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BattleTech Universe #112
BattleTech: Redemption Rites
OUT FOR BLOOD…
Wolf's Dragoons, the most storied and elite mercenary unit in the Inner Sphere, has been utterly shattered for the first time in its centuries-long history.
In 3151, most of the Dragoons listened to Marotta Kerensky and followed Alaric Ward to Terra. There, they helped him destroy the Republic of the Sphere and establish the ilClan. Four out of five Dragoons died in the fighting. The survivors were injured, shell-shocked, and finally, gravely insulted by Alaric Ward’s token payment of thirty pieces of silver.
In one brutal gesture, the ilKhan did what no other enemy had ever He broke Wolf’s Dragoons. The decimated survivors limped off Terra to rendezvous with their remnants that had stayed behind.
Colonel Henry “Hack” Kincaid, senior striker officer, is waiting when the Dragoons convoy appears, full of wrecked machines, but depleted of personnel. Kincaid is a man of reputation in the Dragoons. His word carries weight. And he hasn’t been tarnished by Terra.
Three regiments and one of his irreplaceable striker battalions have all been ground to dust.
All that is left now is duty.
And vengeance…
Wolf's Dragoons, the most storied and elite mercenary unit in the Inner Sphere, has been utterly shattered for the first time in its centuries-long history.
In 3151, most of the Dragoons listened to Marotta Kerensky and followed Alaric Ward to Terra. There, they helped him destroy the Republic of the Sphere and establish the ilClan. Four out of five Dragoons died in the fighting. The survivors were injured, shell-shocked, and finally, gravely insulted by Alaric Ward’s token payment of thirty pieces of silver.
In one brutal gesture, the ilKhan did what no other enemy had ever He broke Wolf’s Dragoons. The decimated survivors limped off Terra to rendezvous with their remnants that had stayed behind.
Colonel Henry “Hack” Kincaid, senior striker officer, is waiting when the Dragoons convoy appears, full of wrecked machines, but depleted of personnel. Kincaid is a man of reputation in the Dragoons. His word carries weight. And he hasn’t been tarnished by Terra.
Three regiments and one of his irreplaceable striker battalions have all been ground to dust.
All that is left now is duty.
And vengeance…
- GenresScience FictionFiction
364 pages, Paperback
Published May 22, 2022
53 people are currently reading
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 11, 2022
Wolf's Dragoons are one of the most fearsome mercenary outfits in the BattleTech universe, they've been ground down almost to nothing twice before and clawed their way back both times... And now they need to do it again. All the Dragoons bar two of the Striker battalions followed Alaric Ward to Terra, where they became the brunt of the brutal fighting against Clan Jade Falcon after the Republic was crushed, suffering 80% fatalities and half the survivors are too traumatised to fight.
So what does Colonel Henry Kinkaid, commander of the Strikers do? He court-martials the surviving commanding officers, takes the Dragoons to the Free Worlds League, negotiates control over a strategically placed recharge station from Nikol Marik, and declares vendetta on the Wolf Empire. Meanwhile in the Empire, Star Colonel Othar, the most senior warrior left behind realises that Alaric isn't coming back any time soon and needs to take drastic action in order to protect the Empire from the Free Worlds and the Lyrans once they realise the vast majority of the Wolf touman isn't home nay more.
The book is written primarily from two character perspectives - Haya Tetsuhara, great-granddaughter of Minobu Tetsuhara from Wolves on the Border, and Othar. Haya is a company commander in the Strikers when the story begins but is soon promoted and put in command of a new unit and given a series of dangerous missions to achieve, while Othar works desperately to build a new military to defend the empire. And even as Haya and the Dragoons are the book's protagonists and are entertaining to follow, the Wolves are downright intriguing. Catalyst has been doing a lot to try and flesh out and more humanise the Clans of late - novels like Icons of War show civilian life in the Clan Sphere (though that trail was blazed to some degree by Victor Milán's A Rending of Falcons), Much of Tamar Rising was spent showing how and why elements of Clan life outside of the Warrior Caste worked, and now in this book we see more if the interactions between the last dregs of the Wolf Clan Warriors and the civilian and paramilitary castes, as well as more humanisation of the Clanners in general. They feel more human here, not just walking deathmonsters. There's also some very interesting setup around how the Wolves have been treating the worlds of their empire, which were Free Worlds or Lyran only a decade before.
The book is also very much a love letter to Wolf's Dragoons, full of callbacks to older material and integrating the old 80s sourcebook with newer ideas like the Honornames from Wolf Pack - so here plenty of characters have surnames that are references back to figures from the sourcebook, a mix of descendants and people who earned the right to use an Honourname. It's a very nice touch, as is Kinkaid giving the various commanders of Zeta Battalion as examples of leaders to Haya at one point.
Overall this is a highly enjoyable read inside the context of BattleTech fiction. Schmetzer does a very good job of evoking the universe, with exciting action that has a great sense of verisimiltude, and shies away from heroes and villains in favour of portraying both sides of a conflict as having professional soldiers looking to defeat their foes. It makes for an enthralling story - if you're into military SF and have enough context to understand book 120 or so of an ongoing series
So what does Colonel Henry Kinkaid, commander of the Strikers do? He court-martials the surviving commanding officers, takes the Dragoons to the Free Worlds League, negotiates control over a strategically placed recharge station from Nikol Marik, and declares vendetta on the Wolf Empire. Meanwhile in the Empire, Star Colonel Othar, the most senior warrior left behind realises that Alaric isn't coming back any time soon and needs to take drastic action in order to protect the Empire from the Free Worlds and the Lyrans once they realise the vast majority of the Wolf touman isn't home nay more.
The book is written primarily from two character perspectives - Haya Tetsuhara, great-granddaughter of Minobu Tetsuhara from Wolves on the Border, and Othar. Haya is a company commander in the Strikers when the story begins but is soon promoted and put in command of a new unit and given a series of dangerous missions to achieve, while Othar works desperately to build a new military to defend the empire. And even as Haya and the Dragoons are the book's protagonists and are entertaining to follow, the Wolves are downright intriguing. Catalyst has been doing a lot to try and flesh out and more humanise the Clans of late - novels like Icons of War show civilian life in the Clan Sphere (though that trail was blazed to some degree by Victor Milán's A Rending of Falcons), Much of Tamar Rising was spent showing how and why elements of Clan life outside of the Warrior Caste worked, and now in this book we see more if the interactions between the last dregs of the Wolf Clan Warriors and the civilian and paramilitary castes, as well as more humanisation of the Clanners in general. They feel more human here, not just walking deathmonsters. There's also some very interesting setup around how the Wolves have been treating the worlds of their empire, which were Free Worlds or Lyran only a decade before.
The book is also very much a love letter to Wolf's Dragoons, full of callbacks to older material and integrating the old 80s sourcebook with newer ideas like the Honornames from Wolf Pack - so here plenty of characters have surnames that are references back to figures from the sourcebook, a mix of descendants and people who earned the right to use an Honourname. It's a very nice touch, as is Kinkaid giving the various commanders of Zeta Battalion as examples of leaders to Haya at one point.
Overall this is a highly enjoyable read inside the context of BattleTech fiction. Schmetzer does a very good job of evoking the universe, with exciting action that has a great sense of verisimiltude, and shies away from heroes and villains in favour of portraying both sides of a conflict as having professional soldiers looking to defeat their foes. It makes for an enthralling story - if you're into military SF and have enough context to understand book 120 or so of an ongoing series
April 3, 2024
I read this after a BattleTech anthology edited by Schmetzer, which featured four short stories by him, all my favorites by the end, without even realizing they were all his. Suffice it to say Redemption Rites didn't disappoint. It offers some of the most consistent battle action I've read in a BT novel, both 'Mech-based and infantry, among battlesuits/Elementals and tank warfare. The writing itself is visceral and effective without being over-descriptive or lacking.
Pacing is on point. Action is abundant but also diverse, providing insights into different combat experiences and phases of a large-scale battle. Occasional snippets of background info (as well as an illustrated roster of BattleMechs at the end of the book, which I wish I knew about before I'd reached the third act) help new or novice fans/readers sink better into the rich worldbuilding.
I'd argue one of, if not the, best/favorite BT novels I've read to date.
Pacing is on point. Action is abundant but also diverse, providing insights into different combat experiences and phases of a large-scale battle. Occasional snippets of background info (as well as an illustrated roster of BattleMechs at the end of the book, which I wish I knew about before I'd reached the third act) help new or novice fans/readers sink better into the rich worldbuilding.
I'd argue one of, if not the, best/favorite BT novels I've read to date.
January 31, 2023
Alright, easily one of the best of the current era BT novels. In terms of the continuity of Wolf's Dragoons focused books, I'd rank it above Wolfpack and just below Wolves on the Border. Seeing the Inner Sphere grapple with the consequences of the ilClan is well handled here. I also really liked Star Colonel Othar and his valiant efforts to keep the Wolf Empire together in the face of so many enemies and the inscrutable nonsense of Alaric Ward. This is not ground breaking literature by any stretch of the imagination, but it is first class big stompy robots smashing up planets story telling.
May 8, 2022
Great read
Another great read. Glad to see Zeta back in action. Seems the Dragoons got plenty of payback. Cannot wait to see what happens next.
Another great read. Glad to see Zeta back in action. Seems the Dragoons got plenty of payback. Cannot wait to see what happens next.
July 19, 2022
A really enjoyable read. Nice to see the Dragoons back in K.A.T.N. mode - as the Cabelleros might say!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews