What do you think?
Rate this book
BattleTech Universe #17
Main Event (Battletech)
In the tenth installment of this hard-hitting series, former Com Guard soldier Jeremiah Rose wants to strike back at the Clans who destroyed his 'Mech and his career. Rose is forced to recruit other soldiers to create a new mercenary unit to take his grudge back to the invaders. But Rose must fight his fellow MechWarriors first. . . .
340 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1993
28 people are currently reading
150 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
December 3, 2022
Might hover closer to a 3.5
I've been trying to read all the BattleTech books in order and review them as I go and I feel we've finally come out of the main block of story that the majority of fans seem to fondly remember. "Main Event" takes place after the Clan Invasion and after the Battle of Tukayyid. In this story we follow MechWarrior Jeremiah Rose on his quest to form a new mercenary unit, which eventually becomes known as the Black Thorns. For those who play the game, there is actually a game module written after this novel called The Black Thorns: A Battle Tech Scenario Pack, which is also written by Long. In this scenario pack you can play through notable missions where The Black Thorns participated.
James Long is also a new author to the BattleTech universe, so I had no prior opinion on his writing, this is also the only book I've ever read by him and for the most part it was a pretty good book. It does have one major flaw, but I'll get into that later. In his creation of Jeremiah Rose, I thought one of the more fascinating aspects was the fact that he was an ex-ComStar fighter who actually fought the Clans on Tukayyid. For whatever reason, he is a bit of a Mary Sue character, but also isn't particularly likeable. That fact alone somewhat makes the book a bit hard to read through, even though the overall story is actually quite good and I thought very entertaining. The problem with rose is that he is ridiculously arrogant and overconfident, he puts himself in situations where he needs to play politics, then refuses to play politics because his ideals are so "perfect," which naturally gets him into trouble.
One of the strangest parts of this book is that on the front cover the advertisement makes it sound like this is going to be a book about Solaris VII, but it very much is not. The cover says "Welcome to Solaris VII, where war is a business, and life is a game." The game world is in this novel, but only briefly. Actually, one of the reasons I enjoyed the book was because we got to go to a decent amount of areas in the BattleTech universe while Rose sought out new recruits. The novel actually starts with Rose returning to his homeland on Northwind. There he recruits his sister to help build his mercenary group. From there Rose has the problem that he doesn't actually have a 'Mech, so his overconfidence brings him to Solaris VII, where he figures he can win one. In this course he ends up being correct, but the journey to that being true was far more fraught with danger than he ever anticipated. There he recruits a couple more fighters with 'Mechs to join his group.
From there we travel to Outreach, the mercenary capital run by the Wolf's Dragoons. I liked this part of the arc because we got to see what the Dragoons had setup from the perspective of someone that had to deal with them as a mercenary. Up till now just about all the novels with the Dragoons have been about them and their perspective, so it was kind of nice to view them from someone more on the outside. Outreach is where mercenaries go to recruit fighters and get contracts. Rose being new, had a bit of trouble with this, but he eventually managed to score a contract.
All this goes by very fast in the beginning and the rest of the book is about the first contract. A remote world that the Federats have abandoned to its fate if the Clans decide to invade. The political interplay on this planet was extremely well done and what Rose then needs to deal with is pretty exciting. This whole part of the book was quite enjoyable.
That is until we get to the major flaw... the story just kind of ends abruptly. I feel like there was a lot more to tell, but since Long was already over the 300 page count he was forced to finish the novel. Prior to this a lot of BattleTech books easily hit the 400+ page count, but now that RoC is publishing them, they suddenly all shrink to be ~300 pages only. It seemed Long had assumed he'd be allowed another 100 pages or so and that's probably what he would have need to actually wrap up this story... but then was told no. So, without even an epilogue the story literally wraps up in a single page.
So, if you can get over an out of nowhere ending, then this book is actually a pretty good BattleTech book on par with the others I have read so far. If you've been a BattleTech fan up till this book, I think you'll find this just as enjoyable despite Rose being a somewhat annoying lead character. The general craft of the story is pretty well done as far as I'm concerned.
I've been trying to read all the BattleTech books in order and review them as I go and I feel we've finally come out of the main block of story that the majority of fans seem to fondly remember. "Main Event" takes place after the Clan Invasion and after the Battle of Tukayyid. In this story we follow MechWarrior Jeremiah Rose on his quest to form a new mercenary unit, which eventually becomes known as the Black Thorns. For those who play the game, there is actually a game module written after this novel called The Black Thorns: A Battle Tech Scenario Pack, which is also written by Long. In this scenario pack you can play through notable missions where The Black Thorns participated.
James Long is also a new author to the BattleTech universe, so I had no prior opinion on his writing, this is also the only book I've ever read by him and for the most part it was a pretty good book. It does have one major flaw, but I'll get into that later. In his creation of Jeremiah Rose, I thought one of the more fascinating aspects was the fact that he was an ex-ComStar fighter who actually fought the Clans on Tukayyid. For whatever reason, he is a bit of a Mary Sue character, but also isn't particularly likeable. That fact alone somewhat makes the book a bit hard to read through, even though the overall story is actually quite good and I thought very entertaining. The problem with rose is that he is ridiculously arrogant and overconfident, he puts himself in situations where he needs to play politics, then refuses to play politics because his ideals are so "perfect," which naturally gets him into trouble.
One of the strangest parts of this book is that on the front cover the advertisement makes it sound like this is going to be a book about Solaris VII, but it very much is not. The cover says "Welcome to Solaris VII, where war is a business, and life is a game." The game world is in this novel, but only briefly. Actually, one of the reasons I enjoyed the book was because we got to go to a decent amount of areas in the BattleTech universe while Rose sought out new recruits. The novel actually starts with Rose returning to his homeland on Northwind. There he recruits his sister to help build his mercenary group. From there Rose has the problem that he doesn't actually have a 'Mech, so his overconfidence brings him to Solaris VII, where he figures he can win one. In this course he ends up being correct, but the journey to that being true was far more fraught with danger than he ever anticipated. There he recruits a couple more fighters with 'Mechs to join his group.
From there we travel to Outreach, the mercenary capital run by the Wolf's Dragoons. I liked this part of the arc because we got to see what the Dragoons had setup from the perspective of someone that had to deal with them as a mercenary. Up till now just about all the novels with the Dragoons have been about them and their perspective, so it was kind of nice to view them from someone more on the outside. Outreach is where mercenaries go to recruit fighters and get contracts. Rose being new, had a bit of trouble with this, but he eventually managed to score a contract.
All this goes by very fast in the beginning and the rest of the book is about the first contract. A remote world that the Federats have abandoned to its fate if the Clans decide to invade. The political interplay on this planet was extremely well done and what Rose then needs to deal with is pretty exciting. This whole part of the book was quite enjoyable.
That is until we get to the major flaw... the story just kind of ends abruptly. I feel like there was a lot more to tell, but since Long was already over the 300 page count he was forced to finish the novel. Prior to this a lot of BattleTech books easily hit the 400+ page count, but now that RoC is publishing them, they suddenly all shrink to be ~300 pages only. It seemed Long had assumed he'd be allowed another 100 pages or so and that's probably what he would have need to actually wrap up this story... but then was told no. So, without even an epilogue the story literally wraps up in a single page.
So, if you can get over an out of nowhere ending, then this book is actually a pretty good BattleTech book on par with the others I have read so far. If you've been a BattleTech fan up till this book, I think you'll find this just as enjoyable despite Rose being a somewhat annoying lead character. The general craft of the story is pretty well done as far as I'm concerned.
April 24, 2013
Main Event, by Jim Long, tells the story of Jeremiah Rose. Jeremiah is an ex Com Guard mechwarrior who returns home to Northwind after the battle of Tukayyid. He has a dream to build a unit to continue the fight against the Clans.
It's hard to enjoy this book because Jeremiah Rose is an ass. He is arrogant, overconfident, and has no interpersonal skills. The book also ends abruptly. Only a few pages occur after the climactic battle, this doesn't leave much time or space for follow up.
It's hard to enjoy this book because Jeremiah Rose is an ass. He is arrogant, overconfident, and has no interpersonal skills. The book also ends abruptly. Only a few pages occur after the climactic battle, this doesn't leave much time or space for follow up.
April 9, 2016
This is a great book. James D. Long pulled off a wonderful story about a Mechwarrior reclaiming his place and making his mark in the Game Arena's. The story takes you from the battlefront out in the sphere and gives you a glimpse of the battlefront within the Arena. Definitely worth the read if you are a BattleTech fan!
Read
July 1, 2008The first Battle tech Novel I read... Got me hooked.
September 25, 2009
It's a re-read. I know I'm a dork, let's move on....
September 9, 2021
Standalone novel following a new mercenary unit as it takes on it's first assignment.
Bit predictable, but the battle scenes are quite good.
Bit predictable, but the battle scenes are quite good.
December 31, 2023
"It's like good fanfic," is my first impulse, but then I realize that Stockholm syndrome has set in, making it so that books that aren't about the House leadership feel somehow unimportant.
I want more Battletech books like this. I could happily without reading another word concerning Jamie Wolf or Phelan Kell, and the sole reason I am interested in more about VS-D is that his last appearance in Natural Selection felt like Act I of his tragedy by Shakespeare. I am much more interested in these non-critical characters. If nothing else, threats to them feel real, in that a book could end with everyone's death and not set off any alarms. And this allows for some great insight, in getting to see Solaris VII and Outreach through the eyes of an outsider, who is ambivalent to the later and downright hostile to the former.
The book is the story of Jeremiah Rose, late of the Com Guards, veteran of Tukayyid, a dispossessed Mech Warrior (shift in the style guide again, I suppose) looking to form a mercenary company, and the subsequent first job of that company.
It has something that has been lacking in previous novels, which is humor. Oh, there has been the occasional action hero quip or jokes between characters, but this has comedic scenes that are, in fact, funny. The author also writes good action scenes. I still consider Keith Jr.'s the best, but Long's are distinctive in that they will center the action in the mech's cockpit. While it can be on the Explosive Instrumentation side, this gives a much more character centered understanding of what is going on, that provokes more feeling than the typical Product-Placement style of mech combat when we know the make of every engine and the wattage of every laser (notably the author here primarily invokes that to make jokes).
The opening of the novel evidences what I consider "getting" Battletech, the crossing point between the personal and the political as the underlying source of all conflict. So I had high hopes, which sadly were not sustained.
The first problem is the protagonist. The likable character has become capital D-Discourse, so I want to avoid driving too deeply into the topic, but my take is that I want comprehensible characters more than I want likable ones, but frequently the most interesting way to make that comprehension compelling is through their bad, rather than good, choices.
Rose is a jerk. Of course, he started in the Northwind Highlanders (motto: No True Scotsmen) and moved to the ComGuard (motto: pretentious? Moi?), so it fits. And the author seems to play much more with a sort of 'service rivalry' sort of take on classes of soldiers in the Battletech universe, where the stereotypes of what sort of people become a mechwarrior or an aerospace pilot or so on matter more. (The scene with Viet makes no sense in the novel unless it is meant to explain this, both to the audience and to Rose himself.) All of which is to say that Rose is a jerk, but the novel does not support him in being a jerk. It generally only creates problems, which I like as a characterization because I think that is plot, and character, and how it comes out.
There is one problem, which is that we get the protagonist's background but not his origin story. The facts of how he came to be here come out in a blurt of a moment that would be silly except for how real to life it felt. But whereas I would rather have less information, and get to fill in things through context clues, here this provides information without insight. So I am okay with his asshole behavior in that the book does not treat it as anything other than that, but I am not okay with the lack of understanding that we have as to how he got this way, because notably he has made some interesting choices to get him to this point in his life.
The second issue is the second part of the novel, as the newly formed mercenary company has its first assignment. The setup is good, the conflict is good, but the plot is dull. There is no spice to the political maneuverings: that did not immediately turn on was a let down. While having that same understanding about what makes a Battletech story as noted above, the author fails to put in the legwork for any of it. You have events like where a character complains that and the is ineffective for much of the same reasons. It makes sense, but it fails to carry any emotional weight or drama. The fights are fine, but the conclusion is without any denouement. I am not left with more questions than answers, but I do feel like I have been shoved out the door at the end of the bout.
I want more Battletech books like this. I could happily without reading another word concerning Jamie Wolf or Phelan Kell, and the sole reason I am interested in more about VS-D is that his last appearance in Natural Selection felt like Act I of his tragedy by Shakespeare. I am much more interested in these non-critical characters. If nothing else, threats to them feel real, in that a book could end with everyone's death and not set off any alarms. And this allows for some great insight, in getting to see Solaris VII and Outreach through the eyes of an outsider, who is ambivalent to the later and downright hostile to the former.
The book is the story of Jeremiah Rose, late of the Com Guards, veteran of Tukayyid, a dispossessed Mech Warrior (shift in the style guide again, I suppose) looking to form a mercenary company, and the subsequent first job of that company.
It has something that has been lacking in previous novels, which is humor. Oh, there has been the occasional action hero quip or jokes between characters, but this has comedic scenes that are, in fact, funny. The author also writes good action scenes. I still consider Keith Jr.'s the best, but Long's are distinctive in that they will center the action in the mech's cockpit. While it can be on the Explosive Instrumentation side, this gives a much more character centered understanding of what is going on, that provokes more feeling than the typical Product-Placement style of mech combat when we know the make of every engine and the wattage of every laser (notably the author here primarily invokes that to make jokes).
The opening of the novel evidences what I consider "getting" Battletech, the crossing point between the personal and the political as the underlying source of all conflict. So I had high hopes, which sadly were not sustained.
The first problem is the protagonist. The likable character has become capital D-Discourse, so I want to avoid driving too deeply into the topic, but my take is that I want comprehensible characters more than I want likable ones, but frequently the most interesting way to make that comprehension compelling is through their bad, rather than good, choices.
Rose is a jerk. Of course, he started in the Northwind Highlanders (motto: No True Scotsmen) and moved to the ComGuard (motto: pretentious? Moi?), so it fits. And the author seems to play much more with a sort of 'service rivalry' sort of take on classes of soldiers in the Battletech universe, where the stereotypes of what sort of people become a mechwarrior or an aerospace pilot or so on matter more. (The scene with Viet makes no sense in the novel unless it is meant to explain this, both to the audience and to Rose himself.) All of which is to say that Rose is a jerk, but the novel does not support him in being a jerk. It generally only creates problems, which I like as a characterization because I think that is plot, and character, and how it comes out.
There is one problem, which is that we get the protagonist's background but not his origin story. The facts of how he came to be here come out in a blurt of a moment that would be silly except for how real to life it felt. But whereas I would rather have less information, and get to fill in things through context clues, here this provides information without insight. So I am okay with his asshole behavior in that the book does not treat it as anything other than that, but I am not okay with the lack of understanding that we have as to how he got this way, because notably he has made some interesting choices to get him to this point in his life.
The second issue is the second part of the novel, as the newly formed mercenary company has its first assignment. The setup is good, the conflict is good, but the plot is dull. There is no spice to the political maneuverings: that did not immediately turn on was a let down. While having that same understanding about what makes a Battletech story as noted above, the author fails to put in the legwork for any of it. You have events like where a character complains that and the is ineffective for much of the same reasons. It makes sense, but it fails to carry any emotional weight or drama. The fights are fine, but the conclusion is without any denouement. I am not left with more questions than answers, but I do feel like I have been shoved out the door at the end of the bout.
April 30, 2021
A decent Battletech book. Not terrible, or great either. Hi remember the first time I read this, I was slightly annoyed by the bait-and-switch that you get with this book. The title and description make it sound like it is going to be a book centered on Solarus VII, my favorite Battletech setting. But when you actually read it, the bulk of the story has very little to do with that.
In my second read, that impression didn’t change. This book should have been called something else, in my opinion. It’s a story telling the beginning of a mercenary group, “The Black Thorns”.
The story was okay. The mech battles were alright. The main hero, Jeremiah Rose, is pretty unlikable to me. He seems to make a lot of angry, rash, unleader-like decisions. But it’s as good a Battletech book as any of them I guess.
In my second read, that impression didn’t change. This book should have been called something else, in my opinion. It’s a story telling the beginning of a mercenary group, “The Black Thorns”.
The story was okay. The mech battles were alright. The main hero, Jeremiah Rose, is pretty unlikable to me. He seems to make a lot of angry, rash, unleader-like decisions. But it’s as good a Battletech book as any of them I guess.
March 21, 2020
Good read. Loved rereading this book. Glad I added it to my e-book collection.
May 16, 2020
Good book
May 7, 2021
BattleTech book #19 - The formation of the Black Thorn Mercenary group. Nice read, but it was lacking character development... more geared towards action and events than character interplay.
May 10, 2022
This story has a great plot and the battles are written well. Had a hard time putting this one down.
April 22, 2023
Great book, and Awesome to see the start of the Black Thorns!
August 28, 2010
Jeremiah Rose has recently left the Com Guards after Tukkayid and is seeking to create a mercenary company to take the fight back to the clans. After dealing with the dangerous world of small 'stables' on Solaris he accepts a contract on a small planet on the truce line. What follows is indicative of human greed and misplaced ideals.
The story is entertaining and has some mech battles. These mech battles are entertaining but could be better described and there are better examples that take you right into the seat of these steel behemoths. The story follows a reasonably well tread path and again there are better examples out there - Mercenary's Star for example. All that said the story kept me entertained which when reading a Battletech novel is what you are looking for.
The story is entertaining and has some mech battles. These mech battles are entertaining but could be better described and there are better examples that take you right into the seat of these steel behemoths. The story follows a reasonably well tread path and again there are better examples out there - Mercenary's Star for example. All that said the story kept me entertained which when reading a Battletech novel is what you are looking for.
March 25, 2016
Dumb. Mildly entertaining.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews