Aftermath: Star Wars Book Reviews

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Great warm up to new Star Wars. This book was a very enjoyable lead into the new Star Wars film. It had a rhythm that I really enjoyed once I got into the book. The new status quo of what has been going on in the galaxy since Return of the Jedi is full of great ideas that I'm looking forward to seeing fleshed out in future novels and films. The old expanded universe had gotten too bloated and at times, not very Star Wars. I'm glad they have rebooted that portion with a great new starting point for new and old Star Wars fans.

Meh. Was alright, Norra coming back at the end felt kinda rushed. Was cool to see them all come together though. Can’t wait to read the next two.

A Poor Primer. This book is not a good introduction to a new post-ROTJ universe. The writing style is dreadful and entirely in present tense, the characters are uninteresting, the story repetitive and boring (capture or escape every chapter, and at least seven times where everyone thinks another character is dead, but oh hey look, they actually aren't). All in all this is a story that didn't need to be told.

This is the Jar-Jar Binks of Star Wars books.. This book was a great opportunity that fell flat on it's face. It reads like teenage fan fiction written for other teens. It's characters and character driven sub-stories are melodramatic, tedious, and cliche. This is the Jar-Jar Binks of Star Wars books. I'm not sure what feeling overwhelmed me more, the feeling of embarrassment that the author should have been enduring when he was churning this out, or my own feeling of it as I kept reading. By the time you're 200 pages into the book, you're still not certain which characters you care about, or why you should, even though you're trying so hard. Fortunately there are interludes, which are a nice break from an otherwise unyielding onslaught of words feverishly trying to score a hit with Star Wars fans, even going so far as to cough up a few familiar lines from the movies and highly recognizable references. "Bantha's? Oh, okay, this IS a Star Wars book. Yeah I know what bantha's are, I can relate to this story now." It's like the author is blind-folded in a dark room, and some where in the room is a piñata full of GOOD Star Wars writing. And instead of getting some Zahn level story, we get the painful scene of someone flailing around wildly, desperately trying to hit that piñata, for several hundred pages, but instead striking out miserably. I would say something about sending the author a bag of lemons, but he's got it hard enough - his name is attached to this book.

Boring and Forced Plot. The characters are about as interesting as a wet piece of cardboard and certain characters seem to have forced interactions for the sake of checking boxes on their list. Did not enjoy this one hopefully the next is better but I’m not holding my breath.

Hard to read. Everything. In short bursts. Makes it hard to read. Frustrating. Rigid. The style the author was going for aside this book was very disappointing. It makes me slightly hesitant for his next book "Life Dept". The book itself is very hard to read. The short bursts while descriptive makes the flow of the book very jumbled and to be quite frank noisy. The story itself held a few interesting moments but not enough to swallow it as a whole and it really seemed rushed. I do not regret reading this but I really should have just picked it up at a bargain price later. I would not have missed out on anything super important.

A good read, despite it not being what I wanted it to be.. This story might not have been the story I wanted for the first book post-RotJ, but it is a pretty good read, and the events contained within are exactly what would realistically happen in the months after the Battle of Endor. Spoilers ahead... I really wish the big three had been the focus of this story, but since they weren't, the characters we got were an interesting second-place. I absolutely loved that Admiral Sloane was a main character. I really hope we continue to see more of her, not just in the next to Aftermath novels and the upcoming short story, but for years to come. The other character that was a really cool standout was Mr. Bones. I look forward to seeing him in the next novel as well. All the little teases in the interludes were the best parts of the story however. I would have loved to read a Han and Chewie novel which continued on from their interlude as the first chapter. The Boba Fett interlude was awesome. I almost believed that we were seeing the return of Boba Fett himself in this very novel, but as it turned out, I still believe what we saw will play a part in his "return" in the future. Besides these two standout interludes, there was the perfect amount of other character and location mentions, from Sugi to Fulcrum to Dengar to Jakku, it was great to see and hear little glimpses of characters we know and love. The glimpses of were the story is going were very intriguing, from the implication that there is something out there in Wild Space which the Emporer had his eye on (which reminded me of the Vong), to the proposal that the Imperial Remnant should retreat, gain strength, and come back at the right moment. I think these two bits of info will be very important going foward towards The Force Awakens. And the mystery of the Admiral pulling all the strings with the Empire's plans left me very eager to read the next in the Aftermath series. I'd give this novel an 8 out of 10.

All Over the Place. It took me a while to really get into this book. It’s difficult to tell who the book’s main characters are because so much time is spent on interludes that have these-weird one off stories that don’t provide any resolution for anything. And even in the main story, there’s a lot of focus on people who don’t seem to be main characters. As a result, it’s dificult to tell what’s going on sometimes. The actual main charactes are, I think, likable enough. We also get a chance to see the empire from the view of their generals and admirals. At least, the generals and admirals who are still around.

Awful. This was an absolute slog to read. The only reason I read it is because this is the new sanctioned canon (?!!). The author employs a never-ending string of boring similes that take up space as if he's a student trying desperately to satisfy the x-number-of-words requirement for his assignment. The characters give you nothing to invest in, all the characters are written with the same voice as if they're all from the same place. Meanwhile, there are way too many plot lines and the endless interludes do nothing but frustrate the reader because once you're into this book, all you want to do is finish it. Fire this clown and get someone who knows about and cares about Star Wars, lest you leave excrement all over the entire Star Wars legacy.

Wow! Amazingly bad. I have finished this book only....and I mean ONLY because I want to understand any connection between this and the next movie. If not for this and the fact that I dropped 13.99 on this farce of good book I wouldn't have finished it. Terrible...just bleh! I felt that the only explanation for this travesty is that the editor destroyed the vision of the author because I can't understand how something this terrible made it into the mix. Read the other reviews for all the plot holes, and problems.

Tough Read. Short and interesting book. Very difficult to follow the perspective of the narrators in some of the chapters the way they transition between characters.

Hmmm. Okay the book is okay,but I feel like they should make a book about the acolytes.Of course we see..one..chapter about them.ugggjhh

Borfest: horribly written. You'll find more action watching paint dry.. I'm 42 and I've seen and read plenty of Star Wars in my time. Aftermath is SO PG, not even PG-13. This had nothing to do with Star Wars... It was hard to read. As in I wanted so much to like it there was just no punch or character to like. The writer takes any reference to Star Wars characters or places adds a "like a" in front of it and slaps it on the page. Like a sarlac pit on steroids it splits out an old friend (I guess you'll have to read this garbage so I'm not spoiling it for you). There's 8 pages that it's guaranteed you'll like about the fastest ship in the galaxy and her crew but that's it. The only pages that Wowed me and the reason I read it cover to cover. Please cut this writer loose and start over again. Awful, boring as watching paint dry.

Good read for a fan. Face paced. Clipped writing style. Action packed. Charming. A little too cliched, lots of ex machina takes away from story.

SJWs NOT NEEDED. The book starts slow, speeds up, then falls off a cliff. I almost didn’t finish it. Mr. Wendig has a mediocrity of style that left me wanting more Zahn, less social justice poppycock. I never cared to have Star Wars involve overt sexuality, but now Kathleen Kennedy and Mr. Wendig have not only thrust sexuality into the franchise, they’ve decided to make a statement with it. Stop prostituting the Star Wars franchise like this. I don’t need men kissing women or men kissing men or women kissing women. What I want is a solid, engaging story without a bunch of thinly veiled political and social commentary. This book has earned a place on the literary dung heap. May it compost well and thoroughly.

Journey to the Force Awakens. There are new charecters and cameos by classics, excited to see what happens leading up to TFA! There are details missing, but might just be tanatalizing to get me to buy next two books. Good read and lots of clues to where the galaxy far far away is going.

Horrible Writing. The story is a good one but the way this author writes its like a play that a 10 year old would write. EX: “Do this do that” john says. “I will do that and that” Smith says. I wanted to so badly get into this book but the author killed it for me.

Trying to be more political than Star Wars. Chuck Wendig came up with a winning formula: write the most atrocious Star Wars novel ever (an asteroid belt forming from a single comet? Really?) then pepper it with an overload of political correctness. Voila! Anyone who dares attack this book for being such a glorious mess is automatically branded "hate monger"! Wendig even did as much on his personal blog, with a wrath-filled post that should have every Star Wars fan and Disney exec wondering if Wendig truly "gets" the saga and what it means. But back to the book: cardboard characters, Earth terminology that jars the reader out of the experience, whole pages leaving one to wonder if the editor was asleep at the desk... Just a thoroughly lousy novel. Wendig should never be allowed to write another.

Enjoyable, but not a good prequel to the movie. I enjoyed the book, it introduced many characters to hope to hear more from later. I expected this to offer more insight into the new movie which it doesn't.

Barely a short story and not a good one at that.... There was nothing to this story and it dragged from page to page. I was completely bored reading it and wished it would just end. A complete waste of time and money. Even if there were "hints" at things to come, they were lost in the boring plot and useless story. It was like a long, unfunny joke with no great punchline to make it all worth the time.

Very Solid. I enjoyed the story but had hoped it would lead on the path to The Force Awakens with characters we knew. I still recommend it!

Move along, move along.. I couldn't even finish the book, and I only had 100 pages to go. The story was horrible and pretty pointless with characters I didn't care about and Wendig's writing was just as bad. I've read some pretty dumb Star Wars books before but at least they were readable and I could finished them. Wendig should not be allowed to write in the Star Wars universe again, let alone an important set of books like the bridging between VI and VII series.

Adams Star Wars Boock. Nelson

It’s so boring. It takes hundreds of pages to make a plot point. I find myself dreading this book trying to power through it. Not much new lore after character introductions. Go read the Thrawn novels

Ok book. I thought the book was ok but a bit confusing. Jumping between so many interludes and chapters made it difficult to follow. Some interludes had no baring on the story at all. Wasn't as exciting as I expected it to be.

Cool. Cool

A jarring, lackluster story. Some of the events of this tale were interesting, as were a few of the characters, but the author failed to take them anywhere of any significance. The use of present tense is awkward, but the story really suffers with the author's relentless use--abuse--of phrases, half-thoughts, and colloquialisms. What seems like it would be a clever style really makes the author come across as illiterate.

Aftermath is just ok.... Not a terrible Star Wars book, but far from great. A few characters stand out. Rae Sloan, Sinjir, and Mr. Bones. The rest of the characters are pretty two dimensional. Story was ok but nothing to praise. Wendig's shoehorning of some current social issues into the novel seems forced and oddly placed in this galaxy far, far, away. Hopefully his writing style will improve in his next two Aftermath novels.

Star Wars After Math. It is sooooo AWESOME you should read it

Best of the New Canon. This is the best of the new canon novels in my opinion. As someone who read the majority of the post Return of the Jedi EU, initially wasn't too excited about the new films in the saga, I was surprised I am so on board with what this novel represents. While some might find specific inconsistencies with the previous Legends material, I think generally speaking Aftermath continues many of the themes and ideas that the early Expanded Universe covered. The major difference I am seeing so far is that Wendig provides a portrayal of a crumbling Empire and a rising New Republic that is more convincing, realistic, and thought provoking than any of the previous material. Initially I was discouraged by all the complaints about the present tense writing style. After getting into the book, and having an open mind, I grew to enjoy the writing style. It was very cleaver in some cases, and allowed for great character development, I especially like how Sinjir is portrayed. The main plot thread was interesting enough. I was pretty engaged in the beginning, but I didn't feel it carried its momentum to the end. This was my only complaint with the book. The main story is interrupted by various interludes, which show how the rest of the galaxy is dealing with the fallout from the Battle of Endor. The interludes became the best part of the book and give clues to how the various factions may evolve into what we have seen so far from The Force Awakens.

Mixed bag of sci-fi... I just finished reading this book. Before I did I saw all of previous movies again and even though I wanted to wait till I was done with the book, I also saw the force awakens over the weekend. My main problem with this story is how it's advertised... I was expecting a story connecting ep VI and VIII, but that is just not the case. There are maybe one or two names I recognize from movies and mostly put as random, serving no purpose interludes... Story is fun enough and it keeps you engaged, but if you expected to learn something new that could either prepare or spoil for you what's coming, then you don't have to worry. There is little to no connection with movies outside of major events. Writing left a lot to be desired as well. Especially at the beginning of the book, I felt like I was reading it wrong, for lack of better explanation... It gets better though and again, story is engaging enough to keep you going till the end. To sum up, solid sci-if book, falsely advertised as having something to do with actual Star Wars saga, which sometimes makes little sense, but comes nicely together as a whole. If there is another one and I've heard there would be three I sure hope next one is a vast improvement...

How is this canon again?. How is this book canon and why in the world was Wendig selected for this? Wow. What a huge waste of money and an incredible disappointment. Storyline was pathetic and boring. Just seems like he had a LGBT "take it or you’re an evil person" agenda wrapped in a Star Wars cover. This is horrible for Disney and the Star Wars franchise. I hope his books are not taken seriously and never end up in a motion picture anywhere. Dude, if you want to start your own galactic universe and build a substantial LGBT culture around it, go ahead. I might actually read it. But don’t mess with a 30 year star wars tradition. This is arrogance at the core. And its not just that. Characters were not developed and the story lacked any depth at all. Please tell me what the story was about and its basis...

Compelling, but interludes break up the story.. As others have mentioned, this book is filled with “interludes” that give insight into various parts of the Star Wars universe during this post Empire time. Some of them seem totally out of place and they interrupt intense moments of the main plot, but others do fit in neatly to other parts of the canon Star Wars story. (For example, one of the interludes neatly prefaces the second season of The Mandalorian on Disney+, others may fit into stories that have not yet been debuted in books / shows / movies)

Not a Fan. After 20 years of growing up with the expanded universe of Star Wars this book falls far far short. The treatment of well established characters and plots that were simply thrown away with this book was disappointing. The introduction of new imperial characters that we meant to be ground breaking were weak and underwhelming. Previous characters (Admiral Dala example) fit better and had more intriguing back stories. The new Rebellion characters have some merit, but really fell short of inspiring interest. Overall it's not a great start to the rewriting of the EU. There were plenty of usable stories, characters, plots, and book series that could still be kept and line up with Episode 7. Not a terrible book, but not great either.

Worst author I've read for Star Wars. Given how many writers there have been for Star Wars there are going to be different styles and skill levels. This particular one was the worst I've read. This is the first book I could not stand to read. No matter how bad the flow and style of the writing I have always finished the book. I cannot make it out of the first chapter, because, the story is lost in the words. Don't buy, it's not worth the money. Wait for half priced books if you must. I would like to give it a 1 but since I didn't read it I can't. I would like to give the author the benefit of the doubt that there is a good story in there, but honestly I'm rereading other books right now over this. If that tells how bad it is.

Did a 7th grade student write this?. I read the reviews. They were not kind. Kept talking about how bad the writing was. "yeah- but it can't be THAT bad" I told myself. I was wrong. So very wrong. Chuck's writing style could best be compared to teenage poetry: full of self importance and desperately trying to be deep and meaningful. But at the end of the day, it's just terrible writing. On every level, it's awful. Characters so completely lacking in depth that we don't care about them at all. Like, not even a little bit. An overly complicated plot (which is pretty stupid to begin with) that just keeps going on and on ad nauseam. Terrible jokes that continually miss the mark and fall flat. I am astounded that Disney/Lucasfilm, with all of their money, couldn't get a half-way decent writer to pen this book. Is Chuck related to one of the higher-ups? Is that how he landed this gig? Because its certainly not because of his writing "talent"... Let me sum it up this way: this book makes the Star Wars Prequels look like The Godfather.

Star Wars Aftermath. Deceptive description. This book has nothing to do with the new movie. They throw in a few paragraphs with familiar characters, that are totally out of context with the main plot. Skip this one.

THESE ARE NOT EVEN Star Wars BOOKS!!!!. they are about the same lgbt characters over and over again. Every character is the same: selfish, pleasure seeking, it's all boring. This idiot has written two of these books about the same themes over and over again : gay lovers. I wouldn't mind gay characters, but that's all the books are about. What this guy has done is to simply take the Star Wars name and slap it on a book that describes numerous gay sex scenes and tries to slap you in the face with his agenda on every overdone page! I can't begin to tell you how inappropriate these books are!!! You forget their suppose to be about Star Wars and you think you're just reading a series of gay porno stories. He slaps a legitimate Star Wars character in there every three chapters to get his Star Wars endorsement but it's really just about him forcing his gay agenda down your throat forcibly. If you want a Star Wars book, look elsewhere or you will be sorely disappointed.

It Was Okay. It was a fun little read but it didn't enthrall me like the Zahn trilogy did.

Boring. Of the 100-or-so Star Wars EU books I've read this has to be the most boring one yet. I seriously could not give two hoots about any of the new characters. It was a struggle just to finish it--hoping all the while that it would get better. It didn't.

Confusing. This is a very difficult book to follow. I've been an avid Star Wars fan my whole life, and couldn't wait for this novel with the upcoming episode 7. It was a huge disappointment. The entire book is based on characters that you have never heard of, and don't really care about. The story is very jumpy, and doesn't follow any particular logical plot line. If this wasn't a Star Wars book, it would not have been finished. Almost wasn't anyway. In a way, this feels like the author is trying to purposely distance himself from the story we all know, so to try and be picked up for a spin off movie.

LGBT Characters in Disney owned Star Wars. I have read every Star Wars Expanded Universe novel, almost all of the comics, and as much reference material as I could get my hands on. I have been a fan of SW for as long as I can remember. "Aftermath" truly heralds the beginning of the new and improved EU. I had quite a lot of difficulty with Wendig's style and his constant changing of tenses within passages of the narrative. That didn't really affect my ability to enjoy the story overall. I have seen a lot of negative reviews on this book and have to say that most of those were much too harsh. I want to point out the thing that got me to give this book such a high rating. It's something that will make many people (if they read this review) not read this book and maybe many more in the future. I rate this book as high as I did because it had several LGBT characters. Sure, when I say several I mean three, but in Star Wars (currently owned by Disney) that is HUGE! These characters were not throw away characters (within the confines of this story). One of the main cast is revealed to be queer, while the sister of another main character is a happily married lesbian that features frequently. Wendig may have mucked this book up a bit, but having more LGBT representation in A Galaxy Far, Far Away really makes me hopefully for the future of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. I think the presence of the Lucasfilm story group made this book difficult for Wendig to write. I am sure there had to be numerous rewrites due to the ever-changing restrictions and limitations on what Wendig could include or set up within this first book. Wendig had to set up a lot of the future of Star Wars while keeping the story contained to mostly a single planet. Wendig did use interludes really well in this book to give readers a glimpse of what was happening on many other planets across the Galaxy Far, Far Away. Many of those moments were quite moving.

Not the book you’re looking for. I used to love reading Star Wars books, they were what got me excited about reading in middle school, and with a whole new canon to explore I was eager to learn more. Unfortunately this was just the poorly written uninspired work to discourage me from even thinking about another Star Wars book. The characters were bland, the story was cringeworthy and the only thing a middle schooler would find interesting is how beneath their level of writing it is.

Good Book. I thought the books was great, it kept my attention.

It really is that bad.. It's a shame. It's bad enough that I hope they cancel the remaining two books in the series, or find an author who knows how to write compelling characters and interesting stories.

RJ. This book was awful. Horrible and lazy writing style. Boring plot which i'm not even sure what it exactly was. Constantly jumped around without anything actually happening. I had high hopes for this book that were shattered. This guy has no business writing anything for star wars! I would rate this book down at the bottom with some of the worst star wars books of all time!

Wow. Great job destroying the story line and turning it into a political statement. Instead of it being something everyone can enjoy, it’s now full of one sides political views and hate.

Truly Awful. Easily one of the worst books I’ve ever read. Awful prose and characterization. Don’t waste your time.

StarvWars Aftermath. It was a pretty good book. I enjoyed it

Bits of good story but most should've been cut. You know how the new Hobbit movies took a short book and streeeeeeeetched it out to 3 overly long movies? This feels kinda like that. The main story is sort of interesting in that you get a sense for what's happening in the universe after the fall of the Empire but honestly that could've been done in a much shorter manner. There's a brief glimpse of Han & Chewie who seem to be off on a VERY interesting adventure but their story is pretty much just that: they're headed off and that's all we know. A few other well known characters gets mention but only in passing. There's a mystery character mentioned near the end who sounds interesting but again, those pieces are so brief all we're left with is wondering. I get that this book is supposed to setup more stories and the movie but the book could be about 50 pages and you'd get all the info you need. Stylistically, as one other reviewer pointed out, there are a BUNCH of similes throughout this book. It became a crutch and I started paying more attention to the style than the story. I gave it 3 stars because despite all the flaws it's still an interesting story. It doesn't feel like it was all necessary or like I have any insight into coming events in the movie but if you approach it as a story in the expanded universe of Star Wars it's decent enough.

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Hard to read. When I first got this book I couldn't get past the second chapter, the mass of : and 4-5 word sentences just made it too painful to continue. I gave it one star, a poor review similar to this paragraph, and left it behind. Some time later I gave it another go. The first few chapters literally hurt to read, however I was pleasantly surprised after I got past that initial bit. I ended up enjoying it enough to stay up far later at night than I should've on work days to finish it. It's still only a three star imo for the above reason and also there's multiple little chapters of characters that we never hear about again. The immersion breakage and subsequent confusion took more away than the extra story and backdrop added.

Mixed feelings. Leaves a lot to be desired. If you are looking for something comparable to Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire trilogy, you know, the stuff Disney opted to throw away, well, this isn't it. Hopefully Mr. Abrams doesn't follow a similar track, because all I could think of is going back and rereading Zahn's work. This one is not off to a great start.

Must Read; Don't Miss!. Great start to the post-ROTJ Star Wars galaxy. - Loved the set up for the rest of the era, including the next two books in the trilogy. - Fresh and dynamic writing style; the present tense, third person is a great fit for Star Wars. - New characters were a delight. Can't wait to read the further adventures of Pilot Mom Norra, and the rest of the Crew. Mister Bones, and Sinjin were a blast. Well done, Chuck Wendig.

Disney fan-fic at most. Plot feels all over the place and a bit of a miss-step for the new EU. After a read through in one sitting the story feels more like fan fiction. Halfway through the book I found myself just not caring. I almost feel heart broken because of my love for the past books and the three films

Interesting Story. Poorly Written.. With the release of The Force Awakens, I, like many Star Wars fans was excited but also a little sad that nearly the entire EU was being thrown out. Having seen Ep VII now and read the novelization, I was keen to find something to bridge the new gap between Episodes VI and VII. I was also interested in learning more about Resistance fighter pilot Snap Wexley. Aftermath disappoints. Wendig's tone and diction does not match the Star Wars universe. He tries to do too much in too little space and the reader is left frustrated. The "interludes," while interesting to a degree, should have been edited out and published as a collection of short stories. Aftermath just doesn't feel like Star Wars and it was painful to read at times. I, like many I'm sure, muddled through to get the key plot points of the new canon. Wendig is no James Luceno (who's Tarkin is well worth the read). Do yourself a favour and read the Wookiepedia articles on Snap Wexley and Rae Sloane instead of reading this book. They are more interesting and better written.