Originally published July 25, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
Ricky Church reviews Star Wars Battlefront II: Inferno Squad…
With Star Wars Battlefront II hitting consoles this fall, Christie Golden introduces fans to Inferno Squad, a highly trained special ops group sent on difficult assignments to thwart rebels and protect the Empire’s secrets. Golden writes a compelling story with interesting characters and doesn’t deliver the type of story you’d expect from a book featuring Battlefront in its title.
Inferno Squad begins in the immediate aftermath of the Death Star’s destruction in Star Wars: A New Hope. TIE pilot Iden Versio is one of the few survivors of the station and is recruited by her father to join Inferno Squad, a new unit tasked to prevent further Imperial leaks and put down rebels. Their first major task is to infiltrate the remaining group of Saw Gerrera’s partisans and take them out from within.
It’s always different to see things from the Imperial perspective and runs the risk of making the characters unrelatable since they’re on the side of evil. Golden at least circumvents this by having them target Gerrera’s partisans, who were always extremists and much harsher than Princess Leia and the rest of the Rebel Alliance. In this case, it’s easy to root for Iden and Inferno Squad as they attempt to end a group who doesn’t have any qualms about the lines they cross. Golden plays with the moral ambiguity of both groups well and how the Empire and partisans essentially fall on the same side of the coin.
The story starts out a bit slow, but picks up once Inferno Squad makes contact with the partisan group and begins infiltrating them one by one. It’s a bit surprising to see it play out; rather than making this a straight up action story, as Star Wars Battlefront: Twilight Company was, Golden instead makes this much more of an espionage thriller. Inferno Squad plans Ocean’s 11 or Mission: Impossible-like schemes to execute their missions and take the group down. Its something I wasn’t quite anticipating, especially from something under the Battlefront banner, but offers something fun and unique from the typical Star Wars adventure.
The characters are all written pretty well. Fellow squad members Gideon Hask and Del Meeko have a nice chemistry with some fun banter. Seyn Merrana is also an interesting addition to the team as the youngest and smartest member with an eidetic memory. Each one is distinct enough from the others and despite being part of the Empire they’re likeable, at least to a degree, with Meeko being the most likeable of the bunch thanks to his charm and wit. It is with the partisans Golden doesn’t do quite as well with.
The partisan group is made up of about ten members, but the focus remains on three or four of them for the most part. The ones Golden does focus on are distinct, with Piikow being a great and sorrowful character, and she does make this group hard to sympathize with given their hardline stances. However, the ones she doesn’t focus on tend to get lost in the mix and can be confused with others at first. Additionally, it doesn’t help that a couple of them share very similar names (group leader Staven and pilot Azen), which unfortunately causes their names to be mixed up a couple times in the book.
Star Wars Battlefront II: Inferno Squad is a good introduction to the group we’ll know in the video game this fall. The squad is likeable and relatable enough despite being Imperials and Golden does well with the character arcs each is given. She doesn’t focus quite as much on the partisans, which causes some occasional mix-ups, but the story is well told with some captivating and tense scenes. Golden’s choice to play this as an espionage tale rather than war book also helps Inferno Squad stand out among the pack and adds an unpredictable nature to the story. All in all, Golden definitely makes a very entertaining primer for Battlefront II.
Rating: 7/10
Ricky Church
