Andrew's Review of X-wing: The Bacta War

4/5 Rancors - The Bacta War by Michael Stackpole is the fourth book in the X-wing series and it brings the first major story arc to its conclusion. The stage set at the climax of the third book, The Krytos Trap, has Ysanne Isard escaping Coruscant and taking over the government of Thyferra, the primary producer of bacta in the galaxy. With the Krytos virus running rampant through the New Republic's alien populations, it is critical that access to Thyferra's bacta is restored and it is distributed as fairly as possible.

Unfortunately, since Isard is the legitimate head of the Thyferran government, the New Republic cannot overthrow her directly. In light of this, Wedge and the Rogues resign and take matters into their own hands, acquiring a new squadron of X-wings and making weapons deals with Huff Darklighter and Talon Karrde along the way. The task before the Rogues is to find a way using their limited resources to topple Isard from power and bring Thyferra back into the New Republic.

As always, Stackpole does an excellent job of managing a large cast of characters. Corran Horn continues as the primary focus of the story. Corran is grappling with revelations concerning his Jedi heritage and is unsure of how his potential ability with the Force jives with his service to the military. In this book Stackpole does a good job of not overly deifying Corran; he is confident of his pilot abilities but he is humanized by his fledgling explorations into the Force and his burgeoning relationship with Mirax Terrik. The introduction of Mirax's father Booster into the storyline is an immediately welcome addition.

Isard and her partners-in-crime Fliry Vorru and the traitorous pilot Erisi Dlarit spend many of their chapters plotting in Isard's office. Some of their dialogue is a bit too much in the mustache-twirling, stereotypically evil villain vein, but that was the case in parts of the prior books as well. The shifting alliances and power struggles in their group are engaging as they try to consolidate their power and take on the indomitable Rogues.

The methods Rogue Squadron use to take on Isard and her followers are quite cleverly written and thought out. Since the New Republic cannot officially back the effort, Wedge takes on the comfortable role he always had in the Rebellion, leading a small, scrappy group against seemingly insurmountable odds. The varied minor actions the Rogues take throughout the book build to a gripping climatic sequence starting at the Yag'Dhul space station they have been using as a base of operations and ending, of course, at Thyferra where Isard has made her lair.

Kudos to Stackpole for such a satisfying four-book storyline. He introduces a host of characters and plot points and does an admirable job of differentiating them enough to be easily memorable and of bringing them to solid conclusions at the end. Being free of the chains of using the primary Star Wars film characters has really paid off in this series, and the sense of danger is much higher when characters may actually die (and do). These four books are highly recommended.