Life Debt (Star Wars: Aftermath, #2)
Chuck Wendig
Set between the events of Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, the never-before-told story that began with Star Wars: Aftermath continues in this thrilling novel, the second book of Chuck Wendig s New York Times bestselling trilogy. "It is a dark time for the Empire. . . ." The Emperor is dead, and the remnants of his former Empire are in retreat. As the New Republic fights to restore a lasting peace to the galaxy, some dare to imagine new beginnings and new destinies. For Han Solo, that means settling his last outstanding debt, by helping Chewbacca liberate the Wookiee's homeworld of Kashyyyk. Meanwhile, Norra Wexley and her band of Imperial hunters pursue Grand Admiral Rae Sloane and the Empire's remaining leadership across the galaxy. Even as more and more officers are brought to justice, Sloane continues to elude the New Republic, and Norra fears Sloane may be searching for a means to save the crumbling Empire from oblivion. But the hunt for Sloane is cut short when Norra receives an urgent request from Princess Leia Organa. The attempt to liberate Kashyyyk has carried Han Solo, Chewbacca, and a band of smugglers into an ambush resulting in Chewie's capture and Han's disappearance. Breaking away from their official mission and racing toward the Millennium Falcon's last known location, Norra and her crew prepare for any challenge that stands between them and their missing comrades. But they can't anticipate the true depth of the danger that awaits them or the ruthlessness of the enemy drawing them into his crosshairs.
No posts yet
Kick off the convo with a theory, question, musing, or update
Your rating:
In Life Debt, the ragtag crew of the Halo,who joined together by the end of Aftermath, have become bona fide Imperial Hunters. Using the resources granted to them by the New Republic and their own ingenuity, Norra, Temmin, Jas, Sinjir and Jom Barell have been locating and capturing Imperials so that they can face justice for their war crimes. When their help is requested by none other than Leia Organa, the crew offers to put their skills to the test finding the missing Han Solo (last seen attempting a foolhardy plan to liberate Kashyyyk). Even for the crew of the Halo, this will be no easy task and they are far from the only players in this game.
While I didn't quite hate Aftermath, I was by no means sold on Wendig's writing style. And to be honest, I'm still really not. Life Debt is considerably better written than the first in this series but I still can't count it among my favorite Star Wars stories. What I will say for it is that Wendig finally figures out how to nail the pacing. The way that tension and dread are built throughout made it a considerably more interesting story than the second book in most trilogies. Many of the threads that he introduced in Aftermath start to tie together in Life Debt and the story moves quickly, from one nail biting fight to the next.
In addition, Wendig continues to make the characters feel real, interesting and complex. Each of them has their own struggles to deal with and they don't always handle them perfectly. I continue to feel kind of ambivalent about Temmin because dear God he is such a teenager. I mean, that probably means he's written reasonably well but sometimes I just want to shake the idiot. Overall, I'm invested in these characters and I want to see them succeed, no matter what the odds.
What drives me insane about Wendig's style is the same thing that drove me crazy in Aftermath. Everything is still over the top, like I'm watching an action movie. Life Debt is tempered by much better character arcs and fewer ridiculous moments but I really struggle with Wendig's style in general. Even as I'm interested in the events happening in the story and the characters, part of me just can't suspend disbelief long enough to get sucked in.
Life Debt is considerably better than Aftermath. I'm invested in these characters and I'm very curious to see how this ties together Return of the Jedi and Force Awakens despite my issues with Wendig's writing. I don't expect to love Empire's End but I'm hoping that like with Life Debt, it at least feels satisfying to see where it goes.
0
© 2024 Pagebound