Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Barcelona : Timun Mas, DL 1990
Description
'MECHS AT THE READY...Betrayed by his own House and stripped of his rank, exiled Mechwarrior Justin Allard is given one last chance to save his honor-by risking his life in the gladiatorial arenas of Solaris VII. But his newest Game World opponent-more skilled at 'Mech-to-'Mech combat than any other rival-raises the stakes even higher. It's Justin's half-brother, Daniel, lance commander in the dreaded Kell Hounds mercenary battalion.Both Daniel and Justin face fierce battles, but in the Inner Sphere, where nobles have schemed for centuries to win the ultimate power, those who interfere with the Successor Lords are sometimes called heroes.And sometimes called victims...
User reviews
LibraryThing member Kavinay
An interesting way to set the table for the 4th succession war.
Like a lot of Battletech fiction though, the handling of culture and race in the 80s hasn't aged well. It's a thousand years in the future and race relations in the Inner Sphere are so silly that you're left practically welcoming the
Still the plotting is interesting enough and Stackpole is at worst a bit corny and at best a great weaver of wide-ranging cast.
Like a lot of Battletech fiction though, the handling of culture and race in the 80s hasn't aged well. It's a thousand years in the future and race relations in the Inner Sphere are so silly that you're left practically welcoming the
Show More
eventual clan invasion to wipe the slate clean of racially segregated interstellar empires. Argh.Still the plotting is interesting enough and Stackpole is at worst a bit corny and at best a great weaver of wide-ranging cast.
Show Less
LibraryThing member JasonMehmel
I'd never read this book as young Battletech fan, but it had such a point of prominence in the fictional history of the universe that I'd built up a lot of expectations.
I was looking for something easy to read and it delivered on that, with a continually moving plot and battle scenes aplenty. The
This sounds like I'm damning with faint praise, and that might be true, but I also think that this book in some respects leans on the fictional universe it's drawing on for it's dramatic impact. If I were deeply immersed in that universe all the time, I might get more of a frisson of excitement as various prominent characters are revealed. Also, it's references to the drama of previous books both drains some of the drama in this book but does give it a more expansive feel, which is exactly what a fictional universe based on a wargame and roleplaying game needs. So I think this book delivers to that demographic well, but bereft from that context, it loses some of it's impact.
Some of the dialogue and internal monologues suffer from being either expository or extremely on-the-nose, but again, this book and it's universe isn't about exploring the subtleties of human interaction. It's about important events in a galactic scale.
So I do understand why these are missing, or at least not prioritized, but after reading authors like Guy Kay or Ursula K Leguin, I did find myself missing that extra level of detail.
I was looking for something easy to read and it delivered on that, with a continually moving plot and battle scenes aplenty. The
Show More
writing does the job of explaining everything very clearly, and that can't be ignored; I've definitely read worse action!This sounds like I'm damning with faint praise, and that might be true, but I also think that this book in some respects leans on the fictional universe it's drawing on for it's dramatic impact. If I were deeply immersed in that universe all the time, I might get more of a frisson of excitement as various prominent characters are revealed. Also, it's references to the drama of previous books both drains some of the drama in this book but does give it a more expansive feel, which is exactly what a fictional universe based on a wargame and roleplaying game needs. So I think this book delivers to that demographic well, but bereft from that context, it loses some of it's impact.
Some of the dialogue and internal monologues suffer from being either expository or extremely on-the-nose, but again, this book and it's universe isn't about exploring the subtleties of human interaction. It's about important events in a galactic scale.
So I do understand why these are missing, or at least not prioritized, but after reading authors like Guy Kay or Ursula K Leguin, I did find myself missing that extra level of detail.
Show Less
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1988-06
ISBN
9788477224990
Other editions
El Sol y la espada by Michael A. Stackpole (Paper Book)