Author Topic: Reading the Dark Age novels...  (Read 19594 times)

roosterboy

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Re: Reading the Dark Age novels...
« Reply #30 on: 28 July 2012, 11:53:07 »
I actually rather liked Anastasia  - but as has been noted. She just had too many authors, resulting in her swinging wildly between the extremes.
Her hair colour also changed between authors - pretty sure Victor Milan mentions her having inky black hair after A Call to Arms and the Proving Grounds series gives her red hair.

You remember wrong. She always had dark, reddish-black hair.

A Call to Arms: dark red
A Silence in the Heavens: black with red highlights
Truth and Shadows: lustrous black with reddish highlights (which she dyes a drab brown at one point)
Service for the Dead: can't find a mention of the color
Flight of the Falcon: midnight black with red highlights
Blood of the Isle: dark red
Wolf Hunters: dark red
Masters of War: red
A Bonfire of Worlds: dark red

And I really think the whole "Anastasia's personality varied wildly between authors" thing is exaggerated.

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Her capture by Alraic in A Bonfire of Worlds didn't sit well with me though - I liked her free-wheeling merc persona and her Wolf Hunters. As a clan warrior... she's a little meh

Given that we haven't really seen her as a Clan warrior (yet), that's an odd statement.

Also, on that note: is there any chance of a new Wolf Hunters battalion? They were pretty much destroyed in detail by the Wolves.

Two-thirds were captured or killed. That still leaves enough that could rebuild. We'll just have to wait and see.

Nav_Alpha

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Re: Reading the Dark Age novels...
« Reply #31 on: 28 July 2012, 19:53:26 »
I stand corrected on the hair issue- all I could remember was the dark comment in flight of the falcon and then thinking "what?!".

Roosterboy, my only complaint about her being adopted into Clan Wolf is that, so much of her personality was tied into creating the Wolf Hunters. It seems an odd move to suddenly drop that plot line.
Don't get me wrong, I like where we're heading, I just really liked her at the head of her own merc unit.


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False Son

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Re: Reading the Dark Age novels...
« Reply #32 on: 02 August 2012, 08:18:33 »
They are Wardens, therefore they are irrelevant.  Apparently, Clan players aren't allowed to have any sympathetic Crusader-esque characters that don't veer into melodrama or wanton mass murder.

I miss Joanna, Horse, Aidan, Diana & Peri.   :(

I was under the impression that Aleks Hazen was prolly the best thing to ever come out of the Jade Falcon Touman.  The only problem being that the wrong Hazen caught the hatchet.  If it was Malvina who had died and not Aleks would we be saying that the Falcons are too nice to be villains?
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Wrangler

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Re: Reading the Dark Age novels...
« Reply #33 on: 02 August 2012, 13:09:30 »
I was under the impression that Aleks Hazen was prolly the best thing to ever come out of the Jade Falcon Touman.  The only problem being that the wrong Hazen caught the hatchet.  If it was Malvina who had died and not Aleks would we be saying that the Falcons are too nice to be villains?

He was Adrian Pryde reborn in many ways.  Its too bad, i rather have him as villian, like-able one which you still had to fight.
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Re: Reading the Dark Age novels...
« Reply #34 on: 06 August 2012, 13:12:26 »
So I just ordered four more Dark Age novels off Amazon the other day.  I've been trying to reread all the ones I already have, but soon I'll be able to delve into "#13 The Scorpion Jar", "#14 Target of Opportunity", "#24 Dragon Rising", and "#26 A Rending of Falcons".  I'm looking forward to the last two since they have some big consequences for the Inner Sphere in them, but #14 is supposed to be the first novel with the Spirit Cats in them, which were my clickytech faction of choice. 

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Re: Reading the Dark Age novels...
« Reply #35 on: 06 August 2012, 14:44:08 »
I was under the impression that Aleks Hazen was prolly the best thing to ever come out of the Jade Falcon Touman.  The only problem being that the wrong Hazen caught the hatchet.  If it was Malvina who had died and not Aleks would we be saying that the Falcons are too nice to be villains?

No, because the Falcons aren't the "villains" of CBT.  One of the best aspects of the universe is that there are no truly White Hat factions just as there are no truly Black Hat factions.  Aleks Hazen was a decent character, but he didn't survive for long enough to develop any real character or have too terribly much impact on the universe. 

Again, I miss characters like Aidan, Joanna, Horse, Diana and Peri more and more as time goes by. 
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Re: Reading the Dark Age novels...
« Reply #36 on: 06 August 2012, 15:02:49 »
I was poking at the whole idea of the Falcons no longer being clan.  The same system produced Aleksander, Malvina and Bec Malthus.  The idea that the Falcons aren't clan anymore is due to Malvina survivng and Aleks not.  But, even then, there are differing voices in the Falcons.  Helmer comes to mind.
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Lorcan Nagle

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Re: Reading the Dark Age novels...
« Reply #37 on: 06 August 2012, 15:14:50 »
The Falcons aren't villains any more now than they ever were - Malvina is and they're following her lead because she's brutally killed everyone who's gone against her thus far. 
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drakensis

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Re: Reading the Dark Age novels...
« Reply #38 on: 29 August 2012, 16:25:01 »
I largely ignored Dark Age when it came out, considering the end of the FedCom Civil War as functionally the end of Battletech. Honestly, the Jihad material did nothing to convince me otherwise.

However, given some of the entries on sarna.net I did eventually decide to give them a try and obtained an e-copy of Daughter of the Dragon, which wasn't brilliant but was intriguing enough that I decided to give them a go. I've still not read the earlier books, but I managed to pick up a dozen or so  (including four from a niche bookstore in Sheffield (the Space Centre, if anyone knows it) that had probably had them on the shelf since they were brand new).

What I've read is fairly patchy - I've just read Masters of War, which was good. I'd certainly agree that the books centred on the resurgent Free Worlds League navigating the potential menace of the Capellan Confederaton on one flank and the quite active forces of the Lyran Commonwealth on the other are what sold the era to me.
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Re: Reading the Dark Age novels...
« Reply #39 on: 23 May 2013, 19:42:40 »
So I recently picked up about 5 more of the Dark Age books, specifically the last 5 that all have to deal with the Lyran/Wolf invasion of the Free Worlds League.  Just finished Masters of War, I was looking forward to reading another Stackpole book since Ghost War, but had mixed feelings finishing this one.  I was glad to see the scale of battle in the book again, I don't think another DA novel has managed to really capture that since Fortress Republic or Target of Opportunity, but I was kind of miffed by some of the characters in it.  Kennerly, Verena Wolf's second in command in particular felt like way too strong of an author insert, giving insight into everything and playing Devil's Advocate constantly.  Anastasia Kerensky I felt was a little too omniscient in everything she did; I don't mind competent individuals, but here she seemed to be able to do no wrong.  Her capture and torture of Alaric too seemed so out of place.  I didn't miss her motivation for doing it, but she seemed to be planning veeerrry far ahead with those action's implications.  I much prefer Killiany's Wolf Hunters interpretation of Kerensky; competent and knows what she wants, but still capable of making mistakes and being caught off guard.  Seth Ward was awesome though, can't wait to see more scenes with him.

Starting Pandora's Gambit, and I can already tell House Marik is going to become my favorite faction.  Jessica Marik's brood and the prologue scene alone is just great, very natural feeling.  Nice to see royal dynamism playing out in a story setting that is supposed to be rife with it.


Something else I wanted to mention but don't think it warrant its own thread topic... did anyone else feel like the Dark Age novel series wasted lots of good characters with potential?  Ever since I started reading the novels back in the day I couldn't help but feel Wizkids set up the setting with lots of possibly interesting characters, only to kill them off for other characters.  Kal Radick of the Steel Wolves and Kev Rosse of Clan Spirit Cat come to mind kind of immediately.  Kev Rosse gets to appear in about 4 novels, but always as a side character to other Nova Cat characters, while Kal Radick gets two novel appearances, and dies in the second, so that Anastasia Kerensky can become Galaxy Commander and show by brute force just how 'cool' she is.  I'm sure if I think on more of the novels more characters would appear, being cut really early to make way for others.

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Nav_Alpha

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Re: Reading the Dark Age novels...
« Reply #40 on: 23 May 2013, 23:34:58 »

Something else I wanted to mention but don't think it warrant its own thread topic... did anyone else feel like the Dark Age novel series wasted lots of good characters with potential?  Ever since I started reading the novels back in the day I couldn't help but feel Wizkids set up the setting with lots of possibly interesting characters, only to kill them off for other characters.  Kal Radick of the Steel Wolves and Kev Rosse of Clan Spirit Cat come to mind kind of immediately.  Kev Rosse gets to appear in about 4 novels, but always as a side character to other Nova Cat characters, while Kal Radick gets two novel appearances, and dies in the second, so that Anastasia Kerensky can become Galaxy Commander and show by brute force just how 'cool' she is.  I'm sure if I think on more of the novels more characters would appear, being cut really early to make way for others.

Yeah, i actually agree with this. I loved Anastasia Kerensky but i would have loved to have seen some more of Kal Radick.
There's a very good early WizKids, clicky scenario that involved Kal sending out individual warriors to contact the various Clan enclaves across the Republic and bring them under his banner by challenging them to trials.
It gets 10 line write up and then a 500 point army BOOM-BOOM-SMASH scenario but would have made a fantastic story: Kal's struggle with his loyalty, why he shook off the Republic, gathering the various enclaves and Wolf militias, etc.

I would have also liked to see Raul Ortega's future progress as Knight of the Sphere.


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Re: Reading the Dark Age novels...
« Reply #41 on: 24 May 2013, 16:08:21 »
Quote from: Nav_Alpha
I would have also liked to see Raul Ortega's future progress as Knight of the Sphere.

Actually, Raul Ortega  think gets some small appearances in Sword of Sedition and Fortress Republic, but he doesn't get another major book focusing on him of course.
« Last Edit: 30 May 2013, 15:01:45 by Captain of C-21 »

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Face it - MW:DA had, for its run, massively greater commercial success than BattleTech's ever had. Over two million click-base minis - want to guess where the number of BT minis comes in? I'd guess on the order of a few percent of that. While BT has survived for 30 years, we've never had the same number of players at any point. The pity was that unlike BT, MW:DA ended up being run by businessmen, not game fanatics.

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Re: Reading the Dark Age novels...
« Reply #42 on: 10 July 2013, 13:33:22 »
No, because the Falcons aren't the "villains" of CBT.  One of the best aspects of the universe is that there are no truly White Hat factions just as there are no truly Black Hat factions.  Aleks Hazen was a decent character, but he didn't survive for long enough to develop any real character or have too terribly much impact on the universe. 

Again, I miss characters like Aidan, Joanna, Horse, Diana and Peri more and more as time goes by.

I hate both Aleks and Malvina.  They were written too simplistically.  Basically, equal and opposite, two halves of a whole.  For instance, Aleks never killed anyone and Malvina killed everyone.  I would greatly have preferred them to have more developed and believable personalities. I think the mongol doctrine could have been an interesting development and story for the clans, but just can’t stand Malvina. 

As for Noritomo Helmer, he can’t be the JF savior.  Because he’s a loser.  The JF need someone who can win while following the way of the clans.  I do think Noritomo could do great service to the clan if he were reassigned to the training program.  Give him total control of the program from the moment a sibko drops from the canister, to the trail of position.  He could ensure that warriors are properly indoctrinated so no more “mongols” get turned out.  And he could screen out nuts like Malvina early on. 

I have to agree that I miss the way they were portrayed previously.

False Son

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Re: Reading the Dark Age novels...
« Reply #43 on: 10 July 2013, 14:21:48 »
As for Noritomo Helmer, he can’t be the JF savior.  Because he’s a loser. 

And this is why the entirely storyline is salvageable.  Usually the scheming loser in the clans is the guy who schemed his way to the top with no warrior traits to back it up, then falls on their face when they over reach.  Helmer is underrated (beat the Steel Wolves on Skye) and knows he doesn't have the chops to take on Malvina.  Instead of some hand wringing he is bidding his time, trying not to piss off Malvina too much.
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Wrangler

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Re: Reading the Dark Age novels...
« Reply #44 on: 10 July 2013, 14:28:06 »
So I recently picked up about 5 more of the Dark Age books, specifically the last 5 that all have to deal with the Lyran/Wolf invasion of the Free Worlds League.  Just finished Masters of War, I was looking forward to reading another Stackpole book since Ghost War, but had mixed feelings finishing this one.  I was glad to see the scale of battle in the book again, I don't think another DA novel has managed to really capture that since Fortress Republic or Target of Opportunity, but I was kind of miffed by some of the characters in it.  Kennerly, Verena Wolf's second in command in particular felt like way too strong of an author insert, giving insight into everything and playing Devil's Advocate constantly.  Anastasia Kerensky I felt was a little too omniscient in everything she did; I don't mind competent individuals, but here she seemed to be able to do no wrong.  Her capture and torture of Alaric too seemed so out of place.  I didn't miss her motivation for doing it, but she seemed to be planning veeerrry far ahead with those action's implications.  I much prefer Killiany's Wolf Hunters interpretation of Kerensky; competent and knows what she wants, but still capable of making mistakes and being caught off guard.  Seth Ward was awesome though, can't wait to see more scenes with him.

Starting Pandora's Gambit, and I can already tell House Marik is going to become my favorite faction.  Jessica Marik's brood and the prologue scene alone is just great, very natural feeling.  Nice to see royal dynamism playing out in a story setting that is supposed to be rife with it.


Something else I wanted to mention but don't think it warrant its own thread topic... did anyone else feel like the Dark Age novel series wasted lots of good characters with potential?  Ever since I started reading the novels back in the day I couldn't help but feel Wizkids set up the setting with lots of possibly interesting characters, only to kill them off for other characters.  Kal Radick of the Steel Wolves and Kev Rosse of Clan Spirit Cat come to mind kind of immediately.  Kev Rosse gets to appear in about 4 novels, but always as a side character to other Nova Cat characters, while Kal Radick gets two novel appearances, and dies in the second, so that Anastasia Kerensky can become Galaxy Commander and show by brute force just how 'cool' she is.  I'm sure if I think on more of the novels more characters would appear, being cut really early to make way for others.
If you can find it, Fortress of Lies is rather good book too if your looking for a old school battle on warfront with political intrigue balanced in there. It was one more detailed books written in early patch of MWDA Novels.
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Nav_Alpha

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Re: Reading the Dark Age novels...
« Reply #45 on: 10 July 2013, 18:49:42 »
And this is why the entirely storyline is salvageable.  Usually the scheming loser in the clans is the guy who schemed his way to the top with no warrior traits to back it up, then falls on their face when they over reach.  Helmer is underrated (beat the Steel Wolves on Skye) and knows he doesn't have the chops to take on Malvina.  Instead of some hand wringing he is bidding his time, trying not to piss off Malvina too much.

I think this sums it up.


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Re: Reading the Dark Age novels...
« Reply #46 on: 15 August 2013, 11:33:29 »
I think you guys give Malvina the character less credit than what's due.  She is the worst case scenario of what you can get from the centuries-long tradition of systematic child abuse in order to create better killers.  Some Clans have lost much of their Espirit de Corps along the way, resulting in the occasional emotionally-****** nihilistic psychopath.  Malvina is portrayed as being constantly haunted by such instances of abuse during her childhood in a trueborn sibko, which is compelling her to lash out at everything with a destructive bent.

Seems like a natural progression to me.
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