Spring is a time
for renewal and around here that means breathing life into old
features. It seems impossible to me that I haven't reviewed a Star
Wars novel since November yet here we are. Honestly it was for
the best as the series was taking up too much of my reading time and
I needed a break to return to proper literature like The Complete
Calvin and Hobbes. Refreshed by my time away I've delved into a
sort of anti-spring cleaning where in I stock up on missing items on
the cheap. Now with a newly restocked reading pile it's time to dive
back into the new cannon and see what's worthwhile.
First up to the
plate is Aftermath: Life Debt, the direct sequel to Aftermath
which as you may recall was a very important step into the era
between the original and sequel trilogies that was dragged down by
lousy writing and horrendous pacing issues. Right from page one you
can see this second installment has made major strides in improving
on its predecessor. No longer does the prose largely consist of
awkward bullet-points instead offering fully formed, descriptive
paragraphs. Within less than a chapter I felt safe in giving Chuck
Wendig the non-existant most improved Star Wars author award.
Having finished the book I must sadly report that for all its
improvements, Life Debt still has enough problems to keep it
from soaring.
The story this
time around is... well, that's where the problems start. The
advertised plot is about the group of heroes from the previous title
getting swept up in Han Solo's attempts at liberating the Wookie
homeworld. In reality there's a good 7 or 8 storylines going on, few
of which are actually interesting. The first fifty-odd pages are
about the group hunting down Imperial officers for the new republic.
This moves onto a combo of their current living situations, New
Republic politics, the love-life of Wedge Antilles, and wheeling and
dealing between the remnants of the Empire. There's even some bits
involving Mas Amedda who pops up for a couple chapters before
vanishing from the narrative.
It's not until the
one-third mark or so that the locate Han Solo and liberate Kashyyyk
storyline comes into play, and a large amount of that is skipped in
favor of the sad drama of the Wexley family after husband/father
Brentin is discovered to be alive. There's brainwashing, torture,
parades, and a bizarre super-prison, yet once the flourish of
activity had finished I wasn't sure anything of value had actually
occurred.
Since it can't
relay on the story to carry the weight, what about the characters?
When it comes to the core team, Wendig does the classic
so-many-steps-forward with some-steps-back routine. Bounty-hunter Jas
begins a romantic relationship, thinks she may be getting too
attached to her new friends, attempts to leave, and doesn't. Temmin
begins to work his way out of the mopey-teenager mold until his
parents broken relationship throws him right back there. Former
Imperial Operative, Sinjir has a romance, begins to soften, looks to
reshape his life, then dumps his boyfriend and murders people. Norra
and Jom don't suffer nearly as much from this emotional whiplash
because she's consistantly awful and he barely matters.
What about the
legacy characters then? Those towering figures that have been the
backbone of the franchise since it began? Plot wise, they're mostly
treated with respect as we're treated to important events such as
Leia's pregnancy or Han and Chewie parting ways to pursue their own
adventures. Problem is most of them don't feel authentic enough. Look
at some of the other books we've reviewed on this feature. Titles
like Tarkin or Guardians of the Whills are vastly
improved by how well they capture the essence of those characters.
Here we have a Han Solo who seems too soft and jittery, a Leia who
doesn't feel cunning enough. Possibly the worst treatment is bestowed
upon Mon Mothma comes across as foolish and untrustworthy despite
serving the cause since before the Skywalker twins were even born.
By now you should
be seeing a pattern of how this book works, for every strength it has
an equal or greater weakness. Consider how much stronger the pacing
is than its' predecessor. After a slow opening it keeps a steady clip
for the remainder only it starts to move too quickly, rushing past an
entire month of the campaign to free Kashyyyk. When we return to that
plot we find that one of the heroes had been captured and viciously
tortured at the hands of a very over-the-top villain who maybe lasts
for two-chapters. It's almost as if a large chunk of the book went
missing.
Once again this
weird wobbly approach to storytelling effects the overall tone as
well. Characters speak to each-other in a very fast and jokey fashion
yet none of them can stop focusing on how emotionally damaged they
are. The story is one part bloody war, another part mopey family
drama, plus some Manchurian Candidate style conspiracy, with jokes
and multiple romances. Worst of all it often doesn't feel like Star
Wars so much as more generic sci-fi. It's like How I Met Your
Mother mixed with The Hunger Games by way of lackluster
prestige TV.
Overall Life
Debt is a massive improvement for the Aftermath trilogy
but that still doesn't make for a good read. I'm a little unsure of
where exactly to place this one in the rankings though it's
definitely going in the lower-end. Frankly the series would probably
fare better without such important placement within the franchise.
Since this is a key look at the period between the original films and
now it can't slid by as simple fluff. The series needs to try harder
if it ever wants to rank as something more than a curiosity. Let's
look at the rankings.
1. Lost Stars by
Claudia Gray
2. New Dawn by
John Jackson Miller
3. Bloodline by
Claudia Gray
4. Guardians of
the Whills by Greg Rucka
5.
Ashoka by E.K.
Johnston
6. Tarkin by
James Luceno
7. Thrawn by
Timothy Zahn
8. Battlefont
Twilight Company by Alexander Freed
9. Moving Target
by Cecil Castelluci and Jason Fry
10. Before the
Awakening by Greg Rucka
11. The Legends
of Luke Skywalker by Ken Liu
12. Catalyst
by James Luceno
13. Aftermath:
Life Debt by Chuck Wendig
14. Smuggler's
Run by Greg Rucka
15. Heir to the
Jedi by Kevin Hearne
16. Lords of the
Sith by Paul S. Kemp
17. Aftermath by
Chuck Wendig
18. The Weapon
of a Jedi by Jason Fry
Now that the book
club feature is back expect to see it hanging around for the
foreseeable future. There are currently three more novels in the
reading pile which is at least enough to take us into Summer. Seeing
as that's when I'm likely to start school, we'll have to wait and see
how the schedule will go from there. For now let's just hope our next
entry will be something to rave about.
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