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X-Wing: Mercy Kill by Aaron Allston
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 PostPosted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 4:49 pm Reply with quote  
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  Darth_Henning
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chewbacca.89 wrote:
I have not read any of the X-Wing books yet. Would I be able to read Mercy Kill and not get lost?


You might not pick up all the funny references to certain characters from earlier in the series, but 99% of the book will be completely unaltered.
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 PostPosted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 9:21 pm Reply with quote  
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  chewbacca.89
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Darth_Henning wrote:
chewbacca.89 wrote:
I have not read any of the X-Wing books yet. Would I be able to read Mercy Kill and not get lost?


You might not pick up all the funny references to certain characters from earlier in the series, but 99% of the book will be completely unaltered.


Thanks, I appreciate it. I have only just gotten into the EU a couple years ago so havent gotten to everything yet. Were the original X-Wings books good? Should I just start with book 1 instead of picking up Mercy Kill?
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 PostPosted: Tue Aug 14, 2012 11:51 pm Reply with quote  
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  Mara Jade Skywalker
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The original X-Wing books were excellent. I know they are considered some of the best Star Wars books for many people. I wouldn't say you'd have to go back and read them all to enjoy Mercy Kill, but if you wanted to go in order, I suppose I'd recommend that it'd be preferable. Smile
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 PostPosted: Wed Aug 15, 2012 7:33 am Reply with quote  
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  chewbacca.89
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Mara Jade Skywalker wrote:
The original X-Wing books were excellent. I know they are considered some of the best Star Wars books for many people. I wouldn't say you'd have to go back and read them all to enjoy Mercy Kill, but if you wanted to go in order, I suppose I'd recommend that it'd be preferable. Smile


Thanks, Mara. I'll start at the beginning. On the plus side, all of the books will be cheaper because they are paper backs.
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 PostPosted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 2:56 am Reply with quote  
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  Life Is The Path
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I've started Mercy Kill. It is ... I have no words! It makes me happy Very Happy . I happen to find the perspective of Piggy to be absolutely fascinating.
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 PostPosted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 10:07 am Reply with quote  
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  Darth_Henning
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Life Is The Path wrote:
I've started Mercy Kill. It is ... I have no words! It makes me happy Very Happy . I happen to find the perspective of Piggy to be absolutely fascinating.


I'd have to go back and look through all of the X-wing novels to be sure, but if I'm not mistaken, this is the first time that we've been given writing through piggy's perspective isn't it?
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 PostPosted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 3:46 pm Reply with quote  
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  Darth Skuldren
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We got Piggy's perspective in Solo Command. It was brief, but he had two or three short chapters.
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 PostPosted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 10:17 pm Reply with quote  
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  Corellias Dream
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I've now read both Mercy Kill and Roll of the Dice - the SW Insider short story.

With Mercy Kill I'm still slightly getting over my disappointment that after having Wedge in the DP, he's barely in the book. I did enjoy the book itself - it's good to read a Star Wars again that's not all Jedi-Sith and where the fate of the galaxy isn't immediately at stake. I love the ingenuity of the Wraith stories - the scams they pull off, using brains and bluff instead of waving a hand and using the Force.

I also like seeing the different generations working together, especially as the younger ones aren't children or teenagers, as young Jedi characters often are. It's nice to see characters who have been allowed to grow up into (young) adults before being thrown into battle and forced to kill or be killed.
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 PostPosted: Mon Sep 03, 2012 2:55 am Reply with quote  
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  Life Is The Path
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Absolutely brilliant book! Especially the ending. I love how Allston can write a very sad moment - like a main character's death - and then in the very next page have me chuckling out loud.

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 PostPosted: Mon Sep 03, 2012 7:50 am Reply with quote  
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  Corellias Dream
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I think I need to read it again soon. The first time was all about the anticipation of who was going to appear, and what time periods would we see. Now I know all that, I can think about it as the book it is, without dealing with all the expectations and hopes built up after the fifteen year wait.

After the surprise of realizing that Piggy is the main POV character (he was barely mentioned in the info we got before the book came out), I can now really enjoy it as a book about Piggy's journey and his healing and appreciate it for that.
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 PostPosted: Fri Sep 28, 2012 1:02 pm Reply with quote  
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  Niner
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I loved this book. I'm a big fan of the x-Wing series, and this book is a worthy part of it. I liked everything about this book. Having the book be in Piggy's perspective was great, as was his own personal story throughout. The team was great. Besides Piggy, I really liked Myri, and Face was great. I liked Scut's character, too. I can't think of any part of this book I disliked. I think I want to go back and reread the other X-Wing books now Laughing
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 PostPosted: Sat Sep 29, 2012 11:17 am Reply with quote  
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  Mad Wook
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I still can't figure out what was so great about this book. This is the first SW book I haven't finished, ever. It was just completely boring. The scene with Face getting tracked by the assassins was the most exciting it ever got. It just felt like Allston was trying too hard.
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 PostPosted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 2:39 pm Reply with quote  
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  Dancelittleewok
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Mad Wook wrote:
I still can't figure out what was so great about this book. This is the first SW book I haven't finished, ever. It was just completely boring. The scene with Face getting tracked by the assassins was the most exciting it ever got. It just felt like Allston was trying too hard.


The second part was better than the first. Aaron Allston had to juggle 3 different time periods, introduce new Wraiths while providing back stories for the old Wraiths, and deal with the effects of NJO and FOTJ - in one book. It's very ambitious in that regard, so I can why you (and others) might not be impressed with the execution.

In a related note, I hope Tahiri meets Scut in future books.
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 PostPosted: Mon Oct 01, 2012 5:41 pm Reply with quote  
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  Darth_Henning
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Dancelittleewok wrote:
Mad Wook wrote:
I still can't figure out what was so great about this book. This is the first SW book I haven't finished, ever. It was just completely boring. The scene with Face getting tracked by the assassins was the most exciting it ever got. It just felt like Allston was trying too hard.


The second part was better than the first. Aaron Allston had juggle 3 different time periods, introduce new Wraiths while providing back stories for the old Wraiths, and deal with the effects of NJO and FOTJ - in one book. It's very ambitious in that regard, so I can why you (and others) might not be impressed with the execution.


Given that there's, what, a 30+ year gap between the last Wraith novel (~10 aby I believe?) and this one (43 ABY), That's a lot of ground to cover with what's happened to the squad, where everyone is, introduce new characters, explain the state of the galaxy, and then finally pull off a credible mission that makes sense in a period where there is really very little military turmoil (Jedi vs. Sith doesn't really involve the clashing of tradional armies in most cases).

Its a good book. Not Allston's best, but hopefully the precursor of a significant extention of the X-wing series (this will no doubt rest on the final sales data). He can do a lot more with it in the future now that a basic background is set.

I remember that Rogue Squadron itself was not the best novel of the X-wing series, since it had to lay the groundwork for the rest of the series. First novels (and this essentially is one in its timeperiod) are usually hard to make as amazing as others.

Dancelittleewok wrote:
In a related note, I hope Tahiri meets Scut in future books.


Never thought of this. That would be very interesting to see.
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 PostPosted: Fri Nov 23, 2012 1:17 pm Reply with quote  
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  GrandMaster
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I finally got around to reading this and read it all in one day. It was hard to put it down. The humor that I've come to expect from Allston was present throughout and the new Wraiths were interesting.

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