• Star Wars: Life Debt - Aftermath, Book 2

  • By: Chuck Wendig
  • Narrated by: Marc Thompson
  • Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (9,730 ratings)

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Star Wars: Life Debt - Aftermath, Book 2

By: Chuck Wendig
Narrated by: Marc Thompson
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Publisher's summary

New York Times best seller

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 best-selling 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.

Praise for Aftermath: Life Debt

“Star Wars: Aftermath: Life Debt has found its place at the top of all the new canon works. Simply, outstandingly great Star Wars.” (Star Wars Post)

“[Chuck] Wendig once again strikes gold, offering a sweeping narrative with plenty of insight into both the state of the galaxy at large and beloved characters both new and old.” (Alternative Nation)

“With an intense plot, political intrigue and great characterization, Wendig’s Aftermath: Life Debt is an excellent read.” (Flickering Myth Praise for Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath)

Star Wars: Aftermath [reveals] what happened after the events of 1983’s Return of the Jedi. It turns out, there’s more than just the Empire for the good guys to worry about.” (The Hollywood Reporter)

“The Force is strong with Star Wars: Aftermath.” (Alternative Nation)

“The Star Wars universe is fresh and new again, and just as rich and mysterious as it always was.” (Den of Geek)

©2016 Chuck Wendig (P)2016 Random House Audio

Featured Article: Remembering Carrie Fisher with Our Favorite Quips and Quotes from Her Writings


Actress, writer, and advocate Carrie Fisher, best known for her performance as the bold, intelligent, and morally-grounded Princess Leia Organa in the Star Wars film franchise, was a hero to so many—an outspoken, brilliant, and, quite frankly, hilarious film icon who stood out from the Hollywood crowd. The late Star Wars star's legacy lives on forever in her candid memoirs and incisive fiction. Read on for Carrie Fisher's best quotes.

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What listeners say about Star Wars: Life Debt - Aftermath, Book 2

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Huge improvement over "Aftermath", but not perfect

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

This book is an absolute recommendation to any Star Wars fan. The only problem is you'll probably have to read Aftermath first, and Chuck Wendig's writing style is difficult to get comfortable with. This book is a huge improvement over the last. It FEELS like a Star Wars book. It involves more recognizable characters. It still has "interludes", but they are better, and they are typically either germane to the principle story, or they are about something relevant that you care about.

What other book might you compare Star Wars: Life Debt - Aftermath, Book 2 to and why?

I would compare it to the Heir to the Empire series of books. It reminds of that sort of grand-scale story and feels like it may have borrowed some inspiration from those books.

Which scene was your favorite?

The events of "Liberation Day" are probably my favorite. It was very exciting, but I don't want to write too much about it else it might spoil part of the story for others.

Did Star Wars: Life Debt - Aftermath, Book 2 inspire you to do anything?

No.

Any additional comments?

Possible Spoilers::There is a problem I am beginning to see with all of these books, and this one opened my eyes to it. Many new book are coming out, in all different time periods. There is new canon being added every month or two, but there is a huge problem with consistency. Possible spoilers below: This book attempts to explain the beginnings or the First Order and the Resistance under General Leia, but that was already done in "Bloodline". It's like I am reading multiple authors all trying to explain the same thing with TOTALLY different stories. Yes they refer to Leia in this book as "General Leia", but she wasn't a General in Bloodline, which takes place 8 years later. It's like Leia forms the resistance in this book, then goes back to being a princess in time for Bloodline, then forms another resistance without any memory of what happened before? This book also talks about Leia being Pregnant - and she has visions of her son, and at another point she has visions of her having "children", as in multiple children. This was a huge problem for me, because in Bloodline she has very clearly only had one child, so if Wendig is attempting to tease the audience with the possibility that Leia has a daughter, (Rey?!) We know that is impossible because in Bloodline they talk at length about Leia and her son. Her relationship to her child (Ben) is significant in that book and if she had multiple children it would have been mentioned. And if she DOES have another child it totally invalidates the other book. And Thrawn, which was JUST revealed this past weekend as being canon.... wasn't ever mentioned. Now I realize that Wendig was likely not permitted to mention Thrawn. However, there are scenes in this book where they mention many previous Imperial Leaders, and those who were close and tight with Palpatine. It just seems to me like Thrawn would HAVE to have been included in archives like that. So Either Thrawn is going to be insignificant (which would be an absolute travesty) or he's going to die very quickly (equally tragic). Point is : He should be a HUGE deal, and if books are going to discuss significant military leaders he deserves to be included in those discussions. If Wendig wasn't allowed to mention him then I would have liked for it to be more open ended, something like "and Admiral X, Grand Moff Y, and several others were also at that meeting"... this way you could group him in with the "several others". My fear is that with Disney allowing all these books to come out like polka dots all over the timeline, they are duplicating some of the exact same consistency problems that happened in the original EU. If a book is going to reference MAJOR events that happened in the past, then you can't go back and add new events, without having to explain why they weren't ever mentioned before in the books that took place in it's future. Imagine if they released another book, called "Luke's Rise to Power", which took place a month before Episode 4, where Luke stole a B-Wing and blew up 3 more Death Stars . That is obviously an exaggeration but I feel that's almost where we are headed with the multiple explanations for the resistance and first order.

Again, this isn't a slam against this book or the author - this is something Disney needs to fix. Make your authors talk to each other - don't give each of them free reign over the same story, because then you'll have twelve different explanations for how the same event happened.

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60 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

poor writing

A poor work for the star wars universe. The writing is boring. There are no main plot points that are going to be memorible. When the writer tries to describe what is going on around the characters it sounds like something a 5th grader wrote. I am completely disappointed in this book and I can't believe I wasted my money on it. But Marc Thomason is the only saving grace in this terribly written story.

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53 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Boring and Pure Fluff

Would you try another book from Chuck Wendig and/or Marc Thompson?

I love Marc Thompson but even him reading this book couldn't save it.

What could Chuck Wendig have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

None of the characters were exciting and 5 hours in I was so bored I almost stopped listening.

Have you listened to any of Marc Thompson’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

One does not compare Marc Thompson to others as he is the BEST.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Pure disappointment. I've listened to 100+ Star Wars novels and this was one of the worst. It really tried... but it has no value in the Star Wars universe.

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35 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Really picking up -- great story, great writing

Any additional comments?

What a great continuation of the story! I wasn't super crazy about the first book -- it was okay. But by the end I found myself reluctantly coming around to the character dynamic that Wendig was building. In this book, that dynamic is already in place, and it is woven naturally and brilliantly in with mainstream characters like Han, Leia, Chewbacca, and Wedge. This novel feels more central, more important to the overarching narrative. In this way, it sort of goes further in justifying the existence of the first book, which sets up the characters central to this story. There are connections here to Bloodline -- we get to early signs of Leia's "passion over politics" personality, which ultimately has serious consequences for her political life. We get hints about Jakku and other places. We get Kashyyyk and more. Really, a lot to sink your teeth into here.

I'm not sure what the negative reviewers' problem is. Part of it, I suspect, is that what the new canon is trying to do is build an overarching narrative, slowly and delicately. So some individual books might seem to move slowly. But that's only because the authors are putting together the pieces carefully, and playing the long game. That is, I see a general lack of patience in some of the other reviewers. There is also the lingering bias against the new canon in favor of the old one on the part of long time, die hard Star Wars fans. But let me just say that I found this audiobook riveting. I highly recommend it if you are open minded about the new canon. I think it's one of the best new canon books out there yet.

(For those who say things like, "Why can't we get a strong, male hero lead..." I can only roll my eyes. If you really think that what the Star Wars universe lacks is strong, male hero leads, then I just don't know what planet you really on.)

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26 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Boring

This book was to drawn out. Didn't get going til half way through then the story comes together. Disney needs to bring back the original writers back

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Slightly better than the first one

I suffered through 10 hours before giving up on this completely uninspired and boring piece of tripe, which is 9 hours more than I made it through Aftermath book 1. If Marc Thompson hadn't have been reading it, I doubt I would have made it that long. Some authors write Star Wars (Gray, Luceno, Kemp), and some authors write what they think Star Wars should sound like, and unfortunately Mr. Wendig falls into the latter category. In the 10 hours I suffered through, hoping it would get better, he somehow made love triangles, rescues, ships fighting, Han Solo, and Princess Leia seem boring and plodding. The HUGE marketing of the Aftermath books makes me want to try them, but I have been sorely disappointed in the execution, perhaps Mr. Wendig's writing style just isn't for me? As much as I wanted to love this series I genuinely cannot recommend it to anyone. There are genuinely good Star Wars canon novels released over the last 2 years, but the Aftermath books are not among them, and are by far the worst of the new canon.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Great narrator, mediocre book

What was most disappointing about Chuck Wendig’s story?

His inability to write idioms and metaphors appropriate to the Star Wars universe, his use of common Terran animals/objects. His use of a racist metaphor *specific* to this planet.

Any additional comments?

I'm really curious why no editor insisted changes when Wendig failed to use universe-appropriate language and I'm extremely disappointed no one caught the whammy that Admiral Ackbar would never, ever say. Wow.

The sequel is an improvement over the first one, but I still don't think Wendig's writing style and language are suitable for Star Wars. The story wasn't interesting enough for me to not notice a large number of jarring phrases which halted the story for me and made me think of the author instead of the characters.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

boring and mediocre.

the story starts strong but quickly dwindles to a bunch of attempts at twists which are so telegraphed you can hear the clicking from a mile away. boring use of a "chestmaster" villain who knows how to perfectly predict how the people he is using as pawns will act without ever having met them or even knowing their name. his ability is so god like, its really just deus ex machina.

marc thompson does an excellent job, but the additional sound track drowns out what he is saying all to often leaving you rewinding and straining to figure what was said.

if there is a third book coming, im not getting it.

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

How Does Every Star Wars Movie, Book or Comic Begi

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

If the first words are always "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." then PLEASE tell me why Disney let this author write in the PRESENT tense. It's awkward and distracting. I'm seeing this more in other areas and honestly, it will turn me off from reading altogether. Literature tells a story. For it to be a story, it has to have already happened and the literary past tense is the only way to properly tell the story. I had to quit after two hours. I can't make myself go back. Horrors of slogging through book one keep jumping into my mind, screaming DON'T hit play!

Has Star Wars: Life Debt - Aftermath, Book 2 turned you off from other books in this genre?

I love sci fi, so no. I will not read or listen to anything in the present tense, however.

Have you listened to any of Marc Thompson’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Marc is always awesome and I'm not sure how he didn't stand up two paragraphs in and scream "HELL NO!" and just walk off. I hope that someday Disney is smart enough to let the old book series continue, even if they don't jive with the current storyline. Those were great books by great authors. And honestly, why couldn't they find one of them to write this?I truly hope they let Marc go back and at least create unabridged recordings of the entire Expanded Universe at some point. I will buy all of that!

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I couldn't get far enough into it to find any, except Marc's work. He can only read what is written and he does so superbly, as always.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Lame

What disappointed you about Star Wars: Life Debt - Aftermath, Book 2?

Seeing the Millennium Falcon on the cover I thought "oh boy, we are going to focus on actual Star Wars characters", also I was duped by the synopsis "he 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." We see Han Solo briefly and don't deal at all with the liberation of Kashyyk. Its like the author is afraid to handle any epic turn of events. I groaned when the same lame new characters I don't care about came up. I really hate them. Like Jar Jar Binks level hate. I think I hate them because I want to see what is happening with Luke, Leia, Han, and the rest more and I have to drudge through these new character's stories. Also, Chuck Wendig is not a Star Wars fan. He doesn't know what a Holocron is, in one line he represented a Holocron as a standard form of data recording instead of being something only being able to be created by force users.

What was most disappointing about Chuck Wendig’s story?

His characters. No Luke Skywalker.

What didn’t you like about Marc Thompson’s performance?

I hate his voice, they use him on just about every Star Wars audiobook. The only one that didnt have him was Darth Plagueous. I forgot his name but I liked him.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Star Wars: Life Debt - Aftermath, Book 2?

Every scene that dealt with the new charecters

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