Star Wars: The Last Jedi - 10 Great (Canon) Books To Read While You Wait
4. Aftermath: Empire's End
Del Rey/Scott Biel
Another Chuck Wendig novel with a lot to boast, Aftermath: Empire's End (like the novel before it) is set in the months ensuing the destruction of the second Death Star and the subsequent collapse of the Empire. The book picks up where the sequel, Life Debt, left off, following the likes of Antilles, Velus and Jas Emari, as they navigate the new post-Imperial order of things in the galaxy.
As the concluding chapter to the Aftermath trilogy, Empire's End did a lot to tie-in to The Force Awakens, including showing the birth of Ben Solo, and even the commencement of the First Order trooper programme. On top of this, the book also expands upon the lore of Jakku, making the final battle in the Galactic Civil War sound all the more impressive and indeed, an element we're likely to see further expanded upon in Star Wars: Battlefront II.
There's a lot to love about Wendig's writing, and Empire's End is an obvious highpoint in the novels to have been released since Disney's acquisition of LucasFilm so far.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
