BattleTech: A Question of Survival

BattleTech Universe #113

by Bryan Young

A FUTURE FOR THE TAKING…

As the last Bloodnamed Warrior left in the former Jade Falcon Occupation Zone, newly-elected Khan Jiyi Chistu has ’Mechs, but no MechWarriors—making it impossible to rebuild his Clan after the disaster on Terra. Meanwhile, despite being riven by the Dominion-wide vote on whether to join the new Star League or not, Star Colonel Emilio Hall’s Ghost Bears have a planet full of talented sibkos ready to graduate.

When word of these sibkos reaches Khan Chistu, he hatches a bold plan to take them, eager to rebuild the Jade Falcons. But with Star Colonel Emilio caught up in the politics of the Ghost Bear vote, will he even see Jiyi coming? Or will he lose the sibkos that represent the very future of his Clan?

For both men and the Clans they hold dear, these dilemmas become nothing less than a question of survival…

Genres: Science Fiction

349 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 22, 2022

About the author

Bryan Young (he/they) works across many different media. His work as a writer and producer has been called "filmmaking gold" by The New York Times. He's also published comic books with Slave Labor Graphics and Image Comics. He's been a regular contributor for the Huffington Post, StarWars.com, Star Wars Insider magazine, SYFY, /Film, and was the founder and editor in chief of the geek news and review site Big Shiny Robot! In 2014, he wrote the critically acclaimed history book, A Children’s Illustrated History of Presidential Assassination. He co-authored Robotech: The Macross Saga RPG and has written five books in the BattleTech Universe: Honor's Gauntlet, A Question of Survival, Fox Tales, Without Question, and the forthcoming VoidBreaker. His latest non-fiction tie-in book, The Big Bang Theory Book of Lists is a #1 Bestseller on Amazon. His work has won two Diamond Quill awards and in 2023 he was named Writer of the Year by the League of Utah Writers. He teaches writing for Writer’s Digest, Script Magazine, and at the University of Utah. Follow him across social media @swankmotron or visit swankmotron.com.

Support Bryan on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/swankmotron

Reviews

[Enby Kaiju · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where to start with A Question Of Survival? This really is a special novel in the grand scheme of the Battletech universe.

Focusing masterfully both on the wider picture of ilClan era, where so much of the universe has suddenly changed (for the better or worse, who knows), Young has also brought the story down to far more human levels.

While the focus is of course heavily on the militaristic aspects of society, as befits a Battletech novel, it's far more than that. This is a novel about family, betrayal, and overwhelming ambition. It dragging yourself up by your claws until you find a place where you belong.

This is the sort of novel that makes me want to keep reading, I need to know more about these characters, I couldn't put the book down once I started and very few novels get that response from me, haha.

This is Battletech, it's big, it's brutal, but more importantly it's about the mechwarriors, about those who would one day be mechwarriors. It's about railing against jingoism, about finding a future that's not repeating a failed past. From the point of view of those for whom the system has failed them. From the tattered remains of the Jade Falcons, to the up and coming mechwarriors taking their final trials, to those for whom honour is more important than the lives around them, A Question of Survival is lore writing at its best.

If this is the direction Battletech writing is going, sign me up for the longest journey you've got. Because I don't think we've ever had a writer as passionate & progressive writing the lore, and that's something we need to encourage.

[Jacob Wall · Rating 4 out of 5]

With a A Question of Survival, Young has given us a great entry in the current line of BattleTech novellas, mixing politics with plenty of big stompy robot action as we see characters from Clan Ghost Bear and Clan Jade Falcon face uncertain futures. Both groups are struggling to understand what it means to be Clan after the events of Hour of the Wolf: the Jade Falcons under Jiyi Chistu taking radical (for the hidebound Falcons) approaches to ensure they survive just a bit longer and the Ghost Bears struggling to maintain something incredibly rare in the BattleTech Universe: a civil democracy. As both groups seek to navigate these futures their paths cross in a vicious combat trial on a Ghost Bear border world.

We're given strong characters: Jiyi Chistu continues to redeem the Falcons tainted by Malvina Hazen, in Star Colonel Emilio Hall we get a Clanner with a bit more nuance than the fiction typically provides, and Star Commander Dawn makes an impact showing both warrior's determination and surprising humanity.

If I had one complaint, it's that the the political commentary vis a vis real world happenings at the time of publication is a bit on the nose. When the Ghost Bears talk about their vote to join Alaric's Star League I sometimes felt like I was reading news items ripped from the headlines. And that's not a bad thing at all, but it was definitely a bit unexpected in what is usually the most escapist of escapist fiction. Young joins writers like Ilsa J Bick in bringing a bit more gravitas to the fiction.

[Daniel Yocom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Battletech: A Question of Survival is a fun science fiction novel.

There is much more to the story than just battle tactics. I enjoyed the character development and comparisons and how even in contrasting there are similarities. Even characters only introduced for a minimal role have enough information to give them some depth and make the role they play meaningful.

I do want to give a fair warning that events in A Question of Survival reflect societal events we have. I believe that is something good science fiction does. Young uses the events as a backdrop to his story. Multiple sides are presented through his characters, and I didn’t feel like the story was overbearing in the examination of the conflict.

I recommend Battletech: A Question of Survival to readers who enjoy science fiction that uses a militaristic future to ground the story to examine the society. And, of course, existing fans of Battletech.
You can read the full review at http://guildmastergaming.blogspot.com...

[Benjamin Handelman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in preparation for his latest novel, Without Question and very much enjoyed it. This book was easy to get into as we follow Jade Falcon khan Jiyi Chistu. The 'Mech combat was well done, and most of the characters were enjoyable. Jiyi Chistu is easily my favorite BattleTech character of all time now, the lengths he goes to to keep his clan alive are interesting and unique yet feel plausibly explained in the context of the world they are in. The only thing I really wasn't a fan of is the "antagonist" (and I use that term loosely as they are another POV character) Star Colonel Emilio Hall, and though it is more the fault of previous Catalyst Game Labs choices the overall metaplot of the Ghost Bear clan does seem strange and a bit out of character for how they have been written for the last decade or two. Beyond those points, this novel was so well done and so fun to read I still rate it highly for BattleTech fans and think it is a great place to start to get back into the series if you have been away for a while.

[Troy Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Book

This is another good Battletech book. I really enjoy reading these books. Battletech was such a great board game. It came out long before the computer gaming era. This book had quite a bit of political intrigue. There were several surprises that I didn't see coming. But the outcome was positive and hopeful. The characters were well written and developed. I would recommend this book to all Battletech readers. If you're new to Battletech and you enjoyed good science fiction I would recommend you to try it. The science behind Battletech is mostly hard science. The technology behind making battlemechs is believable because it uses weapons that most people are familiar with and many that are in use today. Overall I really enjoyed this book.

[Andrew Bowen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had a lot of fun with this book.

Loved the underdog and redemption plots. Searching for family and sense of belonging was a great contrast giant stompy robots.

Seeing the opposing views & justification of Ghost Bears was enjoyable too.

Some of the ideology (even though I agree with it) came off a little too strong but it's still better than earlier books. Maybe I'm too aware of it given today's culture wars.

For the sequels, I hope the author isn't put off by any anti-wokers, just because not everyone is a straight white male. And that the author doesn't Mary Sue any of the characters

[J Murdock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Getting soft....

It's another sad tale of the weakening of the storyline. Borders on woke, which is a disease killing society from within its youth. Though the story itself was good, the outcome of clan clown is not inspiring.

[Walter Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

Great story of the rebirth and rebuilding of Clan Jade Falcon and the implosion of the Ghost Bear Dominion, I look forward to more adventures with these interesting characters.

[Haakmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its really good. I was already starting to like the IlClan era, but books like this I am getting more and more interested in the characters that live here.

Excited to see what sort of trouble Jiyi can get up to in the future!

[Tim Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really excellent Battletech fiction - plenty of story, character, and Mech combat.

[Federico Bergstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't stand Clanners

[Kavinay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine a mashup of Clan Riker vs Shelby and Harry Potter

[Kenny Hibberds · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall found it compelling.

The book needs a lot of editing, there were quite a few grammatical errors left in the book.

[Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Battletech - A Question of Survival by Bryan Young.

Clan Wolf has taken Terra, and Clan Jade Falcon was decimated during the operation. It is left to the newly elected Khan Jiyi Chistu the last surviving bloodnamed warrior of the clan to pick up the pieces. Meanwhile Clan Ghost Bear is holding a massive training exercise of cadets under Star Colonel Emilio Hall close to Jade Falcon territory and Chistu sees an opportunity to save his clan.

I enjoy reading the Battletech books and jump into them now and again when I need a bit of a palate cleanser, and I was very glad I picked this one up. The book was fast-paced and the plot kept me thoroughly engaged and I really enjoyed learning more about this era of the Battletech Universe. Getting to see more of the Rasalhague Dominion and the intertwining of Clan Ghost Bear.

The characters were well done for both the Jade Falcons and Ghost Bears. Emilio Hall was a standout for me as I really enjoyed how he straddled both the Clans ways and those of the Inner Sphere area the Ghost Bears conquered and merged into, and his second in command was a perfect foil to him. Jiyi Chistu was also interesting as he tackles the challenge of keeping his Clan from being destroyed. One the Ghost Bear cadets the main character we follow is Alexis Zarnofsky a freeborn cadet who as a freeborn struggled with her place in the Ghost Bears.

I enjoyed the worldbuilding in this book, especially with the backdrop of the taking of Terra by Clan Wolf and how the Rasalhague Dominion is dealing with that fact. The situation that Clan Jade Falcon finds itself in and the various internal factions as some vie for control and the future of the clan.

Overall, I would recommend to any fans of Battletech and the Ilkhan era.

[Josh Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it! (When rated only against other Battletech books, I give it a 4. It's better than many.)

I was intrigued but also had some difficulty with the initially disconnected storylines of the Jade Falcons and the Ghost Bear sibco. I'm not sure what I'd do differently, but it was hard for me to care about both. I was much more invested in the sibco story up until the final 1/3 of the book where their stories merged. At that point, the payoff was excellent and I was surprised and excited to see how things would play out. It was just a little tough getting there.

Spoilers from here on:

I was a bit disappointed with the Den Mother. She was given a small hint of three-dimensionality when Alexia confronts her over why she allowed the sibco to be wagered without protest, but I was left wanting more glimpses at the human behind the "villain" mask (like we get with Paul Moon, a character with a lot of parallels to the Den Mother). Perhaps in a future book...

The Deniers vs. Joiners dynamic was interesting with both sides being allowed to make good points.

My only stylistic nitpick is I prefer less telling/explaining and more showing. The Silver and Bronze Age Marvel comics had the philosophy of "write every comic as though it were somebody's first comic." So there's a lot of repeated explanation throughout. Battletech books often fall into the trope as well. I prefer it when they don't. There are plenty of great sci-fi books that throw the reader in and expect them to swim. I REALLY felt this in chapter 7 when I was reading about Clan "coupling" philosophy for what felt like the 20th time :D

Again, I thought the "twist" with the Jade Falcons challenging for possession of the sibko was great! I was hooked and read the last 1/3 of the book in one go. I couldn't put it down! Bryan Young has, for the first time since Legend of the Jade Phoenix, gotten me to root for the Falcons!