Alphabet Squadron

Alphabet Squadron is the first in a three-book “Star Wars” series that’s set after the Battle of Endor.

Like the Aftermath trilogy, it shows the extensive mop-up work the New Republic faced as it purged the last remnants of the Empire.

The conclusion of “Return of the Jedi”–either the original with the celebrating Ewoks or the revised (bastardized) version showing a galaxy-wide celebration–suggested that the death of the Emperor and the destruction of Death Star 2 generated immediate peace. Yeah … that wasn’t quite right.

What’s interesting about Alphabet Squadron is that it’s not overly concerned with plot filling. We learn about the horror of Operation: Cinder, which was part of the Empire’s scorched-galaxy contingency plan, but that’s the extent of the fill-in-the-gaps construction. Instead, Alphabet Squadron focuses on an interior look into the trauma, grief, and hope for redemption carried by characters on both sides of the war. It’s the most mature and complex of the “Star Wars” novels I’ve read.

Get on with it, LEGO: The “Alphabet” in “Alphabet Squadron” refers to the odd collection of ships in the group: A-wing, B-Wing, U-wing, X-wing, and Y-wing. I didn’t set out to do this, but I’m one ship short of a full “Alphabet Squadron” LEGO collection. All I need is for LEGO to roll out a new Ultimate Collector Series edition of the B-Wing (I’m not shelling out huge money for the 2012 edition). (Also, this qualifies as the nerdiest paragraph I’ve ever written.)