With Life Debt, the second installment of what is now the Aftermath trilogy, writer and self-proclaimed penmonkey Chuck Wendig continues to chronicle the post Return of the Jedi Star Wars universe. In doing so, he’s helping to define the most popular fictional universe on the world. He centers on the action and plot fairly quickly which gives the characters he introduced in Aftermath (first in the trilogy reviewed here) a nice weight of existence and reality within the universe.
Returning are the Wexleys (mother Norra and son Temmin [who appeared in The Force Awakens as played by Greg Grunberg]), Imperial defector Sinjir Velus, Jas Emerus the bounty hunter, solder Jom Barrel and of course, the violence-prone modified battle-droid Mister Bones. After a brief catching up with these characters, we learn that Han Solo has disappeared during a mission to help his partner Chewbacca on the Wookiee world of Kashyyyk. Han was speaking with Leia when their transmission was cut off, understandably worrying Leia. With the Rebellion…now New Republic in the process of trying to become a true government, Leia meets with resistance in trying to save her husband by sanctioned governmental means and endorsement. So she enlists Norra’s crew of … Rebels… to find Han.
What works so well, and really comes across quite effortlessly, is how Norra and her crew interact with Leia (and I don’t think this is a spoiler, later on Han). They are star struck by presence of one of the Big Three from the Rebellion, but Wendig tows a great line between understatement and over-the-top googly eyed wonder. Leia, Han, and Chewbacca are definitely revered by Norra and crew, but the Solos also have some good character moments that ground them and allow Norra’s crew to be on close to equal footing, at least as it relates to the plot of the novel (if not the greater Star Wars canon, obviously).
The “heroes” aren’t the only characters who get the spotlight. We are also given the opportunity to follow the storyline of Grand Admiral Rae Sloane as she navigates her path through the broken remains of the once great Empire. She realizes Palpatine had faults and actually tries to bring a bit more honor to the side of villainy. Even though she’s an antagonist, Chuck Wending builds great sympathy for her to the point where I wasn’t exactly rooting against her.
Like the previous installment the primary action of the novel is broken up by interludes which provide greater depth and some nice connectivity to the Original Trilogy and The Force Awakens. We see a young Palpatine in one scene, in others we get some insight about the planet of Jakku which is where The Force Awakens begins and perhaps hints of some deeper connections to characters and events in The Force Awakens.
The only part of the novel that was slightly lacking from my perspective was the character of Gallius Rax, who is a foil for Rae throughout the novel. His goals seem a bit ambiguous which is fine, his mysterious background was revealed quite well, and there are even familiar resonances between Rax and a villain from another Legendary Post-Return of the Jedi trilogy, but his character didn’t seem to me to be a worthy intellectual opponent to Grand Admiral Rae Sloane. Rax was only a minimal character here in Life Debt, but I suspect some of my concerns about his “weightiness” may be resolved in Empire’s End. At least there are hints of the character being more fleshed-out and his character leaves a great deal of room for reader and fan speculation of just who Rax is and how much of an impact he’ll have on the greater Star Wars saga that will unfold in the films.
It will be interesting to see how the Aftermath trilogy is wrapped up next year in Empire’s End. At this point, I’m not sure what kind of expectations readers should have with regard to revelations or confirmations on the page of things hinted at in The Force Awakens. What I hope to read is more about Norra Wexley’s crew, the path Rae Sloane follows in her journey and “rivalry” with Gallius Rax, and how they all tie into the characters from the films.
I’ve been more enmeshed in Star Wars literature in the past year and between Chuck Wendig and Claudia Gray seemingly leading the charge, fans new and old to the Star Wars universe seem to be in good writerly hands despite some older fans “misgivings” about the universe-wide “reboot.”
Recommended
© 2016 Rob H. Bedford
Hardcover, 448 Pages
Published by Del Rey/Lucas Books, July 2016
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
Excerpt: http://star-wars.suvudu.com/2016/06/excerpt-star-wars-aftermath-life-debt-by-chuck-wendig.html
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