I finished it last night. This is, I think, the first Battletech novel (vs short fiction) where the main POV character is not a military member.
Blood Avatar also had a non-military detective as the main character.
My thoughts.
I finished this book after speed reading it under a week (I have kids, I get about 2 hours a night to read, lol), and I have to say this sits next to Michael Ciaravella's Damocles Sanction as my top BattleTech fiction from the last few years.
"In the Shadow of the Dragon" is about a criminal investigation in the Draconis Combine that quickly spirals into a huge conspiracy threatening the Coordinator herself. If you're like me and have been waiting for fiction that focuses less on the military side of things and more on the civilian and government side, this novel is definitely for you.
The Pros -
- The characters. There was not a single character I felt bored or uninterested in learning. First off there's a great deal of them, from the main detective Blaylock, to the main antagonist. But each of them sounds different, and has a good amount of characterization that makes you either care for or despise them. You actually get into many of their heads and learn what makes them tick, see their flaws, making them feel like flesh and blood rather than just a name actions are attributed to.
- The plot. This is a mystery novel, and it's a good one too! As you read you'll actually be pondering what is going on, what does the shadowy organization actually want. One of the nice things is that on both sides (Combine and Black Dragon) there are multiple perspectives that clash, creating tension about what's actually afoot.
- Dialog: It's fun, but all the characters sound like what you would expect based on their station. You've got your typical hard-edged detectives, your serene wise old swordmasters, your arrogant but cool assassins. You also get to see the personal side of these characters and the different hats they wear. Yori Kurita is one way to the public, another to her few friends.
- Action: This is a novel that manages to balance the action with brevity. You never feel like the battle scenes are turning into a slog that you just want to get through to see what's happening.
- Combine dysfunction. This novel really lets you see just how many uncooperative agencies the Combine government has, and how precarious a Coordinator's position actually is. A military juggernaut held back in some ways by its own bureaucratic mess.
- Hooks: There a number of future plot hooks planted in this novel for where the Combine and these characters can in the future. Nothing is wrapped up and finished, leaving you the opportunity and desire to ponder where Yori, Blaylock, the Black Dragons, and others will go from there.
Criticisms:
- This is a personal taste, I think the epilogue was a tad repetitious of the first scene where we see Yori and Sarah. I think a tense epilogue with Yori going to meet the person she says she will go talk to (Won't spoiler it) and get difficult answers from her would've been a better more gripping ending.
- Just a tiny bit more exposition might have been needed to explain certain Combine societal concepts. We hear about nobles, but how do they work compared to Fed Suns nobles? At the end of the novel when Yori is doling out noble titles, maybe a brief description of what someone gets when they become a baron would've been good.
Otherwise though an excellent novel, highly recommend.
