*All posts in the Star Wars Canon series contain minor spoilers
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“Hera’s crew had taken an eternity to bond. Rough, angry arguments had aged into comfortable disagreements through years and shared suffering. Shared hope. She wanted to give the same to Alphabet Squadron, but she worried there wasn’t time.” –Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron
Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron is about a newly formed New Republic squadron tasked with destroying the Imperial TIE group Shadow Wing.
Written by: Alexander Freed (author of From a Certain Point of View short story, Battlefront: Twilight Company, Shadow Fall, and Victory’s Price)
Published: June 11, 2019
When does Alphabet Squadron take place?
After Return of the Jedi.
Or more specifically: immediately after the Battle of Endor in the year 4 ABY.
Synopsis:
Five pilots, four the sole survivors of their previous squadrons and one a late Imperial defector, have been brought together by intelligence officer Caern Adan to track down and destroy the 204th Imperial Fighter Wing known as Shadow Wing. Each of these pilots, who make up the newly formed Alphabet Squadron, have their own link with Shadow Wing and their own reasons for wanting to the TIE squadron defeated.
Now under the command of rebel hero General Hera Syndulla, Alphabet Squadron must prove themselves worthy of such a task even when their biggest obstacle proves to be their inability to work together as a team.
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Alphabet Squadron was written and promoted as a Marvel and Del Rey crossover event. The storyline and some of the characters also appear in the new Marvel comic miniseries Star Wars: TIE Fighter. The first issue of this comic was released in April 2019 and features Shadow Wing. There are currently five published issues. There is even a sneak peak of the comics published in the Alphabet Squadron book.
Alphabet Squadron is also the first of a planned trilogy all written by Alexander Freed. The second book, titled Shadow Fall, is scheduled to be released in June 2020. And I am really looking forward to it! I really enjoyed Alphabet Squadron, despite being a bit of a beast of a book and it taking forever to get to the actual Alphabet Squadron, and I am excited to continue these characters’ stories.
The name Alphabet Squadron is actually quite clever. I picked up this book having no idea what it was about and was a bit confused. The cover features a tough looking rebel, but the title of the book is kind of cutesy. And once the Alphabet Squadron was formed, I realized that was deliberate. Alphabet Squadron gets its name, originally as a joke, because each member flies a different ship. Yrica Quell flies an X-wing, Kairos flies a U-wing, Wyl Lark flies an A-wing, Chass na Chadic flies a B-wing, and Nath Tensent flies a Y-wing.
Alexander Freed has a theme with his Star Wars books where he likes to feature morally ambiguous characters. This is true for Alphabet Squadron in that each member of the squadron has their own reasons for being there, but not necessarily for the greater good of the galaxy. I am really interested to see how this theme plays out in the rest of the trilogy—if the members will drift more to one side of good versus evil or not.
Really my only issue with this book was the slow pace of the beginning. As mentioned, it took a while for the titular Alphabet Squadron to actually form up, but once it got going, the book was really interesting and did a great job of featuring likable characters that were all brand new to the canon. Except for Hera Syndulla and I do wish she had played a bigger role.
I would recommend Alphabet Squadron to anyone who is interested in the timeline between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, and to anyone who is a fan of the non-canon X-Wing series.
Next week: Aftermath
Complete list of Star Wars Canon novels
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