Books Aftermath: Empire's End (book 3) by Chuck Wendig

Indeed the end is here! Complete with trauma-inducing cover for any Empire fans:



Blurb info:

Release:

• US: 21 Feb
• UK: 23 Feb

Nothing to say people won't get books earlier by entirely legal means of exchanging money for book.

Oh and obviously there will be untagged spoilers for Aftermath and Life Debt here.

 

Is anyone else excited about the Interludes? I think they are a great way in tying the galaxy together and hopefully they expand on some of the characters.

 

Easily one of the best features for me. Not least as it's great a way to give a sense of the greater picture without having to slow down the main plot.

 

Finally we get to see the battle of Jakku!

I can't stand Wendig's writing, but I'm looking forward to the story about Jakku.

 

I have been waiting for this thing since Life Debt came out. That's when I read both books, and since then I have been waiting for this.

Personally, I don't read the interludes. They aren't as exciting and fun to read, and I like to read the story of the book, not stories which cuts out the main story. Lots of that in the Tarkin book for instance, and that was annoying, had to skip much. Most likely if I was to make a theory (hopefully allowed), based off of what's likely and what I want:

Rae and Brentin dies - I don't want Rae to die, but most likely that will be the outcome.
Wedge and Norra get together - Yes please. I regret to say though, Wedge has a chance of dying, unless I have overlooked something. Hopefully this will happen though.
Gallius Rax equals Snoke- A hint please?
Rest of Norra's crew survival - No "likely" theory, but I want none to die because we don't want to start a trend of this.

Also, at the end of Lost Stars we saw that some empire-folks retreated to the unknown regions. We'll probably see more of that.

 

What I'm interested in is the fate of Sloane. She's the "protagonist" of the Empire side and Rax is very much the "antagonist". We all accept the fact that Sloane would kill Rax, but I feel it is going to be the other way around because if Rax=Snoke and the fact that the Empire's remaining forces retreat to the Unknown Regions, then she would die because I doubt she would accept any of those terms.

 

I wonder weather or not Gallius Rax intends the battle of Jakku to go poorly for the Empire. What do you lot think?

 

That's "my" theory. He does it to purge the weak remnants of the empire, like when he purged the weak and annoying imperial future council. The First Order focuses on strength and elite troops aswell, maybe the remnants just wasn't strong enough anymore, and needed a new face.

 

Most likely. He did think to himself near the end of Life Debt that the rest of the Shadow Council was expendable, with the exception of Brendol Hux, and it is rather obvious what he needs him for. He probably figures whoever survives is worthy of joining what will become the First Order.

 

So how many people here think Gallius Rax is going to fake is death and thus why he would change his name to Snoke and take the title of Supreme Leader instead of Emperor?

 

When are we getting an excerpt? Its 2017, man, give the goods!

I fully expect a Jar Jar interlude. Because its Chuck.

I bet that'll be the first excerpt.

 

That's an interesting theory. Another one could be that Rax finds Snoke on Jakku and Snoke is actually a spirit and possesses Rax's body. So then it makes since if he wants to train Kylo to become powerful enough that Snoke can then transfer his essence into Kylo. That could be it. Smoke has been possessing beings across the galaxy for eons and was responsible for a lot of events (Jar Jar gives Palps emergency powers, Bane creates the Rule of Two, etc.)

 

That's definitely one of my top 3 Snoke theories is that he's a spirit that takes over Rax's body.

Now the question is...What kind of possession will it be.

Fusion: Which is Rax and Snoke become one.

Full on: Rax becomes a empty husk and Snoke is in complete control.

 

I say it's full on.

 

If this theory is true it's much more likely to be full on. I'd prefer them to become one though because it's more interesting and differentiates it from Dark Empire.

 

A little off topic, but who do you guys think will bite the dust? I feel as if Wedge, Sloane, Sinjir, Jom, or Jas will. Sinjir the most likely because he was an Imperial and will want to redeem himself so he'll probably sacrifice himself.

 

I'm getting a bit weary of the "is Rax Snoke?" speculation, TBH. Hopefully this book will either confirm or disprove it for good.

 

I think the reason that Rax turned down being "Emperor" is because he's taking orders from Snoke.

 

Ah! don't put those ideas in Wendigs head.

 

Awesome! Liked the first one despite the controversy, and loved the second one! ^_^ Hopefully Luke finally shows up though.

 

Sinjir was quite clear he did not give one damn about redemption at the end of the last novel. He does give a damn about wrecking violence against anybody who would hurt his friends, so I imagine there is a good chance for him to die doing that.

 

I get the impression that Luke will become a major player in new canon novels AFTER Episode 8 comes out. That will be his true comeback. It seems like they're biding their time at the moment.

 

I wouldn't expect this book to answer the question of Snoke's identity. At best we will get a vague cliffhanger on that regard.

I think the major questions are being answered strictly in the films themselves and not in any tie-in material, so don't expect any bones to be thrown regarding this Snoke stuff.

EDIT:

I also don't expect to get a very comprehensive look at the Battle of Jakku. At best we may get something akin to the snippet we received in Lost Stars where we just get a fractional perspective on the whole battle again, but possibly with a little more meat.

 

Unless they're planning on a Battle of Jakku spinoff film (which honestly, I wouldn't object to), I don't see why that would be the case. The main characters might only get a fractional perspective of the battle - but that's where the interludes can come in.