Isard's Revenge

X-Wing - Isard's Revenge: Clinging to the Past
Before I get into this novel, I have to say that I have a natural distaste for authors who feel that they can only cling to material they've previously created. I thought that Allston did a great job of expanding this series of novels by adding new faces (pun intended) and plots. With Stackpole's anticipated return to the series, he really just ignored most of what Allston did and dove right back to where he left off with Rogue Squadron's story. To me, that has always seemed like a lazy approach. I've seen it time and again with other writers within the EU - even Zahn who is often so highly regarded by the fanbase (Thrawn, Thrawn, Thrawn - lather/rinse/repeat).

Having said all of that, I show more thought that this novel was a rather interesting read. It had plenty of action and intrigue that we've come to expect from the X-Wing series, plus it contained several side-plots. I enjoyed the Mirax/Iella investigation as well as the little story of Whistler leading the bold escape with Gate and their unlikely travels (reminiscent of an R2/3P0 escapade). The only fault I give to the story is that it felt like it was trying to be too clever. The constant uncertainty about Isard's true motivations and intentions throughout the novel made it difficult for me to keep the narrative straight in my head. I was constantly warring with myself to the tune of "Is this what's really going down or is this just what she wants us to think? She said THIS to Krennel but told Antilles THAT so which is the truth, which is the lie, and who is being played against who?" Of course, the book on Isard is trust nothing so I believed nothing, but it turned out that at least some of the lies were half-truths.

I guess I tend to like my books with easy-to-grasp twists. This is why I don't tend to enjoy spy thrillers. I can handle the twists if you spell them out for me clearly and stick to it. In the end, though, it was a pleasurable read with familiar faces and it does a nice job of filling in some timeline gaps. I felt that the foreshadowing of "I Jedi" was a bit blatant (and slightly obnoxious) but you can't blame Stackpole for the marketing ploy. show less

Isard's back! And this time she wants to help Rogue Squadron, or does she.... And there seems to be two of her. Rogue Squadron is back and they are going up against Admiral Krennel's Hegemony. While attacking one of his planets they find a group testing new parts for a death star. Which leads them into an ambush where they are seemingly wiped out. As is usually the case, they return from the dead.

This is the eight big in the series and it sees the return of Michael A. Stackpole as the author. What can I say, I'm a fan. I love the series and this one lived up to that love.

The sound effects and music made the story more fun than it otherwise might have been. Anthony Heald did a good job of reading it. The scene with the X-Wings ripping through the AT-AT's (as seen on the cover) reminded me of a Star Wars RPG game I played in my youth, wherein I took an X-Wing against an AT-AT and ripped through it - prompting us all to ask - why didn't the rebels send their X-Wings against the AT-ATs on Hoth? (Our answer was that X-Wings couldn't actually fly on planets - that they had to take off with rocket-like speed to escape the gravity, and why Luke had to crash-land his X-Wing on Dagobah, and could only glide to a landing like the space shuttle - obviously none of that true as the X-Wings could take on the AT-ATs show more in this book, again prompting the question - why didn't the rebels use X-Wings against the AT-ATs on Hoth?)

Anyway, my biggest problem with the story was character development - there was none. Everyone was logical and was easily swayed by logical argument, something that rarely happens in real life. Also, the end where Asyr decides to conveniently use her assumed death to avoid dealing with her bi-racial marriage to change the Bothan culture from within was terrible. Seriously? That's like a war hero from Iraq coming to America, presumed dead, to change the American culture. That was a cop-out on the author's part, and horribly unrealistic. Plus, the pilots who knew she was alive promised to keep her secret, even though one of their friends was hurt by this? Come on.

My second biggest problem was that too many opportunities were wasted for real sacrifice. Everyone presumed dead lived through the experience. No one on the good guy side actually died. Wouldn't it be nice for our soldiers if it really happened that way in war? Even in the movies, Ewoks and rebel soldiers died.

My third biggest problem was that too many of the characters had names that were too similar when read. Iella, Ooryl, Asyr, and Isard don't sound very different when read. There were WAY too many characters and planet names with a K sound (Krennel, Corann, etc). I got lost on which pilot was which. show less

This one didn't grab me as much as some of the earlier X-Wing books. Way too many battle scenes, weak plot, and the characters didn't even really seem all that much like themselves. The time leap forward from the earlier X-Wing books was also a bit confusing; I had actually been confused and figured before that *all* of the X-Wing books came after Thrawn, though apparently not. Where *was* Pellaeon? Bah. Still, Mirax and Iella were cool. And Whistler, man, he's got it all over R2D2. Stackpole has still got it all over Allston, too, for that matter.

Plot: Contrieved, even for a Star Wars novel. The main issue is that an old (and presumably beaten and killed) villain is brought back and serves as not much more than a justification to write another book. It would have worked if there had been fewer plotholes and deus-ex-machina moments involved. Terrible end for the main plot. Some of the subplots are entertaining, but the main plot falls flat.

Characters: Stackpole brings back his own cast, plus additions (half of who end up as cannonfodder since known characters are so much harder to kill). There are too many of them for anyone to get decent characterization. The main characters have already been sketched in previous books, so they need less attention in that regard, but new show more characters don't even get a token effort. Also, the villains are all painfully stereotyped.

Style: Too much mysticism and head games for this kind of book. The pacing and setup is routine, the ending feels rushed without a proper build-up to it. Space fights are terribly written.

Plus: Some minor characters get good scenes.

Minus: It's an unnecessary book that asks for logic to be suspeded quite a few times.

Summary: Average quality for a Star Wars book, but it doesn't belong with the X-Wing series. show less

Not my favorite in the series but I did enjoy it.

I liked the parts where they were actually in their cockpits.