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It’s natural to want to compare Star Wars Battlefront II: Inferno Squad to its predecessor, Battlefront: Twilight Company. But the video games that lend their names to the novels aren’t related to each other, and even though Inferno Squad comes with the “II” like you’d expect a sequel to, it’s almost entirely unrelated to that first novel.
In fact, whereas Twilight Company used the Battle of Hoth as sort of a waystation in the middle of its narrative, Inferno Squad uses the Original Trilogy as a jumping-off point, rather than a stop along the plot. In fact, it continues the story of Star Wars (and of Rogue One) by focusing on the remnants of Saw Gerrera’s Partisans. Some of them survived the attack on Jedha, some have scattered and others have regrouped to continue his work.
As a result, Inferno Squad’s mission to destroy this new group enables a story that’s unlike any of the ones we’ve been told in the new canon so far. And as much as I liked Twilight Company’s characters (and the novel itself), and as much as I’m way more of a fan of the good guys, I found Inferno Squad to be more intimate than Twilight Company, and a more compelling read as a result.
It’s a bit of an apples to oranges comparison, to be fair. Meanwhile, if there’s any quibble I have with Inferno Squad, it’s that the composition of the squad seems somewhat cookie-cutter to me. Although there’s almost no help in avoiding that. If you’re creating a squad for special missions, everyone’s going to fit into a neat box based on their specialties. And there’s certainly enough in the way of interesting interpersonal dynamics to mitigate the issue for my own personal tastes.
I’ll be talking more about the novel, its ties to other new canon stories, and what new things we learn about the Star Wars universe thanks to the novel later this week!
Trivia Time!
Test your knowledge of the Star Wars universe!Yesterday’s answer: No
Today’s question: In what kind of ship did the rebels bring Jyn to Rebel Headquarters?