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Aftermath is an upcoming novel from Del Rey, as part of their adult fiction line. It is set soon after Return of the Jedi and is part of the "Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens" series to bridge the gap between the original trilogy and the sequel trilogy. Here is a plot summary we have for the novel, which is going to be released on September 4th.
Plot Summary said:The second Death Star is destroyed. The Emperor and his powerful enforcer, Darth Vader, are rumored to be dead. The Galactic Empire is in chaos. Across the galaxy, some systems celebrate, while in others Imperial factions tighten their grip. Optimism and fear reign side by side. And while the Rebel Alliance engages the fractured forces of the Empire, a lone Rebel scout uncovers a secret Imperial meeting...
Very vague, of course, and you can't put too much stock in marketing summaries, but there are a couple of things that I pull from that which I find interesting:
- The deaths of the Emperor and Vader are rumors. That plays into two interesting angles. One is that the Sith are still very much a whisper; the Emperor is rarely seen, and Vader is more like a shadow than a major public presence in the galaxy. Two is that the Empire, which may not even know what happened between the Emperor, Vader, and Luke on the Death Star, could be trying to cover up what happened. That's pretty plausible since the Emperor was rarely seen in public. They could try to go on claiming that the Emperor is still alive.
- Some systems are celebrating - Tatooine, Bespin, Naboo, and Coruscant, which we know from Return of the Jedi - but some are still being held under an iron grip. I've been hearing for awhile that J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan have sort of spun the ending of Return of the Jedi on its head, and that it's not as happy as it looks. That once the cameras stop rolling, bad things are still happening. This hints at that. I've had the idea for awhile, for example, that during the celebrations on Coruscant that we see at the end of Return of the Jedi, stormtroopers flood that plaza and start killing and arresting everyone. Dissent generaetd from the "rumored" death of the Emperor could be quickly silenced. I would enjoy that if it's true, because it's subversive.
- The Empire is fractured, but still around. That makes sense. The EU did this too, because the idea that the Empire fell at Endor is pretty nonsensical. The Emperor was just a figurehead anyway. Per Tarkin, he had transferred day to day management of the government to the Imperial Ruling Council, with Mas Amedda as his representative.
- Very curious to see what this secret Imperial meeting is. It's likely a hint at The Force Awakens somehow.