Michael A. Stackpole

I love the character Trick Molloy and I wish there was a whole series of books based on him. I read a short story with him in it in another collection of short stories by various authors, and I enjoyed it so much that I searched for more and found this. The stories are good, but it only makes me wish there were more.

I really like the worldbuilding and how magic is acquired. People who are born with a talent might not even know it. And even if they are born talented, they have to find their show more "trigger"... what makes their magic strong and powerful. For Trick it's Irish whiskey. The better the booze, the better the power. And those with power have different access to certain elements like fire or water. The tidbits about his background and his family, especially his brother Harry, are so fascinating and they are perfect antagonists. Also love Trick's relationship and banter with his mother, which is snarky and sarcastic and hilarious. He is clearly the black sheep and the child she wishes she could forget.

And Trick's grandmother comes up in some of the stories and is especially interesting in the ways she uses her magic and her love and relationship with Trick. Would love to know more about her background and life... heck, she'd be a thick book on her own I imagine.

And to add to the list of fascinating characters, some of Trick's cousins have stories begging to be told as well, especially his cousin Loki, whose trigger is pain, and who is so powerful that the lust for pain and destruction can take him over in a way that can be extremely dangerous, both to friends and foe, and to his own mind as well. Trick seems one of the very few people who can manage to help him regain his control, but it's clear that it may not always be the case.

So many cool ideas and people and stories still waiting to be told. Like I said... I wish the author would write a series and expand on these short glimpses into the cool dark and gritty world of crime and magic he's created around this charcter. show less

If the author doesn't play wow then he is one heck of a fine study on the subject. There exists in this book so many small points that only someone who plays would even note- like how trolls crouch at times when standing about. So many references, my inner lore nerd was thrilled!

For match up purposes, this book is set right after the Blood in the Snow scenario. Garrosh, still the Horde Warchief, gives Voljin a little mission and he accepts fully knowing it was a trap.

I was delighted with show more this book. It's definitely one of the best wow books out there. Voljin is my favorite lore character and I enjoyed the authors take. While I knew he would selflessly put his family before himself, I never knew of the pride he felt over his race and of being a shadow hunter. Learning about how trolls view the Loa and how shadow hunters view them was very exciting.

Before I gush too much let me just say if u are a wow fan, a troll fan or just a big ol' lore nerd like me, get this book. show less

One of the best things about Stackpole is that he always moves in an unanticipated direction. Not a twist, like Shyamalan, but something novel.

In The Dark Glory War, Tarrant Hawkins is on the cusp of manhood when the ancient evil of the north reawakens. So far, this is standard fantasy in structure- but then Tarrant goes on to become not the main hero (even if the main character) but then turn around and become a true hero.

Simultaneously politics conspire against him.

The world building, as show more is common for Stackpole, is both quickly done but with a sense of historic depth. Tarrant is something of a golden hero character, straight-forwardly written: I believe this is a setup against the end, where the hero debatably fails.

Recommended for both the journey and the result show less

Part of the problem I think the X-Wing Rogue Squadron comic book series suffers from is that it's hard to cram a squadron's worth of characters into four-issue story arcs, making it hard for the reader to glom on to anyone-- even the series's ostensible lead in Wedge Antilles is thinly characterized most of the time, a far cry from Stackpole's strong work in the X-Wing novels. But Volume 3 is better in this regard, because it has a strong central character: Baron Soontir Fel. An Imperial show more pilot who trained with Han Solo and trained several of Rogue Squadron's best, Fel spends this volume questioning his long-time allegiance to the Empire and beginning to admire the political ideals of the burgeoning New Republic. Volume 3 is his story more than it is that of any other Rogue, and it is all the stronger for it. This is a character who is much referenced in the Star Wars novels of Stackpole, Allston, and Zahn, but little seen, so I was happy to finally get to see him in action during his prime.

That said, the other Rogues come out pretty okay. Perhaps best done by throughout the book is the trio of Ibitsam, Nrin Vakil, and Xarcce Huwla. As a Calamari and a Quarren, Ibitsam and Nrin should have a racial antagonism... but despite their species gap, they soon realize they have something else entirely. And Xarcce starts out wanting to leave the Rogues thanks to the squadron's high death ratio, but eventually integrates in quite nicely, making friend with the other two. The best stories here (other than the Fel-centric ones, "In the Empire's Service" and "The Making of Baron Fel") are "Family Ties," which sees Wes, Hobbie, and Plourr on a mission to Corellia where they meet future Rogue Squadron member Corran Horn, and "Masquerade," a madcap story of switching identities which spotlights Tycho Celchu and cameos Han and Leia.

On the other hand, the difficulty of portraying exciting dogfights in comic book format means that, as usual, there's a lot of pilots undertaking commando/intelligence missions for no readily apparent reasons. No one other than Wedge can be found to accompany Leia to her negotiations with Emperor Pestage? And the machinations of Ysanne Isard often drive the story more often than is healthy for it, even if she is the villain; the political maneuvering is usually drawn with too broad a brush to be worth all the time Stackpole devotes to it. Someone as dumb as Pestage is shown to be here would not have lasted over twenty years at Palpatine's side.

The art looks nice, a cartoony style well-suited to the book, but perhaps the reason I felt that Fel, Ibitsam, Nrin, and Xarcce were characterized best is because I could always recognize them; there were times when I could not tell any of the Rebel male characters (Wedge, Wes, Tycho, and Hobbie) apart, as they are shown to have similar faces-- and there's not much else to go on when someone's in a flight suit! Less generic art might have led to less generic personalities. But aside from that, this was definitely the sharpest, most focused of all the volumes of X-Wing Rogue Squadron. It's a shame the series was canceled after this, as I would have liked to have seen where it went next, with a whole 'nother year of story time before it had to dovetail into the beginning of the novel series. show less