My wife is a fan of Elizabeth Wein. Like a die hard fan. And we're both Star Wars fans so when this book was released, I knew I needed to purchase it for her. After she read it, and recommended it, I decided to give it a try in order to A. say I've read an Elizabeth Wein novel (if only to impress my wife) and B. learn more about the relationship between the Tico sisters and more about how the events of the end of the Force Awakens leads into The Last Jedi. Wein does a good job of introducing us not just to the Tico sisters but to some of the other members of the two bomber squadrons. We also get some wonderful moments with General Leia.

In the new film, the first major action sequence reveals the very cool B-wing bombers. Their mission exists to give us a reason to meet Rose, who is serving on a separate ship from her sister, Paige, who in turn serves as a gunner on the previously mentioned bomber. After the successful yet costly mission ends, we are instantly sympathetic to Rose and her loss. Star Wars: Cobalt Squadron allows interested readers to expand on the connection between the Tico sisters.

Author Elizabeth Wein, known for her historical novels and thrillers, unveils the world of the Resistance’s B-Wing crew with unique qualifications; her personal interest in flying and aviation gives her access to the intricacies in the world of aircraft/warcraft. She even spent some time in a Canadian Lancaster bomber in preparation for the book.I believe she also mentioned on her website that she drew on some of the research she has been doing on the Soviet women pilots of World War II to help with the background. I knew there was a reason I liked this book! I am a huge WWII buff (although, admittedly, I haven't read much about WWII recently....but don't get me started on
German Boy: A Child in War by Wolfgang W. E. Samuel).

All these experiences that Wein brings provide the reader with a rather detailed account of a week-in-the-life of some of Star Wars’ peripheral actors. Fans of aviation and war history (like myself) will find the technical renderings of such aircraft/warcraft in flight (and in space!) to be intriguing and often thrilling. If you're not into aviation, history of warfare, or sci-fi, then it might be a bit boring at times.

Cobalt, admittedly can be a slow read, but it succeeds during its final chapters. As the book wraps up, we finally are told where in the Star Wars chronology it fits, what is happening in the SW universe while the events of Cobalt are taking place, and why Rose is apart from her sister in the opening scenes of The Last Jedi. For those who've seen the new film (who hasn't?), the last couple lines of the books are truly heartbreaking.

This book is a decent canon entry into the Star Wars universe and has made me a fan of Elizabeth Wein (I'm sure my wife will be pleased). I'd love to see her write more stories in the Star Wars universe. Perhaps a story about an X-wing squad????? ( )

I could not wait to get this book. I love Elizabeth Wein so much, and I was so happy to see her name on the spine of a Star Wars book. I was deeply not disappointed and I ended up in tears in this series, which we knew had to happen given how we find Paige and what she is mourning when we first meet her in the series. It was so, so, so well written and my heart to The Tico Sisters forever.

Live plurk readthrough notes below:

ɑรรɑรรiɳcɑptɑiɳ
Hello, Paige & Rose.

ɑรรɑรรiɳcɑptɑiɳ
Eeeeee! That’s wonderful. I’ve been blowing through the middle grade novels in a fast flush. This is my third one now. Sadly, I don’t currently have a fourth pulled from my library yet.

ɑรรɑรรiɳcɑptɑiɳ
How far are you in? Am I totally right in these sisters aiming to break my heart by this ending?

ɑรรɑรรiɳcɑptɑiɳ
Oh nifty! Then, we might be just along with each other. Since I just started it when I tossed up this plurk.

ɑรรɑรรiɳcɑptɑiɳ
Like my others, listening is inspiring arts
Rose Board
Rose & Paige Board

ɑรรɑรรiɳcɑptɑiɳ
“But at least if they were going to die,
they were going to die together.”


ɑรรɑรรiɳcɑptɑiɳ
The bittersweet glory of all their love and loyalty.

ɑรรɑรรiɳcɑptɑiɳ
The first ship that goes up in such anti-climactic silence is powerful and put me straight almost into tears. It’s sssuuccchhhh a Wein thing. A very Codename Verity series thing she did. I love it so hard.

ɑรรɑรรiɳcɑptɑiɳ
kiss me, Hardy, kiss me quick

ɑรรɑรรiɳcɑptɑiɳ
Oh, yeah. I’m in tears at the fruit scene.
I’m not too surprised since Wein is one of the 1% of authors to make me cry in the past, but I hadn’t expected it pre the Paige loss of that happened in this book. ( )

Not too bad of a read; it's much better than The Legends of Luke Skywalker, at least. It has a good story, and the characters are pretty well written, at least enough that I generally care about them. The two things that bring it down, though, are the really bland writing (lack-of-)style (although I guess all of the Star Wars books are being dumbed-down now so that "the kids can enjoy them too"...which I think is just insulting to the kids, but whatever) and the sometimes really cringy dialogue (which, again, is probably aimed towards the kids). If given a much more mature tone and distinctive style, this could have been a really good book. But as it is, it's not bad, but it could have been much more.

A solid 3/5. ( )

When browsing downloadable audiobooks on my library's ebook app I immediately hit borrow when I saw that Elizabeth Wein wrote a Star Wars novel! As an added bonus, the audiobook is narrated by Kelly Marie Tran who portrayed Rose Tico in The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. Wein's expertise at writing stories of women pilots and the relationships among them is perfectly suited for the story of sisters Rose and Paige Tico. The story is about their involvement in a covert Resistance effort to provide supplies to a planet under the thumb of the First Order. But overall it's a character story about Rose learning to emerge from her sister's shadow and assert her own skills. It makes me wish all the more that we got to see more of Paige in the movies than the one scene in The Last Jedi and that Rose wasn't done dirty in The Rise of Skywalker by having her screentime cut to appease MRA manbabies who whined about a woman of color having a prominent role. ( )

Fun, quick read that provides details for characters in the Star Wars galaxy. ( )