Sword and Fire

BattleTech Universe #41

by Thomas S. Gressman

The Inner Sphere's Task Force Serpent stands poised on the brink of the greatest military operation since the liberation of Terra in 2277. Their target is Huntress, the Smoke Jaguar Clan's homeworld. Their mission is the total destruction of the Jaguar's war-making ability. Will the Inner Sphere's assault signal the end of decades of bloody conflict--or cause violence beyond either side's imagining?.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Ebooks

280 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1998

Reviews

[Brian Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Twilight of the Clans 5

Task Force Serpent finally makes it to Huntress, the Smoke Jaguars homeworld to launch it's attack.
The first half of the book is not exactly boring, but there's mostly talking going on as they finalise their approach and plans.
A few moments pick it up from being a hard slog to get through.

In the second half, the task force lands and rather undramatically work on their objectives. This seems a bit rushed, although there is some decent mech action.

The novel seems like more of a filler before the next one, and there's a few parts of explaining what has happened previously.

[James D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sword and Fire is another fantastic entry into the Twilight of the Clans series and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it as a follow up to the third book, The Hunters. As always if you have not read the previous books in the Twilight of the Clans series you probably will feel a little bit lost on who's who and what's what. Sword and Fire directly details the beginning of the invasion of planet Huntress, the home planet of Clan Smoke Jaguar.

There are some repetitions that are common throughout the Battletech series as a whole such as going over what a Battlemech is or what PPCs and Large Lasers are. Some of these explanations can sometimes overlap and can annoy but other than that the book is a solid entry and sets up the following book in the series and they flow better together.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found myself enjoying this book a great deal when the action picked up, but this didn't happen until half way through. It makes the book feel like slog until it suddenly changes gears. There's a lot of ground to cover in this book. I'd almost prefer if the whodunit arch that makes up the first act had been cut out completely.

Once the second act begins, the action is hops between multiple theaters in parallel, making the book almost impossible to put down. The author manages to keep the reader from being overwhelmed while following such a large operation, which is a laudable achievement.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

BattleTech #41, Twilight of the Clans #5. The story of what happens when the invasion force reaches Huntress.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not terrible. Not great. Too many unknowns and unanswered questions.

[Kavinay · Rating 1 out of 5]

A tough read. Started using it as a night-time book to put myself to sleep thanks to all the military pedantry.

[Logan Kedzie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Task Force Serpent invades Huntress.

That is all there is. There is an attempt at picking up the murder-mystery ending to two books prior, but there is no mystery. It is not even a deus ex machina as much as the murderer walking up to the detective and turning themselves in.

There is a tease at a more substantial moral conflict over the terms of the invasion. It is only gestured at.

The invasion itself is fine.

[Timothy Reeder · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to temper my feelings about this book just a bit because I have not read the first four books in the series and jumping in at number 5 can through things off a bit. But, a well written series should allow a reader to pick up any book and start without feeling lost. And, I'm familiar enough with the Battletech universe to have a general understanding of what was happening in lead up to the book.

But, my two major issues weren't a problem with stepping in mid-series. The first problem, and the largest one, was that the book felt very much like two stories mushed together. An assassination story and a war story that didn't connect. The assassination is never really resolved and it does not play a factor in the second half of the book. I kept waiting for that to have any kind of long tail but it never came back around. The only perceivable point is to place a different commander in charge but she is not particularly unsure of herself or struggling with her new command once the combat starts. So, the assassination does not do anything to develop her character. Instead, I just kept reading the second half of the book wondering when they were going to relate it to anything that happened in the first part of the book. Spoiler. It never does.

My other issue, and this is much smaller and may just annoy me, but the "moral quandary" the soldiers find themselves in at the end of the book felt very forced. I cannot imagine any fighting force that would have a problem doing what they were ordered to do. In fact, it's pretty standard military strategy and something most soldiers would assume. If felt like the author wanted to create some moral dilemma, but knew he would need them to carry out the orders, but didn't want to make them seem like bad guys. Unfortunately, you can't do all those things.

The combat scenes were good, even if they read a bit like a Battletech sourcebook at times.

So, if you enjoy the world of Battletech it's certainly worth a read. But, if you don't care about this universe there are plenty of others you'd probably enjoy more.

[Thorsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

really slow and rather complicated, but with a cool twist at the end...