Reviews Books The JC Reviews Special: ALPHABET SQUADRON: VICTORY'S PRICE (spoilers)

Alphabet Squadron: Victory's Price by Alexander Freed

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As war rages on the stakes often grow ever higher and higher, which often leads to a higher price paid for one side to attain victory over the other. Commanders and soldiers alike will often be pushed to the absolute limit in their pursuit of that victory, and will likely lose a part of themselves even after an ultimate win. The pilots of Alphabet Squadron have been through hell and back in their campaign to hunt down and destroy Shadow Wing, and with the Galactic Civil War about to come to an explosive finish, each of them is put to the test, and not all of them emerge unscathed.

The last book was analogous to The Empire Strikes Back with most of the squadron broken up for most of the book, so it was nice to have them all together again here as the war winds down. And even though Yrica has rejoined Shadow Wing, she’s been on the other side long enough to know that this band of Imperials has to be taken out, so in spirit her goals are aligned with her Republic compatriots’. Indeed it doesn’t take long for them to warm back up to her once they’re reunited; there’s a lot of gritty depressing reality in this trilogy, which is a strength of Freed’s but it can also make reading these stories a rollercoaster of emotions, so every member of Alphabet Squadron not only surviving the war but all basically given happy endings was a nice treat, even though some of them are permanently scarred from their final battles. I also liked that they played a small but vital role at the Battle of Jakku; Freed definitely tools cues from Aftermath with his depiction of the wild desperation on both sides, which made this unseen aspect of the battle all the more tense. Even Hera’s role saw her face great danger in the final round against Shadow Wing, pushing her to the limit just as much as her troops. And even though the day is won and Yrica redeems herself in the eyes of her squad mates, it is a costly victory that irrevocably changes the dynamics between them all.

While the character arcs were the strongest element of the book, I did enjoy the two major offensives between the Alphabets and Shadow Wing, as well as Yrica’s solo mission against Keize. I feel Freed almost wanted a whole book for the Chadawa campaign, but I think he did good enough introducing it then wrapping it up in time for the focus to shift to Jakku. He did manage to make it relevant with the inclusion of Shadow Wing using the Chadawan radioactive clouds at Jakku, which helped make the Jakku portion of the story stand out more from some previous depictions of the battle. And then Wyl’s decision to abstain from the fighting led to an interesting dynamic aboard Hera’s ship, as his presence ultimately paves the way for the final defeat of Shadow Wing. That left Yrica and Keize’s more personal struggle to round out the back half of the book, which was a strong conclusion for both their character arcs, as well as Kairos’, who finally got to shine in this book.

As the capper for this trilogy Victory’s Price does an excellent job of building on what came before and guiding us to logical destinations for the eclectic pilots of Alphabet Squadron. Freed has a knack for telling the stories of the little guys caught in these expansive galactic conflicts, so it’s no surprise he managed to deliver an entire trilogy about some messed up normies fighting little fights in such an epic war and still make it highly entertaining and enthralling.

I give this a 9.25 out of 10 for a very satisfying conclusion to this starfighter trilogy about quirky pilots and their quirky battles.