Recommended WC novels

Are there any WC novels you can recommend for starters? Haven't read any yet and I would like to hear more about the WC universe.

Simply put: all of them, as long as you read them in English. Wing Commander 3 and 4 novels are a bit of a letdown, but you should still give 'em a try.

My favourite ones are End Run and Fleet Action. But Tolwyn is right: You should've read them all, at least all by Baen Books. I've read them in english as well but I haven't read them in german, so I don't know if the german novels are good or bad compared with the english ones.

It depends on which era you like the most. if you would like to learn a little more about the wc1 era, take Freedom Flight first (I recommend that as a first one anyway, because it introduces some stuff about the firekka that is later references to)

End Run, Fleet Action and False Colors are pretty much a series which are immediately connected, especially since they feature the same main character, while the latter one plays between wc3 and wc4 and also excplains a little bit more how the wc4 conspiracy actually came to be.

Action Stations explains how the war initially started and also has a very nice reference about Tolwyn's actions and death in wc4, which make you feel really sorry for the man.

All the books are very well written really.

The books about the games have a big problem. The books were supposed to come out at the same time as the games for marketing reasons. Unfortunately that means that the author only got a very early outline of the storyline to work with. And that storyline was changed by the time each novel came out. In Heart of the Tiger the differences are actually minor. E.g. Flash's storyline changes, he is no test pilot but a replacement from Blackmane. Other than that, it sticks rather closely to the game's story.

The wc4 novel on the other hand is a nightmare. Just to give you a few story-irrelevant spoilers which make that obvious: Catscratch doesn't exist, the Border Worlds fly Rapiers and Blair ends up with Sosa...

KeldorKatarn wrote:Catscratch doesn't exist, the Border Worlds fly Rapiers and Blair ends up with Sosa...

Stinger"] It also annoys me that the WC4 novel doesn't stay very true to the game, unlike the WC3 one.

FekLeyrTarg"] It also annoys me that the WC4 novel doesn't stay very true to the game, unlike the WC3 one.

As I said, the author had a very early version of the script and he stuck to that. Actually up to the point where Blair joins the border worlds, everything is still rather ok. but after that...

I would at least recommend the first few chapters and the prologue. Especially because the initial chapters explain how Blair and Rachel ended up being divorced.

Other than that I also liked the idea in it that Blair had actually become a little bit of an alkoholic, also struggling with the end of the war. And also the end, in which Maniac actually has to help Blair to bring down Seether.

I always found it a little unrealistic that Blair is so long out of the picture and suddenly the shining hero again and that although Seether is practically a genetically enhanced version of Blair, he defeats him easily.

THOSE parts at least the novel did great. But yeah, the rest... it was simply a WAY too early version of the script. And we all know from experience in the WC MOvie what a script that is not well thought through and finalized can do...