Author Topic: Frabby's review of the German BattleTech novels (updated 17 June 2020)  (Read 17752 times)

Frabby

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(The first posting has hit its character limit, so I'll continue here with the reviews.)

Other German-exclusive novels

Phoenix (Heyne, 2001; author Peter Heid) - Two stories, one told in flashback during the other. Good characters but rather weak, straightforward stories with the run-of-the-mill "merc unit betrayed by employer" plot for the main story. Set in 3033 (merc unit in FWL employ defending against Lyran assault) and 3054 (merc units on Tomans under attack by Jade Falcons).
I liked how the aspect of death and losses comes to the fore, to the point of the merc unit renaming itself to "Phoenix" and only one single member surviving (well, and another had retired after losing both legs) while the main protagonist is offed in the epilogue, dying while waiting for his MedEvac helicopter that took 3 hours to show up.
My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Die Albatros-Akte / The Albatross File (FanPro, 2005; author Reinhold H. Mai) - In 2838 four LIC agents (Team Albatros) are put on the case of a rogue Lyran Archonet who has the Z-4, a killswitch device that remotely destroys a BattleMech's gyroscope and renders the 'Mech inoperable. It doesn't affect tanks or infantry but is still somehow a total game changer on the battlefield. This one I didn't like for several reasons: The characters are way over the top (why exactly did we need a hot lesbian in the team?) and their whole operation is very contrived and depends on lucky chance more than any deliberate planning. Stuff just kinda happens to push the story along. The Z-4 is a crude plot device and breaking the BattleTech aesthetics to the point where a preface in the book states the story is fictious within the fictious universe. I feel cheated by that: When you're not writing BattleTech then you shouldn't try to cash in on the BT brand by declaring it a work of fiction within the BT universe, only to have BattleTech written on the cover.
My rating: 2 out of 5 stars.

Duo Infernale (FanPro, 2007; author Carolina Möbis) - In 3061 a newly-minted merc unit is wiped out while guarding a mining operation. Two survivors - childish Mad Cat pilot "Mad Dog" Maloy and serious Elemental Shin - discover that they really guarded a Star League era nuke storehouse, and now several warheads have been stolen by Free Skye Separatists. The two women escape and track down the perpetrators, enlisting the help of a down-on-his-luck ComStar tech and a mysterious rogue. This book is notable for not one but two great showdowns plus a (minor) plot twist ending.
The pacing is fast, the action is cool, the story isn't half bad. This could be a really good book save for the silly main character and some weaker parts in the story that all happen early on. If you pull through, the story picks up speed.
My rating: At least 3.5 out of 5 stars

Wiege der Basilisken / Cradle of the Basilisks (Ulisses, 2011; author Reinhold H. Mai) - Sort of a sequel to Die Albatross-Akte, and again a fictional story within the BattleTech universe. Team Albatross is activated once more, this time to investigate FedSuns research into super soldiers. These so-called Basilisks are humans genetically adapted to accept a symbiont lifeform in their blood that can repair essentially any physical damage within minutes (even brain damage). Naturally, Basilisks can see in the infrared spectrum and have superhuman strength, too.
As a BattleTech novel, this book falls flat on its face. The Basilisks don't fit the BattleTech aesthetics at all, and what's worse is that the "protagonists" in this book - Team Albatross - could be left out entirely. They deploy far from the base, march through the jungle and arrive too late to prevent the destruction of the base in a Kurita attack. That's it, that's really the entire story. There's a side-story about a Basilisk couple that escape from the base as they don't want to be misused as lab rats anymore. When you look closely, theirs is the real story of this book.
My rating: 1 out of 5 stars. If it didn't try to sell itself as a BattleTech novel, might be 3 out of 5.

Sturm auf Arc-Royal / Assault on Arc-Royal (Ulisses, 2014; author Stefan Burban) - During the FedCom Civil War an irregular Lyran foce under a social general attempts a decapitation strike against Arc-Royal. The small defending contingents of Kell Hounds and Wolves-in-Exile don't get along well, hampering defense efforts.
The story might have worked as well (or better) when told on a smaller scale, why did it have to be Arc-Royal during the FCCW? The premise doesn't sit well with me, it feels shoehorned into canon. That issue I have with the rather thin plot aside, the battle scenes are okay or even good. Some story elements feel contrived. So some good parts, some bad, and a lot of middle ground.
My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Gejagt (Silent Reaper Zyklus) / Hunted (Ulisses, 2015; author Daniel Isberner) - A black-ops merc unit specializing in infiltration and "shadowruns" is duped and blackmailed by Word of Blake to work for them, but the scouring of Outreach and "nuking" of Tharkad makes the unit reconsider and turn against WoB. Like the Jihad in general, this is a very "Shadowrunny" novel with lots of intrigue and betrayal and a few minor loopholes in the plot, or perhaps I missed something. (See below for a more detailed review.)
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

Die Kanonen von Thunder Rock / The Guns of Thunder Rock (Ulisses, 2015; author Bernd Perplies) - The 3028 conquest of Pleione during the 4th Succession War, a 400-page retelling of a one-paragraph summary in the 4th Succession War Atlas.
Minor factchecking points aside, the book has some issues that preclude giving it a higher rating: I feel it is way too long; the real combat action only begins some 160 pages into the book and there are excessive amounts of explanation, background information and cameos by major characters (the whole New Avalon scene - having a BBQ with Hanse Davion, Ardan Sortek and Quintus Allard that does little if anything for the story), needlessly bloating the text. The protagonists are interchangeable in the sense that there is no mercenary feel to the mercenaries and no specific CapCon feel to the defenders. Finally, the story "arc" is quite linear - a siege wearing the defenders down and then a final assault. The conflict is told through the eyes of a small group of protagonists on either side of the conflict, with no real hero or villain characters, so as a reader I didn't particularly root for either side to win or fail.
On the bright side, the overall adaption of the Pleione conflict from the 4th SW Atlas is very good, the combat scenes are well-written, the siege is gritty and the many episodes or sub-plots are quite enjoyable - I especially liked the Long Tom ammunition situation and its twists and turns. The novel may not be top-notch brilliant, but still a very solid BT story and a promising entree for a new BT author.
My rating: At least 4 out of 5 stars.

Der Erbe / The Heir (Ulisses, 2015; authors Jochen Hahn & Karsten Kaeb) - The ducal throne on Cammal has been vacant for over 20 years when a law firm finally discovers a legitimate heir for the late duke. In the meantime, other factions have filled the power vacuum and the arrival of a new duke causes all kinds of tensions. Some shady agency in fact seems to stir up trouble on purpose, and Cammal tumbles down the path to civil war. First part of a multi-part series, ends on a "to be continued" note. As such, I may revisit and change my rating.
I was overall pleasantly surprised by this book. I found it refreshing to see the drawbacks of BattleTech's neo-feudal system play out, even though it is more an excuse for 'Mechs duking it out than a real focus point of the novel. There are almost, but luckily not quite, too many factions and characters with intertwined storylines, though the authors did a good job here; I still know who's who and can tell them apart.
On the downside, two things in particular stick out that irk me. The smaller problem is sloppy grammar, spelling and especially punctuation. It really diminishes the book as a product. The other problem, the one that irked me yet more, is that you shouldn't write a BattleTech story full of names like Youngblood (Jason Youngblood even), Sorenson, MacCall {sic} and the like when these characters have nothing at all to do with the established canonical characters bearing the same surnames. It's just weird and distracting. Oh, and did we really need yet another big merceneary unit crammed into canon that nobody ever heard about before even though they're honkin' big, with two mixed regiments?
My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Kalkuliertes Chaos / Calculated Chaos (Ulisses, 2016; authors Jochen Hahn & Karsten Kaeb) - The second (and final) part of the story that began with Der Erbe is, I regret to say, very uninspired and predictable. The promising plotlines from the first book are resolved very straightforward and predictable. Even the battles feel lopsided. The various factions duke it out and in the end the supposed new Duke (un)surprisingly is revealed to be a mere clueless puppet of his nefarious lawyers, a victim more than a warlord. This book in fact made me appreciate Die Kanonen von Thunder Rock all the more, to the point where I revisited and raised that book's rating.
My rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Im Schatten der Bestie / In the Shadow of the Beast (Ulisses, 2016; author Ingo Eikens) - This novel has an unusual premise, a SLDF officer genuinely believing Amaris's propaganda over Kerensky's. Now he's stationed on Terra, the war isn't going well and Kerensky's noose tightens around the defenders' neck...
Something felt off; it took me a while to realize what exactly is missing from this book: A storyline. The setup and characters are fairly well-done, but the protagonist doesn't really do anything; he's too passive and only reacts as the timeline trundles along. It says something that a secondary "quasi-villain" character with little facetime (Col. Berger) actually has a vastly better character arc than the protagonist. Even when considering the lead group of characters an ensemble cast there isn't quite enough story going on to make this read as more than a report or protocol, with a too clean solution happening all by itself. And yet, I feel the book isn't actually bad.
My rating: 3 out of 5 stars.

Blutige Jagd / Bloody Hunt (Ulisses, 2016; author Stefan Burban) - A sequel of sorts to Sturm auf Arc-Royal: The earlier novel's protagonists go on the offensive together, to apprehend their old enemy Hans Grüner who has fled Tharkad to Andiron in the Circinus Federation. However, their DropShips are downed by stronger-than-anticipated resistance at Andiron and four groups of survivors must attempt to salvage the situation, with Grüner's forces breathing down their necks.
I'm torn on this novel. It has the same strengths as its predecessor, namely a well-crafted story and attention to detail; and unlike Sturm auf Arc-Royal, this time the setting is perfect and doesn't feel out-of-scale. In this respect, Stefan Burban is a promising author.
On the down side, the earlier books' problems are also back in full force. The writing style is too long-winded, often explaining things instead of narrating them, and some of the dialogue feels superflous. Overall, at 400 pages the novel is too long; some editing (trimming) might have worked wonders here.
My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.
« Last Edit: 17 June 2020, 08:46:13 by Frabby »
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Author of the BattleCorps stories Feather vs. Mountain, Rise and Shine, Proprietary, Trial of Faith & scenario Twins