This novel was written by Bernd Perplies and is part of the technically apocryphal series of German novels published by Ulisses-Spiele.
At the beginning of the Fourth Succession War the Screaming Eagles in service of House Davion are given the task to conquer Pleione, which is defended by a battalion of McCrimmons Light Cavalry with the help of an old SLDF fortress. The fortress is named Thunder Rock, and while it is old and mostly abandoned, it has operative Long Tom artillery cannons, albeit low on ammo. So begins the battle for Pleione.
The story was inspired by an entry in the NAIS-Atlas outlining the events, many of the characters are canonical, and there are no clashes with the existing canon (afaik). However what I really liked about the novel is that both sides of the conflict get equal screen time, and both sides are portrayed fairly. There are loyal and competent soldiers fighting for Davion as well as for Liao. A good amount of pages is devoted to character development before the action starts, and I think that is quite refreshing in the BTU although others may have less favourable opinions about it. Anyway, people do not just suddenly start to act stupid because the plot (or the already known result) demands it. This creates a lot of tension: you know for every good move that is made, the opponent will make a good countermove. This kind of tension is particularly important as the set-up is highly conventional. And the unfolding of the plot is very linear in that the attackers slowly wear down the defenders. However I do not criticise that much; sieges are like that and the book aims for a gritty feel. In fact, considering the alternatives, I think I even like it.
So after all this praise, is the book perfect? No. In my opinion there are too many characters for such a ‘small story’, a stronger focus would have helped. Focus in general is sometimes off; the whole chapter with Hanse Davion e.g. was unnecessary both in- and out-universe. With regards to the ‘small story’ I have to say it lacks a bit of the grandiose scale of the Stackpole-novels, but that is complaining on a very high level.
Overall, it is a nice supplement to the existing canon and illustrates that there are still many good stories to be told in the known BTU history.
tl/dr
The book wants to tell the story of a brutal siege and does it well.
4 out of 5 Stars