The 2015 Star Wars Prequel Apology Tour appears to be beginning to build some steam; audiences are only 154 days away from the premiere of The Force Awakens, there’s a new Star Wars App for smartphones, and some new footage emerged from the San Diego Comic Con panel.
Yesterday, Entertainment Weekly revealed the first chapter of Chuck Wending’s Star Wars: Aftermath, the second novel of the new Star Wars Expanded Universe. Aftermath is the first book in a trilogy (because unlike the Sith, all things Star Wars come in threes) bridging Return Of The Jedi and The Force Awakens.
The book opens with a victory speech from Admiral Ackbar that sets the stage for what will be the 30 years in between Jedi and Awakens. “Our rebellion is over. But the war…the war is just beginning” states the Mon Calamari. The opening chapter features everyone’s favorite X-Wing pilot, Wedge Antilles, on a scouting mission piloting a Starhopper, looking for remaining Imperial outposts. Our hero comes in contact with two Star Destroyers, one commanded by Admiral Rae Sloan who was introduced in the first new novel in the Star Wars canon, A New Dawn.
The novel appears to retain some of the fun dialogue of the original trilogy as well as callbacks to favorite lines (“Almost there,” “Fly casual.”) and favorite characters such as Lando and Han. It would appear that this series of books is really going to delve into the reconstruction period following the Galactic Civil War and will feature more than enough space hillbillies who are still flying the Imperial Flag and have something to say about it. Undoubtedly, Star Wars fanatics will have more than enough to chew on and theorize from the new series of books while they eagerly await December 18.
Star Wars: Aftermath hits bookshelves September 4.