Solo Command (Star Wars: X-Wing Series, Book 7) 
asked by glassysurf on November 27, 2006 4:50 PM
This is a fast-moving and exciting installment in the X-wing series, the third by Aaron Allston. Once again, Wedge Antilles, "Face" Loran, and the other pilots of Rogue and Wraith squadrons are up against the Warlord Zsinj, who this time is trying to foment mistrust and fear between the human and non-human allies of the New Republic. A series of assassinations by Twi'leks and Gotals has led to the Provisional Council withdrawing all members of these races from active duty. Wedge suspects the aliens have been brainwashed, but it won't be easy to prove.
To defeat Zsinj, the Rogues must destroy his flagship--the super star destroyer Iron Fist--but first they have to persuade Zsinj to risk it in battle. In an attempt to draw him into the open, they mock up a copy of the Millennium Falcon and use it to attack Zsinj's many business interests.
Featuring a guest appearance by General Han Solo, this is a well-written addition to the X-wing series. Allston develops excellent camaraderie between the pilots as they play elaborate practical jokes on one another between missions. And there are plenty of missions, with at least half a dozen set-piece engagements, some in space, some planetside, all described in loving and convincing detail. --Elizabeth Sourbut
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The wraiths and Rogues, under the command of General Han Solo, go after the warlord Zsinj and his super star destroyer Iron Fist. This book is a nice mix of action, emotional turmoil, and hilarious hijinks. Wraith squadron has proved itself to have just as good as characters as Rogue squadron, if not better, simply because of all the flaws in their personalities.
This book does a great job of incorporating all the story lines and finishing off the three book cycle. Highly suggested for all star wars fans.
This book does a great job of incorporating all the story lines and finishing off the three book cycle. Highly suggested for all star wars fans.
reviewed by officefan on November 27, 2006 11:48 PM
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This was a good conclusion to the "Wraith Squadron" trilogy of the x-wing series. Overall it was an intertaining read and I found myself laughing out loud at times. However, the ending to me left a little to be desired. There are two more x-wing novels after this that are stand along novels, but they are stand alone novels. I would recommend this book, read it if you get a chance.
reviewed by scoobie on November 29, 2006 10:01 AM
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Solo Command - X-Wing Book Seven (1998.) Book seven in a nine-part series.
INTRODUCTION:
The Star Wars film series is, without question, the greatest science fiction series of all time. George Lucas captured the minds of people young and old across the world. But as anyone knows, there were only three films (this was before the prequels), and for many people, this just wasn't enough. And thus, the Star Wars Expanded Universe was born. The Expanded Universe consisted of comic books, video games, novels, and other media. Many of the stories focused on the characters in the films, many focused on unknown characters from the same universe. Among the authors who tried their hands at creating Star Wars novels was Aaron Allston. In the mid-late nineties, Michael A. Stackpole created the four-book X-Wing series. The X-Wing series was announced to continue beyond Stackpole's initial four books, but with a different author. How does Allston's take on this series compare to Stackpole's? Read on for my review of Iron Fist, Allston's third X-Wing novel, and the seventh overall.
STORYLINE:
The New Republic Military is still pursuing its greatest threat - the space warlord known as Zsinj. The group's recent attempts have crippled his forces greatly, but he remains at large, and a threat to the galaxy. Fortunately, everyone's favorite smuggler, Han Solo, has received a general position with the New Repuplic, and now serves as one of the commanders aboard Mon Remonda, one of the New Republic's biggest and strongest ships. He formulates a new plan against Zsinj, which involves forming a temporary alliance with members of the Empire (so that they can use some of their technology), as well as sending out a fake Millennium Falcon on raids against Zsinj's military, to lure him out of hiding and into the ultimate military space offensive - one that will cripple the loser badly.
OPINIONS:
Overall, I was very satisfied with this story. I doubted this series would do well without Stackpole at the helm, but I was dead wrong. Although I DO think Stackpole is the better X-Wing author, Allston does a damn good job. Rather than sticking with the Rogues Stackpole made us all familiar with, Allston focuses almost exclusively on the Wraiths, but he DOES work on incorporating those characters into the story moreso here than in his previous two X-Wing novels, due to the partnership between the Rogues and Wraiths. I have only two complaints with this novel. First and foremost, Allston introduces too many characters in too little time. The only real complaint I have here is the complaint that Allston likes to drag the chapter lengths out just a little too long. We're not talking the unbearable Alan Dean Foster lengths here, but still, I prefer Stackpole's "short and to the point" chapter style. Despite minor flaws, this is an excellent book. Allston is a great author, and I hope he decides to write additional Star Wars novels.
EDITION NOTES:
This novel is still in print and readily available at most bookstores. Can't say much else here.
OVERALL:
In the end, I must say that I am very satisfied with this story, and I am not at all reluctant to say that it would make for a fantastic movie - if George Lucas decides to make future Star Wars movies, this is a novel I would strongly recommend converting to the big screen. If you're a Star Wars fan who wants to go beyond the films, Stackpole and Allston's X-Wing series should appeal to you - that is, unless, you just want to follow the exploits of the main classic trilogy characters. Just make sure to start with Book One and read the series in order, or you may be left dazed and confused.
INTRODUCTION:
The Star Wars film series is, without question, the greatest science fiction series of all time. George Lucas captured the minds of people young and old across the world. But as anyone knows, there were only three films (this was before the prequels), and for many people, this just wasn't enough. And thus, the Star Wars Expanded Universe was born. The Expanded Universe consisted of comic books, video games, novels, and other media. Many of the stories focused on the characters in the films, many focused on unknown characters from the same universe. Among the authors who tried their hands at creating Star Wars novels was Aaron Allston. In the mid-late nineties, Michael A. Stackpole created the four-book X-Wing series. The X-Wing series was announced to continue beyond Stackpole's initial four books, but with a different author. How does Allston's take on this series compare to Stackpole's? Read on for my review of Iron Fist, Allston's third X-Wing novel, and the seventh overall.
STORYLINE:
The New Republic Military is still pursuing its greatest threat - the space warlord known as Zsinj. The group's recent attempts have crippled his forces greatly, but he remains at large, and a threat to the galaxy. Fortunately, everyone's favorite smuggler, Han Solo, has received a general position with the New Repuplic, and now serves as one of the commanders aboard Mon Remonda, one of the New Republic's biggest and strongest ships. He formulates a new plan against Zsinj, which involves forming a temporary alliance with members of the Empire (so that they can use some of their technology), as well as sending out a fake Millennium Falcon on raids against Zsinj's military, to lure him out of hiding and into the ultimate military space offensive - one that will cripple the loser badly.
OPINIONS:
Overall, I was very satisfied with this story. I doubted this series would do well without Stackpole at the helm, but I was dead wrong. Although I DO think Stackpole is the better X-Wing author, Allston does a damn good job. Rather than sticking with the Rogues Stackpole made us all familiar with, Allston focuses almost exclusively on the Wraiths, but he DOES work on incorporating those characters into the story moreso here than in his previous two X-Wing novels, due to the partnership between the Rogues and Wraiths. I have only two complaints with this novel. First and foremost, Allston introduces too many characters in too little time. The only real complaint I have here is the complaint that Allston likes to drag the chapter lengths out just a little too long. We're not talking the unbearable Alan Dean Foster lengths here, but still, I prefer Stackpole's "short and to the point" chapter style. Despite minor flaws, this is an excellent book. Allston is a great author, and I hope he decides to write additional Star Wars novels.
EDITION NOTES:
This novel is still in print and readily available at most bookstores. Can't say much else here.
OVERALL:
In the end, I must say that I am very satisfied with this story, and I am not at all reluctant to say that it would make for a fantastic movie - if George Lucas decides to make future Star Wars movies, this is a novel I would strongly recommend converting to the big screen. If you're a Star Wars fan who wants to go beyond the films, Stackpole and Allston's X-Wing series should appeal to you - that is, unless, you just want to follow the exploits of the main classic trilogy characters. Just make sure to start with Book One and read the series in order, or you may be left dazed and confused.
reviewed by runaway on November 29, 2006 10:15 AM
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"Solo Command" is the seventh volume in the X-Wing series and is the concluding book of Aaron Allston's trilogy about exploits of the Wraith Squadron founded by Wedge Antilles. To give a quick refresher, Wraith Squadron was formed because Wedge's Rogue Squadron was so well known as being the best that anytime the Rogues were dispatched on a mission any chance of covertness was eliminated. While the Rogues were the best of the best, a Star Wars Top Gun squadron, the Wraiths were chosen from the dregs of the New Republic. These are the pilots who, for one reason or another, were going to wash out. This isn't to say that these pilots can't fly an X-Wing, because they can, but rather it was often behavioral issues that caused the problem. But Wedge didn't form the Wraiths to be an elite unit like Rogue Squadron. Wraith Squadron is to be a unit designed to get the pilots in close and do insurgency missions, often on the ground. The primary mission of the Wraiths has been against the Warlord Zsinj, a former Imperial turned criminal who is the largest threat to both the New Republic and the vestiges of the Empire.
Finally the New Republic and the Wraiths will be going after Zsinj directly. The plan is to attempt to lure Zsinj into a battle where his flagship, the Iron Fist, can be captured or destroyed. To do this, the Wraiths are using Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon as bait...or a decoy of the Falcon. The Wraiths, the Republic, and even an officer in the Empire are working together to attack the businesses of Zsinj so that he will be forced into combat.
Meanwhile, Zsinj is working against the New Republic by activating a project of his to install fear and distrust between humans and non-humans in the Republic, and it was this original mixing of the races that proved so strong for the New Republic in light of the anti-alien stance of the Empire. But now this is being threatened and the Council of the New Republic has no evidence that the events are anything other than attacks by the individual races.
"Solo Command" is quite possibly the best of the three Wraith novels and is as good as some of the Rogue books. It still features a rather large amount of humor and jokes and pranks with the Wraith pilots, but features a faster moving plot that actually seems to be going somewhere. The previous two Wraith books didn't really seem to advance any sort of storyline. Something else that I liked here was that the Rogue Squadron was included on the main mission here, so there was intermingling between the two X-Wing squadrons that Wedge commands. Han Solo also makes a guest starring appearance here and it was nice to see how he fits into all of this (thus far in the chronology he hasn't had a lot to do, though I know he's been busy and will get a larger role in future novels).
All told this was a satisfying conclusion to the Wraith trilogy and it leads into the storyline of "The Courtship of Princess Leia". "Solo Command" features excellent action scenes and space battle sequences with the X-Wings. Fast paced, fun, and exciting. It's exactly what Star Wars should be.
-Joe Sherry
Finally the New Republic and the Wraiths will be going after Zsinj directly. The plan is to attempt to lure Zsinj into a battle where his flagship, the Iron Fist, can be captured or destroyed. To do this, the Wraiths are using Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon as bait...or a decoy of the Falcon. The Wraiths, the Republic, and even an officer in the Empire are working together to attack the businesses of Zsinj so that he will be forced into combat.
Meanwhile, Zsinj is working against the New Republic by activating a project of his to install fear and distrust between humans and non-humans in the Republic, and it was this original mixing of the races that proved so strong for the New Republic in light of the anti-alien stance of the Empire. But now this is being threatened and the Council of the New Republic has no evidence that the events are anything other than attacks by the individual races.
"Solo Command" is quite possibly the best of the three Wraith novels and is as good as some of the Rogue books. It still features a rather large amount of humor and jokes and pranks with the Wraith pilots, but features a faster moving plot that actually seems to be going somewhere. The previous two Wraith books didn't really seem to advance any sort of storyline. Something else that I liked here was that the Rogue Squadron was included on the main mission here, so there was intermingling between the two X-Wing squadrons that Wedge commands. Han Solo also makes a guest starring appearance here and it was nice to see how he fits into all of this (thus far in the chronology he hasn't had a lot to do, though I know he's been busy and will get a larger role in future novels).
All told this was a satisfying conclusion to the Wraith trilogy and it leads into the storyline of "The Courtship of Princess Leia". "Solo Command" features excellent action scenes and space battle sequences with the X-Wings. Fast paced, fun, and exciting. It's exactly what Star Wars should be.
-Joe Sherry
reviewed by glenn11 on November 29, 2006 12:02 PM