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BattleTech Universe #47
Dagger Point
Edwin Amis, new commander of the Eridani Light Horse, faces a tough decision: Should he openly defy the First Lord of the Star League? Sun-Tzu Liao, the First Lord, has sent Star League troops as "peace-keepers" to the St. Ives Compact to prevent open rebellion by angry citizens - but they're not seeking peace.
Amis knows the mission is only a guise for reclaiming territory for the Capellan Confederation, and he's ready to station counter-forces on Milos, close to the heart of the Capellan capital. But on Milos, things are already escalating - Death Commando Chen Shao and his ruthless partner, Nessa Ament, have secretly murdereed a dissident's family in cold blood. Now, in what could erupt into full-scale war, both forces are at each other's throats.
Amis knows the mission is only a guise for reclaiming territory for the Capellan Confederation, and he's ready to station counter-forces on Milos, close to the heart of the Capellan capital. But on Milos, things are already escalating - Death Commando Chen Shao and his ruthless partner, Nessa Ament, have secretly murdereed a dissident's family in cold blood. Now, in what could erupt into full-scale war, both forces are at each other's throats.
280 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 11, 2025
There isn’t a plot. There are a few decent action scenes, but this is a totally ambiguous book.
November 8, 2017
I don't often give up on reading a book. Usually I just start reading another book and leave the original languishing in a pile, waiting for me to resume it in a year or five. It's about the only way I end up with a new favourite bookmark. There's an entire archeology of books, with a genealogy of bookmarks in some sort of Tolkien-esque "ever diminishing" hierarchy of favouriteness, from the great Ur-Bookmark of Teenage Sam down to the folded envelope I'm using in my latest read.
Which brings me to "Dagger Point" by Thomas S Gressman.
It isn't going to keep the latest generation of bookmark ensconced in its hallowed pages for the next decade, it also isn't going to be finished any time soon, nay, this book is destined for greater things, the heady halls of The Books I Have Given Up On.
Admittedly, I didn't start with high hopes, it's a Battletech book, y'know franchise military sci-fi from the guys who couldn't afford the Warhammer 40K or Star Wars authors.
I was only reading it because I bought it by accident - I'd made a pile of books to buy at the bookshop, and it was resting on a crate of books I had no interest in... and I picked this one up along with the bottom of the stack of books I actually wanted. D'oh.
I managed to make it, through gritted teeth, to page 169, before I could take no more.
The gem that finally made me give up however is worthy of repetition, it's such a magnificent piece of terrible sci-fi...
"In all the years I've been a soldier, and all the worlds I've been on," he said quietly to himself, "I'll never get used to seeing the sun come up in the west."
Now, granted, maybe that isn't too egregious to many of you, but it's supposedly a bloody sci-fi book. Military sci-fi to be granted, which generally has precious little science in it. Even so, it doesn't take a degree in astrophysics to figure out that the sun rising in a different direction looks absolutely identical from the surface of a spherical object.
Knowing which way is north is generally, y'know, notoriously hard without some clear indicators, and the difference between the sun being to the east rather than the west, even if you know that? Well, whoopy-do, it's on the left rather than the right, or the right rather than the left... depending on what way you're facing.
That's right, the grand difference between the sun rising in the east and the sun rising in the west can be simulated right here on earth by... turning around and facing the other direction.
Do you think that experience would be so unsettling that it would be the ONE thing you didn't ever get used to on alien worlds?
If that's the case then your sci-fi universe is pretty damn boring... oh, wait, going by the rest of the book, it may just be.
Which brings me to "Dagger Point" by Thomas S Gressman.
It isn't going to keep the latest generation of bookmark ensconced in its hallowed pages for the next decade, it also isn't going to be finished any time soon, nay, this book is destined for greater things, the heady halls of The Books I Have Given Up On.
Admittedly, I didn't start with high hopes, it's a Battletech book, y'know franchise military sci-fi from the guys who couldn't afford the Warhammer 40K or Star Wars authors.
I was only reading it because I bought it by accident - I'd made a pile of books to buy at the bookshop, and it was resting on a crate of books I had no interest in... and I picked this one up along with the bottom of the stack of books I actually wanted. D'oh.
I managed to make it, through gritted teeth, to page 169, before I could take no more.
The gem that finally made me give up however is worthy of repetition, it's such a magnificent piece of terrible sci-fi...
"In all the years I've been a soldier, and all the worlds I've been on," he said quietly to himself, "I'll never get used to seeing the sun come up in the west."
Now, granted, maybe that isn't too egregious to many of you, but it's supposedly a bloody sci-fi book. Military sci-fi to be granted, which generally has precious little science in it. Even so, it doesn't take a degree in astrophysics to figure out that the sun rising in a different direction looks absolutely identical from the surface of a spherical object.
Knowing which way is north is generally, y'know, notoriously hard without some clear indicators, and the difference between the sun being to the east rather than the west, even if you know that? Well, whoopy-do, it's on the left rather than the right, or the right rather than the left... depending on what way you're facing.
That's right, the grand difference between the sun rising in the east and the sun rising in the west can be simulated right here on earth by... turning around and facing the other direction.
Do you think that experience would be so unsettling that it would be the ONE thing you didn't ever get used to on alien worlds?
If that's the case then your sci-fi universe is pretty damn boring... oh, wait, going by the rest of the book, it may just be.
August 23, 2026
It is a two star book, which is why I am giving it four stars.
I would ordinarily describe the plot of the book here, but the plot is such that it could be reframed as a sort of madlib for modern military fiction. There is strikingly little about this Battletech book that is Battletech, which sort of feels like Gressman recoiling back from his previous writing where everything required context and explanation. But outside of that, it is fine. It even has some moments of approaching brilliance, which often directly relate to it not being a Battletech book and so getting to avoid some of the conspicuous 'oh, the protagonist' of the other books in the series. It does not operate as a full stand-alone, and does some interesting forwarding of the plot in its strategic and political elements, but with a distant touch that feels good to have around.
There are a bunch of soldiers, they generally have a bad time verging on sadistic, the situation kicks them around until they are able to eek out a satisfying if minor victory, and they go back to doing the same thing the next day. Would I seek this out either intentionally? No. On its own? No. But in the context of the other novels, this is a sorbet course, and comports itself well on those terms.
I would ordinarily describe the plot of the book here, but the plot is such that it could be reframed as a sort of madlib for modern military fiction. There is strikingly little about this Battletech book that is Battletech, which sort of feels like Gressman recoiling back from his previous writing where everything required context and explanation. But outside of that, it is fine. It even has some moments of approaching brilliance, which often directly relate to it not being a Battletech book and so getting to avoid some of the conspicuous 'oh, the protagonist' of the other books in the series. It does not operate as a full stand-alone, and does some interesting forwarding of the plot in its strategic and political elements, but with a distant touch that feels good to have around.
There are a bunch of soldiers, they generally have a bad time verging on sadistic, the situation kicks them around until they are able to eek out a satisfying if minor victory, and they go back to doing the same thing the next day. Would I seek this out either intentionally? No. On its own? No. But in the context of the other novels, this is a sorbet course, and comports itself well on those terms.
October 21, 2019
This was a tricky read since it had enough decent action and narrative complexity to make it a great book but in the end it just felt largely okay? I guess it may have something to do with how unsatisfying the ending was as the book wanted to press the rigors of war and how not all military actions actually matter in the greater scheme of things. We had the Eridani Light Horse still out of their element in a post-Huntress period and you have the Capellan side of things feeling very stereotypically evil and insidious.
A lot of interesting mechs though. I'm always game for that.
A lot of interesting mechs though. I'm always game for that.
October 13, 2018
The blurb on the back sounds promising, but the story fails to deliver.
The Eridani Light Horse regiment are sent to Milos, which has been taken over by Sun Tzu Liao as part of his Xin Sheng movement.
The populace seem quite happy with that state of affairs, ensure the ELH know about it...and that's about it.
There's a few mech battles, some fairly tense moments with a sniper on the loose, but as a novel this doesn't really go anywhere or achieve anything.
The Eridani Light Horse regiment are sent to Milos, which has been taken over by Sun Tzu Liao as part of his Xin Sheng movement.
The populace seem quite happy with that state of affairs, ensure the ELH know about it...and that's about it.
There's a few mech battles, some fairly tense moments with a sniper on the loose, but as a novel this doesn't really go anywhere or achieve anything.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews