Author Topic: Review and Discussion: Wolf on the Border  (Read 1861 times)

Luriael

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Review and Discussion: Wolf on the Border
« on: 12 March 2015, 16:08:24 »
Wolf on the Border follows the Wolf’s Dragoons as they begin their 5 years contract with the Draconis Combine. We finally get to know 2 intriguing factions in House Kurita and the Dragoons.

The story is mostly viewed through the eyes of Minobu Tetsuhara, a Dispossessed Kuritan Samurai that serves as a liaison officer for the Wolf’s Dragoons. We get in the mind of a traditionalist Kuritan as he becomes the link between the most famous mercenary unit and the most warrior oriented House of the Inner Sphere.

As the Dragoons get stationed on the Davion border, in the Galedon Military District where they will unfortunately meet the local Warlord Grieg Samsonov, a strong bond is formed between the stoic Samurai and the enigmatic aging Jamie Wolf, leader of the merc unit.

Will the friendship resist the pressure of Bushido and Samsonov’s plan to bring the Dragoons into the Combine? How far will Jamie Wolf allow the Dragon to push them in its quest for control over the secretive and powerful mercenary unit before his honour allows him to break the contract?

A must read for anyone who wants to dwell deeper into the Draconis Combine or whoever is curious about the almost mystical Wolf’s Dragoons.

*** Spoiler Alert***

Alright, I just finished reading this book and I must tip my hat to Mr. Charrette as he wore many roles in FASA and seemed to have done them well. Wolf on the Border continues the trend of better literature and stronger setting that Stackpole’s trilogy began (although, if I correctly see the publishing dates, Wolf on the Border came out before Coupé)

Finally we get a look at the Kuritans that is not as simple as the peek we got in Decision at Thunder Rift or Mercenary’s Star. The Combine is not written as the typical Asiatic bad guys but as a warrior’s cast driven House with a strange set of rules and honour code. You get to see the chasm between traditionalist Kuritans and revolutionists as the latter, in the form of Jerry Akuma, keeps ridiculing a code he feels is outdated. A black Samurai? Yes! We see how diverse the Battletech universe is, how the color of your skin no longer dictates your religion or whatnot.

I’m unaware of Charrette’s background on Nippon knowledge but his depicture of the Samurais are rather good. There is some concepts that seem to be taken straight out of the 80’s (like many who grew up thinking the Shogun series was a mirror of feudal Japan) and I wish he would have pushed the Bushido warrior archetype a bit farther in the story but I understand that it wasn’t necessary.
Throughout the read you get a feeling of foreboding, as if you were reading an epic Greek tragedy. As the story move forward and that both Samsonov and Akuma push the Dragoons you see Tetsuhara trapped by his wicked sense of Bushido honour. You can’t help but cringe inwardly as you see Minobu walk into every trap laid out for him, led by his Bushido way, much as the whole Draconis Combine is before Theo tries to reform the State.

On the other side of the picture you have Jaime Wolf and his merry band of mercenaries. Coming from outside the Inner Sphere, their story is a mysterious one. A whole unit, many battalions and even a space station, coming out of nowhere is bound to raise questions. Added to the fact that they are the best of the best, something’s not right there. 30 years later, we know they are Clans but in 1989 they were a strange bunch. I wish the Dragoons felt more like Clanners but I understand that they probably created the Clans  at a much later date and ‘retconned’ the unit into them.

Wolf on the Border is a long novel, for a pocket book, but I wish Charrette would have built more empathy for Tetsuhara. The book covers 5 years and many events but it could have served to cut away a few of those and add more meat to the most important ones. Instead of creating a bond between Wolf and Tetsuhara the writer kind of force it onto us by driving it home with words.

A perfect example is at the beginning of the book when Minobu is saving Jaime (something we discover later) which would have made for a great reunion scene when they formally meet a few years later. Yet nothing, Charrette spend that chapter talking about other things entirely. Even with his wife Tomiko, she gets grossed out by the fact Minobu gets mauled yet we find it after fact, described in a few words instead of living it out.

The final showdown on Misery is very good, especially as the conflict is over and the plot wraps up. You can really feel how alien a Samurai’s sense of honour is by how Jamie Wolf reacts to his friend’s request of seppuku. The only problem I have with this is a Samurai must ask his Daïmyo’s permission to take his life (even in Battletech as we saw with Yorinaga Kurita) and Takashi Kurita tells Jaime Wolf that he respected Minobu and did not believe the Samurai had failed him, which would have created an escape route for Tetsuhara.

In conclusion, this is a wonderful read and despite some slow moments this book is worthy of being one of the foundation stories of Battletech.

Now, onto Heir of the Dragon!
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