Discussion: Solo Command
[ Our Schedule | XW: RS | XW: WG | XW: KT | XW: BW | XW: WS | XW: IF | XW: SC ]
PSA: With the craptasticness of this last week, add another week to our reading time for Isard's Revenge. That is all. /psa
We close out the Wraith Squadron saga with Solo Command.
It's not my favourite out of the Wraith books, but it does have its own glorious moments.
The culmination of the Kettch prank and the subsequent discovery by Lara that, perhaps, the Wraiths weren't too far off the mark with the direction they had taken it back in Iron Fist. Shalla still holds the award for best line, with her "Nice rear, Lieutenant," comment, and Wes wins points for his reply to her. I totally think they should have hooked up :) I know fanfic exists in which they do. If you haven't gone looking for it yet, I highly recommend that you do. (I would direct you, but it's been so long that I'm not sure I still have the link.)
I actually really loved the bits on Iron Fist. Zsinj is a lot like Thrawn in that, despite being an opponent of the main characters, he's a point of view that the audience wouldn't mind seeing more of. Both the Admiral and the Warlord are of a certain calibre, where their military expertise makes them formidable, but that expertise ends up being their downfall in the long-run, for various reasons.
I found Han's character a little awkward, but then again, this is Han Solo out of his element, so I suppose that accounts for that?
An Wedge' character develops beautifully, with the emergence of a playful streak. We get to see that he isn't above being the prankster, or being the engineer of some happy-fun-timez. The weary old man who has yet to turn 30 is off-set by the young(er?) man that Wedge might have been had things turned out differently in his life.
I find the lack of resolution to the Zsinj problem in this novel a little problematic, but that's just me and the lack of a sense of closure, as it were, for the plot. I have read Courtship of Princess Leia, but I think I need to re-read it, because from what I recall of the plot, it didn't really offer closure on the Zsinj thing, either? And I found it an itty bit confusing at the time (which was about 10 years ago), so I think that, eventually, I need to re-read it.
One last note: I found the friendship between Han and Wedge a little weird to read about. I chalk that up to the fact that both men are good friends with Luke, and in my mind aren't really more than really, really good acquaintances, but there's tons of stuff between the lines that says the circumstances and very nature of the Rebellion would have had Han and Wedge working together for any length of time, specially since Han seems to out-rank Wedge at any given point in their history, save for ANH. Plus they share homeworlds, so that would also be a draw between them.
All-in-all, Solo Command rounds out the Wraith's story line nicely, and their re-branding as an Intel unit, while sad, is a nice fit for what the unit ended up evolving into during our time with it.
Sorry this took so long :) Those 2 weeks off threw my schedule WAY out of whack.
This entry was also posted at http://obiwanken5.dreamwidth.org/422281.html.
PSA: With the craptasticness of this last week, add another week to our reading time for Isard's Revenge. That is all. /psa
We close out the Wraith Squadron saga with Solo Command.
It's not my favourite out of the Wraith books, but it does have its own glorious moments.
The culmination of the Kettch prank and the subsequent discovery by Lara that, perhaps, the Wraiths weren't too far off the mark with the direction they had taken it back in Iron Fist. Shalla still holds the award for best line, with her "Nice rear, Lieutenant," comment, and Wes wins points for his reply to her. I totally think they should have hooked up :) I know fanfic exists in which they do. If you haven't gone looking for it yet, I highly recommend that you do. (I would direct you, but it's been so long that I'm not sure I still have the link.)
I actually really loved the bits on Iron Fist. Zsinj is a lot like Thrawn in that, despite being an opponent of the main characters, he's a point of view that the audience wouldn't mind seeing more of. Both the Admiral and the Warlord are of a certain calibre, where their military expertise makes them formidable, but that expertise ends up being their downfall in the long-run, for various reasons.
I found Han's character a little awkward, but then again, this is Han Solo out of his element, so I suppose that accounts for that?
An Wedge' character develops beautifully, with the emergence of a playful streak. We get to see that he isn't above being the prankster, or being the engineer of some happy-fun-timez. The weary old man who has yet to turn 30 is off-set by the young(er?) man that Wedge might have been had things turned out differently in his life.
I find the lack of resolution to the Zsinj problem in this novel a little problematic, but that's just me and the lack of a sense of closure, as it were, for the plot. I have read Courtship of Princess Leia, but I think I need to re-read it, because from what I recall of the plot, it didn't really offer closure on the Zsinj thing, either? And I found it an itty bit confusing at the time (which was about 10 years ago), so I think that, eventually, I need to re-read it.
One last note: I found the friendship between Han and Wedge a little weird to read about. I chalk that up to the fact that both men are good friends with Luke, and in my mind aren't really more than really, really good acquaintances, but there's tons of stuff between the lines that says the circumstances and very nature of the Rebellion would have had Han and Wedge working together for any length of time, specially since Han seems to out-rank Wedge at any given point in their history, save for ANH. Plus they share homeworlds, so that would also be a draw between them.
All-in-all, Solo Command rounds out the Wraith's story line nicely, and their re-branding as an Intel unit, while sad, is a nice fit for what the unit ended up evolving into during our time with it.
Sorry this took so long :) Those 2 weeks off threw my schedule WAY out of whack.
This entry was also posted at http://obiwanken5.dreamwidth.org/422281.html.