Hour of the Wolf

[Andrewsarchus]

An excellent story. I would put it on par with anything I have read from Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov, William Gibson and David Brin. I was especially pleased by the ending, it was quite a fly in the ointment, but in a good way - kind of like an olive to top off a fine martini. Stone still has some tricks it seems. The action was non-stop, but never boring : which is rare. The strategic and tactical depth was Napoleonic. Overall I loved it. 6 stars out of 5. A classic, which will unfortunately not be given the credit the author deserves due to the fact that our culture has some prejudice against fan fiction (even though classics like the 'Three Musketeers' and their sequels can be considered fan fiction. ) A novel which ended a story arc almost thirty years in the making could not have had a better climax. Thank you Blaine Lee Pardoe.

[Elmoth]

LOL. Not how most (active) people on the boards read the book :)

There is a very long thread on this. And then there is the hilarious retelling of the book bu liam's ghost. Enjoy!

https://bg.battletech.com/forums/novel-and-sourcebook-reviews/hour-of-the-wolf-a-running-review/

[nckestrel]

“ due to the fact that our culture has some prejudice against fan fiction”
Did you call Hour of the Wolf fan fiction?

[Andrewsarchus]

“ due to the fact that our culture has some prejudice against fan fiction”
Did you call Hour of the Wolf fan fiction?

My apologies if you take it that way. I just meant it in the literal sense - fiction made around a fandom universe. Many would see it that way, I did not mean the word in a strict but very lose sense. Not that fan fiction is bad - I have seen much better then canon. Regardless I found the work enthralling. Both Alaric and Malvina were brilliant characters. It was like seeing a match between Genghis Khan and Napoleon.

[Liam's Ghost]

Since I got mentioned, I feel the need to reiterate that people are allowed to like things other people dislike.

And I certainly hope we can all be content to disagree without it becoming a whole thing.

[Andrewsarchus]

And I certainly hope we can all be content to disagree without it becoming a whole thing.

Blasphemy! I can prove my taste in literature is superior with numbers and graphs!  ;D

[drakensis]

I finally got around to reading Hour of the Wolf and on the whole I found it a good read.

The comparisons between Alaric and Malvina aren't subtle but they do convey what they need to. Stone's slide also works well. Together with Children of Kerensky, this does provide a satisfactory end to this rivalry.

There are some issues towards the end - the sheer devastation of both Clans by the end seems overdone. It's hard to say how Clan Wolf can cling to power by that point. The disposition of the Wolf Dragoons is poorly handled - I don't object to the outcome but it was certainly a mistake by Alaric and one that needed to be set up. If there'd been set up that either Alaric had a long-standing issue with the Dragoons or that discarding them was a political necessity on his end because his own warriors were not willing to accept the Dragoons then it would have worked better.

I have mixed feelings about Alaric and Stone's final conversation. Stone's side is fine, but the extent to which it shakes Alaric suggests there's been no character growth at his end.

On the other characters, Chance and Samantha both get good set-ups and I was quite happy with most of the other minor characters. The one I was most disappointed by was Ramiel Bekker who never quite got the development his reputation suggested he should have. The book is quite long though, so that may have simply had to be cut back.

But on the whole, I'd give this four omnimechs out of a full star.

[BrianDavion]

An excellent story. I would put it on par with anything I have read from Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov, William Gibson and David Brin. I was especially pleased by the ending, it was quite a fly in the ointment, but in a good way - kind of like an olive to top off a fine martini. Stone still has some tricks it seems. The action was non-stop, but never boring : which is rare. The strategic and tactical depth was Napoleonic. Overall I loved it. 6 stars out of 5. A classic, which will unfortunately not be given the credit the author deserves due to the fact that our culture has some prejudice against fan fiction (even though classics like the 'Three Musketeers' and their sequels can be considered fan fiction. ) A novel which ended a story arc almost thirty years in the making could not have had a better climax. Thank you Blaine Lee Pardoe.

... this is satire right?

[ColBosch]

... this is satire right?

It's bait. Come on people, you've all been on the internet longer than five minutes.

[ActionButler]

Reading a bunch of reports on post from three years ago was not on my Moderator Bingo Card today...

[Liam's Ghost]

For some inexplicable reason I feel compelled to reiterate something I said three years ago.

Since I got mentioned, I feel the need to reiterate that people are allowed to like things other people dislike.

And I certainly hope we can all be content to disagree without it becoming a whole thing.

[Moonsword]

As no one seems interested in engaging with the review posted by Drakensis in favor of going after a three year old post, we're just going to lock this and let it sink.