The Quintessential Fighter (Mongoose)

The QF has some decent fluff and inspiration for roleplaying/building your character, although the language does show (in places) that it was written by non-native English speakers. It also holds some good ideas for different fighter organizations, but let’s face it. This is not why most people will buy the book. They will buy it for the new origins (backgrounds, a definite power creep, although not game breaking on its own, except in the hands of an optimizer), the new build ideas (everything from horseback fighter to pugilist is covered), the new powers (at-wills who do ongoing damage; dexterity, charisma, wisdom and intelligence attacks for the fighter; sustainable encounter powers etc), the new martial rituals (all high-level fighters will have the following benefits, every day: +5 perception and + 5 insight to avoid surprise, force reroll on the first attack that hits you, +1/+2 to all defenses, +10 to hit to one attack against a specific creature, regain 5-10 extra hit points when you second wind, gain 1d6 more hitpoints every time you spend a surge, +2 to certain checks and immunity to weaken effects), the new feats (yay, finally I can spend a feat and get +2 AC – vs. some weapons) and last but not least, the new combat styles (which boil down to having X specific feats, Y specific powers and get a bonus). In short, the QF is a flawed book with a lot of either subpar or borderline broken crunch. There are some useful stuff in there, but to be honest, I can’t see myself every using this book. But to each his own.
Rating:* *

The Quintessential Wizard (Mongoose)

QW is essential a book of crunch. While it does have some decent fluff here and there, I am evaluating it based on the crunch. All I can say is that not much have changed. The Q-series had a reputation of being unbalanced, and even though it is a completely new group of designers, not much has changed. This book has more broken feats than all other 4e books put together. Several of the PP's are also really, really good (trying to avoid using the word broken again). The powers vary more, but seriously, sleep as an encounter power at level 5? Sigh. Oh and what the hell is the "held" condition (I understand what it is, but I shouldn't have to make even educated guesses)? Arguably there is stuff you could find useful in the book, but considering the size and the number of broken stuff, I cannot recommend it in any way shape or form. I expect more, and so should you!
Rating:*

Wraith Recon (Mongoose Publishing)

Wraith Recon is a supplement for all that want the opportunity to run a different campaign. With Wraith Recon, your players will be able to play a different brand of heroes. Here nothing matters beyond the next mission. No one cares who you kill, as long as you get the job done. Looting every creature or running around searching every single room is a thing of the past, as all you need will be provided. All you need to worry about is putting together a kickass team, and getting ready to follow orders.
Wraith Recon provides a really good framework for making a campaign where the players are part of an elite strike team. With some sort of game-mechanics innovation in it, it would have scored higher, but sadly there is none. Also, do not expect too much from the art…
Rating: * * * *