7.5 ABY

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Solo Command is book seven of the X-wing series and third and last book dealing with Wraith Squadron. Part of Han Solo’s fleet group alongside several capital ships and Rogue Squadron, the Wraiths continue hunting Zsinj. The plan is to lure him and his mighty flagship Iron Fist somewhere the Super Star Destroyer can easily be destroyed. But assassination attempts by non-humans on Admiral Ackbar, Mon Mothma, Wedge Antilles and others fuel old distrusts throughout the ranks of New Republic military. Meanwhile, Lara Notsil’s cover becomes thinner as Myn Donos of all people declares romantic interest in his squad mate.

Solo Command is a usual X-wing book: fast paced, well-written action and a little dry humor. In this instance, some intriguing intelligence work adds to the book’s qualities. Typical weaknesses regarding characters are not as dominant in this book as in some of its prequels but still there. All in all, it is a decent final book for the Wraiths who enter stage again only during the New Jedi Order series.

7.5 ABY

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Iron Fist by Aaron Allston is volume six of the X-Wing series. After their ingenious coup in book five, the Wraiths have earned a reputation. So the shady squad is padded to full strength and sent on a similar, yet potentially more dangerous but also more worthwhile mission: Wraith Squadron is to pose as pirate gang in order to be employed by warlord Zsinj and then expose him to attacks by New Republic military.

Iron Fist is a fun, action packed read despite some sad episodes. Similar to the prequel, the mission itself gives plenty opportunity for curious twists and the less-than-correct attitude of Wraith Squadron makes for lots of inter-character humor. Introduction and development of the new guys is too hasty for my taste, but still acceptable for the format: there are many leaps in time that keep proceedings plausible but also skip exactly those vital integration episodes.

All in all, Iron Fist is a worthy X-Wing book and maybe even one of the better ones, given that there are losses and consequently sad moments.

7 ABY

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My other read-in-progress was too big for the plane, so I picked up book five of the X-Wing series, Wraith Squadron. After having been on covert operations repeatedly with the Rogues, Wedge Antilles realises that his pilots are rather unsuited for this kind of mission. Since he believes in the worth of sneaky precision as complement to open warfare, he wants to found a sneaky squadron. He collects the washouts of New Republic navy, people that have no future in regular fighter squadrons and have their main talents elsewhere. He ends up with a bunch of peculiar individuals, everything from slicer over actor to demolition expert. All can handle their fighter, though. Since all of them have problems with authority and themselves, there is plenty of room for conflict. After the newly formed squad accidentally takes over a gunship belonging to warlord Zsinj’s forces, it is ordered to operate the vessel as if it was still occupied by its original owners. This way, they infiltrate New Republic’s now most dangerous enemy for the purpose of data mining and demolition.

Wraith Squadron is a great idea and makes for quite Soloesque reading experience. The Rogues became old since Stackpole’s action focused writing style does not really support longer series. Allston sticks to this paradigm so we get a very entertaining novel. I wonder how Allston is able to keep characters interesting in the subsequent books, given that they are rather shallow. In any case, the squad’s creative problem solving and slow integration into a proper unit is fun to read. Sadly, the big final takes place in space; it might be nice to have a climatic ground or even spy battle for once in Star Wars. The ending is appropriate, without big surprises but with proper payment.