Sunday 20 September 2015

SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW: Star Wars: Aftermath - Chuck Wendig

Release Date: 10/09/15
Publisher:  Century

SYNOPSIS:

Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens

The second Death Star has been destroyed, the Emperor killed, and Darth Vader struck down. Devastating blows against the Empire, and major victories for the Rebel Alliance. But the battle for freedom is far from over.

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.


REVIEW:

Chuck for me is an author that I either really get behind with a novel or one that leaves me feeling a little out in the cold and whilst I do tend to have a lot of fun reading the books that expand the universe, this one left me feeling a little cheated as it felt a little off kilter as (with it being the opener in a series) had to deal with a lot of issues of bringing the cast together alongside the greater universal effect of the fall of the Empire.

It’s a hard book to read and whilst I did make it through I did find that the overall effect of the novel was fairly muted not giving me a breakneck pace that I wanted. Yes there were moments of pulse thumping action but for me, these were few and far between leaving me trudging along a lot of the time. Here’s hoping that it picks up in the second book now that a lot of the background and hard work has been established in this one. However if there’s no real character development, I won’t be returning for the third.

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