Lit Books Alphabet Squadron: Shadow Fall (book 2) by Alexander Freed - June 2020

https://www.starwars.com/news/nycc-...re-revealed-at-the-lucasfilm-publishing-panel

 

I love the title and can't wait to find out more. I wonder if Shadow Wing will join up with a larger Imperial force, or if they'll continue operating alone.

 

Can't say I'm crazy about the cover but as it says it isn't final. Do we have a publication date on this yet?

 

Thanks!

Edit - I've updated the thread title to add that info.

 

Those are just the promo pictures made for the first book, so I'd be shocked if they were on the final cover.

 

I can't wait. I really liked the first one, it really fleshed out Operation Cinder, and my hope is that this one and the following one do as well, maybe even lead up to the Battle of Jakku.

 

Jakku will probably be in the third book.


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That's the obvious way to go, so it wouldn't surprise me. Which makes me wonder if Jakku will be in the second book just to subvert expectations.

 

That would be interesting, have the third book detail what happens directly after the battle.

 

Last year, Del Rey’s excellent Star Wars novel series gave us a tale of damaged pilots amid the formation of the New Republic in Alphabet Squadron, a spiritual successor to the X-Wing books of the old Expanded Universe. Now, io9's got an exclusive look at the second book in the trilogy—where we’ll really get to know Alphabet’s mysterious remnant foes.

io9 is excited to reveal the very first look at the final cover for Alphabet Squadron: Shadow Fall, the second in Alexander Freed’s planned trilogy telling the story of the titular ragtag squadron of pilots brought together by New Republic Intelligence who, operating under General Hera Syndulla, go after the Imperial Navy’s 204th fighter wing: Shadow Wing, pilot Yrica Quell’s former unit.

Take a look at Shadow Fall’s cover, highlighting music-loving bomber pilot Chass na Chadic below, making its debut here on io9!

Shadow Fall will indeed catch us up on what General Syndulla and her unruly pilots in Alphabet Squadron are up to in their quest to stamp out the Imperial Remnant. But as the title implies, we’ll also be diving even deeper into the machinations of what Shadow Wing themselves are like. Now lead by Major Soran Keize—Yrica’s former mentor when she was part of the 204th—we’ll not just see their plans to go after the New Republic’s fledgling starfighter forces, but how what’s left of one of the Empire’s most elite fighter divisions is coping in a galaxy where their Empire has exploded right before their eyes.

Turns out, as you’ll see in our exclusive excerpt from Shadow Fall below, for some of the pilots the answer is “not well at all.”

Star Wars: Shadow Fall—An Alphabet Squadron Novel hits shelves June 23, 2020.

https://io9.gizmodo.com/in-this-exclusive-star-wars-alphabet-squadron-shadow-f-1841447414

 

That is a really cool excerpt, but it also made me realize I'm gonna have to read the first book again some point before Shadow Fall comes out - I barely remember what happened in it.

 

Same here. Much better on the cover though! I like it..

 

Which is why I'm holding off reading Bk 1 until next year.

 

Synopsis.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/609592/shadow-fall-star-wars-by-alexander-freed/

Spoiler

Alphabet Squadron’s hunt for the deadliest TIE fighters in the galaxy continues in this Star Wars adventure!

News of the New Republic’s victory still reverberates through the galaxy. In its wake, the capital ships of the newly legitimized galactic government journey to the farthest stars, seeking out and crushing the remnants of imperial tyranny. But some old ghosts are harder to banish than others. And none are more dangerous than Shadow Wing.

Yrica Quell’s ragtag Alphabet Squadron still leads the search for Shadow Wing, but they’re no closer to their goal—and the pressure to find their quarry before it’s too late has begun to shake them apart. Determined to finish the fight once and for all, Quell works with New Republic Intelligence’s contentious Caern Adan and the legendary General Hera Syndulla to prepare the riskiest gambit of her starfighting career—a trap for Shadow Wing that could finish the chase once and for all.

But in the darkness, their enemy has evolved. Soran Keize, last of the Imperial aces, has stepped into the power vacuum at the head of Shadow Wing, reinvigorating the faltering unit in their hour of need. Once adrift in the aftershocks of the war, Keize has found meaning again, leading the lost soldiers of his unit through to safety. The only thing standing in his way? The most mismatched squadron in the New Republic Navy, led by his former mentee: the traitor Yrica Quell.

 

I'm personally hoping Hera gets some time with

Spoiler

her son. He's long overdue to at least get one name drop here or there.

 

Am looking forward to this one. But still reading book one, though, which I got only months ago (it's also my sole hardback, as it failed to come out in paperback in time to be a gift) Do wonder if Alphabet Squadron will ever be larger than five pilots, though...

 

Yeah, in the real world, five ships aren't a squadron, just a flight.

 

Someone please tell the new canon writers that.

Phantom Squadron, Corona Squadron and Blade Squadron are implied to be less than six fighters or less.

 

I guess they define squadron differently in the GFFA.

 

Legends at least up to Destiny's Way indicated squadrons were made up of 12 fighters.

 

isn’t Alphabet Squadron just a nickname and the real name is like the New Republic Intelligence Working Group On The 204th Imperial Fighter Wing or something?


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May be. And they don't even have a U-Wing copilot, yet.
(for One Canoners, also, the story seems to fit around the Moorja/Kalarba phase of NR advance, or maybe sooner. Assume some speeding up, perhaps)

 

Was the first book any good? I never read it.
What is the main plotline?