Review: Star Wars- Aftermath: Empire’s End

Quick Summary

Pros: The main narrative and several of the subplots are captivating and fun to read. The book provides even more information about Star Wars lore than before, especially when it comes to the fall of the Empire and rise of the First Order.

Cons: Some of the subplots end up disappointingly underdeveloped.

Overall: The final book in the Aftermath trilogy ends things on a high note. This novel, like its predecessors, delivers when it comes to storytelling and providing details about the transition from the Original Trilogy to the Sequel Trilogy. However, this book is backed by all of the character development and setup of the previous two books, which makes everything about it better. All in all, readers who enjoyed previous entries in this series will find plenty to love with this entry. 

Story

Star Wars: Aftermath Empire’s End, by Chuck Wendig, is an awesome conclusion to and possibly the best entry in a solid Star Wars book trilogy. It expands upon the narrative stretching through Aftermath (Review) and Aftermath Life Debt (Review), furthers the character development from those books, and continues to bridge the gap between the Original Trilogy and the Sequel Trilogy. 

Once again, storytelling proves to be one of the strongest points in the Aftermath series. The narrative in Empire’s End is twisting and multifaceted yet manages to be wonderfully compelling and easy to follow along with. The narrative here is also distinct in being the most climactic of the trilogy, something that suits its status as the grand finale. Altogether, this makes for a highly enjoyable read.

Empire’s End also finishes the work the Aftermath trilogy has done in providing information about the time between the Original Trilogy and the Sequel Trilogy. Readers get to see how fallout from the Original Trilogy helped to directly set up small details that reappear in the Sequel Trilogy. The most notable of these is the way in which the Empire began to turn into the First Order. This portion of the read manages to be an enjoyable story while also serving as a fantastic supplement to the films. This helps make this book incredibly attractive to anyone looking for information about the transition between these points in time.

The only real problems within Empire’s End are confined to random subplots. Like every book in this series, Empire’s End contains chapters that spotlight the actions of other characters around the galaxy, typically in a way that relates back to the main narrative. However, in a few places, these subplots are pretty lackluster. I was specifically disappointed in the way the Eleodie Maracavanya and Cobb Vanth’s stories concluded, as it felt like their treatment here did not live up to the buildup in the previous books. Luckily, the disappointing subplots are definitely in the minority when it comes to this book’s offerings.

Continuity

Star Wars: Aftermath- Empire’s End continues the story from Star Wars: Aftermath- Life Debt (Review). Both of these novels take place after the events of Episode VI- The Return of the Jedi and reference the events of the entire Original Trilogy. They also take place before the events of Episode VII- The Force Awakens and help set up a few plotlines for the Sequel Trilogy in general.

The Aftermath trilogy ends with this volume. However, the personal stories behind a few of the main characters are continued elsewhere.

• Temmin Wexley makes a somewhat brief appearance in the Star Wars: Bloodline (Review) novel before taking on a supporting role in the Poe Dameron comic series. He then makes an appearance in Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens. Then, the Star Wars: Resistance Reborn novel continues elements of his story from the Aftermath trilogy and the Poe Dameron comics. He then makes an appearance in Star Wars: Episode IX- The Rise of Skywalker.   
• Wedge Antilles appears in Star Wars: Resistance Reborn before making an appearance in Star Wars: Episode IX -The Rise of Skywalker.
• Norra Wexley also appears in Star Wars: Resistance Reborn.

This book also makes a few references to other Star Wars works:

• Other details from the Battle of Jakku are seen in Star Wars: Lost Stars.
• The story surrounding Cobb Vanth is continued in other books from the Aftermath series but is also continued in “Chapter 9: The Marshal” from The Mandalorian TV series.