's character is Rax?

 

hahaha ~ yes, it would. i was only about halfway through the book when this idea came to me. but who's to say

Spoiler

Rax doesn't find some other broodmare? even Sloane herself? eeeeek!

 

Interesting but...

Spoiler

Isn't Rite dead at the end of the book?

 

yes, see post above ~ hahahaha

--- Double Post Merged, Jul 14, 2016, Original Post Date: Jul 14, 2016 ---

Adea Rite. also, i'm aware of that ~ see post above ~ hahaha

 

Lol. Poor Adea.

 

I'm kind of wondering if in book 3 we see Rax and co. recruiting (stealing) children from their homes to be the next generation of stormtroopers we don't see a little subtle mention in some way of a character we have recently all come to know and love......




Maybe they are assigning numbers to a group of young children ..."FN-2185, FN-2186....and this one is FN-2187". Something that small. Would be cool.

 

That would be cool, maybe as part of an epilogue (some years later or something like that).

--- Double Post Merged, Jul 14, 2016, Original Post Date: Jul 14, 2016 ---

So far my guess for H/L timeline post-ROTJ based on what we have read so far:

Spoiler: Post-ROTJ timeline for H/L

They married right there in Endor (right after ROTJ).
20 days later she goes to Naboo with Shara Bey and Operation Cinder happens. (Shattered Empire # 2 and # 3)
When she comes back, Han and her take on that sublight trip she mentions in Bloodline (before or right almost while stuff in Akiva happens - Aftermath)
Han goes on his mission with Chewie while Leia stays in Chandrilla (Aftermath)
They fall into the Kashyyyk trap, but by then Leia has found she's pregnant and Han already knows (beginning of Life Debt)