Books Alphabet Squadron by Alexander Freed

So Caern Adan is a Balosar - same species as Elan Sleazebaggano. Have we run into any other ones or are these the only two so far?

 

There have been a few, every once in a while. The most prominent in the new EU was one of the characters in "The Face of Evil" short story, who had a bit of a weird role. There was one in Zahn's Scoundrels too, in the old EU, a thief as part of the team. Adan seems to be attempting to break the debauched drugged criminal stereotype.

 

I have read Scoundrels. though not in awhile. So far I like Adan and IT-O the droid.

 

IT-O is amazing...he had a moment in the book that was quietly profound.

 

My headcannon is that IT-O is Dr. Ball from robot chicken.

Loved this book. Love that it's going to be a trilogy. I'll probably have more detailed thoughts later but between this, Master and Apprentice and the upcoming Thrawn: Treason, it's a good year for SW books.

 

Freed novels have a general...vagueness about his characters that don't connect well for me.

There were parts I liked, but I was not a fan of the novel overall.

But some excellent moments. Loved Dr. Ball. Hera had some great moments as well.

Sent from my Samsung g8-Wing

 

Hm this worries me, as this was the issue I had with Twilight Company, but for obvious reasons didn't have with his RO novelisation.

 

Yeah. I felt the same about Twighlight Company.

But I did like his RO novelization a good deal better than both.

I liked the exploration of how someone could justify staying with a regime that committed genocide and generally was despotic and cruel. Timely in that way, arguably.

But I don't see how this storyline can stretch out into two more books.

Hoping it grows on me more in the next one.

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I could see how the second novel focuses on the addition of Devon to the plot and the third novel being the lead up to Jakku from their POV.

 

Alexander Freed did a interview of the book and really liked his response for how connections are handled.

 

Just finished it. Good writing, but not as fun as the X wing books.

 

Finished it last night. I'm looking forward to the next installment.

 

I wonder if that concept will crop up in the next film to explain the Palpatine cackle.

 

This was really good. I think Twilight Company was a bit better but that's a high bar. Hoping to see more of the tried and true authors (of which Freed is one now, IMO) continuing to write for SW a bit more than they seem to have been.

Then why are you . . .? nevermind

you're right that Wraith books weren't all sunshine and rainbows, but Freed's books definitely have a bit of a darker, more serious sort of focus. Not sure which I prefer, probably Allston's but that may just be an unconscious "older is better" kind of attitude

 

If I read correctly this book takes place (or starts at least) 1 month after Endor? So obviously Aftermath was more than that after Endor?

Also related is there any sort of new canon timeline with dates for everything? I would be very interested if there was

 

Ohhhh I just finished it. Ok yeah. He is amazing. Definitely one of my new favorite characters.

I really like Quell. You know from the cover she's going to pull a squadron together, but it doesn't turn out half as easy as the Rogues or Wraiths. I'm glad this book stands apart from those, rather than trying to mimic them.

About the Messengers:

Spoiler

Agreed, the Messenger Droids were bizarre. I wonder if Alexander Freed knew anything about the TROS trailer when he wrote this? Because without knowing anything about TROS, I would have imagined this would be left in the air. Was it just one final "screw you" to the GFFA? Did the droids have part of Palpatine's spirit, and got off on watching his own people suffer? That's exactly the sort of twisted thing Palpatine would do -- Cinder was destined to burn the Empire down, not just planets -- he must have known there'd be a massive retaliation against anyone who was involved. So was it like "this Empire was mine, and I'm going to make sure it burns when I'm gone so no one else can have it"? (maybe he read the old EU and saw it ended with some weird Empire/Republic hybrid and was like aw hell no I'm not having that?)

In light of the TROS trailer, the eventual explanation of the Messenger Droids could change. There might be a definitive answer given to what their role was. I rather like it as it is right now, being left somewhat ambiguous.

 

That final scene with the Messenger made my skin crawl. So much of the book is about characters existing in the shades of grey in the moral spectrum where you can go from loving and hating them to understanding but not agreeing with them....then we get moments like that. Palpatine genuinely was Space!Satan.

 

It's complicated... the chronology in the book says it takes place before Aftermath.

But the Del Rey timeline puts it between Aftermath and Life Debt.

http://www.randomhousebooks.com/campaign/star-wars-timeline/

There is no official timeline with all the products, the above is just for the Del Rey adult novels, plus, Lucasfilm seems uninterested in assigning specific dates this time, so the next best thing you can do is use the Wookieepedia:

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline_of_canon_books

(That's for novels, there's another for comics).

 

The events of Alphabet Squadron #1 are around the time of Aftermath #1 more or less.

The reason it is listed before is so not to break up the Aftermath trilogy.

The placement in the online link is incorrect and will likely be updated.