Where the heck are the Letter of the Law reviews?

[Hotham]

Am I missing something? The book has been released, right? It's been about 4 or 5 days and usually the BattleTech faithfuls would have gobbled this novel up in a day or two. I don't see anybody talking about it outside of a post on r/TheNagelring and they're only talking about having bought. I want to know what's in this bad boy. I'm currently boycotting CGL products so I'm not buying it.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

It's been out for just over a week.

[Hotham]

It's been out for just over a week.

That makes the lack of reviews more conspicuous. I was hoping Big Red would have a review out by now. Then I remembered his new format is to have an author interview alongside the review, so he may be working on that in the background. Unless Letter of the Law is hot garbage. I haven't watch of Big Red's recent streams, so I don't know of he mentioned his opinion on the novel.

Still no reviews on Amazon, Barns & Noble, DriveThru RPG, or here in the forums.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

I mean, if you're not planning to buy it why do you care about reviews?

[The_Big_Red_Bear]

That makes the lack of reviews more conspicuous. I was hoping Big Red would have a review out by now. Then I remembered his new format is to have an author interview alongside the review, so he may be working on that in the background. Unless Letter of the Law is hot garbage. I haven't watch of Big Red's recent streams, so I don't know of he mentioned his opinion on the novel.

Still no reviews on Amazon, Barns & Noble, DriveThru RPG, or here in the forums.

Someone sent me this and I thought it was a comedy routine. Evidently not.

If you want to find out what happens lore-wise from a company you are boycotting, I can't help but ask what the point is? If you detest them enough to boycott them, you probably shouldn't care. Reviews don't matter at that point. If your hard pressed for what happens within, I recommend buying the book.

[Hotham]

I mean, if you're not planning to buy it why do you care about reviews?

The short and sweet of it is that I want to know what happens and I want to know people's opinion of the story.

The longer and more entertaining version is that after reading Hunting Season, I was thoroughly invested in the FWL plotline. More so than any other faction, but not exactly in a positive way. I think Hunting Season was a travesty of a Free Worlds League novel, not entirely by the fault of Mr. Lee. I feel the FWL as a faction has been neutered by the Wolf/ilClan metaplot, leaving little room for it to be proactive in the setting.

However, my biggest interest is Nikol Halas-Hughes Marik. I think Nikol is a brilliant character written completely by accident. That the way Nikol is portrayed in Hunting Season and Mr. Lee's intentions for how the character is portrayed is misaligned. I wanted to see how Mr. Lee progressed the character and if it was going to bad as I thought/hoped, or if I would be proven completely wrong.

Also, I want to know who the HECK is Makeda Kay.

Someone sent me this and I thought it was a comedy routine. Evidently not.

If you want to find out what happens lore-wise from a company you are boycotting, I can't help but ask what the point is? If you detest them enough to boycott them, you probably shouldn't care. Reviews don't matter at that point. If your hard pressed for what happens within, I recommend buying the book.

I don't believe it's necessary to cut myself off from the BattleTech setting just because I'm boycotting CGL products. I won't be buying ilKhan's Eyes Only, but I'll definitely be reading up on what happens in it. Just like people who will never play Jihad or Dark Age or buy those sourcebooks, but may want to look up certain events, units, or characters.

I won't be buying Letter of the Law, but since you recommend it, that gives me hope that maybe you are planning to review. If so, I look foward to your review.

[The_Big_Red_Bear]

There is not going to be a review of this book. I am saying however, if you want to find out what's inside of it, you should buy it.

[Hotham]

There is not going to be a review of this book. I am saying however, if you want to find out what's inside of it, you should buy it.

It's all good. Somebody started a Letter of the Law discussion thread. Weirdly enough, it's in the Inner Sphere section. I'll let it simmer and hopefully it'll gain traction by tomorrow.

EDIT: Nevermind, it's just someone asking about FWL history in relation to Letter of Law.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Nikol is in the novel, but she's not a major character in it.

[Hotham]

Nikol is in the novel, but she's not a major character in it.

That's a shame, but it does make sense. I suspect many of Letter of the Law's events run congruently with what happened in Hunting Season.

[Agathos]

It's set after Hunting Season, but if you're caught up on the events of Empire Alone, you have the outline. Just more details in the novel.

One thing I will say is that the combat feels dangerous. Some head hits, some failed PSRs to take damage on a fall. MechWarriors really get banged up in this one.

[Swankmotron]

The short and sweet of it is that I want to know what happens and I want to know people's opinion of the story.


I don't believe it's necessary to cut myself off from the BattleTech setting just because I'm boycotting CGL products.

Why a boycott? CGL is doing so much great stuff right now in the setting?

[Hotham]

It's set after Hunting Season, but if you're caught up on the events of Empire Alone, you have the outline. Just more details in the novel.

One thing I will say is that the combat feels dangerous. Some head hits, some failed PSRs to take damage on a fall. MechWarriors really get banged up in this one.

Thanks for the details. It looks like we finally have reviews, two on Amazon in the past couple of days. One critical and one positive. I found both of them are insightful. Shout out to CoffeeDavid for being the first person to review.

Why a boycott? CGL is doing so much great stuff right now in the setting?

Despite my criticisms of how the ilClan storyline is being set up, I have no problem with the setting. I love almost everything about BattleTech. Dark Age, Jihad, Republic of the Sphere, ProtoMechs, LAMs, Outworlds Alliance, Word of Blake, Clan Wolf, Peter Cobb, Nikol. I don't like Alaric Ward or Kym Hasek. I was onboard with the ilClan.

I'm boycotting because I don't like how CGL has been treating the community or the recent decisions that they've made. I'm willing go into detail if you want me to.

[Swankmotron]

I'm boycotting because I don't like how CGL has been treating the community or the recent decisions that they've made. I'm willing go into detail if you want me to.

This thread isn't the place for it. Please direct message me, because I've not seen any mistreatment or bad decisions. Everything has been running pretty well and the community has only gotten healthier in the last year or two.

[Hotham]

This thread isn't the place for it. Please direct message me, because I've not seen any mistreatment or bad decisions. Everything has been running pretty well and the community has only gotten healthier in the last year or two.

I agree, this thread isn't the best place for it. Which makes me curious as to why you asked.

As I said, I'm willing to go into detail, but not through direct messages. I would like our discussion to be in the open, where people can read the exchanges. I would prefer to create a separate thread in the Off-Topic section, but I don't think the forum moderators would go for that. I don't know if you have much personal interaction with the moderators as contracted writer, but maybe you can convince them to give me the greenlight or perhaps create the thread yourself and we can discuss from there.

I'll understand if that's not possible or undesirable for you. I personally would rather not have the discussion privately.

[BrianDavion]

I'm boycotting because I don't like how CGL has been treating the community or the recent decisions that they've made. I'm willing go into detail if you want me to.

taking a wild guess  You're European or Australian?

[Hotham]

taking a wild guess  You're European or Australian?

I am American.

[ActionButler]

Good lord.

Locked for review.

[ActionButler]

As an update, we are leaving this thread locked since the original question was largely answered. If someone does come across a review of Letter of the Law that they would like to share, you are more than welcome to start up a new thread.