Stackpole, Michael

• Series: X-Wing
  • Rogue Squadron (8)
  • Wedge's Gamble (8)
  • The Krytos Trap (8)
  • The Bacta War (8)

    • Really a solid series. This is the first Star Wars series I've read that doesn't center on the main characters from the movie trilogy (Luke, Han, Leia et al). In fact, the biggest "name" character who appears with regularity in this series is Wedge, and I like to see him fleshed out a bit. I think writing about non-major characters gives Stackpole a bit more freedom than most authors in this series are allowed, and it also makes the outcome much less predictable (after all, do you honestly ever feel that Luke is in mortal danger at any point in any SW book?)

      Anyway, the best part of this series is the fast pace and the tight writing. Stackpole doesn't waste much time between the squadron planning an action and then the action, and the intricacies of strategy and tactics haven't seen a treatment this impressive since Zahn's trilogy (and even then, it was mostly the first book when Thrawn was at his best). Of course, there are some things you buy into when you read SW, such as the idea that it is the rare soldier for the Empire who is able to shoot straight or that all the commanders have a disturbing tendency to be overconfident.

      Much of the series centers on a young pilot named Corran Horn, who is a bit of a Luke Skywalker type (with some of Han's cloak-and-dagger Corellian background thrown in). The other members of the squadron make up a good, interesting bunch, and there weren't so many characters that I was overwhelmed. All in all, this ranks as the second best series in the genre, behind Zahn's Three-Book Cycle.

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