Dark Age Novel help

[Banzai]

Okay, at a garage sale this weekend I picked up what seems to be most of the Dark Age novels for $1.50.  So which are worth reading?

I have read Ghost War and A Call to Arms, which were both pretty good.  And The Proving Ground trilogy, which almost put me off reading anything ever again.   I am currently reading Flight of the Falcons,  because even though I am not a fan of the Clans, and of the Turkeys most of all, but hey, Victor Milán.  I am a fan.

So what is worth reading?

[worktroll]

If you're a Diamond Shark/Sea Fox fan, start from 12 Hunters of the Deep. Otherwise start at 13 The Scorpion Jar.

Be careful with Ilsa Bicks' books - they're a little ... adult, in terms of violence and unsexy sex, and "adult themse". I found that this damaged my BT reading experience, but YMMV.

By the time you get to "Sword of Sedition", you'll agree it's pretty much the BT book style back, for good.

W.

[Wrangler]

If i may recommend another fine books pre-Scorpion Jar era.   

I'd recommend Fortress of Lies and By Temptation and By War.  Both are good warm up novels written like Battletech novels.  Especially Fortress of Lies.

[Captain of C-21]

You can skip Ruins of Power, The Proving Grounds Trilogy,, #9, The Ilsa Bicks Kurita books.  Everything else is decent, however.  When you get into the teens like Sword of Sedition though is when the series really kicks off.

[YingJanshi]

Hm...personally I actually really liked Blood Avatar. The mystery story was very engrossing. In a way it didn't feel very BattleTechy, but then I think that's a good thing. I think the universe is big enough to support any story type. I haven't read any of her others yet though. Want to. But going to read them in order.

And that's not the first time there's been a very adult book. Dagger Point was a very adult themed book to me when I read it years ago.

[pensiveswetness]

If you're a Diamond Shark/Sea Fox fan, start from 12 Hunters of the Deep. Otherwise start at 13 The Scorpion Jar.

Be careful with Ilsa Bicks' books - they're a little ... adult, in terms of violence and unsexy sex, and "adult themse". I found that this damaged my BT reading experience, but YMMV.

By the time you get to "Sword of Sedition", you'll agree it's pretty much the BT book style back, for good.

W.

wasn't she writing some of the drow books at the time for D&D before 4E (and the Spell Plague). She might have had naughty-minded deities on the brain at the time she was hammering out her DA book requirements... i know those were violent and sexist at the very least. Anybody ever find that caster's thumb?  >:D

[roosterboy]

wasn't she writing some of the drow books at the time for D&D before 4E (and the Spell Plague).

No. Ilsa came by her darkness from being a forensic psychologist before she became a novelist.

[YingJanshi]

No. Ilsa came by her darkness from being a forensic psychologist before she became a novelist.

Hm, yes, that would do it. *Shudders*...

Though to be honest I didn't find Blood Avatar to be particularly dark. Was that something more of her later books?

[roosterboy]

Though to be honest I didn't find Blood Avatar to be particularly dark. Was that something more of her later books?

Blood Avatar wasn't, no. But her Kurita books were. Like the twisted Bounty Hunter who had a psycho-sexual obsession with his half-sister Katana Tormark and a penchant for murdering prostitutes.

[Banzai]

I ground through most of them.  Really enjoyed some, like Blood Avatar, though I really disliked Ilsa Bicks' Kurita books. Not that they were too adult, (though I felt like I was reading Michael Slade once and again,) I just didn't enjoy the characters. The psycho version of the BH was way too super powered for me (as in the later books version of the Dancing Joker super powered: able to be anywhere, fool everyone, kill anyone with out any problems, then get away like a ghost.)  And I hate the Bounty Hunter in general.  Katana Tormark was annoying at best, and I thought the books had Kurita give up any holdout in the idea of honor as a Great House and military.  But there were still moments I loved, and I would have liked to see her finish the stories in third book.

Scorpion Jar was great, as were the followups. 

I actually enjoyed a couple of the Clan books, especially Trial By Chaos and Milan's books.  Even more surprising, I really enjoyed the Free Worlds League books.  Having the story roll out over several novels was great, and the focus on building a Great House versus beating everyone into submission and taking over was enjoyable and novel. 

There were some I disliked, and a few I didn't finish.  (Danai Liao-Centrella in Principles of Desolation drove me to toss the book.  And that was after I read about her fighting a Hellstar that apparently felt that hitting someone with the ERPPCs made more sense than firing them.)  And there was no way I was reading the Proving Grounds Trilogy again.   But on the whole, it wasn't a complete waste of time.

Especially for a buck-and-a-half.

[False Son]

Katana Tormark was annoying at best, and I thought the books had Kurita give up any holdout in the idea of honor as a Great House and military.  But there were still moments I loved, and I would have liked to see her finish the stories in third book.

Interesting.  I came away from those books thinking that the Combine was wrestling with the concept of multiple definitions of what is honorable. 

I actually enjoyed a couple of the Clan books, especially Trial By Chaos and Milan's books.  Even more surprising, I really enjoyed the Free Worlds League books.  Having the story roll out over several novels was great, and the focus on building a Great House versus beating everyone into submission and taking over was enjoyable and novel. 

The LC-FWL arc was a fairly brave one.  There's a great deal of doom and gloom in those novels that I really took too.  And Anson Marik is such an excellent character (other than the silly cursing).  His rant about Inner SPhere politics cuts right to the core of BT.

There were some I disliked, and a few I didn't finish.  (Danai Liao-Centrella in Principles of Desolation drove me to toss the book.  And that was after I read about her fighting a Hellstar that apparently felt that hitting someone with the ERPPCs made more sense than firing them.)  And there was no way I was reading the Proving Grounds Trilogy again.   But on the whole, it wasn't a complete waste of time.

Especially for a buck-and-a-half.

Yes, at that price, buy them all.  Normally I would agree that people should avoid books like the Proving Grounds Trilogy as to not give them a bad impression of the Dark Age.  But, if you are looking to make informed posts about the Dark Age it's a good idea to suffer through them.  Having the facts is especially important for an era that is so misunderstood.

[Captain of C-21]

The worst thing about the Proving Grounds Trilogy and Kurita Duology is that there are great stories there, full of potential, but they get marred with bad characterization and writers who aren't experienced wit what makes a good Battletech pulp novel.

Just look at what you've got to work with.
Proving Grounds Trilogy
- The Republic in the form of Knights and Paladins trying to root out which of the splinter factions can be trusted and which can't.
- The Highlanders, trying to fight for the Republic but with not enough soldiers and too many brushfires.
- The Steel Wolves, Clansmen closer than any other warrior ever has been Terra, being fought over by two very skilled and ruthless warriors (Radick and Kerensky)
- The Wildcard, Jacob Bannson, trying to build his own powerbase in all the chaos.  Playing every side for himself.


Kurita Duology
- Dragon's Fury faction trying to inspire rebellion across Republic worlds.
- Warlord Politics with a failing Kurita Dynasty.  One  warlord even begins an invasion of the Republic.

It's all there, but it's put together all wrong.

[False Son]

I prefer the Dragon series.  My biggest complaint, however, is that Daughter of the Dragon is basically... not important.

[Cubby]

Bit of thread resurrection, but:

Like the OP, I'm working my way through the run of DA novels. I'd read parts of several novels but couldn't really get into them as they first came out (though I did and still do like the DA setting quite a bit).

Quick thoughts:

Ghost War was fine, dragged a little at the end, but no major complaints.

Skipped Call to Arms and Ruins of Power, based on recommendations here.

I didn't hate the Proving Grounds trilogy the way some do, but I definitely agree that it won't need a second read. As someone up thread said, all the pieces were there, but the authors (under their combined pseudonym) at points seemed more interested in the nuance of basic infantry training and protocol than in advancing the overall BT storyline as the first "tent pole" books. Nothing truly offensive (other than the 'Mech handstand) but nothing worth reading twice.

By Temptations and By War and Fortress of Lies were solid. The latter suffers from the Aaron Sandoval chapters dragging ("did you know he's rich and can buy stuff, and that the DropShip captain is a curmudgeon? No? Let me tell you again! And again...and again...")

I'm currently five pages into Patriot's Stand and probably won't go any farther. The misspelling of "Hanson's" Roughriders tells me all I need to know about its importance.

Looking forward to the Falcon book. Is Blood of the Isle worth a read?

[Wrangler]

Why in the world would you skip Call to Arms??  It was a great book unless you have something against Loren Coleman.  Its a book solid for a Dark Age novel.

[False Son]

Yeah, it gets a bad rep.  It may not be the strongest book in the series (I personally think that goes to The Last Charge thanks to Anson's fourth wall breaking rant) but it is solid.

[Cubby]

As I think back, I'm not exactly sure why I passed it over. I think I thought it was among the weaker early books, or thought I'd seen a post on the forums to that effect. I might go back eventually if that's not the case.

[False Son]

Well, there's nothing new in Call to Arms's philosophical discussion of Citizenship that wasn't covered in earlier works with earned citizenship.  A conversation between a Soldier-Citizen and a pacifist Resident gives Raul the moral high ground when the Steel Wolves are attacking and Swordsworn stabbing the Republic in the back.  In that i was disappointed.  There really isn't a middleground when someone is attacking your home.  It invites accusations of cowardice.  It also shirked the chance to explore the former Terran Hegemony's "Sheeple" complex.

Details, details.  Raul Ortega was a nice character.  A shame that world was taken by the Cappies after the fact.  I wonder is the twist at the end is still in place.

[jackpot4]

I highly recommend Surrender Your Dreams.  It is a couple stories where the events are shuffled around a slight bit.  It talks about the fidelis and their work with the Republic (along with their very intense "rituals" if you will during battle), It talks about Damien Redburn and his activity beyond the fortress, it covers the stories of multiple knights and ghost knights, and insane operations they take part in to try to preserve the Republic.

Very intense book that had me riled up the whole way through.  My favorite so far in the Dark Age series.

[Knightmare]

Just ignore the Epilogue. Chock it up to a hallucinogenic dream sequence.

[Lorcan Nagle]

I'm currently five pages into Patriot's Stand and probably won't go any farther. The misspelling of "Hanson's" Roughriders tells me all I need to know about its importance.

It's far from the best novel in the series, but I didn't hate it like many others on here do.

Looking forward to the Falcon book. Is Blood of the Isle worth a read?

Definitely, it's a direct sequel to Flight of the Falcon and works quite well, while shifting the point of view around somewhat.

[Orwell84]

I asked this question myself about a month ago; now I am reading through the ebooks and am realising that listening to negative 'Dark Age is BAD' hype years ago was a mistake.

Post #9 here -  http://bg.battletech.com/forums/general-discussion/mechwarrior-dark-age-novels/ - contains a good summary of the novels' contents, and so far every one of Lorcan Nagle's descriptions has been accurate. My own request was for Clan-focused novels, but he also notes which faction is featured in any given book so this might be of some help to you (or anyone else)

So far I have finished Flight of the Falcon, Blood of the Isle, A Rending of Falcons, Hunters of the Deep and The Scorpion Jar (in that order). Currently I am flipping between Targets of Opportunity and Sword of Sedition.

It depends on what factions you favour, but unless you hate the Jade Falcons I would definitely recommend the two Falcon novels by Victor Milan; some of the best and most interesting character writing in BattleTech, and a subtle dig(?) at the "99% of characters are white or Asian" trope that I find mildly irritating (to be fair, just about every sci-fi setting seems to suffer from this).

Hunters of the Deep was interesting; it is the only novel I know of that focuses on the Sea Foxes. Among other things, we see how a Scientist Caste Trial of Grievance is handled.

The Scorpion Jar I found a little slow, but the death of a Battletech giant is handled well and the payoff was worth it.

I am saving the final four novels for last, as I have heard that they are amongst the best in Dark Age writing - now I am looking forward to reading Anton's rant about Inner Sphere politics :)

[Wrangler]

A Call to Arms is a Clan book as well, half of it is deals with Steel Wolves invading Archenar.  The Clans are handled well, you get see Anastasia Kerensky not crazy, just sassy.  Her personality in the trilogy was written as if the they weren't told what the character was suppose to be like.  I think that's when things got wacky for her.

[Lorcan Nagle]

Post #9 here -  http://bg.battletech.com/forums/general-discussion/mechwarrior-dark-age-novels/ - contains a good summary of the novels' contents, and so far every one of Lorcan Nagle's descriptions has been accurate. My own request was for Clan-focused novels, but he also notes which faction is featured in any given book so this might be of some help to you (or anyone else)

I'm helping!

[Cubby]

Yeah, good post. I'm up to Blood of the Isle now and enjoying it. Flight of the Falcon was enjoyable, and Hunters of the Deep was as faction-specific as everyone here (not to mention the book's own back cover) would make you think.

Something I've been thinking about while I'm reading the series, and maybe this is a question for TPTB: what were the IRL circumstances going on amid the early (say, first 15) books? Several people now have said there's an upswing around Book 10 or so--was that due to an intentional "these have to get better" effort, or simply the MW:DA game and books being around long enough to settle down?

At any rate, my plan is to continue to plow forward. I'm hoping to pitch some DA BattleCorps stories myself, and I think it's important to know what worked and what didn't in the initial novels.

[False Son]

Less Stackpole?

[cavingjan]

Different editor.

[Wrangler]

Yeah, good post. I'm up to Blood of the Isle now and enjoying it. Flight of the Falcon was enjoyable, and Hunters of the Deep was as faction-specific as everyone here (not to mention the book's own back cover) would make you think.

Something I've been thinking about while I'm reading the series, and maybe this is a question for TPTB: what were the IRL circumstances going on amid the early (say, first 15) books? Several people now have said there's an upswing around Book 10 or so--was that due to an intentional "these have to get better" effort, or simply the MW:DA game and books being around long enough to settle down?

At any rate, my plan is to continue to plow forward. I'm hoping to pitch some DA BattleCorps stories myself, and I think it's important to know what worked and what didn't in the initial novels.

Don't forget to read a Rending of Falcons, which in by many ways is third book complimentary the Flight of the Falcons/Blood of the Isles dualology.

[drakensis]

Sword of Sedition took the key step of bringing in the familiar states (FS, CC, etc) and their politics into what had previously been 99% Republic focused. No one really cared much for the upstart faction and watered down versions of their Great Houses but once Nikol, Julian, Caleb, Alaric and so forth were in play it was much more like the Battletech we remembered. Back out of the bush leagues and into the real game.

[Cubby]

Agree! I finished Sword of Sedition about a month ago and jumped straight ahead to Fortress Republic. Sword was what everyone here promoted it to be, and more.

Looking forward to the rest of the series now, even the Kurita novels (dark is okay by me), Blood Avatar (no 'Mechs is okay by me as a one-off) and the FWL restoration storyline.

Only 15 more novels until I'm ready to pitch my Dark Age BC story, hah.