Book Review: Star Wars: X-Wing: Wedge's Gamble SPOILERS!

In 1996, author Michael A. Stackpole returned to pen a second Star Wars X-Wing novel. This time, the Battle for Coruscant is the deciding blow against Imperial Forces as Rogue Squadron takes center stage ont eh metropolis world. Synopsis: Sleek, swift, and deadly, they are the X-wing fighters. And as the battle against the Empire rages across the vastness of space, the pilots risk both their lives and their machines for the cause of the Rebel Alliance. Now they must embark on a dangerous espionage mission, braving betrayal and death on the Imperial homeworld to smash the power of a ruthless foe! It is the evil heart of a battered and reeling Empire: Coruscant, the giant city-world from whose massive towers the Imperial High Command directs the war. The Rebels will invade this mighty citadel in a daring move to bring the Empire to its knees. But first Wedge Antilles and his X-wing pilots must infiltrate Coruscant to gain vital intelligence information. Capture means death, or worse--enslavement by the vicious leader known as "Iceheart," Ysanne Isard, now Emperor in all but name. And one of Rogue Squadron's own is already her slave, a traitor hidden behind a mask of innocence, working to betray both colleagues and the Rebellion itself.

The novel opens with Corran Horn and two Y-Wing bombers of Champion Squadron as they battle Imperial TIE-Fighters and the freighter Vengeance Derra IV above Borleias. The Imperials are a scouting team from Warlord Zsinj as he assesses the New Republic's forward base in the push for Coruscant. The Imperials lose and Vengeance flees. Cmdr. Wedge Antilles welcomes Capt. Aril Nunb and Lt. Pash Cracken to Rogue Squadron. Corran's suspicious of Tycho Celchu, believing him to be a spy for Ysanne "Iceheart" Isard when he was captured and imprisoned on Lusankya. The Rogues and the Katarn Commandos, led by Lt. Judder Page, break some high risk prisoners out of Kessel to aid in the taking of Coruscant: mainly Black Sun members such as Zekka Thyne, Fliry Vorru, and others, including Inyri Forge, sister of recently deceased Lujayne Forge. The Rogues are told, in groups of two, about the Coruscant campaign. Corran's paired up with Erisi Dlarit. On Coruscant, Kirtan Loor and General Evir Derricote concoct the Krytos virus and figure out how best to distribute it so that when the New Republic takes Coruscant, the aliens all die. Kirtan wants to do so without harming every species to encourage the dissident aliens to join the fledgling Galactic Empire. Gavin Darklighter, Nawara Ven, Rhysati Ynr, and Aril Nunb learn from the Bothan Asyr Sei'lar and her friends that Imperials are capturing aliens for unknown reasons. The Imps raid the place where Asyr and her friends are about to kill Gavin for being a bigot. Gavin saves Asyr from death but Aril Nunb is captured. Everyone regroups and Thyne's wounded. Corran voices his suspicion about Tycho, but Wedge tells him to leave it. Loor threatens Derricote over the fate of all Sullustans. The Imps storm Rogue Squadron's hide-hole and Thyne dies, but not before revealing to Corran that he and a Rogue Squadron member betrayed them to the Imperials. Corran suspects Tycho even further. Tycho arrives and tells Wedge that they have 48 hours to take out Coruscant's shields. The shields fall and the Battle for Coruscant begins. During the battle, Corran is shot down. The battle ends and Tycho is arrested for Corran's murder. In Lusankya, Isard taunts Corran about breaking him like she did Tycho.

One of the best X-Wing novels by Stackpole. It vividly details that entire operation to take Coruscant away from Imperial forces. A great read for anyone interested in the X-Wing series and ship fighting and stealth operations in general.

Book Review: Honor Harrington: On Basilisk Station SPOILERS!

First published in April 1993, David Weber put to use his knoweldge of military and history to form one of the most compelling series every. And it all started with Honor Harrington: On Basilisk Station. Synopsis: Honor in trouble: Having made him look the fool, she's been exiled to Basilisk Station in disgrace and set up for ruin by a superior who hates her; Her demoralized crew blames her for their ship's humiliating posting to an out-of-the-way picket station; The aborigines of the system's only habitual planet are smoking homicide-inducing hallucinogens; Parliament isn't sure it wants to keep the place; the major local industry is smuggling; the merchant cartels want her head; the star-conquering, so called "Republic" of Haven is Up To Something; and Honor Harrington has a single, over-age light cruiser with an armament that doesn't work to police the entire star system. But the people out to get her have made one mistake. They've made her mad.

The novel opens in a prologue with a meeting between Havenite president Haris talking to his cabinet about their shrinking economy amongst their cluster of planets. They decide that war is the way and with that will come more planets and, more importantly, money. On the Manticoran Space Station Hephaestus, Commander Honor Harrington and her treecat, Nimitz, board Honor's assigned HMS Fearless from it's former commanding officer, a Lieutenant Commander named Alistair McKeon, who's somewhat resentful for the fact that he didn't get command. They take Fearless out for the war games where the head of R&D, Admiral Sonja Hemphill, wants to test a new toy that ultimately prove useless after the initial surprise attack. When her side loses the game, and in anger, they ship Honor and her crew, plus Fearless to the most useless place in the Manticoran Empire, Basilisk Station. Once there, Honor's former rival and that man who raped her in the academy, Pavel Young, the son and heir to the current Earl North Hollow, commands that station and abadnons her when she arrives, claiming his ship is due for maintenance--which it does and his crew rebels against him when he returns to Hephaestus for plot related reasons.

Once there, Honor senses the anger and hatred for her that her crew has because they're been shipped--exiled--to Basilisk Station. She demands that her crew get over it and works them past their abilities to get Basilisk Station back to operational status as befits with the Queen's will. The Havenites, who have been bribing certain politicos in the Empire, want Basilisk for their war strategy. After refusing to accept bribes, backdown, or even see common sense, and months after having used her ships probes short-range probes to become more effective and long-range sensors and getting the Basilikan population of indigenous beings under some control, the Havenites launch their strategy via rebellious indigs who are drug dealers but are stopped when the Marine guard under Honor prevent them from fully staging the coup. Honor, meanwhile, fights dirty with the lone Havenite ship at the edge of the Basilisk system. Fearless becomes heavily damaged during the fight and the Havenite commander moves in for the kill but dies surprised when Honor uses Adml Hemphill's toy against them and destroys the Havenite ship. At the end, the Manticoran Navy arrives to stop the rest of the Havenites from encroaching on Basilisk and Honor and the crew of Fearless head back home.

All in all, a great start to one of the best science-fiction sagas out there and proves why David Weber is one of the best in military sci-fi. He knows his stuff and isn't afraid to show it. For those people who like Lois McMaster Bujold, you're really going to love David Weber's Honor Harrington series.

Book Review: Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance SPOILERS!

The first ever The Old Republic novel is penned by Sean Williams. Don't let the following synopsis fool you, though. It doesn't happen like that till half-way through the novel, much like a Kevin J. Anderson novel. It also contains one big discrepancy: Satele Shan is listed as the Grand Master when the events of the trailer Deceived take place weeks before—that's what the book leads one to believe, anyway—when she was a Jedi Padawan. Synopsis: From across the galaxy they've come: agents of both the Republic and the Sith Empire, an investigating Jedi Padawan, an ex-trooper drummed out of the Republic's elite Blackstar Squad, and a mysterious Mandalorian. An extraordinary auction has drawn them all together—in quest of a prize only one can claim. Each is prepared to do what he must to possess the treasure, whose value may be the wealth of a world itself. None intended to leave empty-handed. All have secrets, desires, and schemes. An nothing could ever unite them as allies—except the truth about the deadly danger of the object they covet. But can Sith and Jedi, Republic and Empire—enemies for millennia—join as one against the certain doom of the galaxy?

The novel opens in Wild Space, where Jet Nebula, in the Auriga Fire, has captured the Cinzia. After a failed attempt to board it, Jet pilots the Fire away as Cinzia explodes. They scan the wreckage and notice something. On Coruscant, Jedi Padawan Shigar Konshi storms through the skywalks on a mission for the Order, seething from his meeting with the Jedi Council on Tython where they passed over him for testing in the Trials to become a Knight. A violent confrontation takes place in a nearby warehouse where former Republic trooper Larin Moxla confronts the sole survivor, and instigator, of the conflict, Mandalorian warrior Dao Stryver. After a brief fight with each other, Shigar and Larin team up to find Styver and figure out what Cinzia and Lema Xandret mean. On Dromund Kaas, in Kaas City, Sith apprentice Eldon Ax, recently returned from failed a mission her master Sith Lord Darth Chratis sent her on, is asked by the Dark Council and Chratis about the mission. She reports failure but Darth Howl is lenient and demands that Chratis tell Eldon everything. Eldon is Cinzia nad her mother was Lema and all that was being blocked by Chratis. From Imperial Intelligence, they learn that the cargo of the Cinzia ended up on Nal Hutta, in an auction the Hutts are holding. A Sith spy within the Republic, Ula Vii, hears rumors about Lema and the Cinzia and passes it to his Imperial masters where Chratis and Eldon are about to depart for Hutt Space.

All four journeys are made: Shigar and Larin, Chratis and Eldon, Ula, and Stryver. They all meet in a violent clash of interests that ends up with a small group of hexagonal droids attacking them. Though they're destroyed, Stryver escapes with Cinzia's navicomputer. Eldon copies the memory hardware from one of the destroyed droids that might lead back to Cinzia's point of origin. Shigar and Larin deal with the primary Hutt auctioneer, Tassaa Bareesh, during the aftermath of the violence oer Cinzia's contents. They make a deal with the Hutt and are allowed to leave and continue with their journey.With a complemement of Bareesh's own guardds, Jet and Ula, Shigar is able to retrace the origin points via the Force. They leave for the origin planet, Sebaddon, located near a black hole on the very edge of the galaxy. The hexagonal droids seem too pwerful to stop, so the Republic and Empire fleets team up and destroy the droids, in spite of the problems between them. Plus Eldon and Satele accidentally kill a clone of Eldon who'd been unknowingly controlling the hex army. Eldon takes control of the hexes herself and commands them to kill Darth Chratis then orders the droids to destroy themselves in the lava of Sebaddon. The alliance breaks and the Republic and the Empire plunge back into war.The primary character's lives change for the better, including Eldon who is taken under the wing of Darth Howl.

All in all, a less than stellar Star Wars novel penned by one of the most mediocre authors for the franchise. The characters are stale and unmoving in their beliefs and literally are just one-dimensional characters that are cardboard cutouts. Other than the events, nothing really happens with the characters that makes the reader want to read this.