BattleTech Legends: A Silence in the Heavens

BattleTech Universe #67

by Martin Delrio

From WizKids LLC, creators of the hit game Mage Knight... Duchess Tara Campbell and MechWarrior Paladin Ezekiel Crow struggle to save the planet of Northwind from the invading faction of Steel Wolves.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Ebooks

225 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

A pseudonym used by Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fourth book in the Mech Warrior Dark Age series. This is also the first book in the Proving Grounds Trilogy. This series is a continuation of the Battletech series. The books in this series, like the books in the original Battletech series, are by various authors. This one is by Martin Delrio. The Republic of the Sphere has known a long period of peace and prosperity. Then the interstellar communications network a.k.a. the HPG net is destroyed by terrorists and many planets in the Republic find themselves cut off from the rest of the galaxy with communications taking weeks or even months. Unrest leads to several factions on several planets trying to overthrow the local governments and seize power for themselves. In this one MechWarrior Anastasia Kerensky a.k.a. Tassa Kay has joined the Steel Wolves and takes over the leadership by force. She then decides to attack the planet of Northwind which will put the Steel Wolves on a path to Terra itself.
Standing in her way however is Duchess Tara Campbell, the new Prefect of Prefecture III, and the Paladin Ezekiel Crow with his fully armed BattleMech. Together with the Highlanders they will make the coming battle very costly for the Steel Wolves. This is another great read in this series of books and I recommend it to all fans of Military Science Fiction.

[Simon · Rating 2 out of 5]

4th book in the series and we loop back to the events that occurred in the 2nd book. I wish the goodreads rating system was more than 5 stars since 3 is (I liked it) that covers a lot of different ground. This one was a slow burn. A VERY slow burn. A lot of readers of battletech fiction will not like this one. There is not a lot of combat in it. In fact the only mech vs mech combat is reserved for the last chapter and the story seems to end rather easily? (Since the author keeps pushing how out matched the Highlanders are.) To be fair there is ample foreshadowing on how this is going to go and it doesn't go against any character although I feel Natasha gave up a little too easily. There are no familiar Highlander characters from the previous Battletech line so it feels not really in the same family as such better novels as Highlander's Gambit. All this being said, it is a well put together book it just is not much like any previous mechwarrior/battletech novel. I do like the increase in mixed combat arms the dark age series pushes but the series is MECHWARRIOR. Was odd how little mechwarrior was featured. Even the 3rd book (which featured a pacifist governor) saw more combat in its pages. This is a trilogy so we'll see where it goes from here. Biggest gripe is that Kerensky gives up so damn easily and how she is defeated is weak.

[Grantcorp · Rating 4 out of 5]

After some scattered approaches to the Dark Age saga, where different writers wrote about rather unrelated events (in wildly different styles) connected only by an overarching timeline, we now get a trilogy of books which promises something more epic than the short books titles preceeding it were able to provide.

The story gravitates around the planet of Northwind, home of the loyalist Highlander regiments, staunch supporters of the Republic of the Sphere. These staalwart defenders are being challenged by the newly invigorated Steel Wolwes, where an aggressive trueborn has just taken control of the entire clan-oriented faction. The wolves intend to break the back of the Republic before setting their sights on Terra itself.

We get to follow the storyline develop through the eyes of both high- and lowranking personnel on both sides of the conflict, and the book's true highlight is a chain of events leading up to the first battle. Once the book kicks into gear though, the end comes a little bit too quickly.

"A Silence in the Heavens" is a good start to the trilogy, and as you can tell, a read for Mechwarrior fans only.

[Chris The Lizard from Planet X · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mechwarrior: Dark Age: A Silence In The Heavens By Martin Delrio, is a Original Sci-fi novel set in the BattleTech Universe.

Set in a distant far future of 3100s, mankind has conquered the stars, but have divided into various factions warring over territory and resources throughout the galaxy. Most of this fighting is done by specialized individuals called Mechwarriors individuals who pilot specialized giant robots called BattleMechs.

In a region of space called the Inner Sphere, the human alliance known as The Republic Of the Sphere is slowly shattering. Leaving in it’s wake power hungry factions eager to take over the Republic’s various world’s. The Planet of Northwind is one of these worlds left exposed to the various splintering power hungry factions. Newly elected Duchess Tara Campbell struggling with the defense of her homeworld asks for Military aid from the failing Republic. In the form of Mechwarrior Paladin Ezekiel Crow and his fully armed BattleMech. It’s up to Paladin Crow and Duchess Campbell to defend the planet of Northwind from the ruthless Star Commander Anastasia Kerensky and her ruthless Steel Wolf faction who will stop at nothing to take over the planet of Northwind.

I have to admit this novel is my first exposure to this BattleTech universe, and if you can’t tell by this summary theirs a lot going on in this short 290 page book. Thing is, Battletech has a surprisingly deep setting for a tabletop wargame, with dozens of various factions and characters and such to keep track of, over a centuries-long timeline, spread out across the galaxy. It’s kind of like Star Wars in that respect, only with less lazor swords and spaceships.

As such, A Silence In The Heavens jumps right into things, relying on knowledge of various characters and events from previous novels. Which … would have been nice to know going in. The book really doesn’t work very well as a standalone novel, sadly. Which just got confusing, as Silence In The Heavens is never referred to as “Book 2 of the Big Stompy Robot Trilogy!” or whatever, so I was going in blind. Silence In The Heavens assumes the reader is already a Battletech fan, and assumes you already know the difference between a Clan Mech and an Inner Sphere mech or whatever. Which, I … uh … don’t. I imagine the experience is kinda like reading a Star Wars novel without knowing what an X-wing looks like, or what a Jedi is. Then again, Star Wars has a much broader cultural reach than Battletech.

But all that doesn’t matter, we’re just here for the stompity robot fights, right? And … there’s some of that. Just … not enough of it. See, Silence In The Heavens focuses a lot on high level politics– a lot of who is invading which planet, and why. Which is … okay, I guess? It’s like, if the average game of Battletech plays out between a handful of mechs on a battlefield, then most of Silence In The Heavens is about the proverbial players thinking up excuses for their dudes to fight. Strategy vs. Tactics, as it were. Author Martin Delrio at least manages to make things somewhat interesting, even if some of the peripheral side characters tended to blend together.

Despite my lack of knowledge of the deep lore of the Battletech franchise. I was captured by this sci-fi universe. In DelRio's novel the descriptions are fresh and show a flair for fresh images, the characters are genuinely interesting and make sense, with sensible and believable motivations, and the books' "straight-ahead" plot draws the you forward to learn the fate of Planet Northwind and the various characters fighting for it.

Much of the book's fascination comes with the clash of two well-written female characters-- Star Commander Anastasia Kerensky, who is also known as Tassa Kay, and Former Mechwarrior turned Planetary Governor Tara Campbell, the beautiful Dutchess of Northwind. As they lead their military forces for control of the planet of Northwind. We also get some POVs from some side characters on both sides, but they kinda blended together and they are uninteresting compared to the two main female characters.

An nether problem with this is book is it’s the first book of a 3-volume trilogy. Probably the trilogy structure accounts for one of the greatest faults of "A Silence in the Heavens," which is the lame, unsatisfying ending. It is more a hiatus than a true ending, since their are more books in this Dark Age trilogy.

It probably should be mentioned that the book well balances "political intrigue" against battle action. Two major battles are portrayed in detail as the author skillfully incorporates several points of view -- an infantryman's view, a tank commander's view, a mechwarrior's view, and the supreme commander's view. Some readers might find this book starved for action scenes, but the author does a good job of juggling the character development and action scenes though out the book.

Honestly, I can’t really recommend Silence In The Heavens as anybody’s first Battletech novel. It’s written well enough, but there’s just too much backstory to keep track of, and author Martin Delrio tosses out a couple of bits of exposition to keep the reader up to date … but, well, there just wasn’t enough giant robot mayhem.

[Christopher Dodds · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was great. It has been a long time since I've read a mechwarrior novel, and this book does not disappoint it had great scope of warfare tactics and strategy as well as some awesome characters who are well developed and expanded upon.
My favourite characters so far is Will Elliot and Tara Campbell.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great beginning but the end felt rushed. If it was maybe 2 or 3 more chapters flushed out then it would be perfect.

[Josh Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

"So You've Decided to Read Battletech: Dark Age" - Review 4

The print in this one is extra large, so despite sharing the same page count as all the other books in this line (300), this book took me 2 hours less to read. Which was nice! I think I enjoyed it more because of it.

DA Callbacks

Tassa Kay, first mentioned in DA#2 A Call To Arms, returns as a primary character. Reading that book first adds to the experience, but is not essential. She only makes two passing references to the events of that book and then it's never mentioned again (at least in this book.)

Review:

Quite enjoyable. It's a plot-driven, short and snappy story. The only major character to really catch my interest was Paladin Crow. We're given some glimpses into a tortured past, but he's left mysterious enough that I want to know more about what makes him tick. All the other characters are fine, more like caricatures than characters.

Assessment:

I like it.

Lasting Impressions
In this section, I return long after reading to give my remembered impressions. Did this book stand the test of time?

Not really. I remember the main gist of things, though I don't feel any sort of attachment to the story or the characters.

DarkAge Tier List
from best to worst

Scorpion Jar
A Silence in the Heavens
Target of Opportunity
A Call to Arms
Ghost War
The Ruins of Power

[Adowt]

Very exciting and action packed.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A credit to the long Saga of Battletech novels genre. A splendid tale that inspires and draws you into the new age of giant Battlemachines! Huzzah! =)

[Joby Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite enjoyable, but short.

[Richard Tran · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wish they had gone more in-depth into Tara and Will's characters. It's good to see the perspective from the leaders and the grunts on the ground.