The main plot of WS involves a squadron of misfits ...betcha can't guess who... the lovable Wraiths Whoo-hoo! Our guys! Yeah! hijacking an Imperial ship and pretending to be the crew whilst secretly screwing up everything they can for Warlord Zsinj. And hopefully wearing some Imperial Uniforms while they're at it? *Mish looks hopeful* Sounds cool, doesn't it? Yes, it does! It is. However, the book focuses mainly on Kell Tainer, who's not one of my fave pilots. Boo-hiss! More Face and Phanan, I say. More! There's a bit too much of Kell's inner monologue for my tastes. He's the Corran Horn of Wraith Squadron to start with, which sucked eversoslightly, seeing as all the other characters seem so much more intriguing to start with... Also, Kell steals the girl from Phanan, which makes me have mixed feelings about him :) Oh yes. *Shakes head* Said girl obviously has no taste. It's a very good introduction to the Wraiths, who are all brand new characters except for Wedge and Janson. You know Wedge and Janson, right? From the Fab Four. Oh yes, them. Wedge Antilles. Wes Janson. What a pair. Pity there's no Tych or Hobbie, though, I thought. But then they'd steal the limelight, I suppose. You feel you know them all, to some extent, by the end of the book. All in all, a pretty decent book. By pretty decent Kat means fantastically awesome, of course.
Face: *swoon* I don't think I'll be able to manage this one. His very name sends shivers down my spine. He gets pretty decent screentime for a minor character. Too right! He should have a book devoted to him! He gets quite a few of the best quotes, as it should be! but not too much background information is given on him, beyond the fact that he's a child actor who was kidnapped by Rebel and then scarred by the Empire. Beyond that, what you see is what you get. Oh, the mysterious handsome stranger routine. I thrive on it. *sighs wistfully* However, he does demonstrate pretty good flight and leadership skills, pretty good? PRETTY GOOD? Fantastic, amazing, awe-inspiringly fabulous. He's the best. The best of the best of the best, sir. *shakes head* which get him promoted to Lieutenant towards the end of the book, ahead of the star, Kell Tainer. YEAH! Go Face! Much better than Kell! We love you Face!
Phanan: Yey!Not as much screentime as Face. Boo! Or yey, considering. But there could be more Phanan. LOTS more Phanan. We find out very little about his pre-Wraith past, and he gets injured a couple times (he loses his spleen, poor baby). It'd be nice to know exactly how, but we fear the hordes of Phanan worshippers might protest at blatent Phanan-whacking. :-( I do! I protest! Oh, and one thing my esteemed collegue forgot to mention about this is the reason Phanan's part mechanical is he's allergic to bacta. So unlike Hobbie, he's unrenewable... He also hits incessantly on Tyria, but she passes him over for Kell. We have to wonder what the hell she was thinking. What the hell was she thinking?!? He gets most of the good lines that Face doesn't get. So true. He's other half of the Dynamic Duo, he gets the good quotes! He's the comic relief in this book. And we do quite love comic relief, it's one of our fave things about Allston's work. Oh yes. All bow for the GodKing Allston! But we must say, we wish there was more Phanan in this book. A lot more. A hell of a lot more! But quality is there. Oh boy, is it there.
Best Face Quote: "Thank you, thank you.
Performances every hour, on the hour. Imperial madmen a specialty."
"I have some Force here in my pocket. Kell,
Cubber, you can have it if you need it. Oops, no, it's gone. Maybe it's
in my cargo."
Best Phanan Quote: "Oooh, I've been skewered.
I will now take seventeen hours to re-evaluate my life."
"I've done that a couple of times. Shooting
myself. Accidents. It's not fun."
Best Other Quote: "I don't have to blow
up everything I see. I just like to." -- Kell Tainer
"Ton Phanan, Seven. Face, Eight. I want the
majority of the squadron's sarcasm concentrated in one wing pair so we
can dispose of it more conveniently. . ." -- Wedge Antilles
