A distant third person point of view becomes nearly omniscient at times, which isn’t unusual in tie-in books but becomes particularly buoyant when contrasted with Freed’s sharp prose elsewhere. Read more: Toxic Masculinity is the True Villain of The Last Jediįreed’s prose is solid with moments of insight. The best combat scenes in the book happen toward the beginning, in a moving space siege reminiscent of the slow fleet chase in T he Last Jedi. Its character arcs are loose, its set pieces, especially in the latter half of the book, are less heart-pounding than most Star Wars stories. The three-book format seems to have given permission for the first volume to be dry at times. Unfortunately, individual scenes and the arc of the book as a whole are paced slowly and stretched too thin. ![]() The novel’s most interesting stylistic choice comes from an emphasis on characters telling stories to one another, and an agnostic uncertainty about how much of those stories are true.įurther Reading: The Definitive Star Wars Gift Guide Many of them are hiding something from one another. Between them is a web of mistrust and frustrations: Wyl and Chass bump heads because Wyl once forced Chass to live instead of dying with the rest of her squad. Quell is joined by roguish Nath, farm boy Wyl, angry Chass, and mysterious Kairos. The first volume of the three-book series focuses on bringing the Alphabet team together, and succeeds at making them all unique and fun people. Quell is feeling those growing pains on a personal level as she deals with everyone from self-interested spies to the unflappable General Hera Syndulla. People who joined because they wanted an anarchic system now have to deal with being the ruling government. She also arrived at a time when the New Republic is going through growing pains, learning how to win. Hers would be an uphill battle even without the Empire. She, like Luke Skywalker, is thrown into her story, but she isn’t greeted warmly in the New Republic. ![]() I love that Quell isn’t a Jedi, isn’t even a fighter ace. Read more: Why Rey’s Parentage Shouldn’t Change “She wondered how sincere she sounded-she’d never been any good at conveying empathy, no mater how real.” She’s one step removed from her own emotions. ![]() She exudes “a sort of glasslike sharpness, equally likely to injure or shatter,” and is “simultaneously hypervigilant and unfocused.” Freed’s portrayal of her trauma is unflinching Quell is awkward and stiff and possibly even cruel, and that’s part of what makes this such a crunchy character study. Quell switches between lukewarm and boiling, guilt-ridden and twitchy with trauma. At the core of Alphabet Squadron is the story of why readers would even want to root for a person who stuck around the genocidal state that long.
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