Shadow Fall had me feeling like this egg! Did I enjoy Star Wars: Shadow Fall? Eh…..kind of. The story is the second in the Alphabet Squadron Trilogy. Following on from Alphabet Squadron, this book continues the story of a rag tag team of pilots who are brought together to destroy an elite fighter squadron that represents one of the more dangerous remnants of the fallen Empire. I enjoyed parts of this book but it really felt like it suffered from “middle of the trilogy” syndrome. The ideas that had been set up in the first book felt compelling enough to warrant a sequel but I feel like there was just too much padding in this book to keep my interest. When you have a story about a group of people who are, by and large, anti-heroes, you need to have at least one of the group be redeemable, likeable or competent so you feel like the group can survive and succeed in some way. Otherwise what’s the point in getting attached to them as characters? The issue I had with this book is that not one of the main cast, by the end, of this book was redeemable, likeable or competent enough to leave me wanting more from this series. The argument could be made that it’s a more grounded and gritty version of Star Wars, like in Rogue One, but the one thread that runs through all of Star Wars lore is that there is an element of hope that the protagonist(s) will prevail. Even Rogue One had the passing over of the Death Star plans that led to A New Hope! By the end of Shadow Fall I was left with no hope that these characters could prevail. I may pick up the third book to finish off this trilogy at some point but I don’t think I’ll be doing it anytime soon. #bookstagram #books #scifi #starwars #alphabetsquadron https://www.instagram.com/p/CkEywzMjKjF/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=