main
side
curve
  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Books Battlefront: Twilight Company (released 11/3)

Discussion in 'Literature' started by cdgodin, Apr 17, 2015.

  1. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    When you finish, go and buy the Rogue One novel - by the same guy.
     
    my kind of scum likes this.
  2. devilinthedetails

    devilinthedetails Fiendish Fanfic & SWTV Manager, Interim Tech Admin star 6 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Jun 19, 2019
    This had been on my "to read" pile for awhile but I read through it at last and was overall very impressed. Freed has a gritty, raw style of writing that works really well with war stories such as this one. Numir's character development throughout the book was compelling as was his complex relationship with Everi Chalis, a fascinating, complicated character in her own right. This book does a good job delving into the different motivations of various characters on the Rebel and Imperial side of the war. The only criticism I have is that the book somehow felt a bit slow in the opening part despite all the action and it took me a little time to make sense of who all the characters were, but I felt after Hoth especially there was such an uptick in momentum that I truly couldn't put it down. Definitely another solid, strong work by Freed all things considered.
     
  3. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 30, 2000
    Just finished this book and very pleased by it.

    Challis is easily the best character in the series and it's fascinating just how much of an awful person she is while remaining reasonably charismatic. I weirdly am imagining her played by Reese Witherspoon in my head.
     
    Iron_lord likes this.
  4. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 30, 2000
    Charlemagne19's Review

    BATTLE FRONT: TWILIGHT COMPANY by Alexander Freed is a Star Wars novel following the adventures of a team of Rebel Mobile Infantry soldiers from after the Battle of Yavin to after the Battle of Hoth. It is a darker and edgier sort of book than the usual Star Wars fair, though still fundamentally idealistic at its core. Basically, it's a book dedicated to all those rebels gunned down on the Tantive IV and who were getting blasted in Hoth's trenches by AT-ATs. In the steak dinner of the Rebel Alliance, they are the diced carrots on the side.

    The book primarily follows the perspective of Hazram Namir. Namir comes from a primitive war-torn world where he has served in the causes of numerous warlords just shy of Immorten Joe in terms of morality. Seeing a chance to get off his planet, he signs up with the Rebel Alliance and they put him with Twilight Company. Namir is the absolute worst sort of person to work with an idealistic band of do-gooders in the fact he's an incredibly cynical misanthrope who only works with the Rebels because they were the only game in town when he wanted to leave his planet.

    Twilight Company is in the process of retreating from the Mid Rim when our story picks up. The Rebel Alliance overestimated just how badly the Empire was hurt by the Death Star's destruction and believed the galaxy was ripe for mass uprising. Instead, after some initial successes, the Empire has struck back (tee he) and they're in full retreat. Along the way, they pick up the locals who want to continue fighting the Empire offworld as well as capture the planetary governor that is trying to defect.

    Everi Chalis is more than just the governor of a no-nothing planet that the Rebel Alliance can't hold against the Empire's might. She's a former student of A New Dawn villain, Count Vidian, as well as the Empire's former chief efficiency expert. Chalis has an immensely bloated ego about her importance to both the Empire and Rebellion but genuinely knows what makes the mag trams run on time. The Rebel Alliance is full of plucky young heroes and heroines but someone who can actually say, "yes, this is a good military target. Go blow up this thing" is more valuable than her weight in corusca stones. Mind you, she's kind of an ex-slaver and mass murderer but even the reader forgets this in her energetic perkiness. I have her played by Reese Witherspoon in my head.

    Much of the book's entertainment value is in how entertainingly wrong Namir is about everything. He's under the impression he's in a gritty morally ambiguous universe where the Rebellion intends to seize power by force out of selfish ambition. He's continually off put by the fact that even when he reaches the officers, all of them are just another layer of would be heroes. It actually makes Chalis the only person in Twilight Company who he understands as she is totally motivated by selfish ambition. Similarly, Chalis believes Darth Vader is attacking Hoth for the explicit purpose of hunting down her because she believes she's a vital resource versus a high ranking accountant.

    One of the best moments in the story is when Chalis and Namir are arguing over whether to use Twilight Company to liberate a planet where innocent people are endangered versus taking a strike against the Empire's most important shipyards. There's no obvious answer to which is right but their innate distrust of each other prevents them from doing both. Certainly, Twilight Company could have refurbished itself after liberating the planet and then gone to do its next mission. Neither of them are willing to budge and that makes the story all the better.

    The only weakness of the book is the villains, who are incredibly one-dimensional. Prelate Verge is a character that is so immature and whiny that I literally thought he was a twelve-year-old for much of the book versus a spoiled twenty-year-old. I don't buy that some of the Imperial Ruling Council are going to be embarrassing fops (that's inevitable in any royal court). It's just the guy is an imbecile and I don't think those kind of people ever rose above the rank of emissary to a Imperial Advisor. Because at the end of the day, those guys were a dangerous bunch of schemers. Unless Verge is Palpatine's literal son, I don't think he'd have been tolerated. His assistant isn't bad so much as boring, just sullenly fuming about Verge's idiocy the entire time.

    9/10
     
    Last edited: Aug 18, 2020
  5. Charlemagne19

    Charlemagne19 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 30, 2000
    I think my favorite part is the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY-esque scene with Calis and Vader.

    Calis: You may strike me down, man of evil, but I have already brought the Empire low!

    Vader: Who are you?

    Calis: Calis? Legendary Logistics officer? I'm Calis man.

    Vader: WHERE IS SKYWALKER?
     
  6. Klaud City

    Klaud City Jedi Knight

    Registered:
    Aug 29, 2020
    I am so very late to this party I know but I have finally, in 2022, read this book. A couple of years ago I decided to read every New Canon book I could find and so I've been making my way through in no particular order. This particular piece of media feels a little forgotten in the SW landscape, but I think it was quite good and wanted to heap praise on it and give it the recognition it deserves (imo).

    I like the way this book is written. It is very un-glamorous and non sentimental, which sets it apart from other novels in the galaxy (there's a place for both). Character deaths can happen in an instant and without fanfare ( in one instance it takes place completely "off screen" ), but I like that it really drives the War part of this home. It's not fun, and it can be traumatic and gross and heartbreaking. This is why we have a character like Namir as our protagonist, maybe the most cynical in all of the new canon (I don't blame him). I really enjoyed the glimpse into the lives of the grunts and people we don't normally see within the context of OT backdrops like Hoth.

    I think the villains fell a little short simply because they aren't focused on much. Their sections pop up randomly and briefly, although the general idea of their characters is clearly depicted and well defined. To be honest I don't think I even needed the villains, because the main draw of this book for me was the slice of life Rebel soldier stuff.

    Overall I would place this in my upper third portion of new canon books. I liked what it offered and defined itself as, and Alexander Freed is a top SW author I think (Rogue One novelization is my #3 fav new canon novel because I keep a running list like an absolute freak). That’s all I have to say; I just wanted to give my thoughts on a piece of canon that’s been a bit lost in the shuffle
     
  7. Vialco

    Vialco Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 6, 2007
    I really enjoyed the absolute ineptitude and buffoonery of Prelate Verge. That moment where he’s completely undone by Chalis is incredibly satisfying. As someone whose been in Tabor’s place before, having to cowtow to someone whose higher ranked but clearly incompetent, it was very cathartic to see him go down in flames.
     
    Last edited: Oct 25, 2022
  8. Vthuil

    Vthuil Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 3, 2013
    So I think it's been pointed out already elsewhere, but rereading this book is really scratching my "more stuff like Andor" itch.
     
    MercenaryAce likes this.
  9. AvarandElzarsittininatree

    AvarandElzarsittininatree Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 13, 2021
    I have had a difficult time getting into pretty much all the Star Wars novels Alexander Freed has written. I just find the characters he creates to be a little dull. Pretty much the only reason any of the characters from Alphabet Squadron stand out at all is because there were three of those books.
     
    Vialco likes this.
  10. This Novel is Underrated
     
  11. Todd the Jedi

    Todd the Jedi Mod and Loving Tyrant of SWTV, Lit, & Collecting star 6 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Oct 16, 2008