BattleTech - The Board Game of Armored Combat
BattleTech Player Boards => Novel and Sourcebook Reviews => Topic started by: Mendrugo on 08 February 2017, 13:50:10
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I just finished reading Michael Stackpole's "Heir Apparent," which is the first of four linked novellas set in the rimward Periphery (the stomping grounds of the forthcoming HBS BattleTech computer game). The main character is Walter de Mesnil, who first appeared as Justin Allard's sergeant in the Kittery Training Battalion circa 3026 in Warrior: En Garde, and most recently was featured as a cab driver on Galatea who joins the nascent Kell Hounds in 3010 in "Not the Way the Smart Money Bets," both by Michael Stackpole. This novella chronicles his trials and tribulations circa 3000.
Having been writing reviews of Warrior: En Garde in the last few weeks, it was an interesting opportunity to compare modern Stackpole to vintage Stackpole in the BattleTech universe. The "future of the eighties" vibe is notably lacking, with explicit references to facial recognition software (the lack of which was a discussion point for "En Garde") and global computer networks (compared to couriers hauling discs around).
I enjoyed it, overall. While the enemy henchmen of the piece do tend to get bamboozled and one-shotted by the heroes (Medium Laser to an infantryman tends not to need follow-through), the villains do seem to be far more of an existential threat to the protagonists than the Capellans, Combine, or Michael Hasek-Davion were for the Steiner/Davion good guys in the Warrior trilogy. And, welcomingly, the wild swings of pulp fiction blind luck that frequently blesses the heroes and allows them to save the day in the early Stackpole works is largely absent - when the bad guys are outmaneuvered/outwitted, it's because Walter and his associates have laid the groundwork properly ahead of time.
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Saw this via CGL's Twitter, but have to admit I was instantly turned off by the author's name, for the very reasons you list.
Can't help but wish they'd give some new talent a shot. One of their Battlecorps writers f'rinstance.
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Saw this via CGL's Twitter, but have to admit I was instantly turned off by the author's name, for the very reasons you list.
Can't help but wish they'd give some new talent a shot. One of their Battlecorps writers f'rinstance.
It's not from CGL, and HBS's BattleTech is powered by nostalgia.
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Yes, when I say I saw it on CGL's Twitter, what I meant was that I saw it on CGL's Twitter. Sorry, should have clarified.
I get that Harebrained is playing the nostalgia card, but lordy, I have precisely zero happy memories of Stackpole's books. Keep the retro setting by all means, but please, let another writer have a crack at it.
I realize I'm complaining without having read the book, so there's that. From what Mandrugo says it may not be so bad.
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If I'm keeping my Crescent Hawk's Inception 5.25" disk set, then I'll certainly pick this up if possible down the track.
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I've been enjoying the heck out of it. Not quite finished, but no complaints. the stuff like the tech differential didn't even register, since, well, I've read so many other Battletech books since En Garde that stuff like that has faded into the wayside. Hell, I didn't even realize Walter was in En Garde before I read this!
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While I noticed a distinct change in writing style from Stackpole's work from decades ago to today, I largely did not find myself enjoying this novella. I honestly found it boring and the consequences and political structure of the world were either not well explained or I just could not bring myself to care enough to pay attention. We'll see what the others bring, but so far I just have an overwhelming sense of... meh.