BattleTech: Lethal Heritage

BattleTech Universe #10

by Michael A. Stackpole

Two decades after the events that nearly brought the Successor States to the brink of all-out-war, the Great Houses exist in an uneasy peace.

But now, from out beyond the Periphery comes a new threat. A swift-moving military force of unknown origin.

Nothing the Inner Sphere has can stop them. Their power, speed, and ferocity are unparalleled. Some of the finest warriors and ablest units have challenged them and been crushed. No force has faced them and won.

They are the Clans! A military juggernaut whose sole reason for existence is battle. A race that selectively breeds itself for combat.

Humanity's only hope is an alliance of mortal enemies. The Federated Commonwealth and the Draconis Combine, interstellar empires at war for 300 years, must now stand side-by-side - or face certain destruction.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Space Opera, War, Audiobook, Military Fiction

344 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Nueva generación, nuevo enemigo.-

Género. Ciencia ficción.

Lo que nos cuenta. En el libro Herencia mortal (publicación original: Lethal Heritage, 1989), la Cuarta Guerra de Sucesión de la Esfera Interior terminó hace varios lustros y una camada de jóvenes decididos comienza a buscar su lugar entre las Casas y los regimientos mercenarios. Pero la llegada de un enemigo exterior, con capacidades y tácticas nunca vistas antes, lo cambia todo e incluso podrá forjar alianzas inesperadas con tal de conseguir frenar la amenaza: los Clanes. Novela que forma parte del universo Battletech y primer libro de la trilogía La Sangre de Kerensky.

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

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

[Josh Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lethal Heritage.

The book that introduced the Clans to the BattleTech universe...

...the book that blew the mind of many, pissed off a few, and forever changed the face of a popular game...

...and...

Totally. Friggin'. AWESOME!

Lethal Heritage is forever emblazoned on my brain as both one of the best BattleTech novels, and as one of most memorable books I've ever read. The author, Mike Stackpole, does an excellent job of engrossing the reader in the sci-fi, and 'Mecha based, universe that has become a hallmark of the gaming industry.

7 stars out of 5

[Collin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Normally I skip past the shelf in the bookstore where all of the RPG tie-in books live: you know, the law firm of "Salvatore, Hickman & Weis". There was a time in my life when I read all of those books, and enjoyed a great many of them, but I've never felt a compelling need to swim in those waters again. That said, every once in a while you will find a story that is truly well done. One series that stuck with me from my childhood was the "Blood of Kerensky" series by Michael Stackpole. It's a favorite I come back to every couple of years.

Stackpole was a stalwart of the RPG writer scene before becoming a novel writer, having worked for a time at Flying Buffalo/FASA (which is how I originally became acquainted with him). The "Blood of Kerensky" books are set in the Battletech universe which, for those of you who don't know, is a post-diaspora-to-the-stars, future war concept with different political factions duking it out in giant robots called "Mechs". It's ground that's been well traveled in Japanese Anime but here it's given a western, military sci-fi flavor.

Stackpole, to his credit, plays this material straight, keeping it action forward with strong but simple characters. You don't care that it's a bunch of guys in robot suits because after a short while you are interested in their personal lives, their successes, failures and relationships.

A few related books followed the original trilogy but they never quite live up to the level of Stackpole's writing here. I wish he had explored this world a bit more fully, because he was very well suited to it.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Lethal heritage" was a fun sci-fi romp in the world of battle tech. Covering the start of the clan invasions it has less action then the books of the warrior trilogy but successfully sets an exciting stage for changes yet to come. If you are a fan of Battletech it is an easy recommendation. Some of the writing of human relationships is quiet poor but the grand scale narration of the universe is engaging and Stackpole is successful in that area.

[Temucano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Si hubiera leído este libro en mi juventud, de seguro hubiera flipado. Tiene multitud de personajes, intriga a raudales y sobre todo acción sin pausa, desde peleas cuerpo a cuerpo hasta batallas de naves espaciales, todo bien narrado, fluido, sin mayores acoples forzosos, ni conejos del sombrero. Es cierto que un análisis riguroso puede encontrar fallos al entramado, y más de algún personaje chirría, pero cumple el objetivo de entretener, en especial cuando te subes al Mech y disparas a mansalva a todo lo que se cruce, mientras el cielo se oscurece de naves enemigas, excelente.

Al final sentí que terminaba la primera temporada de la mejor serie de ciencia ficción bélica que conozco, sabiendo que me quedan dos más, y una trilogía anterior que ya empiezo a localizar.

Una gozada.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lethal Heritage by Michael A. Stackpole is the tenth book in the classic BattleTech Universe. It is also the first book in the "Blood of Kerensky" trilogy.
In this one, the Successor States have been fighting among themselves for two decades. Then from out beyond the Periphery comes a new threat. A swift-moving military force of unknown origin. Nothing the Inner Sphere has can stop them. Their power, speed, and ferocity are unparalleled. Some of the finest warriors and ablest units have challenged them and been crushed. No force has faced them and won.
They are the Clans! A military juggernaut whose sole reason for existence is battle. A race that selectively breeds itself for combat.
The Inner Sphere's only hope is an alliance of mortal enemies. The Federated Commonwealth and the Draconis Combine, interstellar empires at war for 300 years, must now stand side-by-side—or face certain destruction.
Although the classic Battletech books are written by many different authors, Michael A. Stackpole has risen to the top as one of the best in this series.

[Heiki Eesmaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book ever where I realized "this is truly Space Opera". Both in the sense of opera -- which I take to be powerful characters delivering lengthy monologues in front of lavish backdrops. But also in the sense of "soap opera" -- it's part of what seems an endless series of books sharing characters from the same families, driven by emotion, of intergenerational vendettas and star-struck lovers.

I am giving it a higher rating than to an earlier trilogy I read. I doubt Stackpole actually wrote any better here. Perhaps it just landed at a better time in my life, but somehow I found the plot developments if not surprise, then at least intrigue and amuse me. I knew the melodrama and wooden writing I would be wading through and perhaps was desensitized to that at least.

[Clint the Cool Guy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boringtech. Man, Stackpole sure wrote some thick Battletech tomes back in the day! And that’s not a good thing. This book is boring to the extreme. It could easily have been cut by half. There is way too much time spent with nothing happening.

Case in point: the entire first third of the book. You can skip it all, because nothing happens. Only when the clans start invading (finally!) does the action pick up the pace a little. But not by much. Reading this is a real slog.

There are also way too many characters and POVs to keep track of mentally. None of these characters are all that different from each other, which makes it harder. And it is constantly switching back and forth. I finally figured out who is who toward the end of the book.

The main characters have a lot of weird names. Here is a brief bio of each:

Feelin’ Kell - He pines for his old girlfriend a lot, then becomes a prisoner of war. After that, he follows the time-honored “Dances with Wolves” storyline where he slowly builds grudging respect with his captors and then later becomes one of them. Gets a clannie girlfriend first, of course. It always starts with the girlfriend...

Kai Mallard-Layo - He too pines for his girlfriend. He’s a Solaris 7 guy. Mostly he just doubts himself a lot, or so we are told. He gets a Moment of Awesome(TM) in the book. Then he spends the rest of the book whining about it.

Shin Yo’mama - Has a great appreciation for ancient Japanese architecture. He also spends a lot of time doing cool, ninja-ey Japanese stuff, and talking about honor and dragons and such. Is REALLY into tattoos.

Victor Steiner-Davion - Doesn’t do anything the entire book.

There were a lot more characters but those seemed to be the author’s faves.

Reading this, I’m kind of struck by how thin the Battletech universe really is. There were a couple of things that stood out to me.

For one, you never really get a true sense of the size and scale of this universe. We are talking about hundreds of populated worlds here. But in the story, it’s like each entire world only has one city. And it’s usually only one small mech battle to capture an ENTIRE planet. I don’t think this is realistic at all. You can’t capture a whole nation with just a few tanks. Scale it up to Battlemechs, and even a thousand of them wouldn’t be enough to conquer every city on an entire planet. The scope of a true planetary invasion would be enormous! And it would be extremely costly in terms of ships and manpower. This is never depicted realistically in any Battletech book.

Another thing is just exactly how goofy the whole Battlemech idea really is. I mean, we have ships here who can nuke an entire planet’s surface from orbit. Surely something that dangerous could easily target an enemy mech on the ground and annihilate it from space. The ramifications of having that much power, and what it would really mean in terms of a war, is barely touched on in this book. It’s touched on, but pretty much sidestepped. With ships like that, mechs would be useless. All you would need is marines to take the ground.

I don’t know. I’m just getting too old for this kiddie stuff I guess. I loved Battletech back in the day, but these books for the most part seem really lame. I’ve become used to good science fiction like things written by Ian Banks and William Barton. This Battletech stuff is just empty filler, like eating a bag of potato chips. Oh well. I’ll press on. I’ve bought the kindle books and am curious how it all ends. We will see!

[Kimball Newton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Epic undersells the scale of which the story moves. Following the many characters and following the development between in the inner sphere. I love Stackpole's style and how he takes the characters to a different height through their actions.

Everything feels so real and lifelike, even the deadly clans seem to have a real lifelike driving force. Start of the trilogy that got me back into reading. Blood of Kerensky is one of the best written and greatest stories in the entire BattleTech series.

[Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this because my recent re-introduction into the Battletech universe (Harebrained Schemes superb game) got me curious about the lore. I had read this back when I was maybe 12 or 13, and found the entire Blood of Kerensky trilogy for maybe 3 bucks at Half Price Books. Being a huge MechWarrior fan at them time (as well as a proponent of needlessly capitalized letters in the middle of words) I remember really enjoying this book, so much so that I’ve been recommending it to people well into my 30s.

I’m not going to lie, I may have to rescind those recommendations. If you like Battletech, this book is readable. It rewards a familiarity with the lore (as do most franchise fiction series from the mid-90s...lookin at you Shadowrun) but this comes at a cost of feeling very lost if you aren’t.

Stockpole attempts to get around this with some seriously, uh, interesting dialogue choices. Each of the main characters gives a soliloquy in their initial chapters, explaining who they are, their heritage, their motivations, their desires. In at least one case, this monologue is delivered to an empty beach with nobody in particular there to listen, aside from the reader. This continues throughout the book, as liberal use of italics as internal monologue continue to explain some of the more finicky plot points that might go over the heads of readers. Unfortunately, this feels like the characters being over-explanatory and verbose, almost like they’re talking down to you.

I have my critiques about the way the plot is presented as well. The plot, honestly, is superb: after centuries of war between several states, all those states are invaded by a mysterious force with advanced technology and seemingly unstoppable tactics. Man, that’s a great story!

Except you, the reader, are privy to the truth in the first 25% of the book. By the time the Successor States are figuring out what the nature of the invasion is, you are already experiencing the other side of this invasion from another POV character. Everything that comes after seems hollow. Imagine if the White Walkers in Game of Thrones got their own POV chapter in the first book.

In the end, I can dissect what went wrong and what didn’t, but it boils down to this: if you’re just curious about the lore, go look at the Battletech wiki. If you’re looking to read about the Clan Invasion after that, then pick up the book.

I’ll be reading the rest of the series, honestly, because the book does set you up with an interesting premise for the next. I’m just going to be hoping that less things will be explained to me via internal monologues so I can draw my own conclusions about the plot.

[Johnny Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael A. Stackpole’s Lethal Heritage, the first volume in the Blood of Kerensky trilogy, thrusts readers into the tumultuous Inner Sphere, where the five warring Successor States confront an unprecedented threat: the technologically advanced and bioengineered warriors of the Clans. As part of the vast BattleTech universe, this installment stands at a crucial narrative juncture, offering a fresh entry point for both returning fans and newcomers willing to immerse themselves in the franchise’s sprawling space opera.

The novel delivers exactly what the series is known for: large-scale mech warfare, high-stakes political intrigue, and personal vendettas simmering beneath the epic battles. Stackpole’s writing balances a broad range of elements—violence, romance, and betrayal—and manages to present each with a clarity that keeps the storyline propulsive. The big “stompy robots” of the franchise make their grand appearance in vividly depicted combat scenes, showcasing the tactical complexities that have long been a hallmark of BattleTech.

While Lethal Heritage could be considered accessible to older teens or young adults, parents or guardians may want to be aware of the moderate violence and occasional mature themes. However, the novel generally refrains from explicit content, keeping it suitable for a broad audience interested in space-faring conflicts and futuristic warfare.

In terms of narrative structure, Lethal Heritage does not strive for complete resolution, deliberately leaving much to be explored in subsequent volumes. Though it can serve as an initial foray into the BattleTech universe, readers should expect the ongoing storyline to continue unfolding in the remaining installments of the Blood of Kerensky trilogy. Those looking for a stand-alone experience might find the ending less satisfying due to its dependence on the follow-up books.

Ultimately, Lethal Heritage brims with enough nostalgia and dynamic action to please returning BattleTech devotees, while simultaneously welcoming new readers intrigued by the promise of interstellar conflict and politicking. It may not rival the most ambitious space operas in scope or depth, but it succeeds in laying a robust foundation for the trilogy and the epic clashes yet to come.

[Logan Kedzie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enter the Clans. Who are then stopped.

There is a certain Muppet Babies vibe to the book, as it is all the children of the characters from the Warrior series. I think that the assumption is that we care about them because we care about their parents. But Victor is as dull as his father, and the genetic predilection towards being matte inflicts Morgan as well. Hohiro is a MacGuffin. Kai is insecure, but only in a way similar to how in movies an already attractive woman gets coded as ugly because she's wearing glasses. Phelan - and how do you pronounce that anyway - Phelan is the closest to interesting, due to him being as snarky, but that's not really character.

Its Phelan's arc here that is the most interesting, due to his fish out of water status and giving us the most perspective on the Clans themselves. I have...problems with the Clans, but at least in this book the work at puzzling out what they are about is entertaining as a puzzle for the reader as well as the characters. The Kurita plot has a lot of this as well, but it's with Phelan that it's the most engrossing and interesting. Actually, the Kurita bit is worth mentioning, due to how dirty the author did in the previous series. Here, while the characters are still mostly two dimensional, at least they have the most entertaining of the various showdowns to stop the invasion.

But that's the problem with the book. I'd always heard about the Clan Invasion in terms of how terrifying and awful it all was. It is not, just not, and a lot of that is on the shoulders of Stackpole, writing as if dirt cannot smudge these guys uniforms, much less anything bad happen to them. The result is a dry read.

[Uta · Rating 3 out of 5]

These novelettes were absolutely entertaining, but they weren't what I would call well written. The plot moves at blinding speeds covering literally years and massive world-significant events in a matter of sentences or an offhand bit of dialogue. The result is that the novels are a series of things that happened, with little foreshadowing or other storytelling artistry.

Note that while I'm being very critical of the book, I don't intend to condemn the author. Rather I think that the stories were severely handicapped by their short format, which was likely not in the author's control. A Song of Ice and Fire level of material is being jammed into 3 tiny novelettes. Quite naturally reading them is going to feel like you're hanging on to a wild bull.

Rather I applaud Stackpole for being able to surface multiple interesting characters from this cacophony and give them unique voices.

Still, the story would have greatly benefited from being a trilogy of 3 full-length novels rather than a trilogy of mini-novels.

[Doc Opp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though this is the first of a trilogy, it is not the first of a storyline. There is a trilogy that precedes this, so this really should be marketed as a book #4, not a book #1. The result is that there are many references to shared knowledge that readers may not know, and plot twists that are probably pretty cool if you've read the first series, but don't mean anything to somebody like me, who has not.

The writing varies in quality from chapter to chapter, generally improving as the book progresses. But especially early on as ideas and concepts are being introduced there is a lot of exposition that reads in a rather stilted/awkward manner. The author is much better at action sequences and suspense than at character development or set up. So, I wouldn't recommend this if you haven't read the previous trilogy, but if you have and liked it, then if you pick this up, know that it gets better than the first 100 pages would lead you to believe.

[Katrina Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written as historical fiction in a SciFi setting it introduces a lot of names that start off hard to keep track. Though, eventually you do end up sorting out who is who. Which uh--usually not what you expect from books. So that is an odd unexpected skill of the writer

Due to it being in-universe historical fiction everybody kind of talks like a robot. With not much being given to give them human personalities. With it operating under a "Great Person History" style of history being given

Due to various issues present, I _WANT_ to not recommend it... but the author gets past various issues that such a book would require getting past--and makes it a really enjoyable read. Demonstrating a writing skill that should not be possible

Even if you've listened to the lectures by Tex out in the Van Zandt Periphery, I would highly recommend reading Michael Stackpole's take on the events. It really should not be as enjoyable as it is

[Michael Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I had my hobby shop, BattleTech one of the popular miniature games. Several authors were commissioned to write novels related to the various main kingdoms or mercenary units Stackpole had some of the best.

After the colossal federation collapsed 5 main families came to power and took over large areas of the settled worlds. They fought, they married and in 300 years they stabilized all but small areas. But when the old government fell, one general lead many away into an area known to him by chance. These were some of the great old Earth regiments and their supporters. They broke into various clans and as humans do competed with each other but all had a hidden goal. With better tech, better weapons and from spy missions they would retake the old federation but created in their image.

They are now back and have some easy victories and some defeats.

[MjL · Rating 4 out of 5]

This time around I think I fond Kai Allard-Liao's attitude much, much more bothersome than on earlier readthroughs. I have this idea that it gets toned down noticeably much as life goes on, but now... phew, what a whiner he came across as.

One funny thing I think I've wondered about was Stackpole's weird thing about each different Clanner Warrior phenotypes (and of different Houses, like Ranna Kerensky-Someone and Vlad Ward-Someoneelse) being supposedly in the same sibko. Or the Wolves are just so weird compared to the Falcons, for example.

Still, the storyline's exciting and dramatic, not only on massive points like the battle of Radstadt or such. And it's already clear why the Mech's fusion engine exploding is often called stackpoling :D

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've finally made it to one of the biggest events in BattleTech history, the Clan Invasion. I can sort of see why in the re-launch of BattleTech in 2020 they're really kicking things off with the Clan invasion rather than kicking it off with the Fourth Succession War as in the 80's. However, the new publications aren't going to be just a re-launch, they are still going to be extending things beyond 3150 to a new era of BattleTech. However, this initial invasion is hitting us around the year 3050.

The prior novel by Robert N. Charrette, Heir to the Dragon, left us off around the year 3040 and really focused on just what was happening in the Draconis Combine. However, to get an idea of what's going on in the rest of the Successor States then I highly recommend checking out Battletech: 20 Year Update and this gives you a quick run down of what's going on between 3030 and 3050. The "20 Year Update" is not usually brought up in the novelization sequence, but I think it really helped the set the stage for me going into Lethal Heritage. Much as the House Books help you understand more about the novels during the Fourth Succession War.

Anyway, Lethal Heritage kicks off setting the stage with the kids of a lot of the main characters found in the prior novels. This novel truly stars Phelan Kell, Victor Steiner-Davion, Hohiro Kurita and Kai Allard. Sure Morgan Kell, Justin Allard, Melissa Steiner and others certainly make an appearance in these novels, but the stories really focus on their and kids and what happens to them during this invasion.

The novel kind of runs through a hundred pages or so of character development, introducing the children, but starting around the time they graduate university. The real excitement really begins with a regiment of Kell Hounds and Victor Steiner-Davion being stationed on a world near the Periphery to fight off pirates and raiders. However, the real reason they're stationed there is to potentially meet a challenge from Theodore and Hohiro Kurita, so it starts with potential political intrigue, as one expects from BattleTech at this point. That challenge never comes because out of the Periphery a new enemy suddenly appears. More powerful and better equipped than literally any House of the States. These invaders quickly lay waste to any regiments on planet and in this process Phelan Kell is captured! Though everyone in the States believe he is dead.

This wound up being a really interesting way to approach the story. With Phelan being a major character we got to see some first hand knowledge about how the Clans operate and who they are. This was really interesting, because it tried to maintain that "gray area" of who is good/bad in some ways. So, while the rest of the States are trying to figure out who these invaders are and not ruling out aliens, we get to see they are just humans. Sure, this took away some of the mystery for us readers, but, I actually didn't mind that, because the characters we got to meet and the insight into the Wolf Clan was actually really awesome. I found myself skipping ahead to find out what happened to Phelan (I know, I'm not supposed to), that's how good his story arc was.

The other story arcs are great too, but Phelan's was probably my favorite. With such a massive invasion force and the States responding, I was actually impressed that Stackpole managed to keep everything together and it never felt overly chaotic in reading this novel. Typically with this many story lines running simultaneously you'd think it would make for a bad read by being all over the place, but Stackpole did an impressive job keeping it together while making all the arcs really great to read.

The Clans swiftly take huge portions of the Lyran Commonwealth, Rasalhague and the Draconis Combine, but eventually the States start to figure out how to fight these invaders that outmatch them. There are a couple defeats for the Clans which causes a bit of a pause. The infamous battle on Twycross shows up here and it was a pretty impressive battle with Victor and Kai being major players. At this point the Clans start to realize they may have underestimated the Successor States despite the clear technological advantage the Clans have.

I think the ComStar arc was supposed to be sort of shocking, but if you've experienced ComStar in the prior novels it's not surprise. Basically, they try to play both sides. Early on they wind up clearly striking a deal with the Clans to save their precious HPG network.

While there are a bunch of Clans invading, we mostly get to experience Clan Wolf. We see some parts of Jade Falcon, Ghost Bears, and Smoke Jaguars, but they're more of in reports of other people facing against them. Only the Wolf Clan gets major character development.

The ending of the book was really great and I don't want to give it away, but needless to say I am really looking forward to delving into the second book in this landmark BattleTech trilogy. I loved Stackpole's Warrior Trilogy and I think he's only gotten better at crafting these stories over time. While I think a lot of new fans might want to dive into BattleTech with the Clan Invasion, I still recommend reading all the earlier novels. They're actually all really great reads and I think they really help setup the character histories quite a bit.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad. Great descriptions of first contact with the Clans and their invasion of the Inner Sphere. There are perhaps too many characters, all of which are somewhat shallow. And like many Battletech books, the Inner Sphere nobility tend to descend into melodrama and bring the pacing to a screeching halt. Nevertheless, there's plenty of action and the book is at its best when presenting the clash of cultures from the Clans and the desperate heroic actions of the Inner Sphere warriors.

A solid book, for Battletech standards. For anyone unfamiliar with this universe, I would NOT start with this one. There is way too much information and context you need to know going into this.

[Vojtech · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brought back memories of playing Battletech universe tabletop and video games back in the days. I really wanted to like this book more, but unfortunately there are just too many factions and characters to really care about anyone. Then again, this book is probably just setting the scene for an epic series. I am not sure I have the time or will to follow along, but who knows - maybe at some point in the future. Definitely not as good as I remember Saga of the Grey Death legion to be - but hey, that's probably almost 20 years ago now :-)

[Mirage · Rating 4 out of 5]

El comienzo de la historia de los clanes es muy interesante y bien narrado. Buenos giros de trama consiguen mantener el interés por los personajes, aunque ciertos aspectos podrían haberse cuidado más, intentando abarcar menos personajes para un mejor manejo de las personalidades individuales y los hechos de mayor importancia. Sin embargo, tengo mucho interés por proseguir con la historia y ver cómo evoluciona. Altamente recomendable para aquellos que disfrutan del mundo battletech.

[Charly Dwyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Star Politics At Its Best

Well written story that introduces the major players for the time well. The politics are well played out and you start to get a feel for the different societies.

I especially like the way Stackpole writes and describes 'Mech combat. I'm not a particular fan of big, stompy, bots but I got a good feel for what the combat and piloting them must be like.

[Jordan Steinhoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

A friend and I have been tinkering with Battletech again and so i felt like reading this again.

Read it once as a kid and, while it does not quite stand up as an adult, it's still basically a good adventure romp.

Some stilted dialog but overall some enjoyable characters and fun and exciting robot on robot action.

[Jim Nowlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still a great read

I first read this book over 25 years ago. Thus began my love of battle tech.
Character development is great and the ritualistic scenes of the various units and soon to be clans make for great reading.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where it all began and where Battletech was at the height of it's popularity. If you're into Btech, you owe yourself to read this trilogy.

It's probably the reason most of us even got into the Btech books.

[Kevin K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better then a lot of the Battletech fiction I've read so far this summer. You really get the sense the the Inner Sphere Great houses are scrambling and have no idea what is going on. I can see why this particular series is as acclaimed as it is.

[H. Alvarez · Rating 3 out of 5]

El autor es un escritor de encargo y posiblemente el mejor de la saga. Siempre le añade un giro de misterio final y sus personajes son lo suficientemente profundos, quizás no super originales. Al menos, después de terminar la trilogía.

[Doc Kinne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good introduction. Good in nearly all aspects. Not fantastic, but good. I think Battletech has a large learning curve, but this gives you a good introduction to it while at the same time letting you see a great era of late-ish history.

[Andrés Pérez Camarasa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The start of the invasion of the clans is also the beginning of the part of the Battletech mythos I like the least.
A nice read nevertheless, but the version I read felt abridged.
Stackpole is still the best one writing about Battletech.

[Trevor · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Clans broke the tabletop game, but make for great storylines/even a in the Battletwch universe.