BattleTech Legends: Warrior: En Garde: The Warrior Trilogy, Book One

BattleTech Universe #5

by Michael A. Stackpole

The heir apparent of the Lyran Commonwealth has been kidnapped, just when her secret betrothal to Prince Hanse Davion of the Federated Suns would cement the most powerful alliance in the Inner Sphere. Meanwhile, as two half brothers find themselves fighting on opposite sides of the Inner Sphere's endless battles, one uncovers a fiendish plot against the heir and undertakes to ensure her safety--and along with it, the safety of the entire Inner Sphere.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fantasy, Ebooks, Gaming

419 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1988

Reviews

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Entretenimiento bajo franquicia bastante logrado.-

Género. Ciencia-Ficción.

Lo que nos cuenta. En el futuro lejano, la civilización humana se ha expandido por la galaxia pero ha perdido la cohesión. Ahora, cinco Casas principales y muchas menores luchan por la supremacía de la Esfera Interior en un combate tanto político como militar y tanto frontal como mediante el engaño. En el campo de batalla, el BattleMech es el arma más usada, unos gigantes acorazados y erizados de armas que son manejados por un piloto humano. Primer libro de la trilogía El sol y la espada.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com....

[Xan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Descubrí esta serie hace unos quince años, cuando ya estaba descatalogada. Tardé muchos años en llenar los huecos de la estantería y no tengo claro si ya los he leído todos, pero no me importa porque siempre disfruto con las relecturas.
Antes de nada decir que la serie se basa en un juego de mesa que posteriormente tuvo varios desarrollos en forma de juegos para pc. Cuando descubrí los juegos ya eran historia antigua, pero me lo pasé de vicio pilotando los mechs que conocía por los libros.
Todo lo anterior es importante porque implica unas limitaciones al escritor que no tendría en una historia totalmente independiente. Significa que tienes que aceptar un desarrollo tecnológico que cuadre con lo que tus mechs deben poder hacer en el juego y una linea de decisiones políticas coherentes con las características de los reinos del juego. En otros escritores de la saga es un corsé demasiado rígido pero en el caso de Stackpole es un reto del que sale muy bien librado. Consigue crear una intriga constante llevándonos de un punto de vista a otro, intercambiando posiciones a lo largo de la trama y dando giros cada poco tiempo. Logra mantener la atención del lector en los personajes, en cómo les afectan las decisiones de los otros jugadores y en cómo evolucionan a lo largo de la historia.
Al final lo que tienes en las manos en una gran space-opera que con sus casi treinta años a cuestas aún logra su objetivo: entretenerte y hacerte soñar con pilotar un mech.

[Anthony Emmel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Warrior: En Garde is the first installment of the Warrior Trilogy of the Battletech fiction. first published in 1988, it was one of the first Battletech novels.

3 stars. The writing is solid from a technical standpoint, both from a descriptive standpoint and also from a translation standpoint (i.e., rules/game play converted to fiction). There are a few problems in the translation (firing arm-mounted lasers immediately after a punch, for instance), but, in general, things follow the rules of the miniatures game upon which this fictional universe is based fairly close.

Much as I like Michael A. Stackpole's writing style, he suffers from a major problem. There is way too much deus ex machina and coincidence in the story. House Kurita just happens to attack the Kell Hounds on Pacifica at the same time that the Bifrost is hijacked? The Kell Hounds techs are able to "hotload" a jump engine without blowing it up just before a Kuritan patrol can reach them? They then jump to the system where the Bifrost is located and where their old nemesis, Kurita Yorinaga, is leading his newly-formed unit in an attempt to capture the Bifrost.

It just seems this subplot in particular is driven by happenstance. If one thing is out-of-whack, the whole house of cards falls apart. Not good, in my opinion and makes the whole things seem implausible.

The other problem I have is the "fade effect" that both Kurita and Morgan Kell exhibit throughout the series. It just feels too mystical in a universe that is fairly hard sci-fi. Yes, there are giant mecha and jump ships; there are mystical ki abilities used by some characters, but nothing really beyond the normal (current) human experience. This is an ability which effects electronics and that is a difficult pill to swallow.

Please do not get me wrong, though. I enjoy this book. There are excellent subplots in espionage and action that make for the problems I have. But the things that are wrong are so disturbing to me that this book in the trilogy does take a rating hit.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Warrior: En Garde is the first book in the Warrior Trilogy by Michael A. Stackpole. This trilogy is part of the Classic Battletech series of books.
In this one MechWarrior Justin Allard, son of Quintus Allard (head of the Federated Suns intelligence division), is stationed on the Capellan March world of Kittery and is tasked with the training of a group of green MechWarriors. Andrew Redburn, Justin's second in command, manages to turn a surprise Capellan ambush into a turnaround victory but Justin is gravely injured. Dan Allard, Justin's brother, serves with the legendary mercenary outfit, the Kell Hounds, on the backwater Lyran Commonwealth world of Pacifica. Interspersed with this are the notable characters of Hanse Davion, head of the Federated Suns, and Melissa Arthur Steiner, heir to the Lyran throne.
Melissa Steiner, on a secret visit to see Hanse Davion, has been hijacked aboard her interstellar JumpShip. This has been done to try and prevent Prince Hanse Davion from cementing the most powerful alliance in the Inner Sphere.
This book is a great read in the Classic Battletech series with plenty of character development and much Battle Mech action.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a 3.5

This kicks off the novel career of an author I have come to enjoy quite a bit. I had never had a chance to read this first book from Michael Stackpole, but I wasn't really sure what to expect. I assumed it wasn't going to be as well written as his later material, and I was right about that, but his knack for story craft shone through since the very beginning!

Stackpole really started off as a game designer and I'm not really sure how he got pulled into the BattleTech universe, but I'm really glad he did. Starting here he would begin to shape the BattleTech universe quite a bit and write about some of the biggest things that would befall this fictional universe. I truly enjoyed William H. Keith Jr.'s trilogy that truly kicked off the BattleTech expanded universe and I was looking forward to diving into Stackpole's take on things.

Warrior: En Guarde introduces us to one of the most infamous mercenary groups, the Kell Hounds. During this novel they are aligned with House Davion of the Federated Suns and as readers we are already made aware of some past history involving the Draconis Combine. In fact the Dracos have quite a grudge against this mercenary unit. At first I was a bit disappointed in having yet another story where the main characters (good guys) face off against the Draconis Combine, because I started to feel that Keith's novels went pretty hard in that territory, but Stackpole quickly backed away from that being a central aspect of the book, thankfully.

Instead the Kell Hounds are sort of used as the action element of the novel to give us that injection of Mech combat while Stackpole crafts a complex political story that will eventually cross paths with the Kell Hound operations. I absolutely loved this setup and it made for a really exciting and wonderful story absolutely filled with twists and turns of great political intrigue. Stackpole ties a lot of this together with the story of Justin Allard who is half Capellan and half brother to Daniel Allard a member of the Kell Hounds. Both are MechWarriors but Justin was part of a different regiment, also in the employ of House Davion. Something goes terribly wrong and Justin is eventually exiled from Federated Suns and this brings us on a wonderful journey deeper into the realms of BattleTech. Justin makes his way to Solaris VII, a world built a round gladiatorial games, but in Mechs! Behind the scenes Justin finds himself amidst all kinds of different players of which the Capellan Federation plays a larger role.

While Justin is seeking out vengeance for Federated Suns warriors on the game world the Lyran Alliance is trying to solve the problem of getting their heir Melissa Steiner to meet her future betrothed Hanse Davion. They believe they have a clever ploy to let her travel, but as with all things... this doesn't go well and this is where the Draconis Combine return to the scene and eventually cross paths with the Kell Hounds again.

After such major developments to rock the BattleTech universe I'm really interested on what could possibly happen in the next novel! Stackpole has always had quite the gift for crafting excellent stories and I was pleased to see that has always been true. So why the 3.5 rating?

The unfortunate truth is the writing isn't as streamlined as it could be. I give him some leeway for it being a first novel, but I found this book to be far too overly descriptive. At times, description is warranted, but I think Stackpole went a bit overboard describing everything, and what felt like all the time. He also used far too many metaphors. They were constantly being used in Mech battles early in the book, but I feel like he realized he was using too many and backed off about halfway through, because they suddenly disappeared or just decreased to a normal volume. This made the story a bit clunky and hard to read at times.

The other thing that was hard to read was the Mech battles. I think Keith's approach to Mech battles was a bit smoother, because I feel like he focused on one pilot for most of the Mech battles and gave a quick synopsis about other pilots as needed. Stackpole, on the other hand, he tried to describe a turn by turn battle from every Mech. He basically ported a game of BattleTech into a chapter of the book. BattleTech is fun to play, and I am glad Stackpole clearly enjoys the game, but reading a play by play of a game is pretty grueling. So he talks about what every pilot did and who they fired at etc. I've read later novels by Stackpole and I think he backed off from this approach, but I assume this will keep up for the next two novels in the trilogy. Maybe it's just me, I just didn't feel like a play by play data dump was all that exciting, but the way Keith wrote about the battles felt more exciting.

In the end Stackpole's story overtakes any of the criticisms I could level at his novel. Even though his writing might not be as streamlined yet, I still look forward to reading the next book and finding out what happens to these characters. He's created some excellent characters that I want to know more about and see what happens to them in the future.

[Mitch Workman · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're a Stackpole fan, you should definitely give this one a read.

Michael Stackpole's writing, especially in Battletech, is often derided as being a bit heavy on action and spectacle. Which is fair. I'm pretty sure more BattleMechs are destroyed in this book than in the four previous books combined. But it is dynamic and thoroughly enjoyable. On top of that, Stackpole still has a firm grasp of the political intrigue that is the backbone of this series.

In Warrior: En Garde, we meet Justin Xiang Allard, a skilled MechWarrior and commander. After a training unit he is accompanying for an exercise is ambushed by Capellan forces, Justin is put on trial for apparent treason. Exiled from the Federated Suns, he makes his way to Solaris VII, often called the Game World. Not only is Solaris home to gladiatorial matches between 'Mechs, but with separate districts each representative of each of the five great houses, it's a hotbed of espionage and intrigue.

Justin immerses himself in life on Solaris, becoming a respected combatant on the games and a political thorn in the side of Hanse Davion, with an especially brutal streak of victories against MechWarriors from the FedSuns.

Elsewhere in the Inner Sphere, his brother, Dan Allard is an officer in the Kell Hounds mercenary unit, stuck with garrison duty on a boring backwater planet. However, things start to heat up for the Hounds when the Draconis Combine sets its sights on exterminating them in retaliation for a battle that ended in disgrace years before.

Truly, Warrior: En Garde is a thrilling ride through the Battletech universe, and begins one of the best trilogies in the setting.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Stackpole is an excellent writer who delivers a strong performance in this first book of a three part series, featuring many prominent characters famous within the franchise.

En Garde is a story of political intrigue, deception, betrayal, and is not only a good choice for first-time readers of the franchise, but a must read for fans. It is also the strongest book in the series, with the some of the best character development and exploration of the Battletech universe.

Even if you're not familiar with the Battletech board game, this is an excellent introduction to the franchise and I would highly recommend it.

[Heiki Eesmaa · Rating 2 out of 5]

A not unpleasant romp that I'm told is about some central moments in the BattleTech/MechWarrior franchise. It is characterised by unlikely coincidences, melodrama and wooden prose. The final battle sequences wrap the book up pretty satisfyingly .

[Conor Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

**Warning: this text may contain spoilers** It's like dune but with Mechs punching each other.

The political intrigue is so finely written, it really comes across to me this is a political space opera first, action book about mechs second. I went into En Garde expecting a perfectly tolerable Sci fi romp, but halfway through found myself absolutely engaged in the twisting, pathing and ultimately coinciding overlapping story elements.

The part that really engrossed me was when

[SPOILER START]
House Steiner, one of the major players in the book and universe as a whole, make an incredibly complicated and intricate plan to make a body double for their princess and heir to the throne, such that the princess can travel incognito to marry in secret the ruler of one of the other major houses. Great effort is made to create a fake identity, to cover her travel. She travels with a recently famous war hero, Leftenant Redburn, with the intention that he would draw away attention from the Princess (Archon-designate). From the perspective of house steiner, they have created a clever and foolproof plan.

We discover that this is immediately seen through by House Laio of the Draconis Combine. House Laio intend to kidnap the archon-designate and pin the kidnapping on House Davion, to attempt to sour the relations and ruin the alliance.

What really grabbed me was the amazingly fluid and original description of the process that House Laio's computer deduced the Princess' identity. Stackpole magnificently details the process by which the identification data at customs for the jump ship is intercepted and analysed by the Laio computer. From the Archon-Designates dietary requirements to the link between her character and her chosen Pseudonym, as the daughter of Sweeney Todd, a name that the readers of Sweeney Todd would be aware of, but is never explicitly mentioned in Sweeney Todd.

What really struck me about this passage was the foresight of Stackpole, describing what is in essence the modern process of personal identification made by automated systems run by companies such as Google and Facebook, and the way in which seemingly arbitrary information can be collated to identify an individual trying to obfuscate their identity.

The passage flows without techno babble, but manages to maintain an allure of not yet understood future technology. As strange as it seems, this passage grabbed me by the shoulders and didn't let go. It characterised House Laio by their incredible intelligence gathering and political intrigue, predicted modern information economy, and created a wonderful piece of dramatic irony.

[END OF SPOILERS]

An undercover VIP is identified, and the passage of the identification is so masterfully written and characterises the major factions so masterfully that it really drags the reader into an appreciation of the effort Stackpole goes to in creating political intrigue in a Sci-fi setting.

The character twists are remarkably well paced, in such a way that the reader is repeatedly presented a twist, made all the better by an inflated idea that the reader knows what's happening because he is reading through the perspective of the character in the twist.

I loved this book. I think the combat was verbose and descriptive without dragging, the character twists are well foreshadowed but subtley presented, and the flow between the perspectives and overlapping adventures are seamless and leave the reader desperate to read ahead.

If you enjoy space opera and/or mechs slugging each other as a means to advance genuinely well written political intrigue, then this is for you.

[Kynan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Warrior: En Garde is book one of the Warrior Trilogy by Michael Stackpole and comprises an early and important part of the Battletech universe backstory involving the imminent conjoining of the Steiner and Davion Houses and the machinations, political and otherwise, that are occurring around this event. 

The bones of a really good story are present in this book, but the writing isn't up to entirely unearthing it. It turns out that En Garde is actually the first work of Michael Stackpole's to be published (although I believe he wrote one other fantasy novel before this that initially failed to get accepted) and I think this explains the neophytic style.

I finished the Gray Death trilogy by William H. Keith immediately before wading into Stackpole's Warrior trilogy and, because of that, En Garde seemed a bit lackluster in comparison for a number of reasons:

- The mech fights aren't as gripping;

- characters make really jarring (and plot-pivoting) statements/decisions seemingly out of the blue;

- there are more than a few things that sorely strain the boundaries of willing suspension of disbelief, the whacky hand-based deus ex machina or the magical hidden Cicadas spring to mind (it's hard to explain exactly what the problems are without wandering into spoiler territory);

- all of the chapters start with a timestamp and in Book 1 specifically (and once in Book 4), this timestamp may go backwards. I found myself having to constantly go back to the previous chapter to determine where we were in the story after I got confused by a rewind at one point. I can see why it was done the way it was, there are specific chunks of plot being set up, but perhaps there was a less jumpy way to write it down;

- there's some ludicrously purple and overwrought prose: "Another ninja, dressed in shadow and smelling of death, sprang over the barricade." combined with a suspiciously thesaurus- like vocabulary (although to be fair I did learn the word "argent").

BUT, all griping aside, I still enjoyed the book. There are big things afoot here, things that will change the shape of the Successor States and despite the somewhat abrupt writing I have genuine interest in what comes next for the characters that made it out the other end alive.


Finally, there's also the fact that Mr Stackpole wrote another 14 Battletech novels after this one (not to mention the much vaunted X-Wing series) and, as one Redditor put it "...it's fascinating watching him grow as an author". I'll be diving into book two looking forward to some slightly tighter writing and a continuation of a compelling story!

[Adam Whitehead · Rating 3 out of 5]

The year 3027. Three hundred years ago, the great Star League, which united all the worlds of humanity in a peaceful, golden age of technology, fell into ruin. From the chaos emerged the five Successor States: the Lyran Commonwealth, the Draconis Combine, the Federated Suns, the Free Worlds League and the Capellan Confederation, each ruled by a Great House. At the centre of them all and controlling ancient, holy Terra is ComStar, a mercantile consortium turned religious institution and the arbiters of interstellar communications. Political intrigue is rife, and warfare is conducted by vast, towering war machines called BattleMechs. The period of chaos known as the Third Succession War has come to an end and the Great Houses are rebuilding, but stability is no guarantee of safety. The Allard family, in noble service to House Davion of the Federated Suns, is placed in the centre of huge events when one scion is disgraced and sent into exile on the game world of Solaris VII and another joins the legendary mercenary army known as the Kell Hounds.

BattleTech is the franchise that stubbornly won't die. Starting life in 1984 as a tabletop miniatures game, it quickly spun off a series of over one hundred novels and more than a dozen popular video games (most famously, the MechWarrior and MechCommander series) before petering out in the late 2000s after an ill-advised reboot (the Dark Age setting). After a few years in the doldrums, it suddenly spun back into life with a new edition of the tabletop game and two well-received video games: 2018's turn-based BattleTech and 2019's real-time simulator MechWarrior 5 (which is getting a wider release this month on Steam and Xbox). Capitalising on the moment, franchise-holders Catalyst Game Labs have started making the immense backlog of novels available again vie ebook and Amazon's print-on-demand service.

Arguably the best-known and regarded of the BattleTech authors is Michael A. Stackpole, whom in later years would gain much greater fame and success as a Star Wars author (particularly of the X-Wing series, alongside the late, great Aaron Allston). Stackpole has built a career on writing fast-paced but also character-based military SF and fantasy. Like Dan Abnett (his Warhammer 40,000 counterpart, or the nearest equivalent), Stackpole knows that writing good military SF isn't just about the action and explosions, but creating interesting characters and telling the story through their eyes.

En Garde, the first book in the Warrior Trilogy, was the fifth-published novel in the BattleTech line but is widely regarded as the best novel to start with. The earlier books were published when the details of the setting were still being worked out and are prone to bouts of early-installment weirdness (CW: TVTropes link). They were also not as well-written as Stackpole's work, and tended to be smaller in scale. In contrast, En Garde is a book at times so epic it becomes dizzying.

The novel packs more storylines and characters into its modest 320 pages than some 1,000-page epic fantasy novels. At the start of the book it appears that we'll be following Justin Allard as he tries to clear his name after being wrongfully exiled as a traitor. However, Allard's experiences rapidly turn him into an apparently rage-fuelled antihero as he murders and backstabs his way through the crime-ridden underbelly of the gladiatorial world of Solaris VII. His much more sympathetic brother Daniel, a member of the Kell Hounds, finds himself on the front lines when his mercenary company is targeted for extermination by the ruthless intelligence agency of the Draconis Combine. Elsewhere, very high-level political intrigue unfolds when Princess Melissa Steiner of the Lyran Commonwealth has to travel incognito to the Federated Suns to discuss an alliance with Prince Hanse Davion, a prospect bitterly opposed by the other three Great Houses and many factions within their own empires. Yet another subplot follows a dishonored MechWarrior of the Draconis Combine who is offered the chance at redemption by forming and training an elite new military cadre (a fascinating idea which, unfortunately, mostly happens off-page). On top of all that, there is a framing story revolving around the priest-businessmen of ComStar, who preach neutrality and serving all of mankind's needs but, predictably, are up to their elbows in everyone else's business and trying to pull everyone's strings.

Stuffed to the gills with political intrigue and crunchy, mech-on-mech action, En Garde moves fast. As Stackpole's first novel and written under an unholy deadline (the entire trilogy, totalling north of 300,000 words, was written in under ten months), the novel lacks the polish of his later works. There's a noted prevalence of exclamation marks, especially in Justin's storyline: Justin is a big fan of making threatening speeches to his enemies, which are sometimes icily effective and sometimes feel like a five-year-old on the playground explaining why he's so tough and about as intimidating. Dialogue favours exposition, which is often clunky but at least does a good job of explaining what the hell is going on. I do feel like an appendix of in-universe terms and maybe some head-of-chapter preambles explaining the factions (like those in Frank Herbert's Dune) could have been a more elegant way of getting this information across to the audience, rather than a few too many "As you already know but I will explain anyway..." style conversations.

But Stackpole makes many of the characters complex and interesting: Gray Noton is initially presented as an antagonist but becomes a much richer character as the novel progresses, whilst expertly flipping Justin's storyline from a predictable "clearing his name" narrative to a more elemental story of utter vengeance makes for a much more morally murky storyline. A few characters do get short shrift, but hopefully they will rise more to the fore in the succeeding volumes of the trilogy.

There are a couple of other issues stemming from the background material more than Stackpole's writing. The Capellan Confederation and Draconis Combine are fairly obviously based on China and Japan, and a few wince-inducing stereotypes ensue, such as House Kurita's warriors being obsessed with honour, relaxing in tea houses and sometimes inexplicably wielding katanas against enemies with assault rifles. To be fair this actually plays a key role in the storyline, with Justin's half-Capellan heritage marking him out for racist abuse, but it's unsurprising that later iterations of the BattleTech franchise beat a retreat from these kind of stereotypes, with the Confederation and Combine receiving a great deal more nuance. It doesn't help that they are presented as the "bad guys" at this stage, whilst Houses Davion and Steiner, more Anglo-American in inspiration, are the "good guys." Very fortunately, Stackpole upends this idea as soon as the very next book in favour of the setting's more familiar equal-opportunities moral murkiness, with all the factions having good and bad elements to them.

Warrior: En Garde (***½) is a slightly dated but still readable slice of pulp military SF, with interesting characters and a fascinating universe (very much Game of Thrones meets Pacific Rim, with a light dusting of Dune). Some clumsy exposition and iffy dialogue are offset by a relentlessly readable pace and some very enjoyable action set-pieces.

[McKay Wadsworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're like me, reading this for the first time coming from the Gray Death Legion trilogy written by William H. Keith Jr., then you're definitely going to find new tastes. Listen, I hate to compare one author to another, but it's definitely going to be happening in this review. Whereas Keith wrote a pulpy, centralized narrative focusing on one Mercenary Company, Stackpole writes a sprawling sci-fi epoch with MANY important figureheads within the Battletech universe. I mean, we go from reading about infantry nobodies (which I did like) to Archons, Princes, and Princesses. This is a much more complex read.

Now with that in perspective, let's talk about what I like first and give Stackpole praise where it's due. This is his first Battletech narrative, so I want to give him slack where slack should be given, but I do have my critiques. This is a me thing, but I don't prefer stories with several different POV's to bring to a closing narrative. I much prefer Keith's approach with the Legion, where we follow Grayson's perspective and vital side characters in that story versus Stackpole's universal wide character swapping. There are 57 chapters in this thing. (It was way too long IMO) We dance around characters that I'm assuming are going to be big and vital pieces in the story, only to be utilized in moving the story from point A-Z. There was no other purpose to them. Yes there were characters that were much more important that I enjoyed spending time with, but for example, the Kurita villain MechWarrior side story should've had more time or in my opinion just nuke that subplot and focus on your more important characters.
That brings me to my next complaint which is the time we spend with characters. To Stackpole's praise, he creates some really interesting characters. It reminded me of the Star Wars: Andor show where we have a lot of political and spying stuff going on and it feels like a TV show. However, Andor gave you just the right amount of characters to focus on, whereas this story felt bloated. I loved the Kurita Mechwarrior. Too bad we only got one or two chapters with him. I enjoyed reading about Dan Allard in the Kell Hounds. It's too bad they were only used as an action set piece amidst the intricate political plot. There were plot points to me that just felt wasted, and I would've loved to have spent more time with. Here's my fingers crossed for the next two books.
This brings me to plot issues. I felt that there was some definite weirdness within this one. It was very clear which characters' roles were to serve the story. As previously stated, Kell Hounds and some of Justin's stuff were the "pew, pew" moments of the story. They just felt not as utilized for the narrative. (I don't know, maybe because they are sharing the pages with like 4 other characters?). The biggest thing is that this book is filled with coincidences that occur and shape the story. I don't like this. I feel that characters and their flaws should shape narrative versus "Well, we got here and, Oh! Look at that! We are here to save you!" type of situations that are scattered through this book. It feels unnatural.
Stackpole loves to describe stuff to you. He won't do a Keith, giving you a page or two about the planet's geographical information that is key for the setting. Stackpole will spend half of a chapter giving you the most intricate details of tea-making customs (That he most certainly took the time to research, so props there) that will be utilized in speaking with a Kuritan figurehead. BORING! Not to sound culturally insensitive, but it was just waaaay too much for me. Descriptions of interiors of dropships, homes, you name it. Way too much.
The battles in this book felt different to me here than in Keith's writing. Stackpole would often repeat what I call his, "Destruction cycle" of mechs exploding. The armor is chipped, then a secondary weapon breaches through and webs through the entire structure creating a Death-Star explosion. It was good a couple of times, but it felt overly repetitive. The way he also describes battles (here's another description complaint) is very detailed, as if describing a turn order of the tabletop game. It didn't sound as gripping as Keith's books. They were serviceable.
I've decided to give Keith some slack that I gave him slack for in my previous reviews of his books. Because after reading Stackpole's take on romance, maybe it's just an 80's thing but all romance has sucked thus far in these Battletech books. I mean, yes, Stackpole's was way more digestible when it was there (not saying the romance was in large supply in this book), but it still read weird.

Enough complaining, let's talk about what I did like. Despite my critiques, I would be a liar if I said that I didn't enjoy this book. There were some incredible things in here despite its flaws. The world-building of the Battletech universe was fun to read within Stackpole's ample amount of descriptions. The combat was fair enough that it kept me glued to the page. I would say that the biggest thing I loved about this book was one single character:
Justin Allard/Xiang.
Justin was such an interesting character to read. I feel that Stackpole has a one-up on characterization on Keith's writing. Justin is such a complex character. A dedicated Federated Suns MechWarrior Trainer/Soldier to a betrayed man seeking for vengeance. While he hates the Fed Suns, he does have loyalty to his friends/family that are still tied to the government that called him out. I loved reading the setting on Stalaris as he became a MechWarrior Gladiator. Those battles read better to me than anything to do with the Kell Hounds Conflicts in the book.
Justin, in my point of view, is the central main character of the story. All characters and their importance stem from him. The farther we get from Justin, I felt the less interested I was and where the book began to slog. His character growth has been and I feel will be very interesting to read about in this series. He has done and said things that baffled me, and things that surprised me, all of which simply excited me. There were moments I couldn't put the book down. All of them had to do with Justin. He is the saving grace of this book.

All in all, I give this book a 3 star instead of a 2 because I felt that I really enjoyed portions of this book. It did feel unbalanced and odd, but the setting and characters really showed it's value. While as of right now, I prefer Keith's writing to Stackpole's, Stackpole has shown me his value in this universe. I see his strengths and his weaknesses, but the man is definitely a good story weaver. Do I prefer a more personal narrative, yes. But despite multiple perspectives being thrown around, especially from large characters in the universe, it proved to be an enjoyable read. If you are coming from Keith's books, just be ready for the massive shift in style. There are bits of him in here, but Stackpole lends his strengths in creating better written character arcs but lacks in plot structure and combat flow. I'm excited to read the next book, and am interested to see what happens to the characters that I like and how his writing changes or adapts with future entries.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved Battletech as a kid and I was so excited to start reading through the novels. En Garde was suggested as a good starting point for the “required” Battletech reading and while I can see why some would really like it, it was simply ok for me.

Perhaps it was my mistake to start here, but I spent a good deal of the book trying to figure who all of these characters were. I know that Battletech universe already has a lot of pre-existing lore, but am I expected to know all of it before starting the books? Luckily, there are resources online where I could find this information, but it made for a less than ideal reading situation.

Story-wise, the book is fine. It’s the first part of a trilogy and it shows; there are still a pinch of plot threads that need resolving. That, in and of itself, isn’t a bad thing, per de, but it did leave me feeling a little lost as the story wrapped up. What happened to this character? What about this conspiracy plot? I can only assume that it gets addressed in later books, but then this book really only serves to set up the next one.

Also, and this is just a personal observation, but there is an absurd amount of luck involved when it comes to (one of) the group of heroes. Without any sort of planning or tactical thinking, they seem to blunder their way to success multiple times. I cannot imagine how frustrating it would be for the enemy commander, whose plans are constantly foiled by random happenstance.

All in all, I’m not sad that I read this book. It certainly had its enjoyable moments and the combat scenes are done quite well. Who knows? Maybe I’ll keep going with the trilogy in the future. But right now, I think I’m ready for something a little different.

[Jason Mehmel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd never read this book as young Battletech fan, but it had such a point of prominence in the fictional history of the universe that I'd built up a lot of expectations.

I was looking for something easy to read and it delivered on that, with a continually moving plot and battle scenes aplenty. The writing does the job of explaining everything very clearly, and that can't be ignored; I've definitely read worse action!

This sounds like I'm damning with faint praise, and that might be true, but I also think that this book in some respects leans on the fictional universe it's drawing on for it's dramatic impact. If I were deeply immersed in that universe all the time, I might get more of a frisson of excitement as various prominent characters are revealed. Also, it's references to the drama of previous books both drains some of the drama in this book but does give it a more expansive feel, which is exactly what a fictional universe based on a wargame and roleplaying game needs. So I think this book delivers to that demographic well, but bereft from that context, it loses some of it's impact.

Some of the dialogue and internal monologues suffer from being either expository or extremely on-the-nose, but again, this book and it's universe isn't about exploring the subtleties of human interaction. It's about important events in a galactic scale.

So I do understand why these are missing, or at least not prioritized, but after reading authors like Guy Kay or Ursula K Leguin, I did find myself missing that extra level of detail.

[Kai Shiden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I probably didn't look super cool reading this on the train during my daily commute. The cover art for this edition is great but I know Battletech is not exactly considered high brow. Judging by the quality of Stackpole's work at least, this is much to the loss of everyone else. While Battletech has a very detailed world where the implications of technology on politics and the interstellar economy are well thought out (especially with regards to communications across vast distances), this kind of stuff is only mentioned when it effects the story. The focus is on the characters and their goals and giant robots beating the crap out of each other.

The plot is basically, two of the five major powers in the (known) universe are planning to ally themselves through a political marriage. An interstellar telecommunications company that sees itself as a power broker schemes in the background for a way to prevent the balance of power from being disrupted by this alliance. Enter the Kell Hounds mercenary company and their campaign against the Draconis Combine, a group of space weeaboos. Amid that tapestry, our heroes change sides, do things that aren't very heroic and generally try to figure out if they're going to act in their own or their liege's best interests.

The mech battles themselves are pretty cool and there is even some combined arms stuff going on with aerospace assets and infantry having a role.

The minor gripes I had with the book would be that if you're not already familiar with the universe, it can be a little hard to figure out what's going on and some of the dialogue is a bit clunky. There are also some strange metaphors, with all sorts of random things being compared to mechs, just in case you forgot you were reading a book about giant robots. Furthermore, there are some strange coincidences you have to accept.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun to go back to the Battletech universe; I'm fairly certain I read this one many years ago (and likely didn't read the rest due to availability) but it's been so long that I didn't recall basically anything.

It's a little pulpier than I'm used to from Stackpole, but he does a good job of sketching out the universe, the power struggles, and technology levels quickly without being tedious or pedantic. He's hanging the basic plot threads on the two half-brothers and it gives two good pole stars to bounce back and forth between, and it's smart how Stackpole is able to show different perceptions of the same conflicts based on where the characters stand. I think he's done a good job of giving the brothers a solid supporting cast (Dan more than Justin, but that's appropriate based on where Justin's tale is going) which again helps solidify the world in an organic fashion.

Melissa Steiner probably gets the short end here; the pulp aspects diminish her a little and she's written the least well of any of the characters. Considering how few women their are in this book, that's disappointing, and he's capable of better.

Looking forward to blasting through the rest of the trilogy.

[Brian Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book in the "Warrior" arc, and also Michael A. Stackpole's first Battletech book.
Introduces a lot of places and characters that become major items in future books.
Justin Allard is exiled on trumped up charges and finds his way to Solaris VII where he quickly becomes a champion of the Capellan people.
Meanwhile, Kells Hounds find themselves targeted by Kuritan forces, and Melissa Steiner tries to sneak away to the Federated Suns to meet her futre husband.

There's lots of action, both of the Mech variety as well as political manoeuvring.
The only downside is that the dates jump back and forward, so you need to pay attention to chapter headings to work out which event is happening when. It settles down later in the book and is more linear.

I've been looking for this book for ages and wasn't having much luck, so good to see Catalyst reprinting it.

[Ryan Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't read a Battletech novel expecting great literature, but this was... not good, even compared to the first Battletech novels, the Gray Death Legion trilogy (notably, by a different author). Just really bad writing. Clunky, heavy handed exposition, repetitive battles, unclear writing so that I had to reread sections to understand what had happened.

I am baffled by the fact that Stackpole went on to write a zillion novels and be quite famous when he started with something like this. I hesitate to read the rest of this trilogy: I do want to read the books that form the foundation of Battletech lore, but if they're all this bad, maybe I'll skip ahead to a different author...

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting Tale, but characters seem to make huge leaps

I enjoyed this, as a great intro to the game of thrones that is battletech. That said, the premise of the plot (doubles?) and the motivations of the characters was just too far fetched for me. Justin as a cold blooded murderer just felt a bit off. It’s handled so casually. Same with some of the other characters - what should be momentous decisions (“oh, I must meet my fiancé!”) just seemed unbelievable. At least the mechs were cool.

[Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Die "Eine-Finte-in-einer-Finte"-Politik, die die Handlung in Gang setzt, gefällt mir sehr, aber: sie wird durch willkürliche Treffen und Entwicklungen ab der zweiten Hälfte des Romans ausgehebelt, da die Helden sonst keine Gründe wüssten, rechtzeitig zu erscheinen und die Handlungsstränge dieses Teils zusammenzuführen.
Ähnlich ist es mit den Antagonisten, die aufgebaut werden, sowohl als Charakter als auch Gefahr, um dann einfach und mühelos bezwungen zu werden.

Aber es ist unterhaltsam!

[Albert Udón · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disfrutable aun sin conocer la franquicia BattleTech, ni en la mecánica del juego ni en la historia de trasfondo. Resulta curioso que esta primera parte sea más bien una historia de espionaje y contraespionaje, antes que una de grandes batallas robotizadas. Hay giros sorprendentes, decisiones que se anticipan al cliché y mantienen el interés del lector, aunque por contra la resolución final está cuadrada a martillazos.

[Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoroughly enjoyable action-packed affair wherein strong, beautiful men and women pilot monstrous machines to combat various evils. Surprisingly rich in political entrigue too, this book is clearly written with love for the franchise in which it sits.

If you're not a pre-existing fan of the BattleTech universe, the minute detail in which the fights are explained might be a little tiring and some of the tropes are over-used, but it's light and good fun.

[Iimu · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 + 1 Tähteä. Battletechiin perustuvaksi kirjaksi mukiinmenevää "korkkari rouskutusta". Hieman kuin shakkimatsin selostusta lukisi, palaset liukuvat paikoilleen muutaman kerran jopa yllättävän näpsäkästi, mutta moukkia hädin tuskin erottaa toisistaan muuten kuin nimien perusteella, niin paperin ohueksi jäävät kirjan henkilöt. Mutta koska Battletech +1 tähti.

[Colin Kauffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really great piece of Battletech fiction that really nails the world building and details of the setting. The characters are interesting and likable and while some of the dialogue can be a bit clunky, it’s never enough to sour the experience. If you like the Battletech universe you really need to read this trilogy and Stackpole’s Blood Of Kerensky trilogy.

[M.H. Questus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic big-stompy-robots, but with a significant dose of character development. A little dated in some of the presentation of female characters, and the mustache-twirling-evil is a little over the top, but a solid book nonetheless. Definitely good enough to inspire me to pick up the rest of the trilogy!

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s cheesy. Without a doubt, but I distinctly remember reading this in high school and being enthralled. After reading the rest of the Battletech books last year, it was fun to go back and read this out of order with the eye of a prequel. It is amazing how much this trilogy sets up like 30-40 other novels in the universe

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marginal 80/90s scifi. It's battletech, so of course Ill read it, but Stackpoles writing leaves much to be desired. Juvenile character and scene development, lots of poorly executed exposition and 2D characters. Its also clear that he had no editor, as there are typos all over the place.

Its critical BT lore, so read it for that, but at your own peril.

[John Sevier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic battletech

It is good to have these books in digital format. They were some of my first introductions to the battletech universe and lay out the conflicts of the succession wars brilliantly. A must read!

[Johnny Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was frustrating because it tends to be difficult to watch people get betrayed. The battle scenes very much feel like they were played out on a much lopsided board game and then converted into a story.

Some language and suggestiveness. Perhaps a hard PG or a weak PG13.

[Chris Ainsworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pulpy and stompy romp, slathered in nostalgia.

Some of the combat got tedious near the end, but I suppose there's only so many ways you can describe battlemechs lasering off chunks of each other's armor.