I feel compelled to say something about this...

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Writer Aaron Allston passed away last week.

Allston wasn't just probably the best writer to ever work on the Star Wars franchise, but he might be one of my favorite writers ever. Certainly, there's no author whose works I've re-read as many times as I've read Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, Solo Command and Starfighters of Adumar. I took them to

Comments

[the_narration]

I would certainly recommend his X-Wing books. They're definitely fun to read. I finished re-reading SoA a couple days ago (so many great lines!) and I'm starting on re-reading the rest. (I'm a bit ashamed to say that I've read very little of his non-Star Wars stuff. I hope to rectify that.)

If I had to point to one flaw in his books, it's that the romantic subplots tended to feel a bit... perfunctory. Especially in Wraith Squadron and Iron Fist. (Starfighters of Adumar at least had the excuse of the pair in question having had feelings for each other for years, just that the timing was never right before.) The one in Solo Command is more interesting, in that it's a tragic mess involving two deeply screwed-up people. His latest book (and last, it would seem), Mercy Kill, had no romantic subplot as far as I could tell, and was probably the stronger for it.

I do also have to admit that the first half of the first one he did, Wraith Squadron, is a little weak because it spends too much time on a character that I don't think is very interesting. (Not compared to all the other great characters in the squadron.) I suspect he would have gone back and revised it to be more balanced and ensemble-driven if he'd had time, but a little snafu at the publisher (the old editor picked him to take over the series, but hadn't told him before leaving the company, and the new editor thought he already knew) meant he had to write it in a hurry. (It still turned out pretty good, just definitely the weakest of the five.)