Books: Rogue Squadron Vs Wraith Squadron

I'm a bit of a picky reader and honestly, most of the star wars books have not done it for me. However, I have enjoyed what I have read in the X-Wing series. I am making my way through the Wraith series and I saw a debate in a reddit on the these arcs, while I have not finished the Wraith storyline......I already much prefer these. The characters seem to have more chemistry, I like the humor, and the concept of the Wraith Squadron is pretty awesome. I will say I thought Ysard was a better overall villian than what I have read thus far of the current big bad.

Which storyline did you enjoy? Did you prefer one over the other?

I really enjoyed the Rogue series more. But I think that is because I am such a huge fan of Wedge.

The Wraith books were good and they did a good job of not making them a carbon copy of the Rogue books. Both offered a little something different in the way they presented their characters and plots so you felt it was different enough that you could read both.

Aaron Allston tended to focus much more on the cast chemistry and character drama than Michael Stackpole did, so I preferred his writing there. I also tend to think that Allston's favrotie characters are more memorable; Wes Janson is more hilarious than Tycho Celchu is dramatic, and Corran is cool but is outnumbered by the coolness of Face, Piggy, Gara/Lara'Kirney and Myn.

And the Wraith Squadron series formula was a lot more "Military tricksters and ne'er-do-wells see who can outfox the other" for the military plot compared to "Elite fighter group vs Bond Villain" in Rogue Squadron; there, I think it comes down more to what particular formula you think is more impressive. I would argue Zsinj gets better as the Wraith Squadron series develops while Isard intentionally gets decayed into more of a madwoman than a mastermind by the end of Rogue Squadron - which is fascinating when you realize Stakcpole was decaying Isard probably for the same reasons Ian Fleming decayed Bloefeld, and that Allston was working to make a one-off forgettable villain in someone else's book genuinely formidable and thus didn't have him get truly vanquished.

The real highlight of the X-Wing books, though, is when both Rogue Squadron and Wraith squadron are done, and you get Starfighters of Adumar.

I enjoyed Rogue better than Wraith but the series overall is one of the best in SW IMHO.

I never really cared for the Rogue Squdron books and never read Wraith, but I loved Republic Commando series.

Anybody ever read the Dark Horse comic series that was co-written by Stackpole? Largely features a different squadron but served as a prequel/companion to the novel series; Tycho before he was falsely accussed (and his early relationship with Winter), more stuff with Hobbie and Janson, also the story of how Isard rose to power. Also it's where the whole Fel storyline first showed up.

I was a huge fan of both series, and both Stackpole and Alston(r.i.p.) formed a threesome with Zahn of EU authors whose work I could get and expect a good story every time(which in the EU was saying something as quality varied drastically book to book)

Overall I think Stackpole wrote a better overarching story while Alston wrote more entertaining characters