Battlefront: Twilight Company by Alexander Freed
Battlefront: Twilight Company by Alexander Freed
What a book!! It's a lengthy one at 397 pages but still felt like a quick read what with the short scenes in each chapter making it easy to keep wanting to read the next section. I've never played the game and have no means to do so, but really enjoyed this book nonetheless. It probed into a number of planets never mentioned before and covered the war side of the Rebellion like no other book I've read--even more so than Rogue One.
There are three main storylines threaded throughout the book, all leading to one final stand off. 1) Hazram Namir and Twilight Company (The Rebel Alliance's 61st Mobile Infantry) fighting their way against the Empire with the help of ex-Imperial Governor Everi Chalis from Haidoral Prime, 2) Thara Nyende, or stormtrooper SP-475, working in Pinyumb, a city on Sullust, 3) Captain Tabor Seitaron and Prelate Verge aboard the Star Destroyer, The Herald, chasing Governor Chalis.
All three storylines are quite masterfully intertwined and each provides deeper understanding to the others. They were easy to follow and all three were captivating reads. Of course the first is the main plot that takes up the bulk of the novel. It follows Twilight Company as they retreat from the Mid-Rim in the face of the Imperial behemoth. We even get to experience the Battle of Hoth from the perspective of three Twilight soldiers (they had been called to High Command to bring Chalis in for giving up her knowledge of the Imperial logistics network). So this story takes place a few months before the Battle of Hoth to a few months after the Battle of Hoth, setting us up for why the Rebel Alliance was able to amass their fleet at Sullust in Return of the Jedi. Without Twilight Company, that rendezvous point would have been the stuff of dreams.
The only tricky to follow part of this novel was the much shorter sub-plot of Namir's time before Twilight. We see how he came to be where he is now as he lived on his technologically young planet and fought for various warlords. His name changes throughout this sub-plot but eventually you understand who the stories are about.
Although written I'm sure as clearly as they could be, the battles are not the easiest to visualize. So much is happening and sometimes the landscape is not described well enough for the reader to envision what is going on. But the gestalt of everything is easily parsed out and the story carries itself along in its own right. So I have no real complaints about this aspect of the novel. At its most basic, each battle begins with the Apailana's Promise and its 2 X-wings covering the Thunderstrike as it releases drop ships containing the Twilight infantry. They then seek and destroy their targets, hold open recruitments for new members, and the drop ships return to take them back to the Thunderstrike. Of course all of this changes once they reach Sullust.
It's not just about the fighting though; I came to really care about several Twilight Company members and eagerly followed their character progressions and tense moments of life or death. Roach was my favorite--a young ginger girl recruited on Haidoral Prime. She's feisty and strong-willed and quickly learns how to be useful on the battlefield.
Count Vidian is mentioned several times as the mentor of Governor Chalis. I love that they include the horrific Count Vidian, even just in passing, as it connects this story to that of A New Dawn--the story of Hera and Kanan.
Namir describes the feeling of being in a bacta tank quite beautifully. "a blissful state of oblivion and submersion", "a sanctuary from pain and need, a welcoming home", "The patient floated in pure, viscous health."
This book covered A LOT of planets, many of which are new to Star Wars canon:
1. Crucival - A "backwater" planet run by war lords without much tech to speak of. The home planet of the main character, Namir.
2. Haidoral Prime - The Imperial run planet governed by Chalis. Experiences acid rain that smells like vinegar and has crystalline glittering mountains.
3. Blacktar Cyst - Where a terrible battle of Twilight Company's took place. Details are never mentioned.
4. Phorsa Gedd - A planet with factory-deserts.
5. Bamayar - Site of a Twilight company engagement.
6. Coyerti - A planet inhabited by a sentient insectoid species that is being used as a bioweapons testing ground by the Empire. The planet was very rich with planet and animal life but the bioweapons have left much destruction and death in their wake. The Coyerti natives undergo a reproductive season that leaves them vulnerable whereas they are usually immune or resistant to or can make cures for the bioweapons.
7. Bestine - Briefly mentioned, found elsewhere in canon.
8. The Redhurne System - "Its sun had gone supernova centuries earlier, burning worlds to cinders; now no sign remained on those planets' ravaged surfaces of life or civilization. The remnant of the Redhurne star, a collapsed post-nova fragment that glowed white with seething intensity, exuded radiation deadly to any unshielded creature. [...] When the planets of the inner system had cracked open, their cores had been exposed to the star's toxic rays and been transmuted into exotic new materials--the building blocks of hypermatter fuel." This left the system scattered with scavenging drones and orbital mining stations.
9. Sullust - Although not a new planet, interesting info is given. Pinyumb is the city where the last good chunk of the novel takes place. Pinyumb is found beneath the surface, "on the southern side of Inyusu Tor--a volcanic peak shelled in black obsidian." It is filled with tram lines and industrial lifts all servicing a main processing facility that "drew magma up from the mountain's heart, filtered and sifted and purified molten rock to bring forth precious metals hat would augment the Imperial fleet." The city itself is set "within a great obsidian cavern, its roof dimly gleaming with refracted iridescence from tower lights. Its buildings were sleek, tapered, and curved, [...] rising along turquoise waterways lined with footpaths and pedestrian bridges. The walkways [...] wove among rows of plants that glowed with phosphorescent bulbs and archways carved from the cavern stone."
10. Carida - A planet with an Imperial Academy where Captain Seitaron works. Mentioned elsewhere in canon.
11. Praktin - Site of a Twilight company engagement.
12. Ankhural - "a pirate backwater beyond the edge of Imperial space" where podracing takes place.
13. Asyrphus - Site of a Twilight company engagement.
14. Magnus Horn - Site of a Twilight company engagement.
15. Mardona III - "a warehouse world. [...] A place for the Empire to stockpile equipment and materials for delivery to nearby systems in times of need." Contained a mega-spaceport serving as the primary warehouse hub, manned by "a few hundred thousand dock-workers and administrators and droid controllers." "enormous black metal buildings [...] rose from the rocky surface [...] almost crystalline in design, cuboids with their sides perfectly sheared at odd angles" and extending deep underground.
16. Najan-Rovi - A gas giant with floating habitats for Imperial dockyards.
17. Obumubo - "A frigid moon covered in a sea of icy liquid metal" that housed an Imperial garrison. The icy liquid contains giant sea creatures.
18. Nakadia - "an agricultural world of boundless hills and neck-high stalks of stiff, leafy flora." Imperial factories process millions of tons of farm crops "into armor-grade polymers and synthetic resins." Also seen in Aftermath: Empire's End as the capital of the New Republic Senate when it had returned to being a purely agricultural world.
All-in-all, a fun, heartfelt, and although sad at times, ultimately joyful novel that does a lot of galaxy expansion. I can only hope that some of these worlds will be fleshed out more in future Star Wars canon. You should definitely check this one out!
There are three main storylines threaded throughout the book, all leading to one final stand off. 1) Hazram Namir and Twilight Company (The Rebel Alliance's 61st Mobile Infantry) fighting their way against the Empire with the help of ex-Imperial Governor Everi Chalis from Haidoral Prime, 2) Thara Nyende, or stormtrooper SP-475, working in Pinyumb, a city on Sullust, 3) Captain Tabor Seitaron and Prelate Verge aboard the Star Destroyer, The Herald, chasing Governor Chalis.
All three storylines are quite masterfully intertwined and each provides deeper understanding to the others. They were easy to follow and all three were captivating reads. Of course the first is the main plot that takes up the bulk of the novel. It follows Twilight Company as they retreat from the Mid-Rim in the face of the Imperial behemoth. We even get to experience the Battle of Hoth from the perspective of three Twilight soldiers (they had been called to High Command to bring Chalis in for giving up her knowledge of the Imperial logistics network). So this story takes place a few months before the Battle of Hoth to a few months after the Battle of Hoth, setting us up for why the Rebel Alliance was able to amass their fleet at Sullust in Return of the Jedi. Without Twilight Company, that rendezvous point would have been the stuff of dreams.
The only tricky to follow part of this novel was the much shorter sub-plot of Namir's time before Twilight. We see how he came to be where he is now as he lived on his technologically young planet and fought for various warlords. His name changes throughout this sub-plot but eventually you understand who the stories are about.
Although written I'm sure as clearly as they could be, the battles are not the easiest to visualize. So much is happening and sometimes the landscape is not described well enough for the reader to envision what is going on. But the gestalt of everything is easily parsed out and the story carries itself along in its own right. So I have no real complaints about this aspect of the novel. At its most basic, each battle begins with the Apailana's Promise and its 2 X-wings covering the Thunderstrike as it releases drop ships containing the Twilight infantry. They then seek and destroy their targets, hold open recruitments for new members, and the drop ships return to take them back to the Thunderstrike. Of course all of this changes once they reach Sullust.
It's not just about the fighting though; I came to really care about several Twilight Company members and eagerly followed their character progressions and tense moments of life or death. Roach was my favorite--a young ginger girl recruited on Haidoral Prime. She's feisty and strong-willed and quickly learns how to be useful on the battlefield.
Count Vidian is mentioned several times as the mentor of Governor Chalis. I love that they include the horrific Count Vidian, even just in passing, as it connects this story to that of A New Dawn--the story of Hera and Kanan.
Namir describes the feeling of being in a bacta tank quite beautifully. "a blissful state of oblivion and submersion", "a sanctuary from pain and need, a welcoming home", "The patient floated in pure, viscous health."
This book covered A LOT of planets, many of which are new to Star Wars canon:
1. Crucival - A "backwater" planet run by war lords without much tech to speak of. The home planet of the main character, Namir.
2. Haidoral Prime - The Imperial run planet governed by Chalis. Experiences acid rain that smells like vinegar and has crystalline glittering mountains.
3. Blacktar Cyst - Where a terrible battle of Twilight Company's took place. Details are never mentioned.
4. Phorsa Gedd - A planet with factory-deserts.
5. Bamayar - Site of a Twilight company engagement.
6. Coyerti - A planet inhabited by a sentient insectoid species that is being used as a bioweapons testing ground by the Empire. The planet was very rich with planet and animal life but the bioweapons have left much destruction and death in their wake. The Coyerti natives undergo a reproductive season that leaves them vulnerable whereas they are usually immune or resistant to or can make cures for the bioweapons.
7. Bestine - Briefly mentioned, found elsewhere in canon.
8. The Redhurne System - "Its sun had gone supernova centuries earlier, burning worlds to cinders; now no sign remained on those planets' ravaged surfaces of life or civilization. The remnant of the Redhurne star, a collapsed post-nova fragment that glowed white with seething intensity, exuded radiation deadly to any unshielded creature. [...] When the planets of the inner system had cracked open, their cores had been exposed to the star's toxic rays and been transmuted into exotic new materials--the building blocks of hypermatter fuel." This left the system scattered with scavenging drones and orbital mining stations.
9. Sullust - Although not a new planet, interesting info is given. Pinyumb is the city where the last good chunk of the novel takes place. Pinyumb is found beneath the surface, "on the southern side of Inyusu Tor--a volcanic peak shelled in black obsidian." It is filled with tram lines and industrial lifts all servicing a main processing facility that "drew magma up from the mountain's heart, filtered and sifted and purified molten rock to bring forth precious metals hat would augment the Imperial fleet." The city itself is set "within a great obsidian cavern, its roof dimly gleaming with refracted iridescence from tower lights. Its buildings were sleek, tapered, and curved, [...] rising along turquoise waterways lined with footpaths and pedestrian bridges. The walkways [...] wove among rows of plants that glowed with phosphorescent bulbs and archways carved from the cavern stone."
10. Carida - A planet with an Imperial Academy where Captain Seitaron works. Mentioned elsewhere in canon.
11. Praktin - Site of a Twilight company engagement.
12. Ankhural - "a pirate backwater beyond the edge of Imperial space" where podracing takes place.
13. Asyrphus - Site of a Twilight company engagement.
14. Magnus Horn - Site of a Twilight company engagement.
15. Mardona III - "a warehouse world. [...] A place for the Empire to stockpile equipment and materials for delivery to nearby systems in times of need." Contained a mega-spaceport serving as the primary warehouse hub, manned by "a few hundred thousand dock-workers and administrators and droid controllers." "enormous black metal buildings [...] rose from the rocky surface [...] almost crystalline in design, cuboids with their sides perfectly sheared at odd angles" and extending deep underground.
16. Najan-Rovi - A gas giant with floating habitats for Imperial dockyards.
17. Obumubo - "A frigid moon covered in a sea of icy liquid metal" that housed an Imperial garrison. The icy liquid contains giant sea creatures.
18. Nakadia - "an agricultural world of boundless hills and neck-high stalks of stiff, leafy flora." Imperial factories process millions of tons of farm crops "into armor-grade polymers and synthetic resins." Also seen in Aftermath: Empire's End as the capital of the New Republic Senate when it had returned to being a purely agricultural world.
All-in-all, a fun, heartfelt, and although sad at times, ultimately joyful novel that does a lot of galaxy expansion. I can only hope that some of these worlds will be fleshed out more in future Star Wars canon. You should definitely check this one out!
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