| Title | : | Solo Command (Star Wars: X-Wing, #7) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0553579002 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780553579000 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 341 |
| Publication | : | First published February 1, 1999 |
Their covert mission has been a success. The enemy has been vanquished. Or so they thought. The Super Star Destroyer Iron Fist somehow escaped destruction and with it the New Republic's greatest threat, the infamous warlord Zsinj. To defeat him,
Solo Command (Star Wars: X-Wing, #7) Reviews
-
This has been a series that's hit or miss for me. Some entries are very good while others are just average while still others are just awful. My main complaint with the ones I didn't really enjoy is that there's just too much talking and not enough action. Well, this one tells me to put all of my preconceptions of the series aside and take this book for what it advertises: Solo Command.
Yes, Han Solo is a general, just as he was in Return of the Jedi, but now he's working directly with Wedge Antilles to undermine the Imperial Remnant.
And.
It's.
AWESOME.
The book is a masterful balance of character development, action, suspense, intrigue and twists that, HOLY CRAP, I DID NOT SEE COMING. Disney really needs to make this series into a TV show and follow it to the letter. It would be very popular with fans and it would change very little if anything in their own canon.
It's entries like this that remind me how good the Expanded Universe was. Disney, take notes. -
When people ask me what my favorite Star Wars book is, I usually say either Vision of the Future by Timothy Zahn, or Starfighters of Adumar by Aaron Allston.
But sometimes, I say Solo Command.
It's tricky, naming this as a favorite. It's the third in a trilogy, seventh in a series, and greatly dependent on all that has come before for its emotional impact.
But that emotional impact is so heavy, and so satisfying, that some days, I just don't care.
It's my favorite on those days. The slow thawing of Myn Donos's heart from survivor's guilt, PTSD, and rigid self-discipline, the redemption of Lara Notsil from her past as an Imperial spy, the trials of Wedge and Face as they lead the galaxy's best fighter pilots in a desperate battle, and, of course, the brilliance and humanity of Han Solo as he commands his fleet to free space of a vicious tyrant - all of these things are amazing, well done, and make me laugh, cry, and sigh at the end, wishing for more.
Which we got, two years later, with Starfighters, and then again, 15 years later, with Mercy Kill. -
This is my second re-read of the epic novel "Solo Command" is the seventh volume in the X-Wing series and is the concluding book of Aaron Allston's trilogy about exploits of the Wraith Squadron founded by Wedge Antilles. To give a quick refresher, Wraith Squadron was formed because Wedge's Rogue Squadron was so well known as being the best that anytime the Rogues were dispatched on a mission any chance of covertness was eliminated. While the Rogues were the best of the best, a Star Wars Top Gun squadron, the Wraiths were chosen from the dregs of the New Republic. These are the pilots who, for one reason or another, were going to wash out. This isn't to say that these pilots can't fly an X-Wing, because they can, but rather it was often behavioral issues that caused the problem. But Wedge didn't form the Wraiths to be an elite unit like Rogue Squadron. Wraith Squadron is to be a unit designed to get the pilots in close and do insurgency missions, often on the ground. The primary mission of the Wraiths has been against the Warlord Zsinj, a former Imperial turned criminal who is the largest threat to both the New Republic and the vestiges of the Empire.
Finally the New Republic and the Wraiths will be going after Zsinj directly. The plan is to attempt to lure Zsinj into a battle where his flagship, the Iron Fist, can be captured or destroyed. To do this, the Wraiths are using Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon as bait...or a decoy of the Falcon. The Wraiths, the Republic, and even an officer in the Empire are working together to attack the businesses of Zsinj so that he will be forced into combat.
Meanwhile, Zsinj is working against the New Republic by activating a project of his to install fear and distrust between humans and non-humans in the Republic, and it was this original mixing of the races that proved so strong for the New Republic in light of the anti-alien stance of the Empire. But now this is being threatened and the Council of the New Republic has no evidence that the events are anything other than attacks by the individual races.
"Solo Command" is quite possibly the best of the three Wraith novels and is as good as some of the Rogue books. It still features a rather large amount of humor and jokes and pranks with the Wraith pilots, but features a faster moving plot that actually seems to be going somewhere. The previous two Wraith books didn't really seem to advance any sort of storyline. Something else that I liked here was that the Rogue Squadron was included on the main mission here, so there was intermingling between the two X-Wing squadrons that Wedge commands. Han Solo also makes a guest starring appearance here and it was nice to see how he fits into all of this (thus far in the chronology he hasn't had a lot to do, though I know he's been busy and will get a larger role in future novels).
All told this was a satisfying conclusion to the Wraith trilogy and it leads into the storyline of "The Courtship of Princess Leia". "Solo Command" features excellent action scenes and space battle sequences with the X-Wings. Fast paced, fun, and exciting. It's exactly what Star Wars should be. -
For 2020, I decided to reread (in publication order) all the Bantam-era Star Wars books that were released between 1991 and 1999; that shakes out to 38 adult novels and 5 anthologies of short stories & novellas.
This week’s focus: the third of Aaron Allston’s X-Wing books, Solo Command.
SOME HISTORY:
In the FAQs on his former website, Allston explained that while he didn’t have a clear favorite character, a few stood out to him: Lara Notsil for purposes of dramatic potential, and Wes Janson for the humor potential. It should surprise no one, then, that both characters feature prominently in Solo Command. And like with the previous book in the series, I couldn’t find any data that Solo Command made the New York Times paperback bestseller list for any of the weeks after its release.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
I mistakenly thought that the Wraiths would be masquerading as Hawkbats again in this book, but I was wrong! While their pretense wasn’t discovered (thanks to Shalla on Saffalore), they never assumed those roles again. Otherwise, my memories were pretty accurate here.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
Wraith Squadron’s covert mission posing as pirates has been a success, but Warlord Zsinj is still on the loose. To defeat him, they must join a combat task force led by General Solo, the only man crafty enough to beat Zsinj at his own game...
THE CHARACTERS:
Up till now, the X-Wing books have not prominently featured any of the main trio: Luke and Leia both made brief appearances in Stackpole’s books, and Wraith Squadron is nominally attached to Han’s fleet group in
Iron Fist. Solo Command makes Han a viewpoint character, and I found him a welcome addition to the cast. Other than the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy, we don’t get many glimpses into Han’s military career, so I enjoyed seeing Han in command. He’s pretty good at it! We also see how depressed and tired he’s become by the beginning of
The Courtship of Princess Leia, because the search for Zsinj was a long, exhausting campaign.
Similarly, I love that Wedge has become such a good boss. He transfers back to Rogue Squadron, leaving Face as Wraith One, to take command of Mon Remonda’s entire starfighter complement: the Rogues, the Wraiths, the A-Wing Polearm Squadron, and the B-Wing Nova Squadron. He deals with everyone in his squadron, but particularly Myn Donos, in a thoughtful and compassionate manner.
Face Loran is promoted to Brevet Captain and put in charge of the Wraiths. He does fairly well, which shows you how much progress he’s made since
Iron Fist. However, I did take issue with his handling of the Lara Notsil situation. Face chooses to confront her before the raid on Kidriff 5, when they’re already in their starfighters--and on an open communication channel. While he was reacting instinctively to the information he’d just read and processed, it would have been much better if he confronted her afterwards, back on the Mon Remonda. Of course, then Donos wouldn’t have attempted to fire on her, and Lara wouldn’t have been able to escape in her X-Wing...
Wes remains comic relief, except for a brief time when they run into the trap on Saffalore. Don’t piss Wes Janson off, because then he becomes an utterly silent, ruthless killing machine. (Also, don’t play too many pranks on Wedge Antilles, or like Wes, you may find yourself wandering around naked covered in Ewok food.)
I really like Lara and Donos’ plotline, because they’re two very damaged people who have to learn to cope with trauma in different ways.
Lara rejected her Imperial upbringing in
Iron Fist, but wasn’t willing to look critically at what she had done. She knows that she needs to confess her past to Wedge, but keeps putting off that talk. She starts a relationship with Donos, the sole survivor from Talon Squadron (and the action that eats at her the most). And then the floor falls out from under her, because Face is really good at spotting a fellow actor.
She leaves the Wraiths, ingratiates her way onto the Iron Fist, and plots to bring Zsinj down from the inside (using mouse droids!). She can’t be Lara Notsil anymore, doesn’t want to return to Gara Petothel, and ultimately remakes herself as Kirney Slane (the only one of her adopted personas that had been happy).She plays a key role in the New Republic’s triumph at the Battle of Selaggis, even if few people will ever know her complete contribution to the battle.
Myn Donos likewise had a ton of issues in
Wraith Squadron, pulled through the worst of them--only to realize in Solo Command that he’s still an absolute mess. Donos frequently considers quitting Starfighter Command so he can hunt down everyone responsible for the destruction of Talon Squadron. He’s finding it very difficult to forgive himself for letting his pilots die.
Of course, finding out that the woman he (maybe) loves caused their deaths doesn't help at all. He tries to kill Lara, tries to resign his commission, is ordered by Wedge to get medical and psychiatric treatment, and comes out of his tailspin. He transfers to Rogue Squadron in the end, and gets another chance with Kirney. I think he’ll be OK. (And in his FAQs, Allston said that he believed they reconnected during the events in
The Courtship of Princess Leia, and “Donoslane Expeditions” exists in
Legacy of the Force Betrayal and
Mercy Kill.)
I’m still impressed with how Allston has developed Zsinj. In
The Courtship of Princess Leia, he was angry and fat. Allston’s Zsinj is much more complex. He throws temper tantrums, but (for the most part) they’re just an act. The only time we see him legitimately furious is when he learns that the Wraiths have captured Dr. Gast. (And he’s so upset, primarily because he wasn’t able to foresee that outcome.) As the New Republic takes down his companies and harries his allies, he’s increasingly worn down by the end but not defeated.
And then we meet Dr. Edda Gast, a truly awful scientist from the Binring Lab. I love how she got her comeuppance: arrested for sedition on Coruscant because she was carrying half a million Imperial credits.
ISSUES:
I’m not crazy about the brainwashing subplot. It seemed a little too similar at times to Isard’s ploy in the Rogue Squadron books, and I’m not sure I bought the timeline here. Jart Eyan was away for one week, but Tal’dira was also brainwashed, and had only been unaccounted for one day at most.
I love the Millennium Falsehood; how they acquire a YT-1300 freighter, Han and Chewie take one look at it, and immediately declare that it looks nothing like the Falcon! I wish we could have seen a few more of the Falsehood’s outings--as it is, we only see the raid on Kidriff 5 and on Comkin Five in any detail. And speaking of the Comkin Five raid, it took me far too long to figure out what they were doing. I had to read that section again to realize that they were actively trying to look like a YT-2400, even though the Falsehood itself is a YT-1300.
While I feel like Allston did adequately foreshadow the conclusion of the “why is Fel working for Zsinj” mystery, I wasn’t crazy about that subplot overall. Wedge still doesn’t know anything about the fate of Fel or his sister, and pretending that Tetran Cowall is Baron Fel only works if no one sees him in person. (How deep did the conspiracy run??)
I love Lara and Myn but Allston is not good at writing romance, so some of their scenes are unnecessarily awkward. Also, timeline issues again: the amount of time they spend together before Face leaks Lara’s identity doesn’t seem long enough to me. Their relationship might have felt more realistic to me if it had started after Myn accompanied Lara to Zsinj’s trap on Aldivy in
Iron Fist; because in Solo Command, they’re barely seeing each other before she has to leave.
Allston masterfully sets things up for
The Courtship of Princess Leia, but that’s the problem--we don’t actually get any resolution on Zsinj at this point. We get the first hint of Zsinj’s Nightcloak satellite, we get a perfectly logical explanation for why Han thought that he destroyed the Iron Fist before the beginning of TCoPL, and there’s a nice farewell to all the Wraiths. But Zsinj is still out there, and I just didn’t find the final resolution of his plotline satisfying at all.
IN CONCLUSION:
I absolutely loved Solo Command. I thought it was a great conclusion to the Wraith Squadron arc--it had funny moments, exciting space battles, and Allston really fleshed out the conflict between Han and Zsinj. (And I am 100% the kind of person who goes looking for Myn Donos/Kirney Slane fanfiction afterwards.)Comkin Five was a green-blue world circling a yellow star. As the Falsehood neared the planet’s surface, blotches of color resolved themselves into blue sea, deep green tropics, and bands of cloud cover, with only the smallest patches of arctic ice.
“Pretty,” Donos said. “What do we blow up first?”
Wedge, ahead of him in the pilot’s chair, turned to glance at him. “Write that down,” he said. “That ought to be the Wraith Squadron slogan.”
Next up: Michael A. Stackpole’s final X-Wing book,
Isard’s Revenge.
My YouTube review:
https://youtu.be/F_oypMfhf-A
Aaron Allston SW FAQs:
https://web.archive.org/web/200710131...
Vintage Allston interview from 2000:
https://www.fanthatracks.com/intervie... -
Less satisfying ending, but at the same time that's not a bad thing... Just means i want to read more of my SWEU collection. Onward!
-
Three stars is about as good as I can do here...a well written novel about a corner of the Lucasverse that doesn't really call to me. It's solid for what it is, but it's also a bit anti-climactic...mostly due to being a prequel to the events of "The Courtship of Princess Leia". Now there's a book a really enjoyed...much more my speed. But more rabid fans of the Rogues than myself will be satisfied with this tale.
-
A fun story but it's a shame there's no real ending until you read Courtship of Princess Leia. Still, great to see some Han and Chewie scenes, and the Wraiths are always fun.
-
You know, it’s hard to remember a year where I read fifteen books cover-to-cover let alone a time when I’ve done so in four months time. At this rate I’ll have read sixty novels by the end of the year. That’s not the entirety of the expanded universe but it’s gettig there. By my calculations I should be able to get through the New Jedi Order series by December.
But today I’m finishing up the main chunk of the X-Wing series, with Solo Command, which I will say is a step up from the previous book but still suffers from a fatal flaw in that it ends with zero resolution to the main story of the battle against Warlord Zsinj. The problem is that this book was written in 1999 and leads into The Courtship of Princess Leia which was written in 1994. Allston couldn’t give a proper ending because his job was effectively to get us to a point in the timeline that had already been fleshed out years before. It’s frustrating but it’s a continual part of the Star Wars reading experience. Newer books handling older parts of the timeline is an evil that has to be endured in order to get the whole picture.
But as for the book itself, it’s more engaging than Iron Fist was and I think part of that is the level of tension generated by Lara/Gara’s undercover situation finally reaching a boiling point as well as the fact that Han Solo is back in the mix as a major character for the first time in a while. While this is still very much about Wedge and his X-Wing squadrons, pulling out a big gun like Han adds some measure of importance to the proceedings and the book gains greatly from his presence. The novel is well constructed and as an individual piece of the puzzle it does very well and is only hindered by the fact that it feels incomplete due to leading into another story written several years prior. But that’s just my individual gripe.
I’m moving on to The Courtship of Princess Leia now and it seems like it should be a quick read. I’m sad to leave behind the X-Wing series as I’ve enjoyed the majority of it and actually look forward to the one-off, Isard’s Revenge which is coming up a few books down the road. -
“Zsinj…kiss my Wookiee!”
The Wraiths grow ever closer to destroying Warlord Zsinj’s diabolical reign of terror. But when it appears Twi’Leks and other species are sabotaging the inner workings of the New Republic, the Wraiths realize this could mean the end of the New Republic. So Han Solo, the Rogues, and the Wraiths team up to figure out what is wrong…and how to send Zsinj back from where he came.
I Liked:
I really enjoyed how Allston pulled out Han and Chewie and tied them into the Wraith’s quest against Zsinj. And Allston portrays Han perfectly (the review title may not be exactly what Han says, but it is the essence of what he tells Zsinj).
I love how Allston brings up Baron Fell and how Wedge’s sister is married to him. This gives Wedge great character—a loving brother.
Also, I thought it was smart how Allston mentions the alien segregation will tear apart the New Republic, destroy all its ideals. And the Millennium Falsehood was a neat ploy.
And then, we have humor. The Ewok pilot returns for a humorous crescendo.
I Didn’t Like:
I didn’t like Lara Notsil in the last book, and I certainly don’t like her here. There is too much time spent on her and her “story” (“Oh, I was an Imperial for years, but I became a Wraith and I mean it, why don’t you believe me?”) almost to the extent where the book should have been renamed: “Lara Command”. And then how everyone “believes” her when she sends a message saying that she is working near Zsinj to help the Wraiths…oh, please.
Again, the audiobook makes this novel particularly confusing. I felt like there were some scenes missing that would have made things easier to understand.
Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:
Star Wars curse words or mild da** & he**.
The Wraith pilots pair up.
Dogfights are common (duh, it’s an X-Wing novel).
Overall:
A decent “prequel” to the Courtship of Princess Leia, I found myself confused and disgusted at some of the characters. Still a lot better than many of the other Star Wars novels from this period. -
3,5 stars
This was a fun read. Probably my favourite in the X-wing series so far. Allston continues to prove a better writer than Stackpole, for which I am exceedingly grateful.
"Solo Command" was, more than most of the other books in this series, an entertaining read. It's exciting, with a fast-paced, interesting plot, and it's also actually funny. The dialogue flows well and is full of humour.
It continues to be frustrating to me that almost all female characters are described more or less in terms of fuckability, but other than that, characterisation is also decent in this instalment.
I do wish, however, that both Allston and Stackpole would stop trying to make the romance angle work for them. The Lara Notsil-Donos "relationship" is occasionally so awkwardly written that it's painful to read, and the reader is expected to believe a very intense attachment has formed in pretty much no time at all. It is clearly only there to add an extra emotional dimension to Lara's former deception, and present plight, and had this particular story line been developed more, and written by a more steady hand at romance, this might have worked. As it stands, it's simply, as mentioned, rather embarrassing reading.
Still, though. I did enjoy this.
Also, Han Solo.
-
A solid four, if not, more. A rousing story, well told. He actually involved iconic SW character in his story, not just as walk-on cameos.
Allston not only brings his trilogy to a satisfying conclusion, but bridges the gap between books written before his own series.
The Millennium Falsehood was a nice touch. -
A great ending to the Wraith trilogy, I would be happy to see these characters come back in more books. Allston writes a good character story with great action scenes.
-
What can I say? More fluff. Nicely written escapism. 3.5 stars.
-
Bardzo spoko, ale tyłka też nie urywa, albo się już znów do serii przyzwyczaiłem.
Wkurzam się trochę też na polskie tłumaczenie tytułu. Jaki krwa "Rozkaz"?
Bardziej "Oddział Solo", czy coś w tym rodzaju, albo może "Pod rozkazami Solo" w ostateczności.
No ale jako kontynuacja całości bardzo spoko. -
And the fun continues with Wraith Squadron. This book has some more "main" characters in it - like Han Solo! - but is still focused on the Wraiths for the most part. Lara and Myn get lots of screen-time in this one and I came to appreciate Wedge more as a leader than I ever have after a particular sequence with him dressing down one of his reports...but in a way that shows he genuinely cares for him as a person. I now remember why after reading these books the first time, I gained such a high appreciation for Wedge. Also - this book continues the Wraith tradition of pranks and moments of hilarity. Some classic ones here. Yub, yub, Commander. Only thing I'm annoyed about in this book is the fact that the Zsinj plotline of the past three books isn't wrapped up but...apparently is concluded in another Star Wars book ("Courtship of Princess Leia"), which isn't written by Allston and isn't a Wraith book so I don't really want to read it. I think I did read it way back in the day, but no interest in reading it again now. Just wish Allston had been able to wrap up Zsinj himself, as he does such a good job with these Wraith books. Ah well. Again, this book is fantastic and well worth the reread.
-
Allston hits his stride with this one. More flying, more Wraiths, more action.
Though I was confused by some of the tactics, this book was a war of attrition. The Wraiths, paired up with the Rogue's are fighting against the stand in for the 90s villain, Warlord Zsinj.
Again, confused by the tactics as it mainly involved flying a Not Millennium Falcon into areas frequented by this warlord and.... sitting there. No action, no fighting, just sit and then run.
The gem of this book was the ways found around military discipline to inspire others. Makes me wonder if Allston served at all. But I left after reading inspired by his descriptions of interpersonal problem solving, morale building and discipline in a non standard non punative way.
This book also ties into the character of Han Solo in another classic Star Wars book, The Courtship of Princess Leia. He does a good job here of humanizing the classic rogue we all know and love, voicing his fears and dreams.
The only issue I have with this book is I feel he tried to condense too much into one pulp style novel. Two or three major campaigns, interpersonal drama, spies, saboteurs, collaboration etc etc etc. Still good! -
A great finish to the Wraith Squadron arc. :)
"Pretty. What do we blow up first?"
There's a lot of great quotes and longer back and forth in this book that I really enjoy and it has some of my favourites in the series. Definitely t-shirt material, but alas; Disney will never create such book quote t-shirts. Wouldn't mind "You can't look dignified when you're having fun" on one though.
Anyway, this story wraps up the campaign against Zsinj, at least for the Wraiths and Rogues. The actual wrap up of the Zsinj story happens in The Courtship of Princess Leia though. Which also gives me a choice now; I can either skip straight ahead to the next X-wing book or read the one that finishes the Zsinj story.
It does wrap up Gara/Lara and her transformations and set the Wraiths on their new course, so I do feel it does a good job of being a finished book without too many loose ends.
All in all I just still really enjoy these books, 90's feel and all. :) -
Yay, another entry in the X-Wing series. Yes, there's intrigue as the evil former Empire warlord Zsinj has place a mole inside the Wraith Squadron and has unleashed a... plague? plot? something...that causes members of the New Republic to want to assassinate prominent Republic officials. And there's James Bond-like plans to infiltrate Zsinj's resources, yadda yadda. But as usual, there are way too many characters involved, too many plot lines and subplots going on, and overall, just not that interesting a book. This series especially needed to be stories no more than maybe 200 pages to keep them focused and more enjoyable.
-
A good way to end the Wraith Squadron section of this series, but still allow for the story to continue on afterwards. Here we see the Wraiths going after the warlord Zinj again. The new rogue, Lara, from the last book, is identified for who she really is and does what she can to help the squad out, even though she can't be a part of them anymore. As the title suggests, Han Solo joins the fight. It all ends up with a big showdown with the warlord. Overall it is a great entry into the series, which is worth reading all the way through.
-
The "real" conclusion to the X-Wing novel series, everything that comes later is just footnotes. Or, rather - what Star Wars lacked after the focus on the Skywalker-Jedi-plotline was a depiction of the war and the life outside of the progress of the core characters. The "X-Wing" series got that done for the galaxy far, far away, but once it had it accomplished, the series gradually lost its raison d'etre; a right conclusion at the right time.
-
It was probably my least favourite of the first set of XWing novels but it’s still pretty good. It was more disjointed than the others as Allston seemed to have trouble with whose POV we should get and we seemed to get everybody’s at one point. I do like how it leads right into Courtship complete with the belief that Iron Fist is destroyed. Considering these were written years later it’s quite impressive.
-
The writing is much improved from the previous book, and the story is darker and more interesting. There are still a lot of detailed descriptions about which wing pylon of which TIE fighter was hit by which X-wing's quad linked laser fire, and the book would have been half as long without all those details. Still a definite improvement, and it has a nice Star Wars feeling. I enjoyed reading it, but it is not exactly a story that will stay with me forever.
-
This book feels oddly disjointed, and leaves behind so many of the things that make Allston's writing fun by the end. Plots appear and disappear, Less focus on the characters in the team, way more goofy humor and the compounding contrivances in the end... I mean it's still a fun little X-wing adventure, but certainly the least of Allston's run.
-
And now we come to the part of the series I haven't ever read before. This one wasn't quite as cracking as the previous, though it explored a lot of new story territory in a lot of fun new ways. Han Solo didn't quite seem right, but other than that the characterization—as I've come to expect from Allston—was fantastic. And I want more Lara, for sure.
-
A great conclusion to Wraith Squadron. I especially like Lara’s arc. Her journey from Imperial agent to Rebel hero was very captivating. The overall interaction between the characters kept the story fresh and interesting. A great series overall!
-
This is also a re-read. I read this 15 years ago and loved it then, I love it now. Solo Command continues beautifully from where Iron Fist left off. The only bit about this I do not like is that we never get to see Wraith Squadron be the leads in any other book.
