Star Wars: Aftermath, by Chuck Wendig and published by Del Rey.
One of the newest in a series of new Star Wars official canon, the first part of a new trilogy and a part of the ‘Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ publishing project. Set in the months after the destruction of the second Death Star over the forrest moon of Endor, the majority of the story takes place on both the surface of and in near orbit to the backwater planet of Akiva.
On a hunch Wedge Antilles is investigating remote planets along the outer rim in the hopes of finding concentrations of Imperial forces. He stumbles upon a summet of high ranking Imperial leadership, and is captured, but not before sending a distress call. The call is intercepted by Norra Wexley, a rebel pilot who has come to Akiva to reunite with her estranged son. Events throw Norra, her son, a bounty hunter, and a former Imperial Officer together in a battle against storm troopers, thugs, and at times each other as they try to rescue Wedge and leave the planet. While what is remaining of the Imperial Leadership meet to determine the very future of the Galactic Empire. Thus begins a race against time, the Empire must conduct their meeting, but with Wedge as a prisoner, the Empire knows that the former Rebel Alliance, now calling them selves the New Republic, can’t be far away.
Scattered amongst the main storyline are several short scenes depicting the spread of the news of the Empire’s defeat at Endor and the fires of full scale rebellion. From the Imperial Seat at Coruscant, to the Imperial Academy at Carida, and the New Republic’s capital on Chandrilla. These mini-stories offer a glimpse of life in the rest of the Galaxy.
I will be honest; I couldn’t put this book down, but sadly not because I really enjoyed it. It was in the hope that all these seemingly random stories would eventually come together and that the mini-stories distractingly scattered through the book would come to a point. Sadly, in this book they did not. Overall, I enjoyed the main story a great deal, and if not for the mini-stories, I think this book would have easily been 9 out of 10, as it stands, without the rest of the trilogy, I can’t score it any higher than a 6 out of 10. That being said, if you are a fan of Star Wars novels, read this book. Current plans have the rest of the trilogy set to be released before The Force Awakens is released, so you should have plenty of time to read everything.. The book is also available as an audiobook.