Star Wars: Aftermath (2/5)
I really didn't like this book.
Under other circumstances, I might state that me not liking something isn't the same as saying that said thing is bad, but I'm going to actually say that yes, this book is bad. And while a lot of its badness comes from subjective opinion, at the end of the day, I don't think it's that well written. The plot could be improved, and I'd still ahve issies with it.
But okay, fine. Let's get some stuff out of the way. First, I've never been that intereested in what happens after Return of the Jedi. Second, I'm aware that other people were, and in telling the story of the Empire's collapse, people really seem to love Zahn's Heir to the Empire series. i can't comment on that, so this isn't a point of comparison. Nor is the timeframe inherently against this novel. It actually starts off really well, showing the Coruscant uprising scene at the end of RotJ, but pulling a "yeah, nah," by having speeders open fire on the crowd, onyl for the crowd to fight back. Okay then, I thought. Let's see what you've got to offer me. Little did I know was what it had to offer me was littkle good.
First, let's get the obvious out of the way - this book isn't only written in present tense, but its writing style feels really...off. Now, there's nothing wrong with using present tense in storytelling. There's nothing wrong with having an esoteric writing style - if there was, I wouldn't enjoy the Enderverse as much as I do. But it just didn't work for me here. There's a feeling of 'offness' that permeates a lot of the novel. Which might have been fine, if I could actually invest myself in what's happening. Because from the outset, the book makes it clear that the Empire's on its last legs. One year has passed since the Battle of Endor, and the Empire's already on the verge of collapse. I can't call thsi plot point bad or good, but I'm left to ask this - if your antagonists are less powerful than your protagonists, then you're already shooting yourself in the plot narrative-wise. And if only a year passes between Palpy's death and the Empire's full disintegration, why even bother drawing things out from a storytelling perspective? From what I understand, in the original EU, years pass between Endor and the Empire and New Republic finally signing an armstice, but here? Nup. But, okay then. You could still tell a compelling story here. I mean, dying Empire, resurgent Republic...I mean, what's there to lose?
What's there to lose, is interest. Because there's so much pointless crap in this novel, I barely cared about any of it. If I'm reading a story about the collapse of the Empire, I'd like that story to focus on, y'know, the fall of the Empire. Not family drama with OCs that I don't care about. There's nothing inherently wrong with OCs (I mean, Freemaker Adventures was full of them, and bloody awesome), but it's kind of bizzare that the story doesn't feature any fo the main cast from the films except a cameo from Leia, and a single interlude with Han and Chewie. Oh yes, the story's full of interludes. These interludes may become relevant in the later books in the Empire's End trilogy, but as they are, they're kind of pointless. They certainly add to worldbuilding, and foreshadow the Republic's uselessness in TFA, but as a whole, they're unneeded. You could cut out every interlude from the story, and it wouldn't affect the plot.
But fine. Let's focus on the Empire's strategy for regaining control of the galaxy as they...eat lunch...and dinner...in a palace...and...oh for God's sake, The Glove of Darth Vader handled things better than this! Yes, there was the repeated "dark greetings!", yes, it was a book for kids, but at the very least, it showed an Empire quickly rallying behind a new leader for the sake of preventing the Empire from falling into warlordism, not...whatever the hell this is. And it ends with the reveal that a mole tipped off the Republic to the meeting, except the mole is an Imperial, who wanted to "get rid of the chaff." So...you alert the Republic to your secret meeting, in the vain hope that it'll kill off useless leaders, rather than, I dunno, assassinating them? Jesus Christ, this is the worst plan since...fuck, I dunno, the Empire's had some bad plans before, but Christ!
So yeah. I didn't like this book. And it really irritates me that in light of retconning the old EU, and giving us the 'true story' of what happened after Endor, that this was the best Disney and/or Wendig could come up with. Thing is, there's actual potential in this era of Star Wars, even under Disney - I mean, Star Wars: Resistance wan't great, but it did hint at a larger paradigm that could have been itneresting, of a cold war between the Republic and First Order. But while you can see foreshadowing of the First Order here, it's so vague, and so uninteresting, that it's not worth the time and effort.
Waste of time.
