Star Wars: X-Wing: Iron Fist (1998) Book Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well. I got my flu shot yesterday and my left arm is still a little sore, but otherwise I'm good. Today I'm here to review the sixth book in the X-Wing series, Iron Fist, by Aaron Allston. It's the second book in the Wraith Squadron trilogy, and the second X-Wing novel to have been published in 1998. Out of the 18 Star Wars books that were published that year. As always, there will be spoilers, so if you've never read the book, and care about that sort of thing, you know what to do. Let's get into it.

Iron Fist is one of the funniest books in the X-Wing series up to this point. This and the next book in the series, Solo Command, are my favourite books in the series when it comes to the humour. This book is where Lieutenant Kettch first makes an appearance as an Ewok stuffed toy, who seems to make his rounds because the Wraiths find him in the most ridiculous places. Like, at one point in the book, Wedge discovers him in the cockpit of his TIE Interceptor, and then, later, when Wedge goes to check to see if Kettch is still there, he hears, "Son of the Sith!" and Kettch is tossed out of Face's Interceptor cockpit. We find out where the Lieutenant Kettch toy came from in the next book.

While Wraith Squadron focused alot on Admiral Trigit and the Implacable with Zsinj only popping in from time to time, Iron Fist finally focuses on Zsinj, and he is such a delightfully campy villain. I don't think that's what Dave Wolverton was going for when he created the character for The Courtship of Princess Leia, but Allston did a wonderful job with him. Zsinj is still menacing, but his dynamic with General Melvar is pretty hilarious. Like, when Melvar and Zsinj are talking about Gara Petothel, who is currently a member of Wraith Squadron as Lara Notsil, and Melvar mentions that Trigit had destroyed the real Lara Notsil's hometown of New Oldtown on Aldivy, Zsinj says, "You must be joking about that name" and then when Melvar says New Oldtown again, Zsinj says, "Are you sure he didn't destroy it because of that name?" and Melvar replies, "Since he's dead we'll have trouble asking him". Just so much comedy gold between these two.

We had two Wraith deaths in this novel, compared to the three we had last time. The hardest one for me was Ton Phanan, just because I liked him so much in these first two Wraith Squadron novels. The other death, Castin Donn, was less difficult to process because he was such an unlikeable character. Not just because he argued with Wedge all the time, and told him he was wrong in front of the rest of the unit, but he had a very racist attitude against Piggy and Runt, simply because they were non-human, and because Donn is from Coruscant, which immediately makes him a jerk. 

Beyond all the jokes, snide remarks, and physical comedy that Allston puts in all of his Star Wars novels, not just the five books he wrote for the X-Wing series, with this one, and with Wraith Squadron before it, Allston really shows the mental health side of being part of the Rebel Alliance and New Republic Military. Even for the Imperial Military, Imperial Intelligence, and the warlords in a way through Gara Petothel/Lara Notsil. It shows that even the bravest people have mental health issues. Like Donos's huge mental breakdown after the destruction of Talon Squadron and Shiner's destruction later on in Wraith Squadron. But also Gara/Lara's identity crisis, and Dia Passik's breakdown after she was forced to shoot Castin during a mission as the Hawk-bats pirate group to meet Zsinj on the Iron Fist. Her attempted suicide on the shuttle, which Face and Kell were able to stop, hits harder for me now than it did when I first read this book back in 1998. Mostly because of my friend's suicide back in 2007. In fact the whole mental health stuff that Allston includes in these three Wraith Squadron books really resonates with me now because of me being autistic, and having friends who have various types of mental health issues. Though it didn't so much back in grade 6 because, well, I hadn't had those kinds of experiences yet.

Of the four new squad members we're introduced to, I think Shalla Nelprin and Lara Notsil (Gara Petothel) are my favourites. We don't get a whole lot with Dia Passik in this book, aside from a couple of moments with Face. Though one moment we do get when she's approached by Nawara Ven and Tal'dira, as Rogue Squadron appears in this book a little bit more, and she wants nothing to do with them because she didn't get to grow up on Ryloth, doesn't speak the Twi'lek language, and basically knows nothing about Twi'lek society, for the most part. When I was a kid I thought Nawara was hitting on Dia, which didn't make much sense to me since he was supposed to be with Rhysati Ynr. But going back to it as an adult, no, he was simply trying to make another friend who was a Twi'lek, because there aren't that many in the New Republic military, and only he and Tal'dira in Rogue Squadron. But, Dia didn't want anything to do with them, because they reminded her of the life that the Empire tore away from her when she was sold into Imperial slavery. We never see them interact again in these books, even though Nawara and Tal'dira play significant roles in Solo Command.

Like the other five books in the series that I've read so far, I first read Iron Fist in grade six, back in 1998. It was the last book in the series that Garrett lent me, because Solo Command, Isard's Revenge, and Starfighters of Adumar weren't out yet, though all three would come out in 1999. Garrett didn't get Solo Command until May or June, so there wasn't enough time left in the school year for him to lend it to me when he was finished reading it. And by the time we were in middle school together, I had started getting my own copies, though I wouldn't get the next three books until 2002 or 2003. However I have a bit more of a history with this book in particular than I did the first five. 

In late 1999 when I was in grade seven, I actually got Iron Fist from the Scholastic Book Fair. One of the last ones I ever went to since high schools didn't have them and I didn't go to them in grade eight. So for a few years this was the only X-Wing book I actually owned until I started getting the others from Chapters in the early 2000s, along with the rest of the Bantam era Star Wars books that I got around that time. So I read it alot. I remember sitting in the chair in my bedroom, listening to Enrique Iglesias's first English album, Enrique, as well as Savage Garden's debut album, Savage Garden, while reading this book. 

Like with the rest of the books in this series, Iron Fist got a Legends banner edition sometime between 2014 and 2017. And like with the others, Wookieepedia, and the Random House website, don't list a release date or even year for the Legends banner reprint. It's also getting an Essential Legends Collection trade paperback edition in June of next year. I'm gonna have to do a whole post on the Essential Legends Collection at some point because there are alot of the books included in that line that really don't make much sense as they don't really contribute anything new to the Star Wars Expanded Universe and it's something I'd like to talk about eventually. We'll see.

Overall, this is a great book. It's funny, it's emotional, and Allston does such a great job at bringing in the new characters, bringing back characters that we haven't seen in a minute, like General Melvar, as we haven't seen him since The Courtship of Princess Leia came out in 1994, and keeping all of Wraith Squadron relevant to the story. While Kell and Tyria don't actually have a whole lot to do, they do contribute something to the story. Unlike the members of Rogue Squadron that weren't the focus of the stories in Stackpole's first four Rogue Squadron books. I recommend Iron Fist, along with the rest of the X-Wing series.

That's it for me for today my friends. Now that I've finished the first six books in the X-Wing series, I'm going to take a little bit of a break from the series before I get to Solo Command. The reason being that I got a very interesting book when I went to the pharmacy to get my flu shot yesterday. The Big Bang Theory: The Definitive Inside Story of the Epic Hit Series by Jessica Radloff. It's exactly what the title says it is. A book chronicling the history of The Big Bang Theory (2007-2019) from conception to cancellation, including the genesis of the spin-off prequel series, Young Sheldon (2017-present). I read a couple of excerpts from the book when I got home yesterday, and I am really excited to dive right into the book and to talk about it on here. So, that's going to be the next book I'm gonna read, and the next book review I'm going to do. So you'll have a bit of reprieve from '90s Star Wars novels for a bit before I get to Solo Command. So until then have a great afternoon and I will talk to you all later. Take care.