Camacho's Caballeros?

[Elmoth]

Hi there. I am reading DRT, the second book of the Rose series. I am not enjoying it much. I did enjoy several of the battlecorps compilations, the first book (main event) of this unit and the first book of the chaos irregulars. I also.lioed the 2 books of the GDL I read.

Are the Camacho's Caballeros enjoyable?

[Sartris]

Close quarters, hearts of chaos, black dragon. I haven’t read them but I’ve heard mixed reviews

[Wrangler]

I HAVE read them. Victor Milan wrote some fun books. There up and done.  Its pulp scifi fiction.
Its not 2D characters with these books.  Arguably most lively Battletech books of the original FASA Books.

[Fallen_Raven]

I found them to be some of the best of the Battletech novels. But they are a bit different than the Stackpole big picture stuff. If you're looking for Sphere wide action and politics, these aren't it. But if you want to follow a mid-sized unit over several years, or to find out about the Combine outside of the samurai, then you might enjoy them.

[Nav_Alpha]

I really like them, and they’re better than Milan’s later Dark Age fiction too.
But like the above comments mention, they’re different to most other BT fiction - but in a good way.
Fleshed out characters, great action scenes with a twist of Hollywood style shoot outs and martial arts hijinx with a good dash of camp samurai/ninja stylings.

I highly recommend!

[Elmoth]

Sold. I do not like stackpole much, really.
Thanks! Heading to the Kindle store now

[Sharpnel]

I HAVE read them. Victor Milan wrote some fun books. There up and done.  Its pulp scifi fiction.
Its not 2D characters with these books.  Arguably most lively Battletech books oc the original FASA Books.

And they feature my favorite Mary Sue character, Cassie Suthorn.

[Wrangler]

And they feature my favorite Mary Sue character, Cassie Suthorn.

She indeed is, but in a very good way.  I like her really, she has some serious depth to her.  I wish Milan had continued to write up about the character and the rest of the crew of the 17th Recon Regiment aka Camacho's Caballeros.   I'm grateful that he was included a short story about Suthorn's first years with the unit in the The 25 Years of Arts and Fiction.  Not as lively as previous books, but its nice prequel like thing for her.

Personally i like all the characters and some of the creative things I've read in BattleTech books without making it super unrealistic. Its a joy to read.

[five_corparty]

I like the CC books because they're written by a master of sci-fi: say what you will about the, uhh, battletechyness of them, they're TECHNICALLY great books to read- for me, that's important. :-)

I also like them as stories: almost every character has depth and motivations, reasons for what they do that isn't plot-level deep.  His mastery of his women leads could be the topic for an entire MFA paper.

And the battletech stuff... ain't that bad, really!  :-)  it's OLD school, right when BattleTech was having this kinda... shift... in both the universe and how it was portrayed, from 3025 tech-short armies to professional regiments fielding state-sponsed Mechs.  in the middle of all that madness comes a regiment of cowboys broadcasting live at station KATN on your FM dial. (in-story joke)

nah, they're worth the read, and if you're a writer or want to be one, then they're worth a second read with a pencil in hand to underline the parts he does well for further study. :-)  enjoy!

[pat_hdx]

Yeah, strong supporting characters, female characters that feel realistic. The Southwest vibe of the whole unit was a labor of love.

[roosterboy]

I dunno, I thought they were just okay. I’ve read all three books 2 or 3 times and I would be hardpressed to recount a single scene from any of them. Instead, what sticks in my mind are the unique (for BattleTech) characters. But, again, none of them except for Cassie Suthorn had all that much staying power in my memory.

[battleman033]

In my opinion, this is one of the funniest books I've ever read. Just look at it disconsidering everything you ever read about battletech rules, and it's fine. The book is well written, rich in characters and plots, but it is on the verge of being ridiculous by batlletech combat standards. One single, unarmored person, with a vibroblade as primary weapon, with a whole battlemech BATTALION of worth of kills? I think perhaps the main character was the inpiration to the FWLM unit, the Second Oriente Hussars insignia of a person running after an Atlas with a knife.

[worktroll]

I dunno, I thought they were just okay. I’ve read all three books 2 or 3 times and I would be hardpressed to recount a single scene from any of them.

Subash Indrahar's transforming wheelchair/exoskeleton. Milan was spot on tone in that scene!

And Suthorn downing a 'Mech with a clothesline and a sharpened clothpeg. I may exaggerate, but only slightly. Won't forget that in a hurry either.

[Major Headcase]

Isn't that also the series where there were playing Battlemech soccer?? That sticks in my memory right up there with the Mech gymnastics from the Chaos Irregulars books (which I love, by the way...somersaulting flaws and all...)

[Sharpnel]

Subash Indrahar's transforming wheelchair/exoskeleton. Milan was spot on tone in that scene!

And Suthorn downing a 'Mech with a clothesline and a sharpened clothpeg. I may exaggerate, but only slightly. Won't forget that in a hurry either.

It was a broom, not a clothes peg. IIRC.

[glitterboy2098]

Powerline attached to a broom handle.  She lured it into place with annoyance shots with a bolt action rifle, then jammed the power line into a wolverine's knee. Which screwed up the actuator enough that it stumbled and fell. Didn't actually take it out though, just immobilized it for a time while it got back up.

Most of her antimech exploits were mission kills (like getting a locust sunk hip deep in sucking mud), outright disables/destruction are rare.

[Mendrugo]

The weird thing about Cassie in that scene is that she's part of a penal unit consisting of juvenile gang members being overseen by Maskirovka minders.  Why would such people in Capellan society be given guns, rather than being consigned to the Servitor caste?  Was Larsha really that hard up for warm bodies in their militia that they'd arm Servitors?

[glitterboy2098]

Regular army minders. though they vanished quick once deployed. The maskirovka troops appear later on. Though they're very low level ones, just thugs in fancy uniforms.

And they were already servitor caste before being arrested. The penal unit was also specialized in teens, so It was probably a paramilitary reform system.. Take servitor caste criminals still young enough to Reform, and use hard work and propaganda to teach them to be dutiful workers.
Its pointed out that the capcon has a "waste nothing" mentality at the time (3040's iirc) so it would make sense they'd have a system to try and get use even out of criminals.
Those kids being handed rifles and actually deployed into battle just illustrated the sorry shape of the CCAF at the time, especially on worlds on the edge of the periphery like Larsha.

[Wrangler]

Victor Milan painted Capellans on Larsha as thugs.  Frankly, given how he later showed the Combine, when Cassie eventually grew with unit and served. Her parents must seriously screwed up badly, the comparison. The Combine was paradise is you compared to the Confederation socially.