Matthew's Reviews > Isard's Revenge: Star Wars Legends

Isard's Revenge was a solid addition to the X-Wing series. The action in this book picks up right as the Thrawn trilogy is winding down. I really appreciated this integration, as it gave great continuity to the story. It's hard to say much about the plot without spoilers, so suffice it to say that these missions encompass some of Rogue Squadron's finest undercover work. They take place in the Ciutric Hegemony, which is a fascinating and seldom explored region of the Expanded Universe (I first learned about these planets in a mod to the game "Empire at War"). The plot involving Isard has a huge twist and the political play between Warlord Krennel (at Isard's direction) and Mon Mothma is very realistic.

Although a solid and entertaining story, I disliked the way the capital ships were handled (the fighter combat was great, though!). The New Republic dispatched such a weak fleet to deal with the Warlord. I know that the NR navy had to be stretched thin, but a single Mon Cal cruiser (and several support vessels) is too paltry a force! And the Warlord only had one Impstar Deuce and two Victories? The smaller fleet sizes allowed the author to personalize and focus details on those ships and their crews, but it was simply unbelievable to me that the fleets would be so small. Even Zsinj had dozens of capital ships... Maybe I don't have the proper perspective on this, but the small number of capital ships did stick out to me.