This is the second novel in the Aftermath trilogy, which are the first canon novels after Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm that started filling in the story between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. Like the first book, this one focuses mainly on the group of new characters led by Norra Wexley. She and her team, which includes Jom Barell, former Imperial loyalty officer Sinjir Rath Velus, her son Snap, and the bounty hunter Jas Emari, are trying to mop up the last vestiges of the Empire. But, this book does include some of the legacy characters, specifically Leia, Han, and Chewie, in a storyline that involves the liberation of the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk. Eventually, the two storylines merge, and we get some interaction between Han and Norra's team.
The one thing the book really still suffers from is excluding Luke. My guess is this was done so as to not give away, or inadvertently conflict with the storyline that would play out in the sequel trilogy. However, I think Wending could have and should have been allowed to include Luke in the continuing fight against the Empire without touching on his potential training of any new Jedi. Once Disney announced plans to make everything going forward canon, people wanted more stories involving the legacy characters, and I think putting the focus on them while incorporating new characters around them would have worked better for the first few new canon novels, especially since the first canon novel, A New Dawn was set before the events of A New Hope and did not include any of the legacy characters beyond mention of Vader and The Emperor. But, the storylines in this were good and flowed well. There was a lot of action that kept the story going and made it easy to stay engaged, which has not been the case with some of the newer canon novels. So, while I do not think this falls into the "must read" category, I think it is worth reading.
The one thing the book really still suffers from is excluding Luke. My guess is this was done so as to not give away, or inadvertently conflict with the storyline that would play out in the sequel trilogy. However, I think Wending could have and should have been allowed to include Luke in the continuing fight against the Empire without touching on his potential training of any new Jedi. Once Disney announced plans to make everything going forward canon, people wanted more stories involving the legacy characters, and I think putting the focus on them while incorporating new characters around them would have worked better for the first few new canon novels, especially since the first canon novel, A New Dawn was set before the events of A New Hope and did not include any of the legacy characters beyond mention of Vader and The Emperor. But, the storylines in this were good and flowed well. There was a lot of action that kept the story going and made it easy to stay engaged, which has not been the case with some of the newer canon novels. So, while I do not think this falls into the "must read" category, I think it is worth reading.
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