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

Just picked up...may be a little bit before I can really dive into it..spending weekends working on a friends barn.

 

Finished it today. Yrica Quell is quite possibly the worst person to be the protagonist of a Star Wars novel, and it is magnificently done, but dang is she loathsome.
More coherent thoughts to come when not getting kicked in the face by melatonin.

 

Ooooh now I'm interested. I really liked her in the first book.

 

Hopefully I will get my copy today from Amazon UK. I finished the re-read of the first book on Thursday.

 

Are there any familliar characters in this novel (Original Trilogy, Rebels, Resistance)?

 

Got my copy today. Delivery gods smiled upon me - guy dropped my package off around 11:15 AM. I got the 'out for delivery' email around a half hour earlier so I must have been one of the first stops.

 

Part of me wants Wordery to get their arse in gear and get my copy in the post, but since I'm going to wait until next year to read it, I can wait.

 

I got lucky on the shipping. The original delivery date was July 2-3, then it dropped to June 30, and this morning I got the delivery notice email. I'll probably start the book on Monday.

 

Don’t think there’s any OT characters in this book. Hera from Rebels is in it, just like the first one. No one from Resistance, although a book like this would be a perfect place to slot in a younger Yeager or Venisa Doza.


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ahhhh had to stop the audio novel after you know what happened out of shock, well-played Freed.

 

I'm up to Part 2 - pretty good so far.

 

My copy came in the mail a few days ago. I'm going to start reading tonight. I thought the first Alphabet Squadron was only okay, and it was one of the weakest Star Wars novels to me. Maybe I'll like this one better.

 

What didn't you like about Alphabet Squadron? Did you have the same issue with Twilight Company or the Rogue One novelization? Freed definitely has a specific style of writing, and I feel like Shadow Fall is the Freediest Freed book of them all.

 

Still not quite finished book 1, even. And would prefer to buy paperback, for the sequel. It's still been a pretty good, overall.
Also been seeking out Rise of Skywalker junior novel, but not found it stocked anywhere in few UK Midlands stores now open...

 

While Freed focusses on military units in his books, I really want to see him tackle non-military as he excells in details and worldbuilding around the usual military focussed plot.

 

The first Alphabet Squadron book also wasn't exactly my cup of tea, so I wasn't super excited about Shadow Fall. But I really enjoyed it, and now I'm definitely looking forward to the third book.

I was also a big fan of Twilight Company, so it was nice to see some of those characters reappear. (My big grudge with the new canon that I haven't gotten over yet is how Freed's worldbuilding with the Mid Rim campaign and retreat basically just got brushed aside by everything that came later.)

I think a lot of what I didn't enjoy about the first book was Nath and Adan's personalities, so having more of an established team dynamic from the beginning sanded some of the edges off their dickishness this time around.

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Funny experience today - chased Wordery about my copy.

They replied saying it wasn't out until September.

I replied saying their own page for the book said they had 50+ copies, but Chaos Rising is out September,

A short while later I got 'your copy is on the way' email.

 

I loved this book! I've really enjoyed all of Freed's work, but this is by far his best. I'm not going to do a proper review because I'm not picky and if the characters are good I'll love the book. Throw in good action and heavy/complex themes and it's even better. So Shadow Fall 99999/10. Yeah not a real score, but I'm not a poster who's opinion anyone is waiting for. These can't be compared to the original X-Wing books. Definitely not Allston's because they have such different times and styles. They're very different pilot stories and both accomplish their goals exceedingly well. Don't read Frees expecting Allston, and don't read Allston expecting Freed. Doing so is a disservice to both authors because they're so different. If you can't get enough New Republic fighter pilots read both authors and you'll have great character driven stories with phenomenal action.

Spoiler

That ending... I guess it was technically a New Republic victory, but it sure didn't feel like and not just because Shadow Wing escaped. The battle was brutal and the remaining members of Alphabet Squadron felt distant from one another when they reunited. The New Republic forces were decimated. And we'll, Yrica...

The way Yrica's last scenes were written made interpreting her redefection difficult. I feel like arguements could be made that she's trying to destroy Shadow Wing from within or that she's genuinely rejoining Shadow Wing. When she comes to the idea of pushing forward, she's talking to Adan about how he lives with doing terrible things and him saying he just moved forward and tries to do as much good as possible. But the next time she thinks about this, she's on her way to join the Empire. She does think of Adan and IT-O as friends, but Yrica is not a good person and I could see her still wanting to defect. Especially since she's thinking about how returning to the New Republic would get her killed and she wasn't ready to die. Her thoughts about others did seem more positive towards the New Republic. When she sees the battle, she thinks about how Shadow Wing was going to escape and the NR will have to start over. Since we don't see much of her thoughts, this could encourage her to defect thinking she could escape the New Republic.

However, Yrica's reaction to Hera is more positive than towards Kieze. When she hears Hera's voice she smiles, but when she hears Kieze she thinks about how different he seems. While heading towards Shadow Wing's ship, Yrica hears of a squadron leader getting shot down. She thinks about how this former squadmate wouldn't approve of her plan, which wouldn't fit if Yrica planned on becoming a loyal Imperial. She also thinks about how Hera wouldn't approve, but Alphabet Squadron would understand because they know she was responsible for destroying Nacronis. She isn't sure if Kieze will approve, but that fits with either interpretation. My thought is that Yrica realized she couldn't atone for her actions, and so is planning on destroying Shadow Wing from within as that's the only way to help Alphabet Squadron now. Then after she accomplishes her mission, she plans on turning herself in. Yrica isn't a good person, but I don't think she's happy with who she is. I do believe her friends in the NR had an impact on her.

I think this was the first Star Wars novel where the major space battle was in the middle of the book. It was fitting for a character driven story.

 

I'm not sure if they are all the way open yet. I know my local one has remained closed.