Star Wars: X-Wing: Wraith Squadron (1998) Book Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty good. I'm back with yet another book review. This week I'll be reviewing the fifth book in the Star Wars: X-Wing series, Wraith Squadron by the late Aaron Allston. Like with my other Star Wars book reviews there will be spoilers in this review. So let's get into it.

While Stackpole's Rogue Squadron novels feel bigger in terms of how high the stakes are, Aaron Allston's Wraith Squadron novels are smaller in scale. I love the Rogues however, I could never really connect to someone like Corran Horn or Mirax Terrik. But, with the Wraiths, I immediately connected to them. Especially to Kell, Face, Phanan and Tyria. Wraith Squadron consists of misfits, outcasts, and people who actually struggle and have psychological problems. Of course, in high school the Wraiths reminded me of my friends and I. Though most of the time I felt like Wedge, dealing with the insane people. 

Allston has a great sense of humour that is easy to spot throughout this book. For example, at the beginning of the book, when Wedge and Wes are interviewing candidates to join the new squadron, unnamed at this point, Wes informs Wedge that the first candidate is an Ewok, his name is Kettch, and his catchphrase is "Yub yub Commander". At first, Wedge is absolutely stunned, and actually believes Janson, and then Janson says that he's actually just kidding. But then "Yub yub Commander" or some variation of that is used as the squadron's catchphrase throughout the rest of the Wraith books kinda like how "Beep beep Richie" or just "Beep beep" was in Stephen King's It. Later on, Janson tells Wedge that the next candidate is a Gamorrean. Of course, Wedge doesn't believe him until Piggy walks into Wedge's office. 

Unlike with Stackpole's books, Allston does a much better job of utilizing the ensemble cast. We get to know every member of Wraith Squadron and everyone is given something to do or an arc to go through. For example, just prior to joining the Wraiths, Myn Donos was the leader of Talon Squadron. Unfortunately, the entire unit was wiped out by the Star Destroyer, Implacable, commanded by Admiral Apwar Trigit, who is under the employ of Warlord Zsinj, leaving Donos, and his Astromech Droid, Shiner, the only surviving members of the squadron. Donos has to work through the pain of watching his squadmates perish due to an Imperial ambush. Tyria has to deal with guilt stemming from accepting a bribe from a corrupt New Republic colonel, as well as dealing with her extremely weak connection to the Force. And the rest of the Wraiths all have to deal with similar issues of feeling unwanted, useless, or helping the Imperials when they were younger. 

While we don't see a whole lot of Zsinj in this book, Trigit being the main villain of the book, Zsinj will have a bigger role to play in the next two books, as we get closer to connecting the Wraith books with The Courtship of Princess Leia, written by Dave Wolverton, which had been published only four years earlier at the time Wraith Squadron was published. Trigit is an okay villain, but he's not as good as Isard was, and he isn't as fun as Zsinj is in these books. In fact, for being the focus antagonist for this book, Trigit is pretty minor. 

We're also introduced to Gara Petothel, an Imperial spy who joins up with Trigit after her intel was used to destroy Talon Squadron. Gara also becomes a major character in the next two X-Wing books, under the name, Lara Notsil. She's a fine character here, but, she doesn't have as much to do in this book as she does in later ones. 

In terms of locations, there are tons of star systems that we visit in this book. None of them are ever mentioned again, but, we do revisit three locations from the Rogue books. The first is Folor Base, where Wraith Squadron is assembled. It was the base where Rogue Squadron was reformed in Rogue Squadron. The second was Talasea, which was the base the Rogues used in Rogue Squadron until the Imperials showed up and killed Lujayne Forge. The third was Borleias, which was the location of the major battle at the end of Rogue Squadron, and played a major role in both Wedge's Gamble and The Krytos Trap. 

My favourite scene in the book is probably when the Wraiths give Donos some tough love following Shiner's destruction during the battle where Jesmin Ackbar, the niece of Admiral  "it's a trap!" Ackbar, was killed. They do it by making him confront his recent behaviour in a simulation run of Talon Squadron's destruction in the middle of the night. It shows that the Wraiths have all become friends and would do anything to help each other out of a bad situation. Which is something we didn't get to see with the Rogues. 

Oh, and I love Wraith Squadron's Protocol Droid, Squeaky. He isn't as prissy as Threepio, and not as annoying as Emtrey was. He's been set free following his escape from Leia's ship in A New Hope, so he's no longer constrained by his master/servant programming that other Droids have. So he insults the Wraiths, particularly Kell, who ends up pissing off Squeaky upon their first meeting when Squeaky was working as a waiter at the Tapcafe, DownTime. Which is a hilarious scene, and makes it even funnier when Wedge hires Squeaky to be the squadron's quartermaster. Especially because Kell was a mechanic on Sluis Van prior to joining the New Republic Military, so he helped the squadron's chief mechanic, Cubber Dane, to work on the X-Wings, which meant he had to work with Squeaky alot. 

I love this book. While the next book, Iron Fist, is my favourite book in the series, Wraith Squadron is a great introduction to the Wraiths and I could spend all day writing about it and the characters. But, I'll spare you my rambling. This time. Next time, you might not be so lucky.

 I first read Wraith Squadron when Garrett lent me the first six books in the X-Wing series, all the way back in late 1998 and early 1999. I loved it instantly, and eventually got my own copy, along with the rest of the series. Like with the rest of the series, Wraith Squadron got a Legends Banner paperback edition sometime between 2014 and 2017, though there's no date listed anywhere on Wookieepedia or the Random House website. It's also going to be getting an Essential Legends Collection trade paperback edition in February, 2024, but the cover hasn't been revealed yet. 

Overall, Wraith Squadron is a great book. I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a lighter toned Legends novel to read, while still getting all the emotional beats you come to expect from Star Wars. Plus, as I said, it starts connecting the series to The Courtship of Princess Leia. Definitely a must read.

Alright my friends, that's it for me for today. I'll be back soon with the final installment of my Marvel Star Trek comic book overview series, as well as my review of the pilot episode of Star Trek: Enterprise "Broken Bow", which will be an interesting review. So until then have a great rest of your day and I will talk to you all later. Take care.