BattleTech: The Nellus Academy Incident

BattleTech Universe #YA1

by Jennifer Brozek

THE WARRIORS OF TOMORROW…

The battlefields of the 31st century are ruled by the BattleMech; twelve-meter-tall, 100-ton bipedal engines of pure destruction. Piloted by MechWarriors, commanded by neo-feudal officers, owned by national governments and band of mercenaries, these ’Mechs make every other ground combat vehicle obsolete.

This is the warfare of fusion-powered giants.

This is BattleTech.

THRUST INTO BATTLE TODAY…

Allegra Greene is no stranger to the military; her father is a general, after all. But when she enters the Nellus Military Academy, she finds far more than she expected. She finds a group of friends that will keep her going, challenging training, and instructors that push her to the edge and beyond.

Unfortunately, that's not all she finds, and soon the endemic politics and warfare of the Inner Sphere reach the Nellus Academy. And when their spaceship is hijacked and crash-lands on a remote moon, Allegra and her friends find themselves in a life-or-death struggle just to survive!

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

201 pages, ebook

First published January 26, 2014

About the author

Jennifer Brozek is a multi-talented, award-winning author, editor, and media tie-in writer. She is the author of the Never Let Me Sleep, and The Last Days of Salton Academy, both of which were nominated for the Bram Stoker Award. Her BattleTech tie-in novel, The Nellus Academy Incident, won a Scribe Award. Her editing work has netted her Bram Stoker Award, British Fantasy Award, and Hugo Award nominations. She won the Australian Shadows Award for the Grants Pass anthology. Jennifer’s short form work has appeared in Apex Publications, Uncanny Magazine, and in anthologies set in the worlds of Valdemar, Shadowrun, V-Wars, Masters of Orion, and Predator. Jennifer is also the Creative Director of Apocalypse Ink Productions.

Jennifer has been a freelance author and editor for over ten years after leaving her high paying tech job, and she’s never been happier. She keeps a tight schedule on her writing and editing projects and somehow manages to find time to volunteer for several professional writing organizations such as SFWA, HWA, and IAMTW. She shares her husband, Jeff, with several cats and often uses him as a sounding board for her story ideas. Visit Jennifer’s worlds at jenniferbrozek.com.

Reviews

[J.A. Pitts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Battletech. I've played it since it came out in 1984. I've played the video games, and the table top. While I love the playability, I really miss the personal level detail of individual characters. This novel brings that characterization home for me. I enjoyed the emotional impact and the hard won victories of this tale. Jennifer Brozek does an excellent job and I can't wait to read more.

[Janine Spendlove · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first Battletech novel I've ever read, and given that I knew nothing about the "Battletech universe" prior to this as well, I had no idea what to expect going into it.

What did I find? A well written story where I immediately identified with each of main protagonists: eight, hand selected, teenage military cadets. This is a story where it would be so easy to write a "Mary Sue" or "Gary Stu" type character, but Brozek doesn't do that. She not only manages to carefully balance and develop each character, but she does it naturally and through the flow of the narrative, so the story never feels bogged down with extraneous details - instead, it pulls the reader along, making it very difficult to put down.

As an active duty member of the military myself (USMC), I am grateful for the fact that she didn't shy away from broaching difficult/realistic subjects such as courage and fear in the face of battle, loss and sacrifice, and of course the effects of the trauma that the cadets go through. Additionally, like real combat, just because you're a "well developed character," that doesn't protect you from dying - meaning, there are no "red-shirts" here. No one is safe in this story, no one. And I appreciated the stark reality of that brutality. It hurt my heart to read it, and that's how war should feel: painful.

Brozek creates well-developed and complex characters whose failures and successes, strengths and weaknesses pull you in, making you care about them and their fate.

I would definitely recommend this book for older YA Lit, New Adult, and Adult readers.

[BrokenMnemonic · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a YA sci-fi novel, this is a decent read - very pacey, and somewhat nastier to the characters than the average BattleTech novel, but definitely relatable. Some of the BattleTech fine detail is a bit off, unfortunately. The mercenary BattleMech is described as a COM-2Dr Commando, but that's a variant that didn't enter service until the Jihad, which didn't start until after the events in this novel. People manage to send communications relatively quickly, between systems, without an HPG. And at the end, a JumpShip is described as being surrounded by WarShips twice its weight, but the only Lyran Alliance WarShips that mass that much are the Mjolnir-class cruisers Fylgia and Yggdrasil, so they'd both have to be there for that to work. These are all anachronisms that cause some minor canonical issues, but it's the sort of thing you'd likely only notice if you're a BattleTech spotter like me. So, while I'm nitpicking some of the details, I enjoyed this book and will be picking up any other BattleTech novels Jennifer Brozek writes.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the first battletech novel I've ever read that focused entirely on characters and not battemechs. #needmoreplease

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful story about war and death. This was my first BattleTech novel, but you don't necessarily need the 30 years of built up lore to enjoy it. The first 5 chapters or so, I thought it was going to be a teen drama/battle high school story. I wasn't super into the whole new-student with more experience than her peers trope. But then the actual conflict begins and the situation continually gets worse and worse. The main character doesn't save the day, like I thought she would. She sort of observes what's happening around her and is powerless to influence the course of events in any major way. It was sobering. Jennifer Brozek didn't shy away from the horrors that soldiers go through. There's a good message in it I think: it doesn't matter what politics are like in your nation or how you feel about war, the soldiers in the field are the ones who bear the torturous responsibility of fighting in a war that ultimately goes way above them. In the end, I was sad that these characters don't make another appearance and they're forced to run the gamut of the political/propaganda machine, being required to keep hidden the true story except among themselves.

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a "young adult" novel in the Battletech novel, this was a pretty bloody one.

On the one hand, a story about a group of cadets needing to face dangers well beyond your typical capabilities is a classic story format. The fact that our group of cadets included one of almost every discipline including someone into explosives really made it feel more like an RPG adventuring party with players that were very conscious of class niche protection. But that's not a bad thing.

It also meant that this story was going to by the numbers and make sure to treat characters as expendable once they got to showcase their individual skill. It made it harder to fully appreciate some of the characters (and their deaths), but that's how these stories go.

On the whole, it's a pretty good story that was strong in terms of core character stories come the end of the book even if it was ultimately light on the mech action.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty good “ground pounder” military sci-fi story. It has the background of the Battletech world and just a minor amount of Battlemech action, but it was still a solid story. I enjoyed the plot and the writing. It was interesting to have young and “modern” characters in a Battletech book. It made me realize that everything that has come before is becoming dated and definitely has the characters and sensibilities of a time that is past. Good direction for new Battletech books, authors, and audience (this could open Battletech to younger women instead of aging men).

[Michael Mammay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this YA military Sci Fi on the beach in two days. Great action and characters that I really cared about kept me turning the page. A quick read that left me wanting more. Well conceived military that was easy to follow and easy to believe. Would appeal to teen readers as well as adults.

[Carsten Koralage · Rating 2 out of 5]

interesting take on battletech, it has potential and a nice turn of events, but instead of diving into the suspence of the moment it remains in a safe, detached third person perspective, descriping the action instead of letting the reader live it.

[Michael Knolla · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting first read for Battletech given the lack of emphasis on the big mechs franchise famous for. Still, never turned into Harry Potter in space or retread Ender’s Game but boldly goes its own way.

[Tim Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did like this - but for a Battletech book the battlemech content was quite limited. As a YA science fiction I'd have given it 4 stars, good characters, decent plot.

[Jake Cornelius · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s pretty decent.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short novel that was okay.