OK, so I was late in picking up Aftermath: Life Debt. I wasn't too thrilled with the first Aftermath book, but I found this one much more entertaining. The writing style still annoys me, but I chose to overlook it.

But there's one thing I can't overlook: Gallius Rax. Is it just me, or is this guy basically a "Not-Thrawn" stand-in? Everything that people complain about in Thrawn is here in GR, including his super complicated mind games that nobody can figure out until he's already sprung them and his obsession with art (opera in this case). Sure, there's differences--Thrawn actually valued his people, but GR treats even his highest echelon as expendable assets. They haven't shown exactly how this GR will tie in with Snoke (or even if he is/will become become Snoke), but so far he's being set-up to be a master baddie, and I can't help but think that Thrawn already did it better.

I was wondering the same myself - and the whole "Manchurian Candidate" bit just didn't do it for me on many levels. I guess we'll see where he's taking it in the third book?

My problem with Rex, indeed with much of the rebooted universe, is that it all feels derivative.

I know a lot of folks got upset when the original Expanded Universe was invalidated; that doesn't especially bother me (my favorite parts were always marginal, anyway: the old Han Solo and Lando Calrissian trilogies and anything related to KotOR)... What DOES bother me is that they're really just telling the same kinds of stories again. It's all pretty boring.

AFTERMATH: LIFE DEBT was hugely wasted potential, in my opinion. After teasing the idea of Han Solo getting together an army of rogues and scoundrels to free the Wookiee homeworld, we get a story where Solo is relegated to secondary character and Chewbacca to tertiary (I'm not sure if the idea of a life debt was even referenced!).

I enjoyed it, and the style is a refreshing change. Not as good as Bloodlines, but that's probably one of the best SW novels I've read, so hard to beat. Not a fan of Rax for the reasons mentioned, but I have to think some of that comes from the story group, Wendig's not entirely in control of the plot. Despite Rax, I really liked most of the other characters. Mr Bones is a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to seeing what the heck was buried by Palpatine on Jakku, and whether Rey was maybe named for, or descended from, Rae Sloane...I mean, how many Rae/Ray/Reys can there be in SW...?

Edit: I think what I like most about Wendig's writing is his ability to both personalize the characters while making the galaxy incredibly vast and varied. Few (if any...I can't think of any) writers can convey the mess and melange of attitudes, opinions, motives etc in any kind of convincing way. Inevitably they devolve into broad brush categories, which makes the galaxy seem flat by comparison.

I mean, how many Rae/Ray/Reys can there be in SW...?

Considering the scale... there are probably 10,000 of them on Coruscant alone.

I feel really bad for Wedge and Norra, I mean, I REALLY want them to get together. *mental image of Wedge singing "Temmin's Mom has got it going on.."

Rax is, I think, a non force using Palpatine. He is getting things set up for what will be the First Order, but I don't believe he is Snoke, for that I look towards Yupe Tashu.

And what is buried on Jakku that requires droid guards? Something like the valley of the jedi? Or corruptible sith artifacts, like the type Lando almost stole?

I haven't read through this thread, in order to avoid spoilers, but I would like to give Aftermath (by Chuck Wendig) a tentative thumbs-up. I'm only six chapters in, but I'm enjoying it, and don't think it warrants the many scathing reviews it has received. The lackluster consensus *** rating on amazon and goodreads (including many 1-star ratings) nearly caused me to skip this, and I elected to read Claudia Gray's excellent additions to the new canon, instead.

Thus far, I have been pleasantly surprised by the reading, and am looking forward to the rest of the trilogy. If you have avoided this work based on the reviews, I encourage you to pick it up and give it a chance.

3 hours ago, Edgehawk said:

I'm only six chapters in, but I'm enjoying it, and don't think it warrants the many scathing reviews it has received.

Some people, especially SW fans, aren't mature enough to handle present-tense... ...

Try the audio version. 100% worth it for the voice work they did with Mister Bones.

I do not like Chuck Wendig's writing style. It is random, and disjointed, and full of Writers Fiats.