We lapsed on posting these threads for a time, so to start filling in our forum's "better late than never" gaps for review threads, here's a home for our way-after-the-fact reviews. Aftermath: Empire's End by Chuck Wendig Provide a rating score on a scale of 1 to 10. You may include a review with your post, but leave in-depth discussion for the main Aftermath: Empire's End discussion thread. Please do not post a review score unless you have read the entire book. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Reposting my earlier review from the discussion thread to kick things off: Topped off the trilogy! Overall I think it had an ok first half and a pretty solid second half. The transition between the two is a little bumpy, however. The span of time implied does not seem sufficient to turn the Imperial remnant on Jakku into a more feral force compared to what Sloane last saw before Chandrilla. The subplot stopping the NR from attacking Jakku interrupted the momentum of the story (however it ended up turning into a good subplot, i jjust wish it could have been timed earlier or reapplied to something other than Jakku directly). That said, Sloane's story of revenge contrasted with Norra's worked well, even if i feel Norra didn't work that well as a POV character. The actual Battle of Jakku actually made me tense up and get goose bumps when they finally bring down the Ravager and during moments of the final fight in the Observatory. The battle itself may be a bit of an overview (which isn't unexpected for this trilogy's style), but apparently we get more of it in other sources so that's ok. I do wish the Starhawk's tractor beam tech had been setup earlier, however. Or that we had a picture of the class somewhere (EDIT from the future- a week later we got one, w00t!) And, of course, the Interludes continue to be the true highlight of the series. Like getting a mini-anthology book tucked amongst the core trilogy. The Lando one was well done too- I wouldn't mind Chuck writing a full Lando story sometime. The nods towards the Lando comic series, the vague Dark Empire echoes (which fits the overall progress of the ST thus far as well, as previously noted), as well as the implication about (part of) Mister Bones' origin were small delights and I can't wait for Mister Bones to rise up from the sands. Palpatine being petty enough to want the board wiped clean after his death is something I need to dwell on. On the one hand, I think that fits with some of the Shattered Empire stuff (from what I recall- it's been awhile) and it'll certainly be interesting to see how that plays out with whatever role Palps has in ROS. On the other, it's a shame that the Empire came to an end through a deliberate self destruct at a final stand that wasn't really a final stand. Cleaner than the EU's version of events, perhaps, but feels more like a narrative convenience at times. Seems like there would be much more efficient ways to use those resources. Overall, it did make me feel something more in the backhalf, which is more than the other two books did. My ranking: 7.75/10 Ranking NU Adult Novels so far (at the time of the original review's posting): -The Last Jedi 10.0 -Catalyst 9.5 -Lords of the Sith 8.5 -Aftermath: Empire's End 7.75 -Aftermath: Life Debt 7.5 -Tarkin 7.0 -Aftermath 7.0
I never wrote a review for this for whatever reason, so I'll just share what I remember. I liked the Battle of Jakku overall. I really liked the depiction of Jakku as this wild, feral world, and the effect it had on everyone who spent too much time there. I thought Norra got a bit shafted being dragged down by her husband, but at least by the end things were poised for her and Wedge to get together. As usual I liked Sinjir's part of the story, and of course I was glad to see in Last Shot things were still going well for him. I thought Sloane got a fitting end, being the one to not only kill Rax, but also to carry on his plans for a resurgent Empire. I thought the whole bit with the Observatory was interesting and a nice way to tie into the focus new canon has had on Palpatine's interest in the more esoteric sides of the Force. I gave it an 8.95 out of 10. RIP Mr. Bones.
8 outta 10, good wrap up and lots of Rax being crazy and dark, it's missing interludes but we got a Jar-Jar one that was actually kind of great and Lando's narrative straight up mentioned an Uprising as a tie in to the short lived mobile game. And I kind of love how the Empire just imploded on Palpatine's Pure Spite so he's really still the ultimate baddie here despite being dead. Final chapter is aces "That is our First Order." (I kind of wish that Rax's crazed scarred Imperial trooper tribalist look had been carried over to Battlefront II or other Jakku flashbacks but lets just say that was Rax's personal crew who did that)
