So I'm new to BT lore. Chose to start reading with the Gray Death Legion trilogy. Just finished Mercenary's Star, the second book, and wanted to share my thoughts with everybody:
My aboslute favorite part of the book is their insertion onto the surface of Verthandi. Just like the mechwarriors, we have to sit back and see if the aerospace jocks and subterfuge schemes get the woefully inadequate Phobos through a Kurita blockade. Keith does a good job at describing the huge distances, high velocity, and decisiveness of aerospace combat. This isn't a plodding mech combat where we spend minutes plinking armor off a componenet. One pass is usually all it takes to kill or disable an aerospace combatant, which really raises the tension.
The world building in both this book and Decision at Thunder rift is also excellent. Keith takes a lot of time to describe the human and natural geography of Verthandi, which makes the whole reading experience richer. The planet and its people have a sort of very real and believable character to them, which is part of what makes the BT universe so good in my opinion.
The Kurita leadership (Ricol, Nagumo, Kevlavic, the moon base commander, and the evil doctor) are great villains and easy to despise. I don't know if every BT novel paints Kurita in such a negative light, but they really are odious war criminals. Still, Keith paints them as capable individuals who don't mind to employ grossly immoral methods in their pursuit of self-advancement. In this way, they remain dangerous and compelling.
Needless to say, Keith knows how to write a mech battle as one would hope with any BT novel.
Keith describes the nature of the guerilla conflict in a surprisingly contemporary way. He published the book in 1987 and correctly identifies the alligance of the undecided verthandians as the center of gravity in the conflict. This sort of thinking resonates very much with the COIN doctrine that the U.S. Military would later adopt in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.
The interpersonal romance stuff struck me as the weakest. I didn't feel very invested in the romance drama between Grayson and Lori. They both somehow feel like middle schoolers rather than adults. And I'm completely baffled by the flings Grayson had with other women. Either the characterization wasn't strong or my intereste was already low, because I couldn't follow it.
Overall, I would recommend this read. I'd love to hear any of your thoughts on this book.
I'm reading The Price of Glory after this of course. After that it's off to the Blood of Kerensky trilogy. I would read Warrior trilogy first, but frankly, I just want to get to Clan stuff.
