Go/No-Go: Aftermath

nasa-mission-control-3Welcome back to Go/No-Go, Tosche Station’s regular feature where we offer our spoiler-free opinion as to whether or not you should spend your hard-earned money on a book, film, or other entertainment. Today on the launch pad: Star Wars: Aftermath.  It’s our first book set after Episode VI in the new canon and is the tentpole of the Journey to the Force Awakens. No, it’s not Heir to the Empire, but the start of something entirely new. Is it worth your time? Does it live up to the hype? Should we stick to Legends instead? To mission control for the verdict!

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Review: Aftermath’s Prose

AftermathI usually hate reading present tense prose, at least in professional fiction.  It’s always lent itself to fanfiction in my mind for some reason, so when I read the first excerpts of Aftermath when they were released, I wasn’t impressed.

Boy, was I wrong.

I read Aftermath in between feedings and diaper changes of our new little Jedi-in-training, and every time I set the book down, I looked forward to picking it back up again, and had the book come out before Little Jedi’s arrival, I probably would have read it all in one sitting.

Many of you know that I am, by trade and training, a professor of literature.  So while the rest of our staff has reviewed Aftermath based on its content, I want to focus on the style and why it works so well for this novel.

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Review: Aftermath

AftermathIt’s our first new taste of post-Return of the Jedi galaxy. Star Wars: Aftermath by Chuck Wendig hit bookshelves and eagerly awaiting hands at midnight. No fear though: this review will be spoiler free.

It’s been several months since the Battle of Endor and now the Rebel Alliance is attempting to establish itself as the New Republic. Wedge Antilles goes on what should be a simple scouting mission but soon finds himself captured by the forces of Admiral Rae Sloane as he stumbles into the location of a high-level Imperial summit. The only person to hear his distress call is Norra Wexley who just wants to be reunited with her son but she can’t abandon one of her fellow Rebellion pilots no matter how dangerous this new rescue mission might be.

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Go/No-Go: Under the Empyrean Sky

nasa-mission-control-3I was super excited earlier this month to learn Chuck Wendig would be writing the entire Aftermath trilogy, and I hadn’t even read any of this books yet. Chuck is a delight on Twitter, and his blog is super informative for writers and always full of interesting stories and commentary on current events. I grew even more excited after reading the Aftermath excerpt. His prose seemed tight and catchy, and the present tense singled it out from all the other Expanded Universe books.

I wanted to check out some of Chuck’s fiction, to get a better sense of what he’d be bringing to the Star Wars Universe. The first two books of his young adult series were recently on sale, in anticipation of the release of Book Three. And since Chuck himself has suggested that series for people wanting to see how he’d handle Star Wars, that series became the logical choice.

Brian and I both finished the first book and are onto the second. What did we think? Our opinions after the break!

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Chuck Wendig to write Aftermath Trilogy

AftermathEntertainment Weekly has confirmed our suspicions: Chuck Wendig is writing the entire Aftermath Trilogy. No word yet on the other book titles or when they’ll be out, but it’s very nice to see a single author handling a series in the post-RotJ timeline again.

Also revealed earlier today is the Chewbacca comics miniseries, written by Gerry Duggan with art by the awesome Phil Noto.

Aftermath is released on September 4.

Journey to The Force Awakens: Aftermath Cover and Author revealed

AftermathWell, the author is officially revealed, anyway.

A few days after Random House’s publicity site let slip that Chuck Wendig would be writing the first Story Group canon era novel set after Return of the Jedi, Jen Heddle made it official. While she can’t say much, Jen was able to tell us that this will be the first book in a trilogy. Also, this:

What I can reveal is that you will be introduced to a sweeping new cast of characters, along with a fan favorite from the films. And who knows what other familiar faces will pop up along the way? And once you’ve seen The Force Awakens in movie theaters, you may find that certain names and places in Aftermath have a relevance you never knew–so keep your eyes wide open!

Additionally as you can see on the right, the cover was released as well. I don’t know about you, but I absolutely dig that look.

Welcome to the Star Wars community, Chuck!