Victory’s Price Review [SPOILERS!]

 Victory’s Price by Alexander Freed (Del Rey)

It may have only been July last year that I read Shadow Fall but it feels like it’s been a a lot longer especially with all the High Republic stories we have had. But I had really enjoyed the first two books in Alexander Freed’s Alphabet Squadron trilogy, so I was excited to get started on Victory’s Price. I did find it difficult to remember where we had left our team but I did remember my feeling that Yrica Quell had returned to the 204th to take them down from inside. 

Shadow Wing are back at it, razing planets, this time planets loyal to other Imperial factions, and we get confirmation early on that Yrica does indeed intend to betray Soran Keize and the 204th to the New Republic. It took me a while to really get into the book with Alphabet Squadron so fractured, not that they’d exactly been tight to begin with! The many small skirmishes are frustrating, which was probably the point, but I found myself just wanting the book to get going, which it does when Alphabet Squadron discovers that Yrica Quell is still alive. This is written very well showing the four remaining members confusion, pain and anger, which serves to bring them closer together again.

When Quell is captured by Chass and Kairos we get a few very interesting chapters set on Kairos’ home planet, and learn a little more about her society and species although still not dispelling the mystery. Following the events at Chadawa and Quell’s return to the Deliverance, a number of conversations take place that really needed to happen, Hera & Yrica, Wyl & Yrica, Nath & Chass. From here we head to the Battle of Jakku which really provides a strong link to the canon of Battlefront and Aftermath trilogy, and enhances the climatic feeling of that battle within the Star Wars universe.

The pace really picks up as we enter the final act but once again our Squadron is split up, with only Nath and Chass in the battle, Wyl onboard the Deliverance and Yrica & Kairos on Coruscant trying to stop Soran Keize. I did not like the decision to have Wyl sit out the battle, I felt he could have been involved running rescue or support, and having him discover a spy just felt like giving him something to do. I do feel that the squadron spent too much time apart, one and a half books effectively, and to have them all fighting together at the end would have felt really satisfying. The best part of the finale is undoubtedly the action on Coruscant as Yrica Quell and Soran Keize duel amid the city planet’s landscape, and their conversations really cement the moral dilemma of the book - should all imperials bear responsibility for the regimes crimes? 

Yrica rejects Keize’s forgiveness, taking responsibility for her actions, which in turn earns Kairos’ forgiveness. Yrica’s relationship with the enigmatic Kairos is probably my favorite in the whole series, and when Kairos leaves Quell on Coruscant running off into the depths of the city, shedding her skin as she goes it really feels like a fitting end for her character. I love a good epilogue especially when I care about the characters like I do here, and Alexander Freed doesn’t disappoint. We see all our main characters at various points (except Kairos - of course!) and it ends with Yrica and Chass living together in a relationship, a nice ending for the two most broken characters, and Wyl a senator for his home world.

I didn’t find this book or the Alphabet Squadron trilogy as easy to read as I have the High Republic books recently, there is a lot of detail and at times Victory’s Price has felt too convoluted with less of an easy flow. The great strength of Victory’s Price and this series in general, is it’s characters and how invested in them all I was, I found the small group of broken individuals very compelling and I found the use of Hera Syndulla as a legacy character worked much better than those used in the Aftermath books.

The Alphabet Squadron trilogy has been a great ride that shows just what could be done in the Rogue Squadron movie with a group of pilots, and reinforces my desire for more post Return of the Jedi stories in live action, and I would love to see Yrica, Chass, Wyl, Nath & Kairos on screen someday.

🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑 / 5

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