Customer Reviews

Iron Fist (Star Wars: X-Wing Series, Book 6)

5 star:		(59)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Star Wars books sometimes suffer from life- and galaxy-shattering plots, to the point the they are often depressing, unbelievable, and sometimes just stupid. The Wraith Trilogy (Rogue Squadron: Wraith Squadron/Iron Fist/Solo Command) is almost the antithesis, injected with humor and life, even though the characters are self-professed screw-ups about to be washed out of piloting. Instead of being a lot about piloting and aerial dogfights, this unit is made up of commandos who are also great pilots. The characters are mainly new and untried, and desperate to impress their commander, Wedge Antilles, hero of the New Republic, who creates this unit to meet a real need. The Wraiths learn to trust each other, cheer together when they succeed and cry real tears when missions don't go according to their plan, and they lose friends and comrades. Though these stories were obviously conceived to dove-tail into "The Courtship of Princess Leia," they are great stories, with many funny lines and situations. Its not all comedy -- the unit helps one member through manic depression and career-ending insanity, another is a spy who ends up wanting to be just an honest pilot, another is a former slave who is forced to murder a squadron mate, yet another realizes that he is the killer of the father of one of his pilots, another seeks to contact a traitor to learn about his sister, etc. Heady and heavy stuff! Since none of these are main or film characters, there is no fear of contradicting continuity for the characters of this series. I became a Star Wars novel fan through these lines of books. I admit, I am disappointed with most of the other novels, and always wish that more Wraith Squadron books could be written instead, even as children's books, if need be!

"Iron Fist" is the sixth book in the X-Wing series and is also the second volume in Aaron Allston's trilogy about the Wraith Squadron. After being formed by Wedge Antilles in "Wraith Squadron", the Wraiths are out to eliminate one the biggest enemies of the new Republic: the Warlord Zsinj. Unlike the legendary Rogue Squadron of the first four books, Wraith Squadron is more of a covert insurgent squadron than the elite pilots that comprise the Rogues. The purpose of the Wraiths is completely different.

To get close enough to Zsinj to destroy him, the Wraiths pose as a band of pirates looting and attacking former Empire outposts and installations. They come to the attention of Zsinj and the Wraiths finally have their chance to take out Zsinj, but the risk is great. Being identified as Republic will eliminate any chance of a covert action against Zsinj and the chance of all of the Wraiths being killed in action is great. But the mission is more important than their lives.

This book had a somewhat slow start, but Allston soon picked up the pace with well written space battles and a lot of humor. The humor is something that sets this little series apart. The Wraiths are almost constantly joking and pulling pranks on each other all the while working to complete their mission. It really is a treat to read for the Star Wars fan. The X-Wing books, "Iron Fist" included, seem to have a very good grasp of the heart of Star Wars. It's fun. These books would likely have made good movies had George Lucas decided to take the series in this direction. I scarcely need to recommend the sixth X-Wing book because anybody who has read this far certainly already enjoys the series. But, if a reader is looking to get into the Star Wars novels, the X-Wing series is an excellent place to begin. Start with "Rogue Squadron" and work through the series.

-Joe Sherry

I LOVE the Wraith books. However, this book was really sad. Without spoiling it for anyone, I will say that it made me cry and I stopped reading it and didn't pick it up again for almost two years! But it's a GREAT book, and I highly encourage you to read it. (But the sad part made me give it only four stars instead of five.)

Oh, and once again-Face and Phanan ROCK!!!

I have to admit, while I am definatly in favor of having the Star Wars storyline continued through novels, a vast majority of those which have been written and published have been far from up to snuff. Sure, Zahn's works a fabulous, and Mike Stackpole writes some pretty good stuff, but a lot of the Star Wars literature, like Anderson's and Hambly's books, leave A LOT to be desired.

Fortunatly, some visionary decided to allow Aaron Allston to try his hand at writing Star Wars. Allston takes Yoda's imfamous (and overused) words to heart and doesn't try, but does. The second X-Wing trilogy is, in my humble opinion, the finest work of Star Wars literature next to Zahn's books.

Iron Fist picks up right where Wraith Squadron left off. Having defeated Admiral Trigit, the Republic decides the time has come to go after Warlord Zsinj. Of course, it wouldn't be Wraith Squadron to do things the simple way and engage Zsinj in a head to head fight, so Allston concieves a clever (and often entertaining) means of getting to Zsinj covertly.

Like Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist demonstrates Allston's outstanding skill in portraying realistic characters. Each of the Wraiths has a distinct personality, and I generally found something to like about each of them. Particularly interesting is Lara Notsil, who I first feared would be generic. No spoilers, but she turns out to have a great deal more deapth than it originally appears.

Allston also does a great job of getting the reader to feel some emotions. The Wraiths, unlike Stackpole's Rogues, have a strong humorous side, and some of the practical jokes they pull on each other are laugh out loud riots. The infamous Lieutenant Kettch returns, and he has an even greater role here than in Wraith Squadron. But not everything is fun and games. The Wraiths, unlike the Rogues (am I getting repetitive?), are mortals, and they do die on occasion. In Iron Fist, Allston writes the greatest death scene in Star Wars history, one which truly conveys the pain felt for the loss of a friend.

Warlord Zsinj gets a larger role this time, giving the reader more imformation on his character. Zsinj, along with General Melvar, seem to have a bit more humor about them than most Imperials (for proof, check out the "New Oldtown" scene), but it makes them a little less generic, and Zsinj still does a far better job than most Star Wars antagonists at actually seeming threatening.

This is one of the greats as far as Star Wars literature goes. Read it, then get Solo Command. Because, believe it or not, as good as this one is, Solo Command is even better.

A great novel, I loved it. Exept for Zinsj's rediculous defeat at the conclusion of the novel (the way that MonCal cruiser succesfully battled two SSD's was almost like an ant beating up an elephant) and the fact that it adds yet another Super stardestroyer to the already enourmous amouth of vessels of this class in this series, I have no complaints.

I liked to see a bit of humour in a star Wars novel, most writers seem to forget that too was part of the original movies. The squadron's pilots acted in a way that I can imagine that real pilots do (joking around, arguing among themselves etc.). It wasn't all 'we have to defeat the empire or the galaxy will be lost' all over again. Zsinj was a believable evil-doer, and was just as mean and heartless as a good villian is supposed to be.

To my opinion, Allston's X-wing novels are a lot better than those written by Stackpole (which I myself consider to be not much more than fair, to be honest).

Iron Fist is the sixth book in the X-wing series and the second one by Aaron Allston after four by Michael Stackpole. In both of Mr. Allston's books, we follow the adventures of Wraith Squadron, a group of skilled pilots put together by Wedge Antilles basically to wreak havoc on Warlord Zsinj. The members of Wraith Squadron can certainly fly, but they are also competent commandos, snipers, spies, and infiltrators. The cast of characters has not changed dramatically from the previous book. They are an interesting mix of humans and aliens, and Antilles gives them a lot of freedom to innovate as they move from fight to fight.

In this book the members of Wraith Squadron changed tactics and posed as a pirate band in order to gain Zsinj's confidence and join his loose organization of raiders. In order to pull this off, they participate in several raids as pirates and manage to attract the attention of Warlord Zsinj. I found some of these raids to be confusing and kind of helter-skelter. However, Mr. Allston makes up for that with a huge battle at the end of the book. He also manages to leave plenty of room for the next book in the series.

Each of the books in the X-wing series includes a list of characters at the front of the book. The list also specifies species and home planets. This information is very handy and helps the reader to draw a mental picture of individuals, especially if you go to the trouble to read about the species in some of the Star Wars reference books such as The New Essential Guide to Alien Species. The characters are uniformly interesting even though some of their exploits are completely over the top. That really shouldn't bother most readers. If you are worried about things being over the top, you wouldn't be a Star Wars fan anyway.

The next book, X-wing: Solo Command, will continue the adventures of Wraith Squadron, and I look forward to it.

To be honest, space battles and action, action, action and nothing but action have never really been my thing. Oh, I like them, (otherwise why would I be a Star Wars
fan) but I generally prefer intracite plots and character interactions. It sounds impossible, but trust me on this one; this book has it all! Everything; plot, battles,
characters, you name it, was crafted together into one great story almost flawlessly. And as if that wasn't good enough, these books can also be hilarious! Anyway, the
Wraiths have survived their first mission together, but the trials have not ended for them. Zinj (or however you spell his name) still lives and rumers are beginning to
surface about the possiblity of Isard herself being still alive somewhere. In this book, the main focus shifts to a character I find most interesting, Garik "Face" Loran, a
former child actor who made Imperial propaganda "holoflicks". Anyway, I won't spoil the plot, but really, this book and the rest of the series is definitely worthwhile. I
was sitting on the edge of my seat during the battle scenes, rooting all the way for Face and Dia, and nearly in tears for Ton Phanan. :-( Speaking of Dia, I was very
glad for her edition to the cast; I hate to admit it, but before her I always saw Twi'lek females as being complete and total..., mostly, but Dia totally blew all my
expectations away, and new she's one of my favorites. I recommend this series mostly to adults and teenagers.

even though alston is a better author than stackpole, there are somethings i did;nt like about this book:

1)the very tedious missions that wraith squadron takes.

2)Han solo's pathetic "fleet" , consisting of the Mon Remonda.

3)Zsinj's defeat , he has two SSD's!!!! A mon calamari cruiser against two Super Star Destroyers!!!even with thier shields down , they should still be a tough target!!

it's still a good book though.

Aaron Allston does it again! Another AWESOME book! It's full of romance, action, suspence, and even tragedy. The kind of book I like to read.

this book series is amazing it has everything i want in it and more star wars x wing book series = the best of the best enough said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!