I have no idea who the manipulator is at the end, but it must be the tie-in to the main villain in E7...

I was dreading that they were going to canonize a much-heralded character from the EU, but the dialogue did not match up with previous presentations of that character. I now think that it is someone we've seen before, in the movies, but whose identity is going to remain hidden for a while longer. It doesn't seem like this mystery character lines up with anyone whom we know of in Ep 7, but there really isn't much to go on.

Finished it. A decent read. I enjoyed it.

There were a few times the author randomly inserted the word "space" in front of the name f something (e.g. space diapers). This is typically what people that are satirizing Star Wars do, but I will forgive him a few missteps.

I feel I have a decent idea of the state of the galaxy in the months after RotJ now.

Due to the FFG SW RPG I now insert rules from the game into the story now. Like when the commando breaks the turbo laser while battling the imperial I thought he must have rolled a despair when he took out the officer.

Personally, I found the side-chapters/interludes to be far more interesting than the main plot, as they helped paint a picture of what the galaxy was like in the wake of the second Death Star's destruction as the New Republic tries to liberate the galaxy from the Empire. In fact, I got several potential adventure ideas from reading those chapters for games set in the wake of the Battle of Endor during those tumultuous several months after the Alliance's victory.

Half way though the book and I had a revelation. The interludes were the most interesting part of the story far and away. What the book needed to have done? Emulated World War Z, a story told through a bunch of vignettes. That would have been the perfect way to set the tone for the universe, fill in all kinds of "What is going on after endor" and avoided relying on the Big Five saving the universe

I just finished the novel, and enjoyed it. Yes, the editing could've been tighter, but that's not the author's fault. What is more, Lucasfilm/Disney has proven itself willing to change details from the old canon if it wants to do so. I was glad to see a story that didn't focus on the heroes of the movies, and glimpses of what is happening in the galaxy at large. Should anyone want to do so, I've posted a review on my blog.

http://tierfoncampaign.blogspot.com/2015/09/review-of-star-wars-aftermath.html

-Nate

Please tell me it ended with a battle against the fleet Wedge discovered. I miss the good old days when it was rare for a Star War novel not to have a fleet battle or two.

Personally, I found the side-chapters/interludes to be far more interesting than the main plot, as they helped paint a picture of what the galaxy was like in the wake of the second Death Star's destruction as the New Republic tries to liberate the galaxy from the Empire. In fact, I got several potential adventure ideas from reading those chapters for games set in the wake of the Battle of Endor during those tumultuous several months after the Alliance's victory.

Half way though the book and I had a revelation. The interludes were the most interesting part of the story far and away. What the book needed to have done? Emulated World War Z, a story told through a bunch of vignettes. That would have been the perfect way to set the tone for the universe, fill in all kinds of "What is going on after endor" and avoided relying on the Big Five saving the universe

That's not a bad idea, a World War Z type of novel of various people's anecdotes of what happened to them in those very early months following the Battle of Endor, with the book ending on the one year anniversary of that event.

Probably best not to go too far out or get too big in scope (after all, the whole point of the canon reset was to clear things up, so no use getting them all tangled for other writers so soon), but keep it fairly small and centered on mostly "normal" people and how that event and the upheaval that comes in its wake affects other parts of the galaxy. Or perhaps how things maybe don't change in some regions; can't imagine Hutt Space getting too caught up in celebrating the Emperor's death, especially with all the infighting that's going to take place in the wake of Jabba's demise.

I think that was part of his original pitch.

Some "interesting" whackjobs out there in regards to this book.

Some "interesting" whackjobs out there in regards to this book.

I think "whackjobs" is too polite a term.

It's one thing to be attached to the EU, as I know several folks that pretty much grew up with that as "their Star Wars" since they were too young when the original films were released and into their 20's when the prequels came out.

But that's just a gross level of disrespect to people that are themselves Star Wars fans.

I kinda have to agree with Dunc of ClubJade that the Star Wars fandom is one of the most f'd up fandoms going

I don't have a problem with books written for a younger audience because mostly they just dumb down the vocabulary and lighten the themes but Aftermath is just poor writing and story telling. I enjoyed J.J. Miller's new books and changing old canon isn't something that get's my blood up but I started to read this one and it's so poorly written I'm having a hard time getting through it. I'm probably going to give up soon.

It's disappointing that Disney hired this hack instead of someone with at least some skill.

I don't necessarily consider myself a whackjob (at least not in THIS regard), but I kind of have to agree with them - well, to a point. I'm 50%-ish through the book, I had nothing to do all day yesterday, and I wound up watching Friday the 13th Part IV and VI again.

To do that with an unfinished Star Wars book on my nightstand would have been unthinkable under other circumstances (AKA A better author *coughZhancough*). It's just that it's not compelling to me. In the slightest.

I'm about halfway through it. I'm getting used to the writing style even if I don't favor it, but it really hasn't grabbed me yet. This book isn't necessarily terrible, but it isn't anything better than mediocre so far.

This just puts the book in the same league as every other Star Wars books as far as I'm concerned. I read Splinter way back in the day and the odd book here and there. I've never found any of them great. Some were good, others not so much. I certainly do not hold Zahn in any high regard as some do. It's all subjective anyways. Will I read it? Probably not as I have no pressing need. Nothing there that I can not gleen at a later date.

While comparing older books and saying it's as good or at least not any worse than whatever is entertaining and I can't help but agree, it's not really an excuse for choosing someone like Windig to write for one of your flagship franchises. Disney has deep pockets and can, if they choose, hire better writers. J.J. Miller for one is a decent writer, he's no Shakespeare but he writes in English and has more than basic literary skills, which shows they can find good writers but for some reason they didn't this time.

A lot of the good and best writers prefer writing their own stories where they have total say. Some do it for the paycheck or to get their name out. Many top writers out there wrote for series books before really doing well. Like everything else I find it hit or miss.

This just puts the book in the same league as every other Star Wars books as far as I'm concerned. I read Splinter way back in the day and the odd book here and there. I've never found any of them great. Some were good, others not so much. I certainly do not hold Zahn in any high regard as some do. It's all subjective anyways. Will I read it? Probably not as I have no pressing need. Nothing there that I can not gleen at a later date.

This is fair - even the really really good Star Wars books, your Zahns and Stackpoles and Daleys, are still fumbling around in the sandbox when compared to the giants of Science Fiction like Clarke, Bradbury and Asimov.

I guess I had higher expectations from the book because its our first solid look into what the hell is going on post Endor.

Unfortunately, I am a completionist. And now that Disney has blown EU out of the water and declared that only the stuff with the logo counts, it is entirely possible for me to know all the Star Wars that were ever warred in the stars.

The more I read about the books, however, the less I am looking forward to them, regretting my mentality, and regretting buying them already.

>.>

Rebels Season 2 had better make this up to me. lol

Some "interesting" whackjobs out there in regards to this book.

"This same group tried, and failed, to buy so many copies of Truce at Bakura on the release date of Aftermath that the older book would out-sell the new title to “show Disney what fans want"

I read that book. I recall it was kinda dumb.

That said, the preview of Aftermath I read was equally dumb. Just badly written, and life's too short for that type of thing.

[EDIT: oh god, apologies for the formatting.]

"This same group tried, and failed, to buy so many copies of Truce at Bakura on the release date of Aftermath that the older book would out-sell the new title to “show Disney what fans want"

Why in gods name would you do that? Go focus your efforts on a good book (like the 20th anniversary edition of Heir?)

Not that it would have made a difference either way, but at least you would have gotten something readable out of the deal.

Probably because they thought that Bakura was the closest novel in the EU/Legends timeline to when Aftermath takes place in the canon timeline though Shadows of Mindor might be closer. Other then those two the EU/Legends novels, not counting the kids books, didn't pick up until a couple of years after Endor.

Honestly while Bakura is definitely inferior to Heir to the Empire or the other great works of the EU it was far from unreadable IMO.

I finished the book, as a foreign Reader i did not really have any Problem with the writing style. The book takes a rather Long time to to get things rolling, but the second half was good. I found all the interludes somewhat missplaced, at least if they had no relevance to the Story. While some provided some interesting Infos, some where Kind of pointless.

Since this book is supposed to be the first of a trilogy I Kind of get the feeling they just set up the Characters in this book.

But I also think Heirs to the Empire was a better book and much more suspencefull.

All in all I think it was a good book, but not great. I read worse Star Wars novels.

Has Czerka been mentioned in any canon sources before, or is this the first?

Well, after two weeks of sitting on the shelf untouched (right there a clear indictment on the quality of the book), I finally finished it up last night. And by finish I mean "skip to the imperial parts and the Interludes, ignoring the stupid narrative with the boring characters".

The worst part of the book? The bit where Palpatine apparently now draws his dark side of the force not from some mystical energy field, but from an external source beyond the edge of the galaxy. Wait - what? Fine, give him a stupid first name - I can ignore that - but a basic, fundamental change like that is crazy.

Of all the Neo-Cannon thus far, this is hands down, far and away the worse - and it absolutely needed to be the best.

***EDIT***

Damnit, I was this close to getting the book I actually wanted. From an interview I just found:

I agree about that "source of the dark side" stuff, I kind of deflated at that point. But that was probably something demanded by the story group, I imagine that's something central to the next 3 movies, so we can't fault the author for that.

IMHO it was hands down the best so far, because the other stuff has been the usual EU-worthy drivel (though the one with Kanan and Hera was passable).

I'll give you that the bar has been set very low for the Neo-Continuity, and as far as crappy Star Wars books go - your crystal stars and KJA tomes - Aftermath was pretty readable.

I would probably go, from best to worst:

* The Vader comic

* The Main Star Wars Comic

* The Lando Comic

* The Rebels Tie-in (the only book that I actually want to go back and read, now that I've got Season 1 finished)

* Tarkin

* The Leia comic

* Lords of the SIth

* Aftermath

* being eaten alive by fire ants

* Heir to the Jedi