Wraith Squadron

Star Wars: X-Wing #5

by Aaron Allston, Anthony Heald

The exciting, "New York Times" bestselling "X-Wings" series concludes with this explosive tale of fighter pilots in the "Star Wars" universe. Complete with original music and sound effects.

Genres: Star Wars, Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Space Opera, Science Fiction Fantasy, Audiobook

Audio Cassette

First published February 1, 1998

About the author

Aaron Dale Allston was an American game designer and author of many science fiction books, notably Star Wars novels. His works as a game designer include game supplements for role-playing games, several of which served to establish the basis for products and subsequent development of TSR's Dungeons & Dragons game setting Mystara. His later works as a novelist include those of the X-Wing series: Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, Solo Command, Starfighters of Adumar, and Mercy Kill. He wrote two entries in the New Jedi Order series: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream and Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand. Allston wrote three of the nine Legacy of the Force novels: Betrayal, Exile, and Fury, and three of the nine Fate of the Jedi novels: Outcast, Backlash, and Conviction.

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The X-Wing series is among the most beloved facets of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, and books like this make it easy to see why. Full of everything you've come to expect from Lucas' space opera, this is how post-Return of the Jedi stories should be done, not like the mess that was The Last Jedi.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much better. A solid 4.

Better characterization, better conflict, better connection between reader and story than the original X-Wing books.

Given the constraints of fan fiction, Wraith Squadron would be a decent stand-alone space opera. Oh, there are the obligatory cameos by SW heavies and all the constraints of the SW universe, but that's why these books were written, not to please the greater universe of SF readers.

Good job.

(The low-tech nature of the SW universe bothers me. That an Imperial star destroyer would require a crew of 35,000 argues for non-automation/computer-aid on many functions. The other curious aspect of that universe is the apparent static state of its technology. Nothing seems to be developed or improved--despite the occasional comment about old-designs--over hundreds of years. Assumedly some of this orthodoxy is imposed to keep the stories consistent, but so much seems to be rooted in 1970s earth technology, which of course was the basis upon which Lucas wrote the original Star Wars.)

[Herdis Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stars

First of all, WOW, did this beat Stackpole's sorry excuse for writing down in the dust.

I am so relieved.

Not only has Allston written several more books in the X-Wing series, he has also written many of the other SW books. Now I can look forward to them with pleasure.

So, "Wraith Squadron" is definitely my favourite in the X-Wing series so far. It has an exciting, fast-paced plot, engaging and multi-faceted characters with believable backstories and emotional responses (take notes, Stackpole), dialogue the likes of which actual human beings might engage in, often interspersed with humorous banter that feels natural and spontaneous rather than painfully contrived (take more notes, Stackpole), aliens that have more than one body part that can react to situations (keep the notepad up, Michael "brain tails" Stackpole), and the writing itself flows smoothly (... alright, the joke has run its course, but you get the point, Stackpole).

I have two main issues that take this down from four to three stars. First of all, the justification for the creation of Wraith Squadron, is a bit weak. I would have liked Allston to spend more time on this, to make it more believable. As it is, it reads like a hastily contrived plot tool to get him where he needs to go. That being said, you forgive him pretty quickly, because the group of characters he puts together for Wraith Squadron is varied and interesting.

My second point, however, pertains to the females, and this seems to be a shared problem for this entire series. I swear, not one single female character (except for the Mon Calamari crew mate) is introduced without being described as beautiful, whereas the men come in all kinds of shapes and sizes and degrees of attractiveness. As a female reader, this irks me. It seems unlikely that flight/commando skills and attractiveness need to be part of the same bargain. However, unlike Stackpole, Allston doesn't focus too much on the beauty of the female characters once said beauty has been established, and their worth isn't as centered around whether the male characters want to have sex with them or not. This makes it a little less irritating, but still, try to change it up a little, OK? Male SW authors? Women come in different shapes and sizes. Just fyi.

Anyway, I still really liked this. The plot is engaging, and the fight scenes aren't too contrived or filled with technical jargon, so they're essentially pretty readable, as well as extremely exciting. I actually felt my pulse heighten during some parts. Additionally, in this book, when characters die, it is actually sad. All the characters are fleshed out enough that you actually really care about them. You really feel it when a character is in a dangerous situation, and the descriptions are never too clinical to get your emotional responses going.

So I'm actually really looking forward to reading the next installment. Way to go, Allston!

[Eric Allen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've put off reading this book for about 18 years now. And with there being a notable lack of Star Wars novels coming out since Disney took over and said none of that ever happened, I figured I'd go back and try to finish the X-wing series.

I really liked the first four books by Michael A. Stackpole. Mostly because I was already a fan of Stackpole's other non-Star Wars books at the time, and because the idea of the X-wing series intrigued me. Star Wars books, in the Star Wars universe, but NOT about the Star Wars characters. It was a great series. Stackpole is a great writer, and he had some very good ideas for the X-wing series. It turned out pretty well. All new characters that were great, all new villains that were great, side characters from the movies returning in leading roles. And then the series ended. It was a pretty great ending. I really liked it. And I wasn't the only one. The X-wing series sold a ridiculous number of books. Fans of the Star Wars Expanded Universe looking for something fresh and new in the series they loved ate it up. So, with the story told, and the creator of the series moving on to other things, they decided to keep going for another five books with another author. Aaron Allston who is like the Stephenie Meyer of the Star Wars authors, took over and said, hey, you like all those new characters in the X-wing series? Yeah, sorry, they're gone, and I'm going to replace them all with stereotypes and jokes... bad jokes... jokes that will make your soul hurt. Seriously, replacing Michael A. Stackpole with Aaron Allston is like replacing Harrison Ford with Ben Afleck... oh... right... that happened... uh, it's like replacing Harrison Ford with Chris Pine... oh... right... that happened too... Fuck Hollywood!

Anyway, back in the day, I read about 3 chapters of this book and was like, yeah, no, you're tossing out everything I liked about the first four books, namely the new characters and villains, and replacing them with characters I don't really like, and vague villains that are just sort of mentioned, but never really seen to be doing anything villainous. Plus, like I said. Aaron Allston is like the Stephenie Meyer of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. He's an absolutely terrible writer. Hhis books are amongst the worst of the SWEU. He technobables more than an episode of Star Trek Voyager, knows nothing about characterization, and he thinks that the definition of humor is having his cardboard cutouts of characters repeating lines from the movies completely out of context.

Anyway, I figured I bought the book, it's been sitting on my shelf for 18 years, I don't have any other Star Wars Books left to read, eh, I might as well. I'm not really reading it because I'm interested in what it's about. I'm more reading it in the same way someone would watch M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening. If you haven't seen it, please do. That movie is one of the greatest unintentional comedies ever made. It's freaking hilarious.

Anyway, I'm about 25% through, and so far this book is like a herald of all the bland mediocrity, terrible writing, lack of characterization, technobabble, and just plain dumb, boring or lacking plotlines that was to come with the formation of Lucasbooks a year after its release.

50% through... oh my god... this book is actually WORSE than I remember it being. Back when it came out, I was not the crotchety asshole about writing and storytelling I am today, and even my younger, stupider self was smart enough to stop reading this crap after a few chapters. This is really slow going. There is not a single character in this book. Like not one. There is no one with a personality. No one. The "characters" in this book barely even qualify as stage props used by the author to move events along. You notice I didn't say "move the STORY along" there. Well, that would be because there is no story. Things happen, usually because reasons, but there's nothing really stringing them together into a coherent narrative. There's no driving force behind them. THERE'S NO REASON FOR ANY OF THIS TO BE HAPPENING EXCEPT TO CON A FEW MORE BUCKS OUT OF LOYAL FANS OF THE FIRST FOUR BOOKS. It's almost as if the author made it up as he went along. This is not the fun space adventures of the first four books, that knew when to be light-hearted, when to be serious, when and how to develop characters, and how to tell a cohesive narrative with it all. No wonder I never finished this book. It's absolute garbage. I always feel bad thrashing a book by an author who has recently passed away, but good GOD. I've read more interesting college textbooks! This task I've set myself, finishing this book that I bought but never read, has really just reaffirmed why I've never liked Aaron Allston's books. He's absolutely terrible at telling a story, creating interesting and sympathetic characters, and generally doing ANYTHING to keep the interest of the readers. This book is a perfect example of how corporate greed can absolutely ruin a good thing. It's proof that the series should have ended at book four.

When reading books that I, personally, don't enjoy all that much, I can usually see in it what other people may find enjoyable, even if I don't really care for it. The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss, for instance. I find it to be one of the most pretentious, arrogant pieces of garbage I've ever had the displeasure to read. But I understand why so many people enjoy it. I can see in it all of the things that people point out as good, and I can say to myself, well yeah, that makes sense. I can see why someone would like this book because of that. I can't see anything in this book that justifies the 4 star rating it has here on Goodreads, and the hundreds of positive reviews from people who can't give it enough praise. I honestly cannot understand why anyone would find this book, in any way, to be good, enjoyable, or entertaining in the slightest bit.

70% done... I can't do it. I keep trying to force myself to finish this book, but it's so unappealing in every single way that I can't bring myself to continue. I actually started reading Rogue Squadron, book 1 of the x-wing series instead before I realized what I was doing. Yeah, in one chapter, Michael A. Stackpole did what Aaron Allston could not in 300 pages. He made me give a crap about the characters and what was happening to them. He made me feel dramatic tension, and as if something was at stake. He gave me a likeable and sympathetic character with goals, dreams, and difficulties to overcome. The contrast is so great that I can clearly see why I read a few chapters of this book when it came out then set it on my self and forgot about it for twenty years. Because Wraith Squadron is absolute garbage compared to the four books that came before it.

I sometimes look on the Star Wars Expanded Universe post New Jedi Order and think to myself, where did it all go wrong. Well, my friends, I think it went wrong when Lucasbooks trusted Aaron Allston with so much of it. It descended into bland mediocrity, and bland mediocrity is Aaron' Allston's specialty. He wrote six of the volumes between Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi if I remember correctly, and played a large part in series planning for both series. Every single Star Wars book I have read from him has been absolute crap. So is it any wonder that there was a steep decline in quality when he became one of those responsible for shaping the future of the series? I've not read any of his non-Star Wars books, but frankly, I don't think I want to. I really don't care to see the new heights of ineptitude he might soar to when he doesn't have the backbone of an established series and characters to fall back upon.

So yeah. I'm done. I think I'll take this one my local second hand bookstore, because I sure as hell am never picking it up again.

[CS · Rating 4 out of 5]

The squadron of misfit pilots
Wedge Antilles has a new idea: take all the pilots that are a hair's breadth away from being kicked out of the Alliance and regroup the best and most talented into a commando-type squadron. Thus is born Wraith Squadron, with newcomers Kell, Tyria, and "Piggy".
NOTE: Based on audiobook and novel.

I Liked:
It would be all too easy to stick in a rut, keep having Rogue Squadron do the same 'ol. But Aaron Allston (understandably) wants to branch out, explore something new. So he has Wedge and Wes Jansen (another SW minor character alumni) start up what will be Wraith Squadron. The concept is interesting, and the characters are pretty different from the pilots in Rogue Squadron.
Probably my favorite character is "Face" Lorn. He is amusing, I love how he was a child star, and yet at the same time, conflicted. Donos is also another interesting character, a man who was the only survivor of his squadron. His breakdown felt very realistic.
While Rogue got to tear down Coruscant and Isard, Wraith gets to attack Zsinj. It's a fairly interesting story. My favorite part, though, was when the Wraiths went undercover to penetrate the planet. That was amusing!
Speaking of amusing, I think there is far more humor in Allston's X-Wing books than in Stackpole's (and far less "hammy" writing).

I Didn't Like:
Some of the characters never really connected to me. Kell felt like a weak Luke/Corran/fill*in*the*blank pilot. Tyria is yet another Force-Sensitive pilot. When one character (who didn't make the cut) was said to be from Tatooine, I groaned. For being such an out-of-the-way world, it sure does have a lot of people to send Core-ward.
Another thing that plagued the book was the fact it was another "first" novel. We have to be introduced to all the characters, all the scenarios, all the training we've already done before.
Lastly, I found myself struggling to figure out where the story was going. I don't know if that's because I listened on audiobook, but I kept hearing all these battles and wondering where the story was going, what was the whole point.

Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:
Da** & he** creep in.
A few of the pilots couple up.
Space battles, of course, dogfights, and the like. Typical Star Wars affair.

Overall:
Allston does a decent job pulling off a new Squadron and continuing the series. And since it's a first book, setting up the characters, I expect subsequent books to be stronger. Ultimately, it was enjoyable, the characters were, for the most part, different, and the missions were unique. A worthwhile read.

[Linfer · Rating 5 out of 5]

After I read this book I had to go back and change my rating of Stackpole's books. Because this new arc showed me exactly what I hadn't liked about the Rogue Squadron characterwise but had in a way dismissed, because the story was so good.
Granted, it was much more difficult to really get into X Wing #1, because the team already existed, but I was always at least slightly annoyed, because there wasn't much team so to speak of.
Interestingly this team spirit was very well captured in the comics done by the same author which also interestingly didn't feature Corran as a Rogue. I like him, but Wraith Squadron managed to be more team in less time than Rogue Squadron ever did (in the novels), because even a big POV like Kell didn't draw too much attention away from the fact that it's about a team, not some lone player.
And I don't even mind that Tycho is barely in this, because all the characters were instant likeable and interesting. I love how they slowly became first comrades and later friends, the way they solved their problems and most of all the humour. Oh boy, there were so many times were I had to stop reading because I had to laugh to much. Allston created some awesome punchlines.

I think the only thing I hate is that Grinder died right after the hilarious revenge acted out by the rest of the team. Because he was kind of the only character a bit detachted from the team and after that it really was different.
Plus it's cliché that Falynn died, because she couldn't bear not being Numer One in anything. At least her death had a meaning and made the difference, so I hate mostly that she died, because it took away a really cool character and some big future potential.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Twice upon a time, I tore through the first four X-Wing books and picked up the fifth with complete faith and trust that it would continue in the same pattern of awesome. Twice upon a time, I put Wraith Squadron down with a heavy sigh after the first half dozen chapters.

Once, in 1999, I was too bored to ever continue and it sat on my "unfinished" shelf for over a dozen years. The second time was this year, and if it hadn't been for my alphabetical challenge (this was the book for X), my commitment to review it, and my desire to get to the Stackpole book I've never read, it would have gone right back on the unfinished list as a permanent resident. I actually am sorry I didn't like it, since Allston died back in February and I've kind of used his death as a rallying point for realcanon (the man dies and suddenly his books get thrown out the window?).

But it was not a good book. It was about 150 pages too long, and it was also abundantly clear that the author made video games for a living, with page after page of clunky space battles that felt like reading the player's guide to Flight Space Fighter Sim 3000xe IV: More Splodey.

Here's something Aaron Allston really, really wants you to understand as you read this book: it is NOT Rogue Squadron. Okay, it's called Something Squadron and it's about Wedge putting together an eccentric group of pilots to the chagrin of a disgruntled admiralty. BUT there are two quirky nonhumans instead of one. And his second isn't under suspicion from the New Republic; one of their pilots wants to kill him. Oh, and the guy who TOTALLY isn't Corran because he's not even Corellian, see, he gets with his chick in the first book, which is different. And the chick who makes him analyze his feelings and stuff isn't Mirax and there isn't a triangle, so, it's different. So, just to be clear, this is totally not a slower-paced, more boring version of Rogue Squadron. And Allston made me aware of this on every page he possibly could.

I did like the plot. It's too bad the plot couldn't hang out for more of the book, because I really liked what it had to offer: the re-form of Rogue Squadron is so successful that they've lost their effectiveness in the covert ops department. Wedge decides to take some commandos who also happen to be pilots and make an undercover team, the dagger in the boot to compliment Rogue Squadron's more direct sword. Janson, Wedge's gunner from the Battle of Hoth, reappears as the second in command, which I was very excited about, and I was also extremely hopeful about finally getting to see Warlord Zsinj after hearing his name so much. I even appreciated the hints about The Courtship of Princess Leia, because I love it when the books reference each other to tighten up their connections.

Unfortunately, the plot had to duck out early because it had a thing at a place, and the 403-page book tried to make up for its absence with lots of explosions, relationship stuff, and, um, paragraphs. For awhile, I thought the relationship stuff might get some positive points, because the girl shuts him down for not actually loving her but only wanting to be in love with someone like her; however, predictably, she gives her personality the boot and decides to suck face with him in the concluding chapters.

More embarrassing than his treatment of people with ovaries were Allston's racial stereotypes. Wedge and two of the pilots literally go undercover as Mexican desperadoes with ponchos, sombreros, and terrible haircuts/mustaches. And let me just say now that if a racial stereotype is so overt that I notice it, it is bad, because 9 times out of 10, that kind of thing sails straight over my head. And, because I'm an equal opportunity equal opportunist, I also got extremely upset over his treatment of nonhumans. Aaron Allston was completely oblivious to the fact that Gamorrean are not literal pigs and gives us a character like Rocket the Raccoon -- not only is he called Piggy (something I cringed every time I read it -- how does this galaxy even have pigs? -- how is it ever okay to call someone Piggy unless her first name is Miss and she has golden curls and is voiced by Frank Oz?), but he also had to be totally genetically modified and crammed with cybernetic hardware in order to function as not a brainless animal. I thought it was sick.

And finally, far more distressing than his treatment of females and nonhumans, the much-touted "humor" that was the first thing out of everyone's mouth the moment I mention Wraith Squadron. Here's the thing: I have laughed out loud often throughout every one of Michael A. Stackpole's books. He's wry and clever and can suggest humor with the twitch of a character's eyebrow, an unexpected meeting, or the consequence of a character's action. Humor in this book was more like getting aggressively beaten with a Three Stooges Box set. He might as well have written in the pratfalls. A laugh track would have been more subtle. There were only three jokes, which were repeated an average of, oh, well, every 10 or 15 pages for a total of some 30 times. They weren't funny the first time, and by the 20th, I was wanting to beat my head on the desk just to feel better.

I was so weary by the time I finished this book. But I did try. Realcanon, obviously, but far from readable. Yub, yub, or whatever.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was wondering where the series was headed after the last book. "The Bacta War" was a satisfying end to the Rogue Squadron's saga and so when the next novel started, under the direction of new writer Aaron Allston, what stories could be mined from Wedge Antilles and his X-wing fighters? It turns out that Allston knew that continuing with the members of Rogue Squadron as the principle protagonists wasn't going to cut it if he was going to make his own mark on the series and instead opted to create a new group of rag-tags to exploit. This new group, code-named Wraith Squadron, is essentially the Dirty Dozen or the Inglourious Basterds of the Rebel Alliance. Cultivated from the washouts and lost causes of other units, Wedge Antilles puts together a team of commandos to fly X-Wings, turning Rogue Squadron's initiative of pilots who do commando work on its ear.

The action picks up not long after the last book ended, with the primary focus of the New Republic fleet being the destruction of Warlord Zsinj, a portly renegade admiral who has slowly been consolidating his power away from the control of the now defeated Ysanne Isard. The novel moves at a brisk pace beginning with the formation of the squadron and along its missions where they end up in control of an Imperial ship and pose as its crew to get close to their enemy. The novel is thoroughly entertaining in its progression because of the sort of pilots who make up the group. The most interesting characters are the ones that are flawed and here everyone is vying for the title of most dysfunctional with only Wedge and his second in command Wes Janson truly having their game together, which makes for some interesting scenarios when the group has to work together to accomplish their goals.

I have to admit that while it was a really good novel, it took a while to get acclimated to the new cast of characters, because the flaws that are designed to make them interesting at times makes them come off as unlikeable. Kell Tainor, for example, is stepping up to take the place of Corran Horn who was the lead protagonist in the previous four novels. Much like Corran he has some issues with his father's death, but Corran didn't come off as emotionally crippled as Kell does. Corran had a tangible ability for revenge for what happened to his father whereas Tainor refuses to understand the circumstances that led to his father's death and it takes a while to take him seriously as a character and not an archetype.

Overall, it's an enjoyable read that does well to get it's major flaws resolved by the end of the book so that they don't take up any time in the following installments. Or at least I hope that's the case.

[Darth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nie sądziłam, że aż tak przywiążę się do Eskadry Widmo w ciągu jednej książki. Kiedy czujesz smutek po śmierci bohatera, którego znasz od ledwie 200 stron, a nie jest głównym bohaterem, to znaczy że postacie są bardzo dobrze napisane.
Uwielbiam ten ironiczny humor i przyjacielskie docinki wśród pilotów. Oni wszyscy są nieźle szurnięci 😆
A każde cameo admirała Ackbara wywoływało na mojej twarzy uśmiech. Ikona 🤩

[Declan O'Keeffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

While definitely and obviously a better written book than the Rogue Squadron books IMO, and I cared a bit more about the characters and plot, there were still a lot of characters to remember, I'm still not overly interested in the pilot stories.

It was definitely a better and more enjoyable book overall. but I still just want to get passed this trilogy and onto later books.

[Adam Kiewel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book. It had just about everything you could ask for. Dramatic emotional moments, lots of humor, great characters introduced and developed, it's clever, it's fun, and it has real stakes. It's actually impressive to start a whole squad like this from scratch and still make the book and characters so memorable and enjoyable with one single edition.

[Tom Ferratt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wraith Squadron - the Rogues have serious competition!
I was prepared to not like this book. In fact, I put off reading it for 15 years or so. I tore through the first four titles in the X-Wing series of novels when they came out, loving every page Wedge Antilles and Coran Horn remain two of my favorite characters in the Star Wars EU. When I saw that book 5 was NOT actually about Rogue Squadron, I felt a bit betrayed. Stackpole wasn't writing this one and it wasn't even about my Rogues? Why bother? Well, this summer I decided enough was enough and I finally buckled down to read the tale of these so-called Wraiths. I was not prepared for the joy I would find in this book. First of all, Wedge Antilles hasn't gone anywhere. I wished that I'd known sooner that Wedge was the one at the helm of Wraith Squadron - it certainly wouldn't have taken 15 years to read this. With Wes Janson at his side, Wedge builds a team of screw-ups that is as potent a weapon as it is comical. This book closely follows the exploits of the Wraiths as they bond into a new squadron facing adversity, with the space battle action I've come to expect from the X-Wing series. However, this story becomes a tale of espionage, action, humor, and intrigue. I couldn't wait to see what mission they would take on next and how they could possibly pull it off. The pranks and the humor that brings this team together, along with the story crafted by Aaron Allston, makes this a must-read. It was also great to finally get the gaps filled in about Warlord Zsinj's campaign against the fledgling New Republic. In summary, this book is more than a worthy successor to the story of the Rogues in the earlier books of this series. Give it a read. It will NOT disappoint.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Wedge, he hates me. He makes bombs."

This was the first Star Wars novel I ran across. It was a startling idea, the theory that people had extended the universe past the films.

After the events of the first four X-Wing books, Commander Wedge Antilles had what seemed- at the time- like a stunning idea. Building a squadron of fighter pilots with intrusion, sabotage and commando experience. Using pilots who had guessed wrong once too often, hard-luck cases, or those afflicted by chronic backtalk, had seemed an efficient way to draft experienced personnel.

What Commander Antilles got, of course, was a rough dozen basket-cases whose general approach eventually became described in the aphorism "Pretty. What do we blow up first?"

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yup, I read this series, too. I pick this one to review because I think Aaron Allston's part of the series was clearly the best part. Allston is a /funny/ writer. I mean, in a giggly juvenile kind of way, but who doesn't love that? It's done quite cleverly. He manages to introduce some good slapstick comedy into the books and spoof on things a little. I mean, it's still a serious storyline (sort of) for the most part, but he has so much fun with it. Plus it's an interesting plotline that's being developed over this series. Pretty good villains. The ones before this that Michael Stackpole wrote are good too. But they take themselves waaaaaay too seriously. Aaron Allston has all the fun. :)

[Joshua Bishop · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked Michael Stackpoles Rogue Squadron series but Aaron Allston breathes new life into the series and the character of Wedge Antilles with Wraith Squadron.

There was plenty of dogfighting flight-based action and espionage but I think the real defining style of this book is the stronger introduction of humor to the legends universe than a lot of other novelists try to go into (or at least more successfully). By no means is this book a joke, but the levity breaks up a lot of the stress and seriousness of a war-time novel.

The new characters of Kell, Face, Ton, Tyria, and Piggy add a lot of excitement and intrigue while further fleshing out characters like Wedge and Janson add some needed depth. All in all, this was a great read - Yub Yub Commander.

[Cal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I understand the hype! This book was great, got me playing Squadrons on Xbox. Excited for what’s to come!

[Jared · Rating 4 out of 5]

Star Wars Legends Project #328

Background: Wraith Squadron was written by Aaron Allston and published in February of 1998. It is the fifth of the X-Wing series of novels, and the first after Allston took the series over from Michael Stackpole. This was Allston's first Star Wars novel, but he went on to write a dozen more.

Wraith Squadron takes place three years after the Battle of Endor (7 years after the battle of Yavin), and begins very shortly after The Bacta War (my review). The main characters are Wedge, Wes Janson, and the pilots of the newly-formed Wraith Squadron, including Kell Tainer, Garik Loran, Myn Donos, and Voort saBinring. There are major appearances by Admiral Ackbar and Warlord Zsinj. The story takes place across a large region of space, most notably at Folor, Talasea, and Ession.

Summary: Returning from the liberation of Thyferra and flush with success, Wedge Antilles presents Admiral Ackbar with a plan for a brand-new squadron. Where the Rogues are ace pilots who were often called upon to undertake commando missions, Wedge envisions building a unit of crack commandos who can also participate in starfighter combat. Ackbar agrees, under the condition that, if Wedge's plan fails, he has to accept the promotion to General that he's been turning down for years. When an intact enemy ship drops into the new squadrons' laps, they have an unprecedented opportunity to infiltrate Warlord Zsinj's forces and turn the tables on him. The Wraiths are on a path to succeed beyond Wedge's wildest dreams, or flame out just as spectacularly.

Review: The first time I read this series, this was one of my least favorite books. This fact totally baffles me now. Aaron Allston has become one of my favorite Star Wars authors. His grasp of the universe is fantastic, his character development is great, his attention to detail is nearly unmatched, and his books consistently have the best humor of any Star Wars novels. I have to assume that, the first time I read these books, I wasn't ready to say goodbye to the Rogues and try to get to know an entirely new slate of characters. Also this is, I believe, by far the longest of the X-Wing novels (certainly up to this point), and that probably didn't do it any favors when I was already grumpy about the new characters.

I can see why I might have thought it was bloated and overlong, and not eventful enough after the explosive plotting and action of the previous two books, but that's not how it read to me at all this time. Allston does an amazing job writing an entirely different kind of book from what came before, while still feeling totally of a piece with the rest of the series. His new characters are compelling and likable, with believable flaws to overcome. And just because Allston spends critical time developing them and their arcs, that doesn't mean they can't die suddenly and unexpectedly in battle.

It's ironic, too, that even though the concept of this novel is to lean into the kinds of missions that so often kept Rogue Squadron grounded, the Wraiths spend more time battling in space than I think we see in any two of the Rogue Squadron novels combined. This also feels like a much more well-rounded ensemble of characters than The Corran Horn Show of the previous novels (don't get me wrong, he's a great character, but he takes up all the oxygen). This is, dare I say it, a more successful X-Wing series introductory novel than Rogue Squadron was.

So much happens in this novel, but the extended length really gives everything room to unfold without feeling rushed. We meet a lot of new characters, but we feel like we know them really well by the end (the survivors, anyway). I love the way their specialties get woven into the plot in unexpected ways, like Loran's acting background coming into play when he uses Star Wars deepfake technology to impersonate a dead Imperial captain to the captain's superiors. I love how the characters play pranks on each other, but are also there to help each other deal with their traumas, and to cover for each other. I like that they're mostly pilots who are one wrong move away from washing out of the New Republic military entirely. It really doubles the stakes of their missions and their personal crises.

Overall, this is a solid and very enjoyable read, and I look forward to reassessing its sequel.

A-

[Eric Fritz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a lot of fun and has some great action scenes and big plot points, but it's hard to read it without comparing it to the other X-Wing books. Characters like Wedge suddenly have different personalities, and I really miss Corran Horn as a protagonist, even if he's a bit of a Mary Sue. I kept going back and forth between "liked it" and "really liked it" and I think in the end it wins me over with real stakes and a lot of fun moments.

[TheGeeksAttic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Star Wars: Wraith Squadron, book five in the X-Wing Series, was written by Bestselling Author, Aaron Allston. This Expanded Universe tale takes place during the New Republic Era, seven ABY (7 years after the battle of Yavin).

SUMMARY
Wedge Antilles builds a new squadron! He wants it to mirror Rogue Squadron, which is both fighter unit and commando unit. Rogue is pilot first, commando second. He wants the new one - Wraith Squadron to be commando first, pilot second.

The Wraiths commandeer an Imperial ship, it's mission logs, code, and mapping are all intact and available. They will use this equipment to pose as Imperials, following through on missions that are logged on the schedule as not to arouse suspicion. This will be the perfect opportunity for the New Republic to gather intel on the whereabouts of Warlord Zsinj. If all goes to plan, Wraith Squadron would be able strike Zsinj when he least expects it.

While the first four books of the X-Wing series focused on Rogue Squadron, there is a massive shift in the series. This story if full of new characters, though some do make an appearance, Wraith is now the primary focus of the X-Wing series.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
I enjoyed this story a bit better than the previous X-Wing books, though it is a tad slow. The development of the new Wraith Squadron, the mission they go one, and the interaction between the characters was written pretty well. Yet, I am a bit irritated that we didn't truly get what we were teased; Wraith Squadron being designed as commandoes first, fighter pilots second. We really didn't get an action packed commando story.

The first four X-Wing books written by Stackpole had a lot of characters to keep up with. That doesn't change with Allston's first book in the series. It's easy to lose track of who the characters are sometimes. This book has a few characters that I found to be much more memorable than those in the first book. The few that stand out to me to be the most unique, are Piggy (a Gamorean that has a vocal translator to speak basic. He was a subject in one of the strange experiments under the rule of the Empire. ) and Donos (human male). Wedge Antilles shines in this tale as squad leader as well, we get a good sense of the burden he carries, the responsibility he has in the New Republic.

It may be sad to say but it's honest, I'm so glad Corran Horn was absent in this story. Aaron Allston did a fine job mixing up the X-Wing series with the introduction of Wraith Squadron and the cast of characters. The plot was straight forward, introducing risky tactics that proved to be beneficial to the New Republic. This story also retcons some events from the previous story; the resignation of Rogue Squadron members was "misfiled" therefore they were still operating as the Republic. A temporary Rogue Squadron took their title so it wouldn't draw so much attention.

Do I recommend that you read this tale? Yes. I found this installment to be far more entertaining that than the first book in the series, witch a better cast of characters than the first four books all together.

RATING
I give Star Wars: X-Wing: Wraith Squadron a B+.

[Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wraith squadron is one of the worst Star Wars books in the series. Allston is one of the least original authors currently writing books. It is a shame he is still writing star wars books.

A good author tries to continue a series, adding to the overall narrative. Allston tries to rework the series to be his own.

A lot of his characters and stories are flimsy reworkings of characters from tv shows or movies. A particularly obvious example that I like is his latest books and the almost scenario to scenario similarities to Doctor Who episodes.

I still read his books but I consider them at the same level as good fan fiction and not part of the official Star Wars cannon.

This author is what killed my obsession with Star Wars. I used to buy anything and everything Star Wars. I had a collection of over 45 thousand pieces. Now I maybe have 100 pieces left, and no longer buy things.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

After being disappointed by the story in both the first Alphabet Squadron novel and the Squadrons campaign, I was curious to go back and compare them to how Legends handled this topic. Having read I, Jedi recently I was wary of Stackpole's Rogue Squadron novels. Trying the comics (which he also wrote) quickly emphasized that was a good decision. Just an atrocious writer. Anyway, that left Wraith Squadron as the only reasonable place to start. I read these books (and Stackpole's) as a very young boy, probably not as soon as they came out but within a few years at least. I have a very dim memory of them from that time and certainly no reliable sense of what they'd be like to read now.

It turns out that while Allston is much-praised and these books are very fondly remembered, this first one at least is barely a novel and I'd say probably stakes out the lowest rung of quality a Star Wars story can hit without becoming unenjoyable (not to say unreadable; I've finished many SW books that were in fact unenjoyable). It really does read more like a screenplay, or a summary of game scenarios (both X-Wing and tabletop roleplaying), than a novel. There's a dozen characters with shallow to non-existent internal monologue; scenes are often extremely short, lacking context and ending abruptly; most of the book takes place is bracketed within the assumption that stakes, motivations, and politics are well known to the reader and no longer interesting material to explore; the settings are borderline irrelevant, etc. It's outclassed by many other SW novels and comics.

Aside from all that, it's decent. The fact that it does almost none of the things I find actively annoying in so many other SW books counts for a lot on its own. The stakes are modest and entirely character-based. The scope is reasonable. There are no ridiculous gimmicks, no superweapons or other indulgent genre plot cliches, no egregious references to the OT or obsessive focus on fan-favorite characters. It's just the stuff I want it to be. It may not give much emotional development via internal monologue, but there are some decent character dynamics and even something you might call an arc. Donos and Tainer both have stories that touch on some reasonably dark stuff for the Rebellion. The action scenes aren't spectacular but they're creative enough. The political dynamics of Trigit and Zsinj and Darillian aren't mined very deeply, but they're there. There's squad bonding and droids and post-Endor Imperial infighting and transitions from rebellion to government in the New Republic and while I wouldn't say there's a lot of any of those things, that is pretty much what I set out to find. I'm not blown away by any stretch and I certainly wouldn't recommend it to someone who isn't experiencing this precise itch at the moment they read it, but it's fine.

[Iantony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of all books in the X-Wing series, this one is my favorite. 4.5 to 5 Stars from me! Coming from a continuity that nowadays categorized as non-canon (Star Wars Legends), the story of this book is good and decent enough to have a stand-alone movie like Rogue One : The Star Wars Story in my opinion.

Wraith Squadron told you the exploits of a squadron of misfits among the Rebel Alliance. Wedge Antilles of Rogue Squadron got a brilliant idea of gathering troublesome misfits into one suicide squad style squadron, thus the infamous Wraith Squadron was born!

Overall I like the writing style of Aaron Allston, in this book he succeeded in giving both the Rogue Squadron and the Wraith Squadron branching story line, each squadrons got their own missions and targets. How Allston characterized the Wraith Squadron is also really good. As fellow X-Wing series readers know, Rogue Squadron is one of if not the best starfighter squadrons among the Rebel Alliance but the members are professional soldiers. This Wraith Squadron, you would know that they're troublemakers with some serious skills. The characterization of some characters did feel a little weak, but it's a whole new squadron with their own unique mission, great addition for the X-Wing series!

I'd recommend this not only for Star Wars fanboys/girls but also for sci-fi readers in general.

[Sammy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not terrible, but it's far from the best Star Wars book out there. For starters, its distinct lack of Boba Fett is a mark against it. I mean really... You have a universe that includes the most badass bounty hunter ever, and you don't even mention him? Fail.

In all seriousness, and my personal Fettish aside, there's some pretty good and well-loved characters present here (Wedge Antilles and admiral Akbar spring to mind), and though the new characters are all a bit cardboard-cutoutish, they don't stand in the way of some rollicking good space battles.

There are worse things you could consider reading for Star Wars day in a couple of weeks, though I'm personally leaning towards reading Bloodlines... ;)

[Griffin Honeycutt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought Stackpole’s X-Wing books were good, but Aaron Allston’s very first one blows them all out of them out of the water. You definitely don’t have to read those books before this one, though I would recommend it. I loved everything about this book. I didn’t think I would enjoy having to get to know a new squadron, but you instantly fall in love with these characters. They’re very different from Rogue Squadron, and surprisingly well fleshed-out too. The space battles are much easier to understand. The humor is absolutely on point, this is one of the funniest books I’ve ever read. One of my absolute favorite part was the creative and unorthodox tactics the Wraiths were constantly using. It’s so good. A Gamorrean flies an X-Wing. If that doesn’t sell you on it I don’t know what will. Yub, yub, Commander.

[Dalton Sherrod · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly a joyride from start to finish. In this book, Michael Stackpole’s elite Rogue Squadron is swapped out for Aaron Allston’s new Wraith Squadron, a group of washout pilots desperate for a last chance to fly, each suited to different areas of special operations. From the bravado of certain characters, to the realistic depictions of trauma and PTSD, to the hilarity of the situations Wedge Antilles continuously finds himself in, I truly enjoined this book, in some ways more than any I have read recently! Can’t wait to read the rest of the ‘Wraith Squadron Trilogy’.

[Sean Raggio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very much enjoyed this. Loved meeting new characters and seeing their growth and development. And of course more of Wedge. The climax was a bit odd for me as my Spotify audiobook listen hours (which are apparently a thing?) ran out as I was listening to the final act so after a few weeks when I got back to it, I was a little lost. But that in no way is on the author or narrator. This was a joy to listen to

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was pretty enjoyable overall. The romance trope is very cringe though. It almost seems to start out by trying to criticize the romance tropes in these books, and then later just reinforces it anyways. Besides that though it was a fun and pretty light read. I look forward to reading iron fist

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Star Wars Book Club read for July - I enjoyed the 'found family' vibe and the putting together of a new squadron. The switching back and forth between name and call number was a bit confusing, but I've learned that I like WATCHING space battles more than READING about them, so I was able to move along. ;)

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm never going to love the "Rogue Squadron" series, but I found this to be very pleasant in terms of introducing new characters, and new personality quirks...as well as a great long-running Ewok joke. For me, the battle scenes just get in the way.

[Seth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I miss the Rogues. I'm not a fan of when a series or book starts following all new characters like this one does, but it's still so darn good.