“You know your squadron will fight, but will they fight for you?”
– Hera Syndulla

I like Alexander Freed.
As a fan of Star Wars Battlefront: Twilight Company and the novelization of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story I kinda already knew that but here we are.

In fact, even if you hadn’t read either of those books I think you can kind of take the tone of Rogue One and understand the tone of his writing in these books.

Alphabet Squadron doesn’t have a lot of “fun” moments but really fits MUCH more in line with the Rogue One and Battlefront mentality.

Every day people in war.

No heroes, just the mission, and all those who live on for the next one.

I really enjoyed this book and love meeting new Star Wars characters.

The setting is about 5 months after the Battle of Endor and we watch these characters um… assemble?

Can I say that? That’s what it felt like.

Also… the audiobook ROCKS. This might not be the first time I’m hearing some unfamiliar music but it definitely stands out and elevates the material! The performance and production as always are on point!

There’s a lot of little cool things that I dug in this book. Operation Cinder, the Emperor’s Messenger, the balasar, Liana Hallik, Separatists, The Spectres, Verpines on Abednedo, Ghosts in the Jendorn system, HERA SYNDULLA, Wings of the Master memories, Mon Mothma’s speech, masked martial arts, General Skywalker, “Rebellions are built of hope”, The Cavern Angels, an alphabet tattoo, The sympathetic torture droid, and Shadow Wing!

This book is super enjoyable with starfighter action and opening a trilogy! There’s also a tie in Marvel comic called TIE Fighter that connects to the story a bit and tells some Shadow Wing business. I can’t wait to see what’s next for Alphabet Squadron and I’m eager to spend more time with these characters!

– Sal P.

“War is always monstrous. But that doesn’t make us monsters.”

– Soren Keize