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Book Review: STAR WARS Aftermath Book 3: Empire’s End
June 23, 2020
Book Reviews Aftermath Trilogy, Chuck Wendig, Star Wars Leave a comment
Chuck Wendig
Del Ray
2017
“HELLO. I AM ENJOYING THIS HUG, TOO. HUG HUG HUG. A HUG IS LIKE VIOLENCE MADE OF LOVE.”
- As the final showdown between the New Republic and the Empire draws near, all eyes turn to a once-isolated planet: Jakku. The Battle of Endor shattered the Empire, scattering its remaining forces across the galaxy. But the months following the Rebellion’s victory have not been easy. The fledgling New Republic has suffered a devastating attack from the Imperial remnant, forcing the new democracy to escalate its hunt for the hidden enemy. For her role in the deadly ambush, grand Admiral Rae Sloane is the most wanted Imperial war criminal–and one-time rebel pilot Norra Wexley, back in service at Leia’s urgent request, is leading the hunt. But more than just loyalty to the New Republic drives Norra forward: Her husband was turned into a murderous pawn in Sloan’s assassination plot, and now she wants vengeance as much as justice. Sloane, too, is on a furious quest: pursuing the treacherous Gallius Rax to the barren planet Jakku. As the true mastermind behind the Empire’s devastating attack, Rax has led the Empire to its defining moment. The cunning strategist has gathered the powerful remnants of the Empire’s war machine, preparing to execute the late Emperor Palpatine’s final plan. as the Imperial fleet orbits Jakku, an armada of Republic fighters closes in to finish what began at Endor. Norra and her crew soar into the heart of an apocalyptic clash that will leave land and sky alike scorched. And the future of the galaxy will finally be decided.
We’re finally at the third book in the Aftermath Trilogy, and I would love nothing more than to blast through this and get it behind me, so I can move on to better things. Let’s get going, then.
After a prelude taking place on the second Death Star with Emperor Palpatine telling Rax to prepare for something called “the contingency”, we’re back with our merry band of Imperial hunters where they run a sting to nab another bounty hunter to question them about Grand Admiral Rae Sloane. After a bit of cajoling, it seems that the Grand Admiral and some other Imperial guy were last seen on some planet named Jakku, which I’m sure won’t be important to remember at some later point. Then we get some brief drama between Princess Leia and Han Solo about raising their unborn child and politics and other stuff that I’m sure someone will find interesting. Meanwhile, the Imperial Hunters arrive at Jakku, where they discover a large Imperial fleet orbiting the planet; Norra and Jas (the bounty hunter, in case you’re just reading these reviews) head to Jakku in an escape pod while the rest slap it into “B” for “Boogie” and split for Chandrila to alert the New Republic about what they found. Norra and Jas are captured by stormtroopers on the surface of Jakku, with Norra ensalved and Jas handed over to the local crime lord Niima the Hutt. Norra is rescued eventually by her son’s modified B1 battle droid Mister Bones, and they reunite with Jas. Meanwhile, the New Republic Senate is being all wishy-washy with approving an offensive against the Imperial forces at Jakku, which leads to a covert mission that discovers a couple of powerful criminal syndicates influencing the vote. So now, Mon Mothma has all the votes she needs, and the motion passes to head out to Jakku and kick some Imperial butt. So, now there’s a massive battle raging over Jakku between Imperial forces and the New Republc forces; Norra’s teenage son is piloting one of the X-Wings, things go boom and ‘splosions all around; Norra find her estranged husband Brentin, they learn of Admiral Gallius Rax’s grand master plan originally commissioned by Palpatine (referred to as his “Contingency” if he’s ever killed) to destroy Jakku completely, wiping out not only the Imperial fleet, but the entirety of the New Republic’s forces and plunge the galaxy into chaos. I have to say, that’s pretty ambitious, there. The plan was for Rax to survive and head out to the Unknown Regions with a select few Star Destroyers and create a new empire. But, he’s killed by none other than Grand Admiral Sloane, who has been feeling a tad bit betrayed by the very Empire that she has given her entire life to. Jakku’s destruction is stopped, Sloane becomes the new shepherd of Palpatine’s plans, Mothma escapes an assassination attempt, Brentin gives his life saving Norra’s (they just got back together, isn’t that just the way?), Leia gives birth to Ben Solo, and the Empire formally surrenders. Norra decides to be a flight instructor at Wedge Antilies’ brand new flight academy, where her son will be attending to train to be in the upcoming sequel trilogy. The End. Finally.
I began the Aftermath Trilogy like I normally do with other books I read and review; meaning, I wanted to like it. It was something new in a franchise that I may not be as emotionally invested in as some other friends of mine are, but still provided much enjoyment and a rich, satisfying kaleidoscope of stories that have been mined from. And while this series overall was an interesting take on how things played out after the Battle of Endor, did we really need three books? There seemed to be a lot of filler, some needless interludes that–okay, admittedly, maybe the bits involving the Dark Side Akalites may have something to do with a plot point in the recently reviled Rise Of Skywalker, but that wasn’t explained very well.
Like the other two in this trilogy, the strong points here are the action scenes, with the weak points being the parts where Chuck tries his darnedest to write poignant character drama, and comes up a bit short in doing so. Hack writing? Maybe. But, considering I’m something of a self-styled hack writer m’self, I wouldn’t know when that’s happening in the novels I tend to read.
Overall, as a way to try and tie in what happened after the events of The Return Of The Jedi and foreshadowing the events to happen in The Force Awakens, the Aftermath trilogy does an interesting job at doing that. Could it have been done more efficiently? Yes. Was Chuck the right man to do this? Well, let me put it this way: Chuck Wendig was definitely the right man to write the Disney version of Star Wars, that’s for certain. Make your own applications as to what I mean by that. Otherwise, the books were all right. They were Star Wars novels. Not necessarily the kind I know and…well, “love” is a strong word, but certainly the type I got to know the Star Wars extended universe with. Let’s just say this isn’t taking the place of the now-regulated Legends cannon any time soon.
Movie Review: The TURNING
June 22, 2020
Movie Reviews Adaptation, Henry James, Horror, Period Piece, Psychological Horror, Remake, Supernatural, The Turning of the Screw Leave a comment
Universal Pictures
2020
PG-13
“I know what you’re afraid of. Keeping the lights on won’t keep you safe.”
- The Turning stars Finn Wolfhard (TV’s Stranger Things) and Mackenzie Davis (TV’s Black Mirror) in a thrilling adaptation of Henry James’ landmark novel. At a mysterious estate in the Maine countryside, a newly appointed nanny is charged with the care of two disturbed orphans. She quickly discovers that both the children and the house are harboring dark secrets and things may not e as they appear.
Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. I mean, with everything that has been going on compounding in this year 2020–the Beer Virus, job woes, the foot still healing up from the major surgery last year, my father having a heart attack, among other things–I just stopped writing for the good part of the last handful of months. I didn’t know when I would get back to doing so, and frankly didn’t care much. It was a lethargy that I hadn’t experienced since the 90s. Sure, I was still doing the podcasts, but even that wasn’t keeping up with all the movies I was taking in during this period. There needed to be something that would figuratively kick me in the butt, an impetus that would rekindle my passion to write down my unbridled thoughts on a movie. As it turns out, 2020’s The Turning was just the movie to do so.
The pun was unintentional, but pretty apt, I’d say.
The Turning is yet another adaptation of the classic Gothic novel The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. There have been others, but The Turning is the shiny new one, and that’s why everyone should care about it. Wait, no, sorry. My sarcasm seems to be seeping into this review a bit earlier than expected. Let’s see if I can get a handle on that. Now then, as I just mentioned, this is something of a new adaptation of the novel, and if you passed up the DVD back cover blurb I included up there, the movie concerns a nanny named Kate (Mackenzie Davis, doing her best bewildered Zooey Deschanel impression), who is put in charge of a couple of orphaned rich brats: there’s Flora (played by Brooklynn Prince), a rather bright and imaginative little girl with that prerequisite creepiness; and the older sibling Miles (Finn Wolfhard!), the very definition of enfant terrible, with a serious sociopath streak that only the rich tend to develop in these kind of movies. They’re both the wards of their long-time governess Mrs. Grose (Barbara Marten), one of those ultra-strict, underwear a bit too starched Victorian types, and not the fun kind.
I should point out that, not only is The Turning an adaptation of The Turning of the Screw, but it’s also a period piece, as it’s established early on that the year is 1994, by way of a television showing the news broadcast of Kurt Cobain’s body found of an apparent suicide. They never actually use music from that time period, mind you; they utilize songs from modern indie bands that approximate the sound of alternative music from 1994 for the soundtrack. Which…is not a gripe. Really, the music used here does well to set the dark mood the movie is going for. And really, “Getting 1994 Right” is not the priority.
What the movie does right is setting a strong Gothic atmosphere, with the settings and especially the mansion interiors. For the first half hour or so, this is what hooked me in. The movie seemed to be doing a good job at building the tension, leading up to…something. It soon became apparent, though, that this was all the movie was going to be: All build-up, no payoff. It was like, instead of adapting the novel, the writers adapted the Wikipedia synopsis. What made The Turn of the Screw a classic that has endured for over a century was the way it was a ghost story that wasn’t a ghost story: it deftly made the reader question whether the haunting was real, or the result of the protagonist’s decent into madness due to mental illness. Here, while it’s established early on that Kate’s mum is institutionalized (all she wanted was a Pepsi), lending the seed that Kate may be not all there in the head, the movie plays it more as a straight haunted house flick…until about ten minutes to the end of the movie, when one of the biggest insults to our collective intelligence happens, causing me to shout, “WAS THAT IT?!?” at my television when the end credits started rolling. I get the feeling that a lot of the movie that may have helped round things out was left on the cutting room floor. And no, I’m not going to buy the DVD to see if there are deleted scenes that do that.
Overall: While I was stoked for a new adaptation of a classic 19th Century Gothic psychological ghost story, The Turning just turned out to be a bunch of nothing. It’s not even a bad movie, just…nothing. A true waste of ninety minutes, with the only emotional response being disgust, like discovering the creme filling in an Oreo cookie was replaced with Miracle Whip. Pass.
Confessions Of A Christian Freak 