A triumphant and thoughtful return of Fiction for the Battletech Faithful
5
By Bishop Steiner
First, I must note, I purchased my copy an an iBook, hence "not verified". My apologies.
Mr Pardoe is the rare author who truly does seem to get better with each book. Taking familiar characters and tropes from one of the most popular eras (focusing the year 3060, on Huntress), he breathes fresh life into them, the setting and asks the reader to search their own souls, along with the protagonists. Many of these characters were treated as cookie cutter placeholders in earlier novels, but here get fully fleshed out as PEOPLE, not archetypes, and that, along with the parallels to our own divisive/fractious/fake news times, are what really propel the story.
While Mech Combat is often the weak point of most battletech novels, and is scarcely the focus here, when it is done, it is kept brief enough to not get stale, and yet with enough depth to not feel like a placeholder, with actual tactics, and character moments and sacrifice involved, instead of school boy anime/wish fulfillment purple prose.
The motivations, machinations and politics are all well handled, as are, most importantly, the character arcs, not only of the protagonist(s), but even of the antagonist, which is rare. If searching for complaints, one could say that perhaps some of the supporting characters don't get similar character growth, but one really can't give full bodied stories to every character, or you lose all direction and focus to the story itself.
This novel not only answers many question left unanswered for nearly 2 decades, but also paves the road forward, in an organic manner, for things to come. This is in every way the antithesis of how the Jihad was handled, with nothing feeling peremptory or like it was done as an afterthought, just to move the era forward to a new set of Rulesbooks and Miniatures to sell.
Do you love the Classic Setting of the Twilight of the Clans, Characters from the Exodus Road and Such? Tired of seeing Victor Davion, the Eridani Lighthorse, and various Inner Sphere heroes painted as paragons of infallibility, dealing with a mustache twirling foe? Do Clans Smoke Jaguar, Nova Cat and Goliath Scorpion hold any interest for you? After reading this, I believe the answer to all of the above will be a resounding YES and THANK YOU.
We don't get a plot armored plucky hero with a shallow "arc", nor some stoic, and ultimately boring as paint drying "ideal" like Aidan Pryde. Instead we get fully formed humans, with all their flaws, doubts and stubborn, foolish pride. Being forced to watch everything they ever believed falling to ashes around them, and having to actually soul search beyond all the propaganda and koolaid that had formed their lives, the core of who they were, and realize that their ironclad beliefs were found wanting, and the only way forward was to accept that, accept their own accountability and change. A lesson that seems pertinent in our own era of divisive "certainties" and black and white world views.
I give this a solid 9/10 for Battletech fans. While not as narratively creative as "Surrender Your Dreams", Blaine's writing of the characters, their growth, turmoil, and redemption is, IMO, the best, most realistic portrayal of various characters in the entirety of the series.
