Galaxy's Edge

Remains: Galaxy's Edge Book 14

Remains is the most fun I’ve had with a Galaxy’s Edge book in a while. We get a whole book focused on the 131st Legion’s invasion of Kima, which means we get to see Cohen Chhun’s newly restored Legionnaires do what they do best: kill people and break stuff in spectacular fashion. And now there aren’t any points around to tell Chhun that he can’t order an orbital bombardment….

Remains: Galaxy’s Edge Book 14 by Jason Anspach and Nick Cole Galaxy’s Edge Press February 22, 2022 Cover art by Tommaso Renieri

Since this book is so focused in time and space, it feels a little more cohesive than some of the rest of Season Two. Anspach and Cole still use a wide variety of POV characters, but almost everyone is a Legionnaire fighting on Kima, and much of the book takes place over a period of time that isn’t much more than a day. That produced a narrative that felt tighter to me.

Legacies arguably could have been two or three novellas. Things were happening simultaneously, but widely separated in both space and plot. While it was all going to come together, it hadn’t yet, and so there was a mental shift needed each time the story jumped around. In Remains, when you jump from Bombassa and Kill Team Victory to the new characters in Zombie squad, they are often in combat in the same location, pursuing complementary objectives.

As much as I love the sprawling Galaxy’s Edge universe, this was a lot easier to follow. It is also a thrill to see the Legion restored to its full glory by General Cha-hoon. For most of the books in the series, starting with Legionnaire, we have seen a Legion crippled by political interference and starting to decay. Just as there is a lot of ruin in a nation, there is a lot of ruin in an elite fighting force as well. But by the end of Season One, the Legion was a shadow of its former self.

That the Legion is reborn at all is thanks to the efforts of Cohen Chhun. Whether it was his access to the Legion archives during his time as Legion Commander, or just some kind of intuition honed by his time as an operator, only Chhun saw the need to restore the Legion to the kind of thing that Tyrus Rechs created it to be. Which means that I’m going to propose something crazy: Cohen Chhun is the true successor to Tyrus Rechs.

Operation Neptune

By D-Day map, Southwick House.png: Hchc2009derivative work: Hogweard - D-Day map, Southwick House.png, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47935494

Hear me out. Cohen Chhun was the one who restored the Legion selection process to what it once was. Cohen Chhun was the one who made sure that the Legion was equipped with the weapons and armor that made it again the galaxy’s premier fighting force. Cohen Chhun was the one who led the invasion of Kima when the time came.

On the other hand, Aeson was the only man in the galaxy who could out-draw Tyrus. Aeson has Tyrus’ armor. And Tyrus’ ship the Battle Phoenix. It was also Aeson who put a bullet in Goth Sullus when the time came. I can see why lots of fans focus on Aeson, the flashy Son of Mary, as opposed to the solid and dependable but less exciting Cohen, a Son of Martha.

Cohen and Aeson

On the gripping hand, if you look closely you can see that Cohen and Aeson can do more together than they can apart. Sure, Aeson killed Goth Sullus when he was a conduit for all that is evil to enter the galaxy, but Cohen pored through the Legion archives and equipped the Legion with weapons and tactics to eliminate the Cybar. Real victory required both. And in this way, they are the true successors to Casper and Tyrus.

In the glimpses we see of the past, we can see that Casper and Tyrus were friends for a very long time, and all the things they did they did together. Tyrus was the hammer and Casper was the planner. Aeson and Cohen are like this too; the personalities are just mixed up different.

Tyrus and Casper were almost pure personality archetypes. As the fan favorite “Casper get the trigger nuke” meme illustrates, Tyrus never met a problem that he didn’t want to shoot, stab, or blow up. Aeson, while quite capable and willing to solve his problems with violence, can be far more reflective than Tyrus.

Casper, while subtle and far-seeing, could be wracked with self-doubt when it came time for action. Cohen, while also gifted in planning, is far more self-assured. The younger men just have more integrated personalities than their predecessors. But both of them are necessary for success.

So while it might seem that Remains is “just” a book about a battle, what goes on here is just as important to the overall story as any adventure that Aeson has. Without an organization to back him up, even the fastest gun in the galaxy will not be able to hold back what is coming.

I received a review copy from the authors. Remains is available in ebook form from Amazon and audiobook from Audible.

My other book reviews | Reading Log

Remains: Galaxy's Edge Book 14

Galaxy’s Edge season 1:

Galaxy’s Edge season 2:

Tyrus Rechs: Contracts & Terminations:

Takeover

Order of the Centurion

Savage Wars

Forget Nothing

Dark Operator

Forgotten Ruin

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