Sunday 3 January 2016

SCIENCE FICTION REVIEW: Star Wars: Battlefront: Twilight Company - Alex Freed

Release Date: 20/10/15
Publisher:  Century

SYNOPSIS:

The bravest soldiers. The toughest warriors. The ultimate survivors.

Among the stars and across the vast expanses of space, the Galactic Civil War rages. On the battlefields of multiple worlds in the Mid Rim, legions of ruthless stormtroopers―bent on crushing resistance to the Empire wherever it arises―are waging close and brutal combat against an armada of freedom fighters. In the streets and alleys of ravaged cities, the front-line forces of the Rebel Alliance are taking the fight to the enemy, pushing deeper into Imperial territory and grappling with the savage flesh-and-blood realities of war on the ground.

Leading the charge are the soldiers―men and women, human and nonhuman―of the Sixty-First Mobile Infantry, better known as Twilight Company. Hard-bitten, war-weary, and ferociously loyal to one another, the members of this renegade outfit doggedly survive where others perish, and defiance is their most powerful weapon against the deadliest odds. When orders come down for the rebels to fall back in the face of superior opposition numbers and firepower, Twilight reluctantly complies. Then an unlikely ally radically changes the strategic equation―and gives the Alliance’s hardest-fighting warriors a crucial chance to turn retreat into resurgence.

Orders or not, alone and outgunned but unbowed, Twilight Company locks, loads, and prepares to make its boldest maneuver―trading down-and-dirty battle in the trenches for a game-changing strike at the ultimate target: the very heart of the Empire’s military machine.


REVIEW:

With Star Wars: Battlefront to hit the shelves shortly, fans of the franchise will be clamouring for something to help them really get into the game as well as giving them some additional mythos to the already well established series. Set after the Battle of Yavin (Star Wars: A New Hope, the destruction of the original death star), readers will follow the Twilight Company as events unfurl allowing the reader a chance to see the war from another point of view.

Whilst at some points it does seem that the characters know a bit more than they should, it didn’t disrupt my read and I loved the way that it took the reader through a well trodden landscape in order to get the most bang for their buck. Its well written, the characters solid enough and when added to already established history can concentrate more on getting the story across rather than having to map out a lot of the surrounding events. All round a great read and for me, if you’re wanting to get into the Star War’s books this isn’t a bad one to start with.   (Review written prior to game release.)


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