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X-Wing #2
X-WING #2 Wedge's Gamble
By Michael A. Stackpole
6.5 years after ANH
(2.5 YEARS AFTER ROTJ)

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This is the second book of a series of eight (so far) which highlights the exploits of the star -fighter pilots who get the job done when the fight against the Empire demands action-sequences.

SYNOPSIS

If you read the first book in this series, X-Wing Rogue Squadron, then you leap right into this one without any pre-amble; this one pretty much picks up right where the first book left off. In Rogue Squadron, we were introduced to the newly re-formed elite pilot squadron, the political and military dilemma of capturing the seat of galactic legitimacy….the planet Coruscant…was established, and the squad went on missions aimed at moving the Alliance/New Republic several steps closer to that end-goal.

In X-Wing Wedge's Gamble, the story proceeds apace. A few new pilots come on board, (replacing some lost in the first book), we get to know Wedge Antilles and his crew a bit better, and most of the "gang" becomes part of an espionage mission to reconnoiter Coruscant for the planned Alliance invasion. Along the way, there is a bit of romance, there is the suspense of a potential Imperial spy planted in the squadron, there is a calculating and despicable villainess, and there is a deadly virus of Imperial design.

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MY WORDS OF WISDOM

Just as with the first in the X-Wing series, this book is highly entertaining. There are several exciting action sequences, including a thrilling speederbike chase through the building-canyons of Coruscant. The author Michael Stackpole again handles the descriptions of fighting and of visual elements with clean, easily understandable language. Corran Horn, the former Correlian Securitly officer introduced in the last book, gets even more fleshed-out, and takes small steps into the beginning of an intelligent and maturely-handled romance. The other members of the squadron get some nice bits of business, too, and we also get a fascinating inhabitants-eye-view of Coruscant. As an added bonus, we get a brief trip to Kessel (always a nice place to visit….), and are introduced to some juicy B-List bad guys to augment the A-List nefariousness of de-facto Imperial Leader Ysanne Isard. All of the Star Wars novels add depth to the enjoyment of the Star Wars universe created in the movies. The X-Wing novels especially immerse the reader in this universe, because they're about the lives of the supporting players who make up the rebellion , and the day-to-day lives of the people in the galaxy…the galaxy the Alliance is trying to save.

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