The Pilot by Will Wight

Blurb:

“Sheep, sheep, sheep…I have bad news for you. It’s finally my turn.”

Solstice, the secret organization running the Galactic Union, has made an enemy of The Last Horizon. Soon, they will regret it.

Varic and Omega have a plan to infiltrate and destroy Solstice’s leaders, removing another threat to the galaxy. Compared to the apocalyptic monsters the crew has faced in the past, this opponent should be simple.

Omega has waited decades for his chance at revenge before becoming the Pilot of The Last Horizon. He will do anything for vengeance…or so he believes.

Victory will demand more from Omega than he imagines, and it won’t be as easy as he hopes.

Solstice has Zenith Devices of their own.

Review:

I really loved The Captain, even ranking it as one of my top 5 reads of 2023. The Engineer & The Knight did show a slight dip in quality, but I enjoyed both regardless. Knowing that The Pilot was going to focus on Omega and Solstice, my hopes were really high. However, having read The Knight, I also managed my expectations, because the Last Horizon is chockful of references, major players in the galaxy, and so many concurrent plots and personal goals that it feels almost impossible that so many things are fitting into a single volume of about 400 pages.

But then again, Will Wight is the brains behind it all, so you know you’re going to be entertained. 

SPOILERS AHEAD!

What I liked:

I genuinely loved Omega. He is my second favorite character, but has my most anticipated personal mission: to take down Solstice, the galactic equivalent of the Illuminati. And if I’m being honest, I absolutely loved his entire arc.

Since this book focuses on Omega (Omal Escalan), it was quite neat to get clarity on his past. The fact that he has a daughter, Aila, with the same condition as him (having been experimented upon to make a near-immortal regenerating killing machine) was equal parts awesome and heartbreaking. Omega’s arc focuses on both taking down Solstice as well as deflecting his daughter’s attempts to kill him. The more we got of Omega’s past, the more sympathy I felt for him. Of course, he’s partly responsible for everything going wrong in his life, but that didn’t mean he deserved all that pain. Plus, the way he finally integrates as a member of The Last Horizon, and proceeds to—SPOILERS!!—sacrifice himself to save his crew was, to me, some very strong character development. 

Pairing Omega & Raion was by far my favorite part of the novel. Raion was the only one who saw through Omega’s façade, noticing how he is genuinely bothered by Aila’s mission to stop him for good. Raion was the only one who kept believing in Omega, and that was just… awesome. Never change, Raion.

Plot-wise, the book wasn’t anything new, and yet it was almost everything new. What I mean by that is—we start to investigate Solstice, and find out some pretty dark truths about the galaxy in the process. However, the narrative is structured in a more or less familiar manner. We get each crew member’s schticks, we get Varic being OP against almost every enemy, and we get a healthy dose of banter. The plot was a little convoluted, but that’s something I’ve come to expect from The Last Horizon. Things get complicated, and then every arc converges into an epic, action-filled finale. In fact, I’ll talk about the plot more in the latter part, because it has its ups and downs. 

The ending, however, was beautiful. SPOILERS: It was like Avengers: Infinity War or Brandon Sanderson’s Wind & Truth (Book 5 of the Stormlight Archive). Everything goes south as Varic signs a contract with Solstice to work for them. However, that contract also comes with a curse, one that not only taints Solstice but also the Last Horizon. The last few scenes were so premonitory that I am super stoked to find out what lies ahead for the heroes of the galaxy.

In my review for The Knight, I stated how it felt like Will Wight was burned out from churning out so many books back-to-back. He did end up taking a break before coming back with full force. And you can see the difference in writing between The Knight and The Pilot. The Pilot feels more active and action-packed. The plot feels fresher (despite reusing some villains and gimmicks), and the characters actually feel like themselves (except Raion, but I’ll get to that in the next section). The Pilot was certainly an upgrade from The Knight, and I enjoyed reading this one a lot more.  

Oh, I almost forgot to mention: we get a scene with all seven Zenith Devices that somewhat hints at the series finale, which I believe will come in about 2 books’ time. I won’t spoil it, but reading it did make me all hyped for the sequels. 

What I didn’t like:

While I really enjoyed The Pilot, there were more than enough problems I found with the book. 

For starters, the plot was convoluted. Yes, it was expected, but there were points in the middle section of the book that almost made me lose interest. Particularly the part where Shadow Ark gets captured. The idea was great, but I feel like it was resolved a little too quickly. Just like that, a few more conflicts seemed to resolve a little too easily, sort of diminishing the stakes. 

I loved the Solstice reveal, but adding the Iron Hive, Starhammer, and the Perfected into the mix without really fulfilling Omega’s mission kind of makes the whole thing a little too grand and overwhelming. So far, Will Wight has managed to keep things pretty maximalist, but I’m concerned things are starting to get a little too out of hand. While I’m confident Wight will handle the chaos masterfully, the scale of it all already feels a tad exhausting to keep track of. 

Lastly, a very small complaint, I felt like Raion was a little different. Makes sense, given his arc in The Knight, but I missed having him around as much as he was in the first two books. 

Overall, I liked this one more than The Knight, but not as much as The Captain. But, I am excited to see what The Commander has in store for us with the new status quo, and how the crew of the Last Horizon will be dealing with their situation. 

Conclusion:

An epic adventure that’s as entertaining as it’s moving, The Pilot really humanizes Omega, whilst expanding the already galactic scale conflict of this series.

TL;DR:

WHAT I LIKED: Omega’s & Shyrax’s arcs, the exploration and reveals of Solistice, the ending

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE: Some pacing and plot issues, a little overwhelmed with the scale