Do you know that feeling where you never knew you wanted something until you found it? Well, that’s what happened to me with the first novel in the X-Wing series. This action-packed story, which is basically Top Gun in Star Wars, is entertaining and fun to read. It is not my favorite Star Wars book, and it definitely isn’t perfect, but it is enjoyable nonetheless.
I was really happy to jump into this book because I was excited to see more of Wedge! Although I haven’t read as much about him as I would like, I am still a huge fan of his character.
I loved how Stackpole focused a lot on Wedge’s struggle of wanting to keep his people safe. Well, maybe not safe, but alive. Wedge is forming a new Rogue Squadron, and the members will have to face dangerous tasks and attempt impossible missions, and Wedge feels responsible for these people. He is torn between wanting to do what needs to be done and wanting to keep everyone in the squad from dying.
This book is very fast-paced and does a good job of keeping the story moving, and there are lots of space battles and dogfights. In my opinion, space battles are usually hard to capture in books. There are certainly some amazing ones across the EU, but I typically prefer watching space battles rather than reading them. However, I still really liked Rogue Squadron; I liked all the battles, and they didn’t absolutely confuse me. (For the most part, anyway.)
This book proves that there can be Star wars without Jedi and lightsabers and all that. I will always love Jedi stories, but not everything needs to be about that, and it’s nice to get something different. And Rogue Squadron is very different; I have never read a Star Wars book like it.
My major complaint with this book is that there is just so much going on. With so many plot lines and characters, it was hard to keep them all straight, and it was slightly confusing at times. I feel like it could have been tidied up a bit, to make everything come together a little easier. Michael A. Stackpole (in my opinion) is not the best writer. Maybe it’s because I’ve been spoiled with Timothy Zahn, but I couldn’t connect with Stackpole's writing style the way I do with others. This is all just personal opinions, though.
Also, I’m sorry, but I don’t love Corran. I find him insufferable most of the time, but I’m willing to give him a second chance in future books. On the other hand, I am really liking Tycho Celchu. I don’t have much to say about him now, but I’m looking forward to reading more about him.
So, I do have some complaints, but overall, I think Rogue Squadron is a good, fun Star Wars story, and I definitely recommend it. I’d give it somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars out of 5.
