Star Wars: Solo Command, book seven in the X-Wing Series, was written by Bestselling Author, Aaron Allston. This Expanded Universe tale takes place during the New Republic Era, seven ABY (7 years after the battle of Yavin).
SUMMARY
The mission to eliminate Imperial Warlord Zsinj continues under the command of General Han Solo. Wraith and Rogue Squadron work close together in many space battles that result in a cat and mouse chase with Zsinj.
A new tactic of the Empire against the Republic, is to build distrust against a race of people, by inserting secret assassins to bring chaos and death to the New Republic.
Wraith Squadron will face many challenges on the hunt for Zsinj, not only from external forces, but from those internally as well.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Another great X-Wing story written by Aaron Allston! The characters he writes and the situations they get into are so fun to read. One thing that I find funny about our main villain, Warlord Zsinj, is that he’s always talking, even just thinking out loud. The drama that unfolds with who Wraith Squadron knows as Lara Notsil was intense! Such heartache and anger throughout the story, and it isn’t cheesy or cringy at all.
The concept of dividing the different alien races against one another was already a plan devised in a previous X-Wing book with the creation of the Krytos Virus. Luckily the route taken in this novel was sparse, more of a side issue that was taking place.
Han Solo is present pretty often in this novel, the title is a bit of a dead giveaway. Yet, the book doesn’t lean on Solo, the story doesn’t revolve around him, he’s not a crutch for the book to lean on. General Solo’s flagship during his quest to end Zsinj, is the Mon Calamari ship, Mon Remonda. Han doesn’t really enjoy the job too much, but he’s doing his best.
The Wraith mission at the Binring Biomedical facility was intense. I thought Allston did a nice job giving us that commando action which was teased in book five – Wraith Squadron. Taking Piggy back to the laboratory he was experimented on was harsh, but great.
One negative, I don’t like how the missions on both sides were paralleled in a few cases… It’s way to convenient! The setup for the missions were disappointing – Zsinj wants to set a trap at a specific place, meanwhile, Wraith Squadron is getting ready to investigate said place.
I’m not quite sure how I feel about how this book ended. Wraith Squadron, decommissioned as an X-Wing unit. I’m looking forward to seeing more of these characters in future books.
Do I recommend you read this novel? Absolutely, no need to skip this book! I’m surprised by how much I’m enjoying the X-Wing series.
RATING
I will give Star Wars: X-Wing: Solo Command, a B+.