Product Description: Sleek, swift and deadly, the famed X-wing fighters have earned their reputation as the Rebel Alliance's ultimate strike force the hard way - first in battle, the last line of defence. Now they must make a deal with the devil herself - an enemy whose ultimate goal is their total annihilation.
Amazon.com Review: Michael A. Stackpole returns as author of the eighth book in the X-Wing series, taking over again after three novels from Aaron Allston. Wedge Antilles has transferred back from Wraith to Rogue Squadron, and many of the characters from Stackpole's first four books reappear, including Ysanne Isard, the villain of Book 4, The Bacta War.
Now that Grand Admiral Thrawn is dead, the New Republic wants to go after the warlords and decides to make an example of Krennel, who murdered a whole family in his rise to power. But Krennel has an unexpected ally: the treacherous Isard, whom the Rogues thought they had killed, is now plotting their downfall. She uses New Republic prisoners, with whom Rogue pilot Corran Horn was held for a while, as bait. The plot twists and turns, sometimes confusingly, as Krennel, Isard, and the Rogues try to outguess one another.
As ever in the X-Wing books, there are plenty of space battles, with Wedge Antilles, now promoted to general, leading the way. Meanwhile, the aversion Imperials feel toward nonhumans and the tensions between the various species making up the New Republic provide a couple of subplots that make this a thoughtful, action-packed installment in the series. --Liz Sourbut, Amazon.co.uk
Solid but not as entertaining as his first four X-wing novels Michael Stackpole returns to the adventures of Rogue Squadron with the eighth book in the X-wing series, Isard's Revenge. The first seven books were all set together in the chronological order of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, but this volume is set a couple of years later on the heels of Timothy Zahn's acclaimed Thrawn Trilogy. The first chapter actually places us into the Battle of Bilbringi, the climatic conflict of Zahn's The Last Command, offering a nice bit of continuity and a smooth way to rejoin the Rogue Squadron storyline.
Readers of the previous volumes will know that Wedge Antilles, hero of numerous Rebel Alliance victories, has repeatedly refused a promotion to General, fearing a life bound to a desk shuffling papers. He and Admiral Ackbar finally come to an accommodation which will allow Wedge to accept the promotion while still remaining in command of Rogue Squadron. After all the adventures and near-death escapes Wedge has had, it's rewarding to see his efforts recognized, especially considering he is the only pilot to have actually survived flying against both Death Stars.
This dealt with, Stackpole rapidly moves into the main plotline, establishing an adversary that will be familiar to readers of the Rogue Squadron comics (Stackpole had a hand in writing most of those comics and I highly recommend reading them as a supplement to this series). This time around, the Rogues must deal with Prince-Admiral Delak Krennel, an Imperial warlord who was also responsible for the death of Imperial ruler Sate Pestage. Interestingly, the attack against Krennel takes the form of a pre-emptive strike rather than a response to a particular provocation. The New Republic needs to show its strength in the wake of the Thrawn crisis, proving to the galaxy at large that the menace of the Empire is over and despotic warlords will no longer be tolerated. It's an interesting departure of form for the New Republic's government, running the risk that the populace might start to perceive them as bullies rather than saviors. To mitigate this risk, the government seeds the idea that Pestage's death (and the elimination of his family) is a driving factor in going after Krennel, even though no one mourns the loss of Pestage himself in the slightest.
Since this eighth book is actually titled Isard's Revenge, one might infer that Ysanne Isard herself, presumed dead at the end of the fourth book, returns. She does indeed return, and more, in a plot that involves both a logical escape from Thyferra and a somewhat strange and off-putting cloning element. Isard is working with Krennel, aiming to both restore her grasp on power and get her long-awaited revenge on Rogue Squadron. Isard is a good villain in the first four books, certainly more interesting than Krennel. However, I found the manner of her return to be overly complicated by introducing the clone storyline. One Isard is more than enough to be a convincing antagonist.
There's an interesting twist mid-book where the Rogues are forced to team up with some Imperials. This allows for new dynamics in the pilots' relationships and also has one of the most amusing sequences in the whole series, where the two astromechs Whistler and Gate stage an escape and travel alone through the galaxy seeking help. We don't often get an astromech's point-of-view in the EU, and this was just as much fun as reading about Lara Notsil's plotting with her astromech Tonin to take control of a Star Destroyer's mouse droids in Aaron Allston's Solo Command.
Ultimately, this book was a solid but not particularly outstanding entry in the nine-book series. The style is very much like Stackpole's first four books, but this time the story suffers from being a one-off rather than a multi-book arc. After just reading the Thrawn books, returning to Isard wasn't as engaging as perhaps a different villain might have been. Isard's Revenge is certainly worth reading if you've already read the earlier X-wing books, but it does suffer a bit from the law of diminishing returns by mining some very familiar ground.
Slow until the end Going from one of Allston books in this series back to Stackpole is like trading in your Porsche Boxster for a Fort Escort......It really slows down and the ride is a lot less fun. The first 3/4 of this book is filled with meaningless conversations between various characters, plotting and planning secessions, and various political maneuvering.........boring. The book doesn't get going until the last 1/4 and then as in other of Stackpole's books the story is just too weird and unbelievable to keep you interested.
The triumphant return! As far as I'm concerned, this book ties for my favorite X-wing book, coming in dead-even with The Bacta War. I like that the threads of the surrounding universe are pulled together here, starting with the attack on the Bilbringi Shipyards from the finale of The Last Command. It was an excellent place to put Rogue Squadron into the story, and it allows us, the readers, to see a small touch of the Thrawn Crisis from the perspective of Corran Horn and the others.
Another factor that makes me enjoy this book so much is Prince-Admiral Delak Krennel, the main antagonist for the book (despite the title of the story). He is an Imperial Admiral who murdered the sucessor to Emperor Palpatine and stole his holdings, a dozen worlds and enough ships and soldiers to defend them. He has taken no offensive action against the New Republic since taking control of the Ciutric Hegemony, but the New Republic has decided that ANY former Imperial warlords must be crushed and swiftly. I love the fact that Krennel's Hegemony is invaded to further the political ends of the New Republic, not because he's been out attacking innocent civilians, or building a doomsday device, or displays amazing Dark Jedi powers.
The battle sequences in this book are phenomenal, and the political intrigue between Isard, Krennel, Wedge and others is top-notch. I am also very impressed with Stackpole's use of the Bothans (particularly Borsk Fey'lya) and that irascible rogue Booster Terrik. In all courts, a masterpiece!
Another great x-wing book. I liked this book. Stackpole returns to write another x-wing adventure and does well. It is not the best of the series but better than most Star Wars books written between the Thrawn trilogy and the New Jedi Order. The thing that bothered me was the summary on the back cover had little or nothing to do with the story. This book is worth the time to read and it will be enjoyable.
not quite up to the level of Stackpole's other X-Wing "Isard's Revenge" picks up the action smack in the middle of a big space battle against the forces of the Grand Admiral Thrawn. Those who have read Timothy Zhan's "The Last Command" will be very familiar with this space battle as this is the battle which closes the Thrawn Trilogy. Now we see it more specifically from the perspective of the Rogues. But where this battle was conclusion in Zahn's book, it is only prologue in "Isard's Revenge". With Thrawn now out of the way, the New Republic must further solidify its authority throughout the galaxy and the best way to do this is to take the fight to the warlords who have carved out little niches of galaxy for themselves. To start, the New Republic will attack a warlord named Krennel. Krennel provides the New Republic some moral authority in their military action because in his rise to power he had murdered several political figures including an entire family and it is under the pretext of bringing Krennel to justice that the New Republic will take him down. Assigned to this, of course, is the Rogue Squardron, the best of the best.
At the end of "The Bacta War", Ysanne Isard was presumed killed when her shuttle was destroyed at Thyferra. Thus was one of the nastier elements of the Empire eliminated. But she didn't die and she is back trying to bring Krennel into power. Or...is she? As the former Intelligence Director of the Empire her motives are her own and are seldom shared with others. As events unfold the Rogues begin to believe that it is possible that Isard really is alive. The thought is frightening, but they have a mission to do.
Michael Stackpole's four previous X-Wing novels were suburb. They were fast paced, exciting, and often funny. I was looking forward to reading "Isard's Revenge" moreso than many other Star Wars novels. Here Stackpole slows down the pace and somehow the novel does not work as well as his previous books had. The reason why is unclear. It features the same characters and many of the same traits that made the other novels so good but this one is lacking "something". It is difficult to say what except that this book is not as fast paced, exciting or funny as the others. It is still a decent enough story, but the action does not have the same sense of importance compared to Isard's release of the Krytos virus in the early X-Wings. The stakes are lower.
Still, X-Wing is one of the best parts of the world of Star Wars and "Isard's Revenge" is book 8 of 9. It is worth reading for fans of Star Wars, Stackpole, and X-Wing. It is just not quite up to the level of the first four X-Wing novels.
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