The Emperor is dead. His final weapon has been destroyed. The Imperial Army is in disarray. In the aftermath, Yrica Quell is just one of thousands of defectors from her former cause living in a deserters’ shantytown—until she is selected to join Alphabet Squadron.

  Cobbled together from an eclectic assortment of pilots and starfighters, the five members of Alphabet are tasked by New Republic general Hera Syndulla herself. Like Yrica, each is a talented pilot struggling to find their place in a changing galaxy. Their mission: to track down and destroy the mysterious Shadow Wing, a lethal force of TIE fighters exacting bloody, reckless vengeance in the twilight of their reign.

  The newly formed unit embodies the heart and soul of the Rebellion: ragtag, resourceful, scrappy, and emboldened by their most audacious victory in decades. But going from underdog rebels to celebrated heroes isn’t as easy as it seems, and their inner demons threaten them as much as their enemies among the stars. The wayward warriors of Alphabet Squadron will have to learn to fly together if they want to protect the new era of peace they’ve fought so hard to achieve.

Prior to Alphabet Squadron, I think Alexander Freed has written two of the very best novels in the new Star Wars canon. And both of them kind of came out of nowhere. Battlefront: Twilight Company was his debut novel, and it’s fucking amazing. The kind of Star Wars novel that could easily be someone’s first foray into the books, and so far above & beyond what you’d expect from a novel that ties into a video game that’s based off a series of movies.

He followed that up with the novelization of Rogue One, a book that almost broke my feelings entirely. I’ve read the novelizations for all the recent Star Wars movies, and they kind of run the gamut of quality. I thought the one for The Force Awakens was lifeless & dull, and didn’t add anything meaningful to the story (keep in mind TFA is my favorite Star Wars movie). The novelizations for The Last Jedi and SOLO are both very well written, and totally worthwhile if you’re a fan of the movies.

But the novelization for Rogue One is just something else altogether. I fucking loved Rogue One when it came out, and it remains one of my favorite Star Wars movies. But my obsession with it grew exponentially after reading Freed’s novelization. He took that story, made it his own, and somehow managed to make it an even more brutally emotional experience…it’s just so fucking incredible!

So it goes without saying that I was thrilled to hear he had a new Star Wars book coming out…but Alphabet Squadron? Admittedly, it took me a little while to warm up to the title, and I loved it even more as the relative goofiness of the name was addressed in the book. But the premise sounded fantastic, and it seemed like exactly the right Star Wars story for Freed to write: post-ROTJ, about a small, ragtag group of pilots, each of them flying a different class of starship. So this is basically nerd heaven….X-Wings & B-Wings & Y-Wings, oh my…(the Y-Wing will forever be my favorite don’t @ me!)

Alphabet Squadron delivers on so many levels, and is a fantastic start to a new trilogy (they announced it would be a trilogy shortly before the book’s release)…I just loved it so hard!

This is an interesting time period in the Star Wars world. The Emperor is dead, leaving the Empire a fragmented, splintered thing. Leaderless. But still dangerous. Many of the people who served the Empire have defected to the Rebels, & the New Republic. Yrica Quell, a former Imperial pilot, finds herself living in a shantytown full of defectors. She was once a member of the 204th Fighter Wing, an extremely dangerous group of TIE fighters, better known as Shadow Wing.

She’s a bit directionless when we meet her, but she soon draws the attention of Caern Adan, a member of the New Republic Intelligence. He’s keeping a close eye on what remains of the 204th, and decides to put together a small group to monitor their activities. And so Alphabet Squadron is born.

This book leans heavily towards military sci-fi, so if spacey-shooty battle scenes & geeking out about different classes of ships isn’t your thing, this may not be the Star Wars book you’re looking for *waves hand, does Jedi mind trick* That said, one of Freed’s greatest strengths is creating very real, deeply flawed, and complex characters. And that’s exactly what you get with Alphabet Squadron…a seemingly perfect balance of whiz-bang space battles, and beautifully rendered characters, each with their own backstory, motivation, trauma…this is a great group of characters, and Freed really takes his time with getting them to bond & really work as a team.

Chass was a personal favorite for me…she’s angry, a little fatalistic, she idolizes Jyn Erso, and she also blasts music at deafening volumes while deftly flying her B-Wing (the oddest Star Wars ship, to my way of thinking).

I’m also VERY intrigued by Kairos. She and Caern Adan have known each other awhile, but she’s a character shrouded in mystery. She wears a cloak & a mask, doesn’t speak, and is terrifyingly violent in a fight. She also pilots the U-Wing, a Star Wars ship I don’t know nearly enough about.

Gah…I just fucking loved Alphabet Squadron…it’s hard to describe the feeling I get when I crack open a new Star Wars book and see “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….” just before the first chapter, but it’s one of my most favorite things OF EVER! Of course not all Star Wars novels are created equal, but Alphabet Squadron immediately moves way up high on my list of favorites, and I have a feeling the next two books are going to be even better! Alphabet Squadron is breathlessly action-packed, while also focusing so much time on the varied & unique cast of characters. This one was just fucking outstanding!

Oh, it’s also worth mentioning that this book is a crossover with the Marvel comic book TIE Fighter, which I’ve not yet read, but it’s about Shadow Wing!

May the Force be with you!