“We have a problem…”
Remember the ending of Return of the Jedi, with the Ewok celebration (and in the re-release, the footage of liberated cities pulling down statues of Emperor Palpatine)? Star Wars: Aftermath starts just a few seconds after that, right when things start to go wrong.
Imperial troops fire indiscriminately into the celebrating crowds, dissidents are rounded up and imprisoned, and supporters of the old regime scramble for power. The Emperor is dead, but the Empire itself is far from gone.
I was a little worried about picking this one up. Everything else I’ve read has been from the Expanded Universe; this is the first novel set in a brand-new timeline: new characters, new story. How exactly will this measure up to what we’ve seen before?
The verdict? I liked it. I liked it a lot. It’s less “Journey to The Force Awakens” and more “What Happened In A Few Days Right After The Last Movie,” but Chuck Wendig obviously enjoyed playing in the Star Wars sandbox.