Aaron Allston had already secured his spot in the “Star Wars” author hall of fame with his work on four of the first nine “X-Wing” books (1996-99), where he masterfully blended complex stealth plots with likable characters. He wasn’t quite as good when working on the broader galactic yarns in “New Jedi Order,” “Legacy of the Force” and “Fate of the Jedi,” but now he’s back in his element with “X-Wing: Mercy Kill” (August, hardcover).
Wraith Squadron returns, but since this story takes place two decades after the previous “X-Wing” books, it’s a mixture of familiar older faces and fresh new faces. The new roster also makes sense because this group is so stealthy that it officially doesn’t exist, and the early part of the book is a bit difficult to read because I felt like I was out of the loop. This is intentional, though: The characters are out of the loop too. We get reacquainted with Voort “Piggy” saBinring, the only Gamorrean in the galaxy who can speak Basic. (Sometimes I get a sense that Allston plays with toys to come up with ideas: I can see him trying to fit his Gamorrean Guard action figure into an X-Wing cockpit and thinking “What if?” I mean this as a compliment, as Voort carries us through the choppy early chapters before things start to fall into place.) It’s also nice to see Face Loran and Wedge Antilles’ daughter Myri.
“Mercy Kill” won’t fit everyone’s taste. I get the sense that Allston had utterly free reign here (whereas the multi-author series had more editorial oversight), and sometimes the story skews wildly, for a while including flashbacks to Voort’s past but then abandoning that structure. There are so many little preliminary missions that the main mission seems out of reach — the Wraiths aim to expose the corrupt Galactic Alliance General Thaal (a loose thread from “Fate of the Jedi”), who has been siphoning materiel from the Alliance to prepare to set up his own little government, complete with a loyal army of Pop-Dogs.
Newcomers to the series might be surprised that there are very few X-Wing space battles here; the Wraiths are the sleuth team rather than the dogfighting team (that’d be Rogue Squadron, which Michael Stackpole chronicles in the other five books). “Mercy Kill” feels more like one of Karen Traviss’ “Republic Commando” books in that the focus is on intricate missions and true-to-life characterizations. The notable difference is the humor spigot, which Allston keeps open throughout the novel, particularly through the jabber and running jokes between team members, and the aforementioned creativity in characterization. In addition to Voort, I reacted strongly to Scut, a Yuuzhan Vong Shamed One adopted and raised by humans. The species was so alien and repulsive in “New Jedi Order” that I genuinely disliked Scut right off the bat, so kudos to Allston for playing on my prejudice and making me examine it (even if it is a fictional race).
“Mercy Kill” is the farthest book along the timeline (43 years after “Return of the Jedi”), so I read it with an eye on the galactic chess board being set up for “Episode VII” (which I think will happen at the end of the novels timeline — the original trilogy actors would be pretty much the perfect ages — although I have yet to find anyone in the world who agrees with me). However, that’s not much of a concern here as none of the Skywalkers or Solos pop up — although there are some other cameos and surprises for fans. We’ll get back into the main characters with Christie Golden’s Jaina Solo-centered “Sword of the Jedi” trilogy starting next year.
If “Mercy Kill” signals the return of “X-Wing” as a title, that’s great. If not, it’s cool to have one last blast of Wraith Squadron action.