My Star Wars Experience: Reading Aftermath (2015)

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well for a rainy Wednesday. Welcome to the first post in my new My Star Wars Experience series. I'll be covering all things Star Wars from the movies and shows that I've seen, to comics, books, magazines, video games, toys and everything else I can think of to talk about when it comes to Star Wars. For this first installment, I'll be talking about the 2015 novel, Aftermath by Chuck Wendig, my current re-read of the book, and how I've felt about the book in the past. I haven't finished reading the book yet, but I already have some thoughts. This also isn't a review. This is just a discussion about one of the early canon novels that were published prior to the theatrical release of The Force Awakens. So let's get into it.

Aftermath is the first novel in the current Star Wars canon to not involve characters from the movies or shows that takes place after Return of the Jedi. The first adult novel anyway. The YA novel, Lost Stars, by Claudia Gray, was published the same day as Aftermath (September 4th), as part of the Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens publishing initiative that was part of the marketing for the movie which was due to come out in December of 2015. Other novels like A New Dawn, which detailed the backstory of Kanan and Hera from Rebels, and Heir to the Jedi, which was set after A New Hope, were published, but this was the first novel where the movie characters took a backseat and were either relegated to cameos, or didn't appear at all.

Being a fan of the X-Wing series by Michael A. Stackpole and Aaron Allston, I was excited to see this happen, because, unless the book took place thousands of years before the Skywalker Saga, the movie characters, be it from the prequels or the originals, always showed up and had some sort of influence on the plot of the books. The prequel era novels kinda took it or left it when it came to that, but books taking place between the original movies, or after Return of the Jedi used the movie characters to a major extent. Even in the X-Wing series, Han, Leia, Luke, Threepio, and Chewbacca all make appearances. Particularly in the first eight books of the series. I can't find anything to confirm this, but I think that was a mandate from Lucasfilm and Del Rey. 

I'll be honest, when I got this book for my birthday in 2015, and I first read it, I wasn't sure how I felt about it. I didn't care about the main characters, the state of the galaxy felt too realistic, and I was waiting for someone other than Wedge, Ackbar, and Mon Mothma to show up. Han and Chewie do, but very briefly. We also kept getting interludes, where we'd break away from the plot of the book to focus on other places in the galaxy as the news of Palpatine and Vader's deaths, the destruction of the Death Star, and the announcement of the New Republic replacing the Imperial government, had on people we never see or hear from again. I even forgot that Cobb Vanth, a character who debuted in one of the interludes in this book, and made his live action debut in the season 2 premiere of The Mandalorian, AND was a supporting character in The Book of Boba Fett, first appeared in this book. 

During my last re-read, which happened before season 3 of The Mandalorian came out, I felt this way about the book. I just couldn't get into it. I also felt this way about Alphabet Squadron, though to a lesser extent, when I first read it.

I've always seen the Star Wars franchise as a fantasy. An escape from reality. Even in stories where the more fantastical elements, such as the Jedi and the Sith, the Force, prophecies, Chosen Ones etc. aren't prevalent, or even present at all, I saw Star Wars as a fantasy. Because that's how it was presented to us in the 70's, 80's, and 90's. It's how George Lucas tried to present it to us in the Prequel Trilogy during its release in the 2000's, even when other writers were trying to present a darker, more realistic take on the franchise in novels and comics like The New Jedi Order and Legacy. Because of this we never saw the ins and outs of the Rebel Alliance becoming the New Republic. We saw the conflict, but we never saw how the conflict affected the average person. Even in the modern shows, we don't really see that, as The Force Awakens opens thirty some years after Return of the Jedi. After the New Republic has already been around for a long time.

Even though I'm only about halfway through my current re-read of the book, my feelings towards it have changed. Because I realized that for any franchise to survive as long as it can, it has to evolve. And in the case of Star Wars, it has to move beyond the fantasy and be more realistic. And it has. Not just with the novels, but with the shows like Andor and The Acolyte and movies like Rogue One and Solo. It still needs to be a fantasy of course, but, it also needs to be more than that.

Because of this realization, I'm able to enjoy characters like Nora Wexley and her son, Temmin. I can enjoy Admiral Sloane and her group of Imperial officers trying to decide what the fate of the Empire should be. I can appreciate Mon Mothma's decision to demilitarize the New Republic's Armed Forces once she can confirm that the Empire won't attack them again.

Wendig does an incredible job at setting the characters up for the remaining two books in the trilogy, which, sadly, I haven't read yet, and I don't own. Though I was surprised to learn that Rae Sloane had been created by author John Jackson Miller for the 2014 novel, A New Dawn, as Kanan's adversary. I haven't read very many canon novels, though A New Dawn is on my list, so I had no idea that Sloane was created there. 

That's all I wanted to say about the book today. I might do a follow-up post when I'm finished reading it, but I don't think I need to. I say that because I want this series to be about more than just the novels or just about the movies and TV shows. And I don't really want to have repeats so soon into this new series. I'll be back on Friday for My Star Trek Experience. Until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.