Alphabet Squadron Review

spoilers ahead!!!!!

"On the verge of victory in a brutal war, five New Republic pilots transform from hunted to hunters in this epic STAR WARS adventure."

Alphabet Squadron by Alexander Freed follows Yrica Quell, a former imperial pilot, as she gets recruited by the New Republic to hunt down her former imperial unit. Along the way she gathers other members of her ragtag group: Wyl Lark, the last remaining member of Riot Squadron; Chass na Chadic, the last remaining member of Hound Squadron; Nath Tensent, a former imperial who left the rebellion after his squadmates were killed; and Kairos, a quiet, masked woman with a propensity for violence. Will Alphabet Squadron be able to defeat the 204th Imperial fighter wing, or will the remnent imperial power destroy more civilizations yet?

I loved this book! Yrica Quell was an extremely interesting character, and her moral journey in the book was a brilliant glimpse at someone's remorse and propensity for change. In fact, all of the characters were super intriguing, and left me wanting more backstory from everyone, especially Kairos. As the first novel in a trilogy, this did a great job at getting me excited for the rest of the books. Freed's writing style is such a breath of fresh air when many Star Wars authors admittedly feel somewhat "samey." One of the first Star Wars novels I read was Freed's Battlefront: Twilight Company, and that had a similar style; technically forward with a lot of heart.

Speaking of tech, one of my favorite aspects of this book was the ships and the space combat. All the ship-to-ship combat is written super well, and the ships themselves feel like characters with limits, emotions, and moments of triumph. Tensent's Y-Wing is tough and durable, Kairos' U-Wing is a fire-spitting savior, and Yrica's X-Wing is alien to the imperial pilot who's more familiar with a TIE fighter. A favorite character has to be Chass, who always blasts music while fighting in her B-Wing (one of my favorite ships).

One of my favorite moments in the book is toward the end of part one, where Riot Squadron is stuck in the Oridol cluster with an imperial ship and Wyl Lark briefly talks to one of the imperial TIE pilots who has been chasing him and his squadron on an open radio channel. Their conversation about the peopel native to the Oridol cluster gave me chills, and that imagery sticks with both Wyl and the reader until the very end of the book. Overall this book was excellent. It had great pacing through and through, and the plot was thrilling to the last. I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to start reading Star Wars books, especially if they've enjoyed the legends X-Wing series. 9.5/10, amazing!