Thanks for giving me some feedback. Your replies have made me feel better and helped me understand things more. Sadly the books don't explain Isard's strength that well. They do a good job with her character just not with the context. I would have liked at least a little bit of context as to the state of the empire during book four. Isard seems to be in control of the empire for the first three books and then she just becomes a warlord without any real explanation why. Sure I guess it isn't too difficult for the reader to make the inferences as to why she lost so much strength, but it would have been nice to be told flat out. Thanks for clearing this up for me.
As for the Rogues beating larger ships, I agree that they do a good job of explaining how they are able to do it. Not gonna lie though, a lot of my understanding for ship strength is coming for TR haha. I realize that this is a bit silly and so I have to stop myself from using mod logic in these battles. As I read through these battles, a part of me can't help but map the scene as if it were happening in TR.
For the stormtroopers remember while they are elite the rogues are expert commandos too on par with a seal team. Think about it, in the ENTIRE NR, they are the 12 best at what they do, stormyroopers are good, in fact they do nearly kill the rogues and do hurt them badly. They are very threatening in the books.
I disagree with your statement that the rogues are expert commandos on par with a seal team. They are trained fighter pilots, not ground commandos. You can see this easily when Gavin nearly gets himself killed immediately in his first ground engagement. The Rouges should more or less be eaten alive by stormies
if the stormies are actually threatening like they are supposed to be. Only a few of the rogues have actual ground combat training or experience. I know that they are sent to liberate Coruscant, but of course they do because the books are about them. They are chosen for the mission by the book, not by practicality. To be fair again, they were sent for symbolism and also had the help of Cracken's people, and also because they have a diverse skillset, but I cannot agree that they are expert commandos perfect for such a mission.
Also, the Corran/stormtrooper scene wasn't during a battle in the traditional sense. Corran was literally the only person shooting at the stormtroopers at this point, and one of them finally hit him with a shot. The stormtrooper said one quick gloating line to Corran while he was raising his weapon to fire, then he paused because Corran held up an explosive in what was supposed to be a dead-man grip, showing the stormie it would explode if he shot Corran. The stormie quickly realized Corran was holding it wrong, said so, and then was about to shoot. This is two sentences that make contextual sense, given the general light-hearted nature of the X-wing books.
Reading this made me realize how much of this scene I had forgotten, particularly the kill switch. I take back my former criticism of this scene as it actually had rhyme and reason instead of just being a silly excuse for a one liner. Though I don't think Corran was the only one shooting. I'm pretty sure Orryl and Riv Shiel were running around offing stormies. So theoretically the one that got Corran should have just popped another shot into him from a decent distance away and gone to help his comrades, comm chatter would let him know there is still a battle continuing elsewhere. Still, the scene wasn't as bad as I originally remembered it and painted it to be, so thanks for clarifying for me.
I've been ranting a lot here but don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed these books and I've got the next three in my hands already. I like Zahn better personally but these are still good.
Zahn's a three-course meal.