It was inevitable that my recent immersion in the Star Wars Extended Universe/Legends media would lead me to Michael Stackpole's "X-Wing" series. Given the interconnected nature of the works, the references to events from it in Timothy Zahn's Hand of Thrawn duology left me wanting to read the characters and events mentioned. And the first book, Rogue Squadron was enjoyable enough as an inaugural volume that introduced some appealing characters while laying the groundwork for future volumes.

By contrast, Wedge's Gamble is something of a ominous letdown. With the New Republic preparing to take the strategically important planet of Coruscant, the pilots of Rogue Squadron are infiltrated onto it as part of an intelligence-gathering mission. This was the first warning sign for me, for while I get the need to keep the story focused on the main characters, the need for pilots to serve as covert operatives seemed more than a stretch. Yet this was a minor complain when set against the plan hatched by Ysanne Isard, the former head of Imperial Intelligence and the main antagonist of the series. Her scheme to spread a virus designed to sicken and kill missions of non-humans was far too mustache-twirling for my taste. For a series known for its complex and nuanced villains, having one engaged in such an overly-complicated effort to commit genocide while sowing political discord over medical supplies is something of a letdown. Though I'm hoping that the later volumes move past this, the fact that the fourth one is entitled The Bacta War suggests that the rest of Stackpole's series are going to be grounded in it, which is why I'm having trouble finding the motivation to pick up the next book in it.