Wraith Squadron is the fifth book in the X-Wing series and Aaron Allston's first installment. I have heard there was some trepidation from some X-wing readers when they first heard that someone other than Stackpole was slated to write in this series. Their fears were unfounded. Allston walks right in and picks up the story right where Stackpole left off, and brings his own twist besides.
The first sentence in the book is, "Twelve X-wing snubfighters roared down into the atmosphere." Pretty innocuous looking words, but it is what happens in the rest of the paragraph that sets the tone for the rest of the scene.
The first time we see this sentence, it takes us to a scene of homecoming. Of triumph, joy, and a feeling of having survived much hardship, but it is now time to relax and to be rewarded. It is a time for laughter, reunion amongst old friends, and humor, as Wedge and the Rogues return from their mission on Thyferra and are reunited with Wes Janson and Hobbie Klivian (spelled Klivan in the book). One finishes this scene feeling good about everything and happy to see Wedge more or less at peace.
The next scene also begins with the very same sentence as the previous scene, but the scene couldn't be any more different. Unlike the last scene, this is a scene of tragedy. The events of this scene are deadly serious as an entire squadron, with the exception of the leader, are wiped out in about two minutes in an ambush. The leader, a recent trainee of Wes and Hobbie, wishes to die with his squadron, but makes the difficult decision to return to base and report what transpired.
These two scenes, the first chapter, effectively set the tone for the rest of not only Wraith Squadron, but the rest of Allston's X-wing trilogy. At times, there is levity and humor, the best example in this book probably being Grinder's scene with the Storini Crystal Deceiver. At other times, things are very serious. People screw up, missions go wrong, Wraiths die.
The premise of this series is centered around Wedge Antilles and his latest experiment: creating a decent squadron capable both of executing a typical X-wing mission and of working together as a full-fledged commando team. But there is a catch. These pilots are the rejects from other squadrons, the pilots on the verge of being washed out of Starfighter Command.
At first glance, these pilots definitely fit the bill. Their records show charges of insubordination, of subpar piloting abilities, of a disability to obey orders. But once one gets to know these pilots, something Allston excels at, one sees that these are only the physical manifestations of what in many appears to be psychological problems as well. It is for this reason that I affectionately call them Dysfunctional Squadron.
For example, one pilot is always at the bottom of her class and has the tiniest bit of control over the Force. Later we find out that she also greatly feels the pressure to succeed. She feels she has to live up the expectations of generations of her family, which include great warriors and Jedi. She feels she can never live up to these imagined expectations, so she constantly bows beneath the pressure. She can't let go enough to really access the Force, so she appears so weak in it that even Luke Skywalker believes her to be inept. These beliefs also are most likely the cause of her subpar piloting.
This sort of character development is where, as I mentioned earlier, Allston excels. Each member of Wraith Squadron has his or her strenghts and weaknesses, and each one has a story. Unlike Rogue Squadron, which spent more time focusing on the missions the Rogues flew, Wraith Squadron devotes quite a bit of space to fleshing out all of the Wraiths, showing the reader how the Wraiths interact with each other and how these interactions change as they get to know each other.
But don't be deceived by this description of Wraith Squadron into thinking that this means there is no action. Not at all. The Wraiths get pressed into active duty before their training is complete, and are on the go for the rest of the book, planning mission after mission and executing them, mostly successfully. Even in the midst of the action, though, Allston finds way to develop his characters.
This approach proves its success when it's time for Allston to kill off some characters. One of the criticisms I had with Stackpole's X-wing series is that I didn't feel I'd gotten to know the majority of the Rogues he killed off. Not true here. Allston kills off three Wraiths, and the reader gets the opportunity to know all three of them. Not only that, but each deceased Wraith had had a chance to learn and grow. One of them, who had complained of being a waste of material because she never got a chance to do anything, died an Ace of the New Republic. Another, who lamented over always being second-best at everything, died being the first person to do a certain thing.
Overall, there was very little about this book that I didn't like. I enjoy books that involve both humor and drama, and I enjoy books that do not sacrifice character development for the sake of plot. Wraith Squadron succeeds on both of these counts. It's always fun to read about the Wraiths planning and executing their missions because they are always thinking outside the box. I admire people who can do this in real life, so it's nice to read a series of books where the characters are capable of doing this.
About the only real flaw about Wraith Squadron were the bloopers that were in it. There weren't that many, but the few that were in it are pretty noticeable. One of them is right in the Dramatis Personae. Cubber Daine and the Wraiths' droids are listed under the heading Rogue Squadron Support Personnel. No effect to the story there, but still glaring. Then, during the time the Wraiths were at Xobome trying to recover after being blasted by an Empion bomb, Wedge has the Wraiths report in to him. They discover that Runt, Grinder, and Phanan are out of commission and therefore unable to report in. Yet, when the Wraiths were reporting in, Wraith 4 reported in. Wraith 4 is Grinder.
I mainly mention those bloopers because I am anal that way. If these are the only complaints I can find about a book, they don't really count as complaints as well. Wraith Squadron is a book that I recommend without reservation. It is in no way inferior to Stackpole's X-wing books. The new characters are developed quickly enough that the reader can get right into the story without having too much time to miss the Rogues. There is enough action that the reader shouldn't have anything to complain about, either, especially if the reader is a fan of the ground mission the Rogues undertook in Wedge's Gamble. Sure, Wraith Squadron has no Corran and very little Tycho, but in consideration of the storyline, this is really no detriment at all. The only way one can really be disappointed with this book, and Allston's series in general, is if one goes into it expecting to see a lot of Rogue Squadron.
Reviewed December 16, 2002 by Kelly M. Grosskreutz.
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