6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
good, but not great, January 15, 2000
By A Customer
Although I was pleased to see the return of the Rouges in this book, I thought that the last Rouge Squadron based novel did a good job of tying up all the loose ends with the characters, which lead to this book running low on character development. The return of Isard was a big disappointment at the start, because the first four books were dedicated to her downfall and her "death". I felt as if Stackpole ran out of ideas for villains and was just using an old one to create a new book, but then as the plot progressed I ended up liking the book, as Stackpole used his fleshed out characters like Corran and Gavin, and highly descriptive battle sequences to move the mediocre plot along. Overall a fun read but lacking depth.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Rogue Squadron returns for an encore, November 27, 2001
After Allston's three-book cycle, Stackpole returns with another X-Wing book to tie up the loose ends from his previous novel, The Bacta War. While Isard's Revenge is an excellent read, I have to say that it's biggest strength is Stackpole's excellent writing style. His plot threads for this one are slightly lacking.
Isard's Revenge covers everything Stackpole has ever written on Rogue Squadron. This includes the novels AND the comics, for those who think Krennel was a one-shot character. While it's not really necessary to read the comics, they do supplement the book rather nicely. In fact, halfway through I actually went out and picked up the comics. The book picks up at the very end of Zahn's novel "The Last Command" (in fact, Tycho's dialogue is pulled word-for-word.) After the battle, the New Republic decides to go after the remaining Imperials, and choose Krennel as their target. Through a series of plot twists, Rogue Squadron is assumed dead, and teams up with Isard to destroy Krennel.
Stackpole's biggest problem has always been character development. He gets Corran, Gavin, and Wedge down just fine, but long-standing characters such as Inryi Forge and Ooryl are still releatively underdeveloped. Especially lacking is Hobbie; one would think that after been left out of seven X-Wing books, he would finally get some decent dialogue. Also, you can immediately pick out from the Dramatis Personne who dies and who lives. Stackpole has written himself into a corner in that he doesn't have any characters he's willing to sacrifice.
The plot and various sub-plots don't really kick in till halfway through the novel when Isard shows up. With that said, there's some really good stuff here, including Asyr and Borsk, the mini-adventure the droids have, and seeing Wedge finally get promoted to general. Stackpole has also learned to tighten his dogfight scenes, though the amount of description he puts into each and every exploding TIE Fighter can be overkill. There are times when simply stating "the TIE Fighter exploded in his viewport" will sufficed.
Isard's Revenge comes recommended because of Stackpole's writing style and the fact that it ties up the X-Wing series nicely. It may not quite be up to the standards of the previous books in the X-Wing series, especially when compared to the character development of Allston, but it is still superior to most Star Wars novels.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very good, December 17, 1999
By A Customer
I was extreamly thrilled when Stackpole started writing the X-wing series again. Although Alston has done a formiable job, and provided tons of humor, Stackpole is king. I admit, Gavin Darklighter is my favorite character, so one who's read the book would understand why I was so mad. I use 'mad' strongly here, 'cause they won't let me type anything stronger. I did not understand Asyr's 'mission', nor did I get the need for Iella and Mirax to help her. It was ironic how Mirax was off helping Asyr, and Corran was helping Gavin. OK, that sorta gives it away. Sorry. :) I will say that this book *can* get boring at times, and I didn't understand some. But I thought it was worth my money, and hey, you can always return it and say the "I never read it" kinda thing. ~Nishana
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
