Books Alphabet Squadron: Victory's Price (book 3) by Alexander Freed (March 2021)

I just started the book on audible.

Spoiler

Love how they just give you the geo-political situation of the whole thing...Claryfing (What was pretty obvious) the differences between the Warlords and the Imperail Loyalist...and so far the Loyalist Sloane/Rax faction seem to be the biggest.

 

Sorry for the DP

So far the book is good (Been listening to the audio) but I don't think these are the types of books that go with my personal taste because I find myself getting distracted easily and not going for long periods listening to it.

 

I think double posting is fine when the gap between them is weeks.

 

I really love this book and its style. Great author, but as you said, one needs to rest it in between a little and I think given the depth of details and nature of the story it is better to read it on paper and not as audiobook or ebook, given those formats are while practical and nice on their own, less memorized by the brain naturally due to different exposure to different brain sections. So with those formats, longer periods of discontinuity are not optimal and one forgets more than when one read it slower and on paper.

 

I was hoping character growth would make them more likeable in the end, but I still don't like these people. And that on-going debate between Shadows and Alphabets over Jakku... no, just no, that's not how it works in fighter combat, not even SWified dogfighting. Pilots need to communicate info to keep them alive. How many of these pilots died because their wingmates were trying to say, "Red 3, break left, there's a TIE on your tail" but they couldn't get the transmission through because someone wanted to tell everyone the name of his dead college roommate's cousin. It was so utterly ridiculous that it killed my suspension of disbelief. They desperately needed Red Leader to make them cut the chatter.

 

I haven't gotten Victory's Price yet but I know the basic outline. Did they really just have a chat in the middle of the combat like some silly YouTube parody?

 

@Noash_Retrac , yes, they really did.

IRL, a wingman fighter pilot considers it a perfect mission for comms if all he says on the radio is "Two" or just clicks his mike to acknowledge orders. The old joke is that a good wingman only ever says three things:
1. "Two"
2. "Lead, you're on fire."
3. "I'll take the fat one."
A pair of F-16 pilots made that the chorus of their song about the world's greatest wingman (NSFW, srsly, consider yourself warned)

Spoiler: NSFW!!

 

@Sarge Urgh, I miss the X-wing novels. At least we got to know an entire squadron of TWELVE pilots instead of five pilots and pretending that makes a squadron.

 

Yeah, again I like the book and i have no qualms with it...But I do need rest and just take a breather.

I was like that a little with Plageuis too but I feel like I had more of a steady pace with that novel over all.

I think my next audiobook will be Heir to the Empire, get another Legends one. Since I mostly have Canon Audiobooks, except for Plagueis.

 

Audiobooks with the right narrator can go a long way. Personally, I really dislike Chuck Wendig’s writing style, but when you hear it narrated by Marc Thompson it really gets the books over the line.

 

I just listened to Aftermath Life Debt and I quite enjoyed myself.

Was tempted to get the third Aftermath since it has some of my favorite Post Endor moments

 

It’s well done. Most of the audiobooks narrated by Thompson are really.

 

I did not like this one.

Spoiler

I will start with what I did like:

- The Messenger. Everything from its selection process to its databank was very well done. The worry that Keize had for those associated with Imperials was moving, a little ridiculous (the New Republic would not be able to go after EVERYONE, without also having to go after its own people that were formerly affiliated with the Empire/ I think Mothma and Hera speak to this towards the end), but people can be ridiculous when they are operating under fear.

- Kairos. The time spent on her homeworld and her backstory made me finally feel for her. The whole thing is a bit ’too little, too late’, but it is nice to know she has a personality beneath all of the badassery. I would not mind a spin-off about her, or a continuation of her story in another novel with a different cast of characters.

- Quell. I don’t like her character all that much, but of all the Alphabet Squadron folks her story is the most dynamic.

What I was not so happy with:

- Chass. I did not like her from the start. I think it would have made sense for her character to die when crashing into the Yadeez (or whatever freighter that was), but prickly characters usually don't go down easily. [I also found it weird that in a gritty war story not one POV character died in battle. I don't think characters being killed is the only way to generate stakes, however, it is odd that they all make it through. I guess it is ’un-cliché’ in that regard.] From the ending it seems like she and Quell are in some sort of entanglement and to that I say, "yuck". I honestly don't see what the other would even see in each other if that is the case. Is it a, from Quell’s perspective, "Chass is really rude, mean and abrasive on the outside, but she is a big softie on the inside who fights hard to protect the people she kind of tolerates", kind of thing, because, if so, "yuck". I may be a slight hypocrite as I do enjoy similar pairings (i.e. Bulma and Vegeta from Dragon Ball) but I like those characters more than I like these two, so it is easier to ignore stuff like that.

- Nath. Also never liked him, either. He reads a bit more interesting in this one. Still, his particular brand of scumbag is not my cup of tea in fiction. Maybe it is because I felt like he was initially grooming Wyl to be something like himself, or the fact that his words never quite lined up with his inner thoughts about the people around him.

- Wyl. I actually did like him at the beginning, but now, meh. On some level, I can understand (and respect) his wanting to abstain from fighting in the Battle of Jakku--- terrible timing, though. What I grew tired of, and only noticed halfway through this book, was how self-centered he is. I thought back to the other books and how he would always say that if only he was there, such and such would not have happened to [insert character(s) name(s) here]; as if the galaxy rested on his shoulders. He reminds me a lot of Oliver on Arrow who, post season 1, would blame himself for everything that happened. Making everyone else’s problems about him, cornering people in ships, hallways and conference rooms to spill their guts and share their feelings. Taking everyone’s (especially Chass’s) crap. Overstepping invisible boundaries (Chass’s martyr/death wish, finding Nath who explicitly told him that he was done with him). I love compassionate characters, but he was a handful. If he is a deconstruction of an overly compassionate and naive character, then A+ for the author.

The six years later epilogue thing at the end was pretty meh, as well. I would have liked to find out in another book if Wyl became a senator for Polyneus or decided to do something else. Also, I could have done without the scene of him tracking Nath down to ask Nath to explain his entire character for the audience. It could be argued that Wyl needed to hear that, but deep down he always had that feeling anyway. I think their ’relationship’ or whatever the heck they had, ending as abruptly as it did on the Deliverance had a lot more impact than it ending all sweetly/courteously out in the Western Reaches.

Though I have my issues with this one, I am glad I read the trilogy. If I hadn’t, I would have never read the chapter in Shadow Fall where Quell realized IT-O had slipped back into its old programming. That part still sticks with me and is, without a doubt, the most immersive thing I have ever read in a Star Wars novel.

 

I really loved this book and the entire trilogy. Freed needs more books asap!

I also like how he turned them from military scifi tales to truly deep explorations of characters and lifes and all facettes of war, pilots, soldiers etc. The first book truly found a diverse cast that never lost its uniqueness and evolved in interesting and surprising ways. Instead of regular space battles he truly got creative with some exotic locales and properties like the memory nebula. Even the enemy was never just black and white but people which is really great and shows a good understanding of the reality and nature of what he was writing about. Worldbuilding was epic even beyond military aspects. Where the first book dealt with backgrounds and how to throw together a crew, the second nearly had it all fall apart and tested its limits by going to very unusual places. The third then dealt with grander themes but never forgot the characters and their takes. The end of the war, post war scenarios, etc. all were there and adressed in thought, consideration or actual exploration, even before the war ended and even the darkest enemy was not black and white, neither the heroes all good. They were human, yes even the aliens.

At one point I was worried how the New Republic would be portrayed post war with its vets. For one "vets" is a typical american topic and one that america deals different with than europe might or did. But he never got lost in a rant or parody of that real life scenario and instead managed to show all aspects and possibilities vividly. I still worry for the NR and how it operated post war, but there were plenty of streaks of hope and a few characters that showed that there is a place for everyone, even if not a happy ending for every soul.


What do I want as next assignment for Freed? Well post ROTJ is majorly developed by TV soon, so I could see him jumping eras. His expertise would be nice within the chaotic and challenging Clone Wars that are fair game now that tv is devoted more to the Dark Times from Bad Batch to Andor and Kenobi. Once that era is back in lit hands, he can play in ROTS aftermath easily with any themes those shows left or did not dare to tackle. That aside Freed would be a good choice to develop the ST era further, both before, during and after the war that culminated in IX.

 

@ColeFardreamer

I'd like to see his take on the Clone Wars, maybe on like the Rise of The Separatist or something.

I'm still going through the final Audiobook myself but I have been enjoying myself...But as I said it's a bit of a slow run, course that is also because of some real world stuff always getting in the way too.

 

I finished the trilogy, in about two weeks. I thought it was great. I’d be really interested in a post-war book following Nath and his group. What are the twins up to? How do the Imperials deal with their own guilt? I liked how Freed had a single theory about how the Empire worked, and how a Evil Group Of Evil functions.

My question: do you think that Yrica should have tried to detonate an ion bomb and destroy you know what?

 

(Cut and pasted here from less relevant thread)

I don't see how it's treated as right, it's pretty roundly criticised. The climax between Yrica and Soran and its aftermath specifically asks and answers the question of whether the two factions are the same. Keize's (wrong) assumptions are based on the belief that the Rebellion is as vindictive as the Empire.

Saying "Imperial soldiers are also complex individuals" is not the same as saying "the Empire and Rebellion are morally equivalent". What do the Rebels do in that trilogy which even remotely approaches what the Empire is capable of?

 

Bingo!

 

Doubt that it was author's idea, but to me Soran Keize (apart from being one of the best characters in Canon) in some ways seems like an "evil Captain Kirk" (similar to Thrawn/Sherlock Holmes comparison) - brave and charismatic officer, A Father to His Men, who's not ready to blindly obey orders, yet he is a war criminal and a mass murderer with twisted moral.

But I think it was intentional for him to be sort of "anti-Krennic", an antagonist to "anti-Rogue One".

 

I take my hat off to Alexander Freed and applaud him for 5 of the best pieces of characterisation I have ever read or seen in all of Star Wars. Just brilliant!

From the first novel where I really had trouble getting into the story, to how it involved in the second and third, was a very satisfying and enriching Star Wars experience. The story throughout was captivating and I really became engrossed and involved with each of the 5 main characters; or six if I count Keizer. Even Hera's role was awesome too.

And what really made it for me is that each character followed their own path and the heroes weren't tied to some stock standard formula that were just the latest version carbon copies of what has come before. They were all unique in how they involved.

But furthermore to this and it's what really did it for me is how all of these characters had their own unique backstory, how all of this and their character traits evolved with what they experienced throughout the trilogy in both events and character interaction. And their characters continued to evolve and change even after the war had ended. Each of them ended up in a place that was believable.

This for me is the quintessential definition of character development in a story; where a character is already a certain point, but evolves throughout the story into potentially something completely different at the end.

For me, these characters felt real. Brilliantly done Alexander Freed. This is what Star Wars character development should be all about.

 

Started this last night. Does anyone else find that Freed's writing has no flow? I finished Justina Ireland's Out of the Shadows the night before, and I found her writing easy to read. With Freed's, I have to really concentrate on the words to comprehend sentences and the larger story. I often have to re-read sentences or sections to gain better understanding of the intent before continuing on, and therefore, I never get into the flow of reading, and his books take forever to read and are not enjoyable.

 

Sometimes a style that works fine for lots of people just doesn't for you.

Though, in this case, it's a YA work compared to adult novel, so I'd expect the adult to be a bit denser by comparison in its style and language.

 

I've found that too myself with certain novels.

Like I tend to find the YA books just easier to read compared to some of the Adult ones which i sorta need to take a breather from ever couple of chapters.

Not a problem necessarily just sorta a YMMV type deal.

 

Yeah. Plus some authors styles are just never going to work for some, we all read differently.