Thursday, December 24, 2015

Star Wars Battlefront: Twilight Company

Star Wars Battlefront: Twilight Company (Star Wars)Star Wars Battlefront: Twilight Company by Alexander Freed
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Galactic Civil War bitterly envelops the known galaxy. The Rebellion battles on for the freedom of the galaxy despite overwhelming odds. One unit tears through the toughest battles against The Empire and that unit is the Sixty-First Mobile Infantry otherwise known as Twilight Company. They get the worst jobs but the company survives. When Twilight Company captures a high profile officer their chances of survival seem slimmer than ever.

I have to say Twilight Company surprised me in a good way. I didn't have particularly high expectations for a companion novel to a video game, but the novel was really solid. The author captured the grit that the Star Wars series has often lacked and had some tough yet believable characters as well.

While the Star Wars series has numerous amounts of nameless characters dying in battles, Twilight Company introduces a lot of characters the reader can grow to care about that just don't make it. It makes the story somber at times, but it demonstrates the true danger and sacrifice people face fighting for the Rebellion.

Two characters stood out above the others in the story for me and they are Namir and Brand. Namir is a veteran soldier who doesn't believe in the rebellion, but instead believes in helping Twilight Company survive. Namir is a complex character and it was easy to relate to his feelings. Despite his gruffness I wanted to see things go well for him.

Brand is quite different from Namir yet she stood out to me. She is a former bounty hunter who was hired to kill the Captain of Twilight Company, but instead joined them. She is a strong capable woman whose motives are hard to understand. Brand is fiercely loyal to the company and serves in her own unique manner.

Twilight Company was probably the best video game companion novel I've read to date. I'd happily read more about their missions in the future.


I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Knight's Shadow

Knight's Shadow (Greatcoats, #2)Knight's Shadow by Sebastien de Castell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As Falcio val Mond deals with the increasing side effects of poison, new dangers arise that the Greatcoats must solve. Falcio fights with whatever time the poison permits to save his homeland from civil war.

Knight's Shadow is a solid sequel to Traitor's Blade. All the primary Greatcoats have returned and find themselves once again going against impossible odds to earn justice and freedom for all.

I really enjoyed the increased Greatcoat interaction Falcio had in this book compared to the first of the series. There is no massive gap where Falcio is fighting solo to save a girl by impossible odds and that was certainly an improvement.

It was nice that the author took a moment to ensure that everyone was pronouncing Falcio's name properly in the story. As a rumor of Falcio's exploits are being spread throughout Tristia his name is mentioned as Falsio which in truth was the way I thought his name was pronounced. Thanks to this moment we learned his name is pronounced as Falkeyoh.

My main grievance with Knight's Shadow and this series thus far as a whole is that everything seems overly convenient. The perfect things happen at the perfect moment, time and time again. There are at least a few moments that go from Falcio and friends being screwed until A voice called out to Falcio and the team's savior arrives at just the right time. That got old for me.

Knight's Shadow is really a solid book and sequel with some interesting ideas.

3 out of 5 stars

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

View all my reviews