The final piece of the puzzle for me having a review for every canon novel here is the Aftermath trilogy, which I began my re-read of last week with the first book. I had a total blast re-reading this one! I feel like I had really forgotten how much I adore each of the main characters, and the interludes come together to paint a portrait of the galaxy at this time and how complicated things are. Revisiting this story now is so interesting too, because this triliogy is among the first of the canon novels released, and the first taking place after Return of the Jedi. These books built a lot of the worldbuilding that bridged the stories of the original trilogy and the sequel trilogy, but today is what is being pulled from for The Mandalorian and the other storytelling in that area.
The last time I read this book was when it came out, so revisiting when so much about the galaxy far far away has expanded or changed was really fun. Even if you've read this book before- if it's been a while, it's definitely one worth revisiting. Pick up your own copy of the whole trilogy here!
Spoilers ahead for Aftermath by Chuck Wendig!
I mentioned that I had forgotten how much I love the main characters, and that's true. I certainly remembered Norra, Temmin, Mister Bones, Sinjir and Jas fondly, but I forgot how much I loved reading them and spending time with them. While obviously the first book of the trilogy doesn't contain everything there is to know about their histories and their character arcs, there's a lot of great set up in this one. Sinjir and Jas' tense friendship is really, really fun. The pair have very different personalities that makes their banter really amusing. Norra and Temmin's complicated mother-son relationship is beautifully written, and you really feel for both sides of the conflict. The regrowth of the bond is amazing to see, and I can't wait to (re-)read more of it in the rest of the trilogy.
Then of course we have Mister Bones, battle droid extraordinaire. Star Wars has consistently given us some pretty incredible droids over the last several years, but it's honestly a crime that Mister Bones is often left out of the conversation. He's hilarious of course, and pretty terrifying, but what I love most about him are his heartfelt interactions with Temmin.
What makes the Aftermath trilogy so unique are the interludes. Every couple of chapters there's an interlude where we go to random place in the galaxy and get a small mini story about them. This helps to show how the rest of the galaxy is handling the massive changes. Sometimes these interludes check in with people we know, like Lobot, but sometimes it's just truly random people. Whether it's a father and son protesting the remaining Imperial presence in Coruscant, a family split between a brother that's pro-Empire and a brother that's pro-New Republic, or the interlude about a sheriff named Cobb Vanth who picked up Boba Fett's armor from some jawas. I wonder if we'll ever hear from that guy again...
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