Rating: Summary: Bre's Review: Out of the five books where Isard is the bad guy, this one is the best. I think one of the best things about Stackpole's writing is the empathy he creates for and with the characters. The characters feel real emotion, and are not stereotyped. (Stereotyping, by the way, tends to be a problem with some Star Wars novels.) The book is exiciting and well-paced, though, unfortunately, I am not very keen on the whole space battle thing. I am more interested in other aspects of Star Wars. I must also say that the inclusion of Booster Terrik added some good humour to the situation, which I thought was good. In addition, we also have an appearance by Talon Karrde. Overall, a great read. Recommended to any fan of the X-Wing series.
Rating: Summary: Excellent Finish to the First X-Wing Set! Review: The Bacta War was the first X-Wing novel I ever read. It's dynamic storytelling hooked me right away even though I didn't know all the history of the previous 3 books. Stackpole is at his best mixing up space dogfights with brutal firefights and large scale planetary conquest. Yet for all its grandeur, this story is an intimate one. The moment when Corran Horn meets his girlfriends father is hysterical yet at the same time totally believable. This is Star Wars on a new level. The characters introduced and continued in the first 3 novels come alive with a vividness that is startling. The villain is totally evil and because of the way Stackpole played in the treachery of a Rogue, the story takes on a more personal note for the reader. They identify more with the renegade Rogues, creating a tense and sweeping space yarn. I highly recommend it.
Rating: Summary: Excellent Fun! Review: Set after X-Wing: The Krytos Trap. The Rogues have resigned their post as New Republic "wingcreatures" and have become a band of "Pirates" (Wedge doesn't think this properly fits them) to oust IceHeart from Thyferra. Booster Terrik surfaces and works with Talon Karrde on getting good deals for the Rogues' supplies. A group of Twi'leks join them in their pursuits, as well as an Alderaanian War Cruiser. (it's spooky). Spies are in the mist and the Ashurn Rebels on Thyferra are pretty cool. They sneak around and when their opponents are least suspecting, they get 'em. Read it and you'll find out. This is a fine literary example that proves reading can be fun.
Rating: Summary: Stackpole Does It Again In Book 4 !! Review: Once again, Michale Stackpole promises an exciting and suspenseful adventure. Boy, does he ever deliver! As we enter this, the fourth book in the X-wing series, the members of Rogue Squadron have resigned their commissions. Their intentions are very clear - to free Thyferra from the clutches of Iceheart, better known as Ysanne Isaard. They get some help along the way, some of it from unlikely sources. This novel is rich with action - dogfights galore! And the plot twists! Plus, this novel heralds the return of some of the older squadron members (from the comic book series), as well as expanding on such characters as Iella Wessiri and Mirax Terrik. Booster Terrik puts in his appearance in this novel. And Expanded Universe fans are also given a real treat as Talon Karrde puts in an appearance. Although some parts of the book are rather predictable, others will blow you out of the star system! But be warned, there is very little in the way of ground fighting in this part of the series. It's almost all starfighting! As far as I'm concerned, this book holds it own with the others in the series, although boook three is still my favorite thus far. Stackpole seems to have ironed out the kinks in the series that he experienced in the first novel. Now the action is fast-paced and intense, enabling the reader to become so engrossed that they nearly finish the novel in one day!
Rating: Summary: Lingering injuries maim a good story Review: The Bacta War is almost certainly the best book of the X-Wing series, so if you are one of those people who loved their earlier books than this is a great addition to your collection. Unfortunately, it is still smarting from some of the problems that authors of this series refuse to correct. It still has too many characters, presented to early to keep track of properly. In fact, at some points even late in the book I could not remember what species a character was! Its battles seem either too fast or too slow, like when a Star Destroyer is reduced to ash in just a few short pages, or when dogfights that should have lasted a few seconds at the most drag on for quite some time. This problem, however, is not exactly the author's fault, as the amount of information required to track multiple ships in three dimensions is often difficult to compress. The major enemies are still failing flight school, Isard included, and the Rebels often inflict enormous casualties at very little cost thanks to impractical scheming, luck, or a combinations of both. Even so, the plot was by far the best from the X-Wing series, and compared to say, Wedge's Gambit, the other problems don't show up as often.
Rating: Summary: Excellent Fun! Review: Set after X-Wing: The Krytos Trap. The Rogues have resigned their post as New Republic "wingcreatures" and have become a band of "Pirates" (Wedge doesn't think this properly fits them) to oust IceHeart from Thyferra. Booster Terrik surfaces and works with Talon Karrde on getting good deals for the Rogues' supplies. A group of Twi'leks join them in their pursuits, as well as an Alderaanian War Cruiser. (it's spooky). Spies are in the mist and the Ashurn Rebels on Thyferra are pretty cool. They sneak around and when their opponents are least suspecting, they get 'em. Read it and you'll find out. This is a fine literary example that proves reading can be fun.
Rating: Summary: Star Wars, Xwing Review: This series is interesting. It follows Rouge Squadron through various missions. Corran Horn, along with others, was introduced in this series. I would recommend reading this series. The books should be read in order though.
Rating: Summary: Grab a broom and a dust pan... Review: ...because it's time to take out the trash! That's right, now that the New Republic has Corsucant and, because of political reasons, is focusing its military might elsewhere, the now freelance Rogue Squadron has to take on Ysanne Isard and her Bacta Cartel alone. But that's okay, impossible is what Rogue Squadron does best. A fitting close to the first cycle of stories in the X-Wing series. Highly recommended.
Rating: Summary: A Solid Ending, But Not Without Faults Review: Michael Stackpole finishes what he started with this, the fourth and final book in the first storyline of the X-Wing series. Taking what he has learned from the first three books, Stackpole improves on his previous work in many areas. Unfortunatly, he falls short in others, and a few of the faults which define all of his work still remain.In the plus column, this is possibly the fastest paced of Stackpole's X-Wing books. Very little of the slow, largly uninteresting scenes which plagued the previous three, especially Rogue Squadron. Also, characters other than Corran Horn get some real attention in this book. Iella Wessiri, in particular, recieves the treatment she deserves. Booster is a good addition, even if he occasionally seems to derive some of his traits from Talon Karrde, who makes a welcome cameo here. Mirax is also a great character, tough and independent (note to other males out there: women who can take care of themselves are much more fun than brainless bimbos. Sorry, personal opinion). Gavin is also getting some further devolpment. On the downside, this books suffers, perhaps worse than the previous three, from what I call "Rebels Always Win Syndrome." Throughout the book, the Rogues suffer no serious losses in their battles. Not one of the main characters dies. Furthermore, it seems like they are having no problems wiping out Star Destroyers left and right with little more than a squadron of X-Wings. Another issue, one which seems to be ongoing with Stackpole, is the characterization of the Imperials. Honestly, Ysanne Isard, Fliry Vorru and Erisi Dlarit never once seem threatening. Isard is possibly at her lowest point in the series. While she has never been Grand Admiral Thrawn, she showed promise in books one and two of becoming a very dangerous and cunning adversary. Here, she is a joke, and it is a shame that Stackpole squandered her initial promise. Still, despite the fact that I tend to hit on the negatives more than the positives (I'm a born critic, what can I say?), the combination of action, interesting characters and character interaction, and quality writing combine to make this an above average entry into the world of Star Wars literature.
Rating: Summary: Good conclusion! Review: This has been, overall, a great series, and this book was one of the best. Tieing up most of the loose ends, (Isard, Mirax and Corran, etc) it also didn't shy away from showing some of the best character interactions I've seen yet, which really made me care about these characters. On a lesser note, we finally get to find out where Bacta comes from! I've been reading the New Jedi Order for a while, so I know what happens to Corran later in life, but still, I was very pleased, if not surprised, by his devopments in this book. I'd recommend this series mostly to teenagers and adults, due to some adult themes. Besides that though, this book was highly enjoyable and I look forward to the next one!
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