Aftermath

It's not easy to voice the Star Wars oeuvre--having to be human and alien and even machine. And then there's the time of transition that is the setting of this volume, set after the fall of the Death Star and Emperor Palpatine. Yet, with his ample bundle of dialects, accents, and pitches, narrator Marc Thompson comes through. Listeners can hear the clipped condescension of the Imperials, the plucky earnestness of the Rebels, and the flat-out strangeness of the many types of aliens. In addition, sound effects and snippets of John Williams's iconic music raise this cinematic production to another level. With many characters surviving here, Thomson's yeoman efforts lay down a solid foundation for the future books in this trilogy. D.E.M. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine