Star Wars: Aftermath is the highly anticipated novel that, along with
Star Wars: Uprising, introduces us to the post-
Return of the Jedi timeline of the
Star Wars universe.
Star Wars: Lost Stars is author Claudia Gray's take on the
Romeo & Juliet romance set in the
Star Wars galaxy that establishes the Battle of Jakku, which will somehow affect
Star Wars: The Force Awakens and will soon be expanded upon in
Star Wars: Battlefront. Did either novel live up to its potential? Let's take a look...
STAR WARS: AFTERMATH REVIEW
As a long time
Star Wars fan whose most anticipated film of 2015 was none other than
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I was really looking forward to
Aftermath. What exactly took place after
Return of the Jedi that put the
Star Wars universe where it is in the new film? Although
Aftermath is by no means a bad novel, I found it to be quite under-whelming.
Let me start of by saying that
Aftermath does not tell a satisfying story in its own right and much of it was pure set up, but not in the way you would think. The novel does not adequately set up
The Force Awakens, and this is probably due in no small part to the eventual announcement that
Aftermath is actually the start of a trilogy of novels, with sequels set to release in 2016 and 2017. First of all, if you are going to turn this into a trilogy, at least release all three novels BEFORE
The Force Awakens. Secondly, this is whole scenario is a continuation of a troubling modern trend of studios and publishers wanting to turn every little thing into an entire series. (Why properly adapt
The Hobbit when you can have an entire trilogy? Did we promise you an untold story in
The Amazing Spider-Man? Well, you have to wait until you're ready for the franchise to move on to something else before we actually tell it! Did you want to know how the Xenomorphs came to be in
Prometheus? Well, you have to wait three more sequels before you find out and you won't be getting
Alien 5 until it's over!) My point is that there is absolutely no reason the
Aftermath story couldn't be told in a single novel, let alone before the release of the film that it's meant to set up.
Aftermath does not feature a complete story but rather an unsatisfying one featuring boring original characters. Let me clarify that the characters are not boring because they are original characters, they are boring because they are simply boring. There were plenty of characters in the defunct expanded universe, from Grand Admiral Thrawn to Darth Bane, that I couldn't get enough of. This novel presents us with generic stars that only serve as plot filler. The only exception is Rae Sloane, but she is not an original character. She is a returning character created by another writer for other stories such as
Star Wars: A New Dawn. With that being said, I hope to see more of Sloane in future publications. The novel also begins the mystery of the identity of "the Operator," the mastermind behind the events of the novel who is Sloane's direct superior. He is only interesting because we don't know who he is yet (Snoke, perhaps?). Despite what the marketing would have you believe, Wedge Antilles is barley in the novel and his role is so small and non-specific that any other character could have had the exact same role he plays in the story.
Aside from setting up future novels that are, in turn, meant to set up
The Force Awakens,
Aftermath does manage to reveal the status of the Empire following Emperor Darth Sidious' death. The Imperial government is fractured, and every moff and governor is fighting for control against other Imperial authorities and the New Republic. I must say that I do like that the Empire didn't just disintegrate over night. However, I dislike that some Imperials are able to just leave the galaxy whenever they want. This may have worked in the expanded universe, but I think the actual canon should be confined to the galaxy that it primarily takes place in. The novel is told with one main story, with smaller stories called "interludes" placed throughout. The interludes mostly tie in to and set up other stories, such as
Uprising and the
Aftermath sequels. They distract from the main story, but that isn't a bad thing since they are far more interesting than the main story, even if they make the novel seem even more incomplete.
One of the interludes in the novel is a story about a cult that is obsessed with Darth Vader that tries to obtain the deceased lord's lightsaber. This group is almost certainly the precursor to the Knights of Ren. The most interesting interlude involves Han Solo and Chewbacca planning on freeing the Wookie slaves of Kashyyyk, which serves as a prelude to 2016's
Aftermath: Life Dept. Another, as previously mentioned, is meant to advertise the
Uprising video game. An interlude that has me polarised involves a sheriff on Tatooine collecting Boba Fett's armour. While this makes me hopeful that the real Boba Fett escaped the Sarlacc alive, I hope the sheriff doesn't appear in the
The Force Awakens as a Boba Fett copycat.
The novel's largest flaw, out of all of its many problems, is Chuck Wendig's amateurish writing. The novel is not well written by any stretch of the imagination. The present tense that the novel is written in is jarring and doesn't work. There are many points in the novel where Wendig introduces a new concept to the reader and, even if the reader can easily find out what it is via context clues, the concept would be followed by an entire paragraph in parenthesis that explains every excruciating detail, unnecessarily slowing the pace of the novel down.
It is admirable that the
Star Wars franchise is becoming more diverse. For instance,
A New Dawn was able to casually introduce female stormtroopers in a way that felt as if female stormtroopers had always existed in the
Star Wars universe. Unfortunately,
Aftermath is not so subtle as it tries to hit the reader over the head with its diversity in a manner that feels forced and screams "hey, look at how diverse we are!" There is even a scene where the reveal of a main character's orientation is played for laughs.
Score: 5.5/10
The poorly written Star Wars: Aftermath does a good job at telling us where the Empire is immediately after Return of the Jedi, but introduces far too many unresolved storylines meant for the future and is short on reveals.
STAR WARS: LOST STARS REVIEW
Thankfully,
Star Wars: Lost Stars was a far better read than
Aftermath.
Lost Stars pays homage to Shakespeare's
Romeo & Juliet as it centres on a romance between an imperial and a rebel that apparently isn't meant to be. These lovers have secretly been a part of every major event in the original
Star Wars films, which adds a level of interest to the novel. This character-driven story begins when the lovers first meet during their childhood, which is a big part of why the novel works so well. We meet these unfamiliar children and we get to see how these characters grow and how their relationship takes many twist and turns as the characters mature. These characters are not evil, but they are flawed. They want to do good, but at the same time they tend to trust and mistrust the wrong people. Ultimately, these characters feel like real people and the reader can't help but grow attached to them.
However, the novel isn't perfect as it stretches a bit too long. The novel felt like it could've have ended immediately after the second Death Star is destroyed, but only continued to the Battle of Jakku for the sake of fan service. Even the Battle of Jakku itself would've have been a perfect ending to the novel. Seeing the two lovers die together on the Star Destroyer trying to save each other, or even having the characters escape and run away to an obscure planet together to spend the rest of their lives would have ended the novel nicely. But what went wrong? Like
Star Wars: Aftermath,
Lost Stars feels the need to set up a sequel. Instead of a definitive ending to what should have been a stand alone story, we are given a cliff hanger involving the two lovers' friend-turned-enemy preparing for revenge, and the promise of an unwanted continuation of the lover's adventures with the New Republic and the Empire. This really was meant to be a stand alone story and I don't know if I even want to see whatever continuation is apparently coming (probably Claudia Gray's
New Republic: Bloodline in 2016). If it weren't for the ending, this would've been a near perfect story.
Score: 7.8/10
Despite the sour taste that the ending will leave in the mouths of readers, Star Wars: Lost Stars shines thanks to three-dimensional characters and an interesting story.
Final note:
Those who aren't interested in spending a large sum of money on
Star Wars: Battlefront can find out everything they need to know about the Battle of Jakku in
Lost Stars. It is unknown if the game will tell us anything about that particular battle that this novel didn't.