BattleTech: Embers of War

BattleTech Universe #96

by Jason Schmetzer

For Ezra Payne and the Stealthy Tiger mercenaries, professionalism is everything. Hired to assist in the bitter, bloody fighting on the planet Hall, they quickly earn a decisive victory for their employer. They settle afterward in for a needed period of rebuilding, and a few months’ peace before moving on to the next contract.

But their respite does not last. More mercenaries, hired by the Allied Mercenary Command itself, land on Hall. They believe the Tigers’ employer to be league with the Word of Blake, a shadowy interstellar organization that worships technology, and which has been building its own empire among the worlds around Terra.

The Tigers want nothing of this battle, but war rages across the Inner Sphere. The hard-fought cease-fire cannot last, even on Hall, and when every faction is embittered and fueled by fervor, peace has no chance at all.

As a new conflict erupts, will the Stealthy Tigers’ BattleMechs be enough to save them? Or will the looming threat of renewed war engulf them in its fiery embrace?

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

420 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2015

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just wrote a whole review of this book, and had it eaten by my kindle app so here's hoping this time works! At one time I was an active player of the BattleTech game (both the tabletop and computer versions) and an avid reader of the associated fiction. Some of it was quite good, some not so much. This is a new book and follows the current storyline and I think is one of the better examples. The characters are well written, the story is interesting and the action is exciting. Although there are some references to "historical" events and characters, this book focuses on new characters and events and is I think self contained enough for a new reader to the BattleTech universe. It was good enough for me that I'll be looking forward to the obvious sequel.

[Jonathan Harbour · Rating 1 out of 5]

Weak plot and boring characters. Where's the intrigue, romance, adrenalin of the MechWarrior life? Somewhere else, not in this bloody boring book. DNF. gave up at 3/4 point.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one felt a little weak. It was just that most of the characters felt simple or one dimensional. The Word of Blake characters didn't feel fanatical enough. The main protagonists felt too white knight like. The best characters in my opinion were the "local" side characters vying for ruler of the planet. This would have been one of the side story "Mechwarrior" books back in the day.
Action scenes were decent.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay Battletech book. I would have hoped for a stronger story for the relaunch of the line.

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a little tough to get into this book at first since it faced the challenge of entirely new characters on a world I had never heard of. And I know, the Inner Sphere is a big place and so there's a lot of room for stories set in far-off locations. But it does add to the difficulty curve of sorts before you get fully invested into a book.

Schmetzer put a lot of love into establishing the characters of the Sneaky Tigers mercery unit and the complexities of having the Word of Blake actively working to incorporate this planet into their protectorate around Terra. But he's also write that doesn't quite indulge Mech-heads like me since the early chapters keep identifying vehicles by type without naming the actual classes of Mechs of vehicles involved. It's several chapters in before we find out that our protagonist Ezra pilots a Crusader, but we have no idea about the other APCs and generic vehicles that get cited here and there.

Call me a little shallow and simple-minded in this regard, but I appreciate it when the author indulges our fascination with the technology of the BattleTech universe by detailing every single APC and VTOL used the first time they are introduced into a story. Many BattleTech authors know to do this and Schmetzer takes a while to indulge us until the fighting started to get heavier.

The espionage angle to this story including the AMC trying to ferret out the Word of Blake on Hall wasn't the most elegant writing and we don't really get a lot of great moments. He makes up for it with the actual combat as there are some pretty involved BattleMech fight scenes and a lot of love indulged on the power of MRMs to deal massive damage within limited ranges. But hey, we all have our favorite weapons and fighting styles, I suppose.

By the end I was pretty committed to Ezra's future and that of his Raider sub-faction within the Sneaky Tigers. No idea what's next in store for him though given how things pan out. But hey, that's still some clever writing.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a huge Battletech fan, and I was super excited when I found out about this book. This book not only lived up to expectations, it exceeded them. There was combat, investigating, back stabbery, and of course, giant robots of doom. The narrator did a great here as well. I haven’t listened to any of his previous work, and I’ve just (while writing this review!) found out he narrated a new Shadowrun book as well! Give me the sequel to this book immediately. I’m off to listen to Shadowrun.

[Victor Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little rough in places, but with some great and detail action sequences, this book really reminded of how good Battletech books could be. The later time periods can get a bit confusing politcally and technologically, but the plot manages it pretty well.

[Scot · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this book on Audible. Tren Sparks was good like always on the reading. I just couldn’t focus on the story and the characters blurred together. The ending grabbed my attention but I was glad I finished it.

[J.M. Guillemette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic!

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

More giant mechs and battles!

[Amducias · Rating 4 out of 5]

No Masterpice or something spectacular, but a good and solid book. Interesting story and characters.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably my favorite BT novel so far.

[Kiki · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm reading in small time units (5-30 minutes at a time) and it was a bit hard for me to follow all the different people and factions. I really liked the conclusion.

[Adam Annaratone · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm hoping this will be one of those books I enjoy more as I read other BT books that reference it.

[Haakmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty meh...