Scan barcode
A review by rikakohlrabi
Alphabet Squadron by Alexander Freed
4.0
This is, as of 2019, the best written novel of the new canon, in my opinion. I'd give it 4.5 stars if I could. But there is a high standard set from the old canon. These are incredibly reminiscent of the X-Wing series by Stackpole and Allston. Those novels were phenomenal tales and only further publications will tell if this series will hold up to its predecessor. But if I compare this entry against the entry of Stackpole's, it doesn't quite hit the bar.
That said, the author does a wonderful job of creating compelling characters, all of whom I found frustrating and unlikable but in a way that I am curious to see how they manage to succeed or fail and grow. A decent job was done of representing the lone character returning from other tales in the new canon.
The plot feels quite dialed back, and I wonder if smaller scale stories is what we should expect from Star Wars with Disney as they leave all the truly epic stories for the big screen. Or perhaps if I just need to be patient for Disney's creators to fill in all the space. Despite feeling like a cog in a much larger picture, the plot is still interesting enough to draw you through the book and leaves quite a bit of interest moving forward. But the drawback with the plot becomes how small scale the enemy feels. While appropriate for the task-force of the story's protagonists, the feeling that the much bigger picture outside of the story is way more interesting is the biggest negative compared to the far more epic enemy in Stackpole's arc of X-Wing Rogue Squadron. There are hardly any specific details of the goingson outside the scope of the book so we don't know whether or not this is a main front of the galactic conflict or something much smaller. There is a chance that feeling is deliberate, but with how minuscule the enemy turned out to be at the end of this novel, I have a hard time imagining them growing, even with the intriguing lead in to the next novel in the Alphabet series at the end of this book.
I'm more excited about the followup to this series than any other as of yet. I am certainly hopeful that this positive direction continues for the quality of the Star Wars license.
That said, the author does a wonderful job of creating compelling characters, all of whom I found frustrating and unlikable but in a way that I am curious to see how they manage to succeed or fail and grow. A decent job was done of representing the lone character returning from other tales in the new canon.
The plot feels quite dialed back, and I wonder if smaller scale stories is what we should expect from Star Wars with Disney as they leave all the truly epic stories for the big screen. Or perhaps if I just need to be patient for Disney's creators to fill in all the space. Despite feeling like a cog in a much larger picture, the plot is still interesting enough to draw you through the book and leaves quite a bit of interest moving forward. But the drawback with the plot becomes how small scale the enemy feels. While appropriate for the task-force of the story's protagonists, the feeling that the much bigger picture outside of the story is way more interesting is the biggest negative compared to the far more epic enemy in Stackpole's arc of X-Wing Rogue Squadron. There are hardly any specific details of the goingson outside the scope of the book so we don't know whether or not this is a main front of the galactic conflict or something much smaller. There is a chance that feeling is deliberate, but with how minuscule the enemy turned out to be at the end of this novel, I have a hard time imagining them growing, even with the intriguing lead in to the next novel in the Alphabet series at the end of this book.
I'm more excited about the followup to this series than any other as of yet. I am certainly hopeful that this positive direction continues for the quality of the Star Wars license.