Read Aftermath this weekend so you wouldn't have to. Thoughts below.
(Courtesy spoiler filter)
Found it mediocre, but entertaining. Definitely not the worst Star Wars fiction I've read, but not the best. The novel sheds some light on the post-RotJ state of the galaxy, but most of the action is (regrettably) centered on the Outer Rim world of Akiva. Some attempt at worldbuilding is done here, but I wonder how much stronger the novel could have been had the author chosen a previously established planet as the setting - one of my biggest gripes with Star Wars writing is the lack of any real character to the settings they take place in, especially places we never see in the movies.
I think it would be unrealistic to use this as a gauge for the movie, given that I doubt JJ Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan had much input on a novel from a fairly unknown author that most theater-goers probably aren't going to buy.
Some notes:
*There is a New Republic established after Endor. Mon Mothma is its Chancellor, and several of the novels interludes show that the new galactic Senate will convene on Chandrila, the new capital. Here Chandrila is described as something of a quiet world, removed from the fighting - not sure if this was the case in the old EU, or if it was just quiet for Core Worlds. The New Republic forces have made deals with governors and sector heads (it isn't mentioned if these are moffs or the local goverments) with offers to join them and turn over Imperial ships and weapons.
*The Empire is losing ground, but clamping down as much as it can in order to stop the spread of Republic propaganda. The official line is that the Rebel victory at Endor is a lie, and several mentions are made to the use of body doubles to show the public that the Emperor lives. As the Empire loses ground, it reinforces smaller garrisons on backwater planets like Akiva in order to mitigate its losses. In spite of this, there appears to be no chain of command set up in the wake of Endor, which is central to the plot of the book, as several leading Imperials (a Moff, one of Palpatine's old advisers with a Sith obsession, an old general, a banker/slaver and an admiral) all meet on Akiva to decide the Empire's future.
*As I mentioned before, Coruscant seems to be in a disputed state, with rebel forces mentioned as having taken control of a few districts but the Empire still having a strong hold on the city center. This seems a bit hard to believe (how can the New Republic get past Coruscant defenses to reinforce their troops) and in my opinion the novel should've elaborated more on the state of things on Coruscant, but I suppose a real world analogy would be Damascus right now during the Syrian civil war.
*Mon Mothma's character has been softened the most in the new canon - she insists on a military drawdown of 90% once the war has been deemed sufficiently won (paraphrasing here, but basically what she tells an advisor), with the remaining 10% going to training local militaries to do their own fighting. To give the author some credit, an adviser protests as any rational person would that this would leave the New Republic weak, but this seems like a lazy attempt at setup for the state of the galaxy in TFA.
*At the end of the novel, we're shown that the Akiva meeting was all the plot of a thought-dead Imperial fleet admiral, who wanted to get rid of his competition and those he thought had led the Empire to its doom. Some people think this might be Thrawn, but after reading, I think blue skin and red eyes would be a pretty glaring omission, so I'm opting to think that this is a new villain introduced for the novel's sequels.
*There's also (IMO) a fair amount of fanservice and pandering in the novel. A Zabrak bounty hunter who plays a pretty important role is mentioned as having an "Aunt Sugi" who I believe was a character in the TCW cartoon. The inclusion of gay characters in a Star Wars novel seemed fairly progressive to me at first (one of the novel's main characters is revealed to be gay about 2/3 of the way into the book - again, to give the author some credit, him being gay doesn't change much about his character), but there were some moments that seemed like the author was trying too hard. For example, an orphaned boy from Coruscant at one point remembers his two fathers being killed by stormtroopers during the post-Endor riots. It doesn't really bother me, it just seemed like the author could've just had the boy remembering his two parents and still got his point across.
*The Empire in the new canon seems a lot more open to female officers, as there are a female admiral and a female general in this book.
*All in all, entertaining, but probably not a book to buy if you have any expectations going in. I did feel like there was a bit of the bait-and-switch that went on, with all the talk of the Empire not being really finished after Endor before this novel came out, only for the novel to show that the Empire has probably lost more now than in the original EU.
Proud Bearer of the Imperial Legion of SWU's Distinguished Newbie Award
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Someone needs to get a hold of Ocelot and put the NJO Mod Project back on the road.
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FREE TIBET![This message has been edited by Gorog (edited 09-08-2015 @ 00:08 AM).]