<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: NorthWind Highlanders in a jam
Review: After reading this book the Northwind Highlanders are stuck into a big jam as a true-blood clanner gets [mad]and a missing Paldian goes somewhere not know weather he is coming back or not. The Galaxy Commander is bent on teaching a lesson to Countess Cambell, she as lost the sight the true clanner. Even thou it doesn't show the GC in true clan format It does show what has happened to the clanner after years of piece. Great twists Mr. Delrio keep up the great wiriting.
Rating:
Summary: The Delrio Team Comes Through With A Big One!!!
Review: Finally, after one horrible novel (Ruins of Power) and one so-so novel (A Silence In The Heavens), the new Mechwarrior line has once again reached the platinum standard with Truth and Shadows.Lost from the previous book in the trilogy is all of the self-brooding and what has been found are some familiar names such as "Dagger" Di Jones, Captain Tara Bishop, and "One Eyed" Jack Farrel with his mercenary company aka The Band of Five. Anastasia Kerensky remains the ultimate evil, only submersing herself in her Tassa Kay persona once for a very public hanging, but in the shadows lurks a greater evil that looks to ally itself with Kerensky and acts as a secret benefactor. Will Elliot and his infantry are once again thrust into these decisive battles, but here they are no longer the green troopers from the first book, but veteran soldiers who have some fire time under their belts. As for Paladin Ezekiel Crow, he remains the brooding stalwart of emotional detachment until his walls are broken down adn we can see exactly how human he really is. This revelation will shock followers of not only the book line but the game story as well, especially with the upcoming release of the new expansion set Liao Incursion. Once the truth is pulled from the shadows, it will surely upend everything that we have come to know in the last year as the Republic of the Sphere and the veil of infallibility that seemingly shoruds their paladins. The book does start of relatively slowly, but by Chapter 6 the pace has picked up nicely. There is mech on mech action and infantry on mech action, and even VTOL on VTOL action. Although it is still in small amounts, the quality is superb. This book is a definite read for any Mechwarrior/Battletech fan.
Rating: 
Summary: I really dislike this new series
Review: I understand that the old world of battletech is dead and buried, but this new series is crap. It is poorly writen with little to no action and predictable plot twists. I hate the fact that they have thrown loyal readers into the battletech universe 50 or so years in the future with no explaining what happened to the main charaters from the civil war/clan era. Victor is brought up in Ghost War and has never been brought up again. What happened to Vlad and Katrina, Phalen Kell and the Wolves in Exile, the Clans themesleves, Kai Allard-Lao and so on. People invested years in getting to know these characters and now they are forgotten.
My biggest problem is the lack of action in these books. I don't care about retrofitted agromechs and VTOL's and groundpounders. I want 100 ton mechs blowing each other up and vicious political fighting going on in the background.
Rating:
Summary: I really dislike this new series
Review: I understand that the old world of battletech is dead and buried, but this new series is crap. It is poorly writen with little to no action and predictable plot twists. I hate the fact that they have thrown loyal readers into the battletech universe 50 or so years in the future with no explaining what happened to the main charaters from the civil war/clan era. Victor is brought up in Ghost War and has never been brought up again. What happened to Vlad and Katrina, Phalen Kell and the Wolves in Exile, the Clans themesleves, Kai Allard-Lao and so on. People invested years in getting to know these characters and now they are forgotten.
My biggest problem is the lack of action in these books. I don't care about retrofitted agromechs and VTOL's and groundpounders. I want 100 ton mechs blowing each other up and vicious political fighting going on in the background.
Rating: 
Summary: Tangled Web of Betrayal
Review: Truth and Shadows is the second book of the "Proving Grounds Trilogy" and follows "A Silence in the Heavens." I liked "Silence" very much. I was glad to see that Truth and Shadows carries forward the plot very well. More battles take place in a campaign by the Steel Wolves to conquer Northwind, but this time the war undergoes some original and unexpected turns. For example, you will be surprised to discover where the Wolves have hidden their dropships-- but I won't spoil the story by telling you. Characters are very interesting. We learn a lot more about Ezekiel Crow. He turns out to be more complex than he seemed at first-- not just a "boy scout" type of straight arrow. In fact, he acts decisively in Truth and Shadows -- to find out whether he is a good guy or a villain, or how to interpret his actions, we will need the third and final novel of the trilogy-- not yet published. The three motley "ground pounders" have now been promoted to sergeants, but still function wonderfully to bring us the dust and noise of battle from a grassroots view. All in all, author Delrio is to be commended for flowing the second book naturally from the first-- using the larger canvas to brush in more enriching details. The Prefect, Duchess Tara Campbell, never comes alive for me too well, but her aide-de-camp, Captain Tara Bishop, emerges as a very interesting and important character. Another well-drawn character is the civilian medic who is taken as a bondsman by Anastasia Kerensky. This character, Ian Murchison, promises to have a major part in the coming third and final novel. Anastasia Kerensky is her evil and sexy best-- her rock-star leathers display a figure that could cause a bishop to kick out a stained glass window. She's tougher, crueler, and lovelier than any of the other Steel Wolves she rules. She doesn't get as much play as in "Silence," but where she does appear she really steals the spotlight. Part angel, part devil, she both kills and loves without mercy and without regret. Truly a classic femme fatale. Mr. Delrio, give us more of her! One quirk of the book that struck me is the abrupt way it ends. Many trilogies end each separate volume with some sort of reconciliation, some semi- or tentative conclusion. This book just slams on the brakes with little logic. Suddenly, one of the combatants just states, "okay, back off, cease hostilities." We know this is just a pause in the war, and it seems unmotivated. Possibly Mr. Delrio checked the word count of the manuscript, figured out he had penned the necessary 280 pages or so, and said, "hey-- time to go fishing." I wish he had shaped the ending of this book more skillfully. Especially since the third book -- which will clear up all the dangling loose ends-- is almost certainly some months away. The way Delrio writes, one gets a real sense of the mud, the pain, the laser smoke, the fatigue of a major battle. Delrio may have some military background, or, if not, he has certainly done his homework. He makes the battlefield seem very real and very gripping. I have read all but one of the new MechWarrior Dark Age series of novels. A couple of the others were pretty good-- and, alas, a couple were simply awful. Delrio's efforts are definitely right up there with the very best. With Delrio and Coleman writing more novels in the new series, I have hopes some good reading is in store for us. An excellent entertainment, and I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Tangled Web of Betrayal
Review: Truth and Shadows is the second book of the "Proving Grounds Trilogy" and follows "A Silence in the Heavens." I liked "Silence" very much. I was glad to see that Truth and Shadows carries forward the plot very well. More battles take place in a campaign by the Steel Wolves to conquer Northwind, but this time the war undergoes some original and unexpected turns. For example, you will be surprised to discover where the Wolves have hidden their dropships-- but I won't spoil the story by telling you. Characters are very interesting. We learn a lot more about Ezekiel Crow. He turns out to be more complex than he seemed at first-- not just a "boy scout" type of straight arrow. In fact, he acts decisively in Truth and Shadows -- to find out whether he is a good guy or a villain, or how to interpret his actions, we will need the third and final novel of the trilogy-- not yet published. The three motley "ground pounders" have now been promoted to sergeants, but still function wonderfully to bring us the dust and noise of battle from a grassroots view. All in all, author Delrio is to be commended for flowing the second book naturally from the first-- using the larger canvas to brush in more enriching details. The Prefect, Duchess Tara Campbell, never comes alive for me too well, but her aide-de-camp, Captain Tara Bishop, emerges as a very interesting and important character. Another well-drawn character is the civilian medic who is taken as a bondsman by Anastasia Kerensky. This character, Ian Murchison, promises to have a major part in the coming third and final novel. Anastasia Kerensky is her evil and sexy best-- her rock-star leathers display a figure that could cause a bishop to kick out a stained glass window. She's tougher, crueler, and lovelier than any of the other Steel Wolves she rules. She doesn't get as much play as in "Silence," but where she does appear she really steals the spotlight. Part angel, part devil, she both kills and loves without mercy and without regret. Truly a classic femme fatale. Mr. Delrio, give us more of her! One quirk of the book that struck me is the abrupt way it ends. Many trilogies end each separate volume with some sort of reconciliation, some semi- or tentative conclusion. This book just slams on the brakes with little logic. Suddenly, one of the combatants just states, "okay, back off, cease hostilities." We know this is just a pause in the war, and it seems unmotivated. Possibly Mr. Delrio checked the word count of the manuscript, figured out he had penned the necessary 280 pages or so, and said, "hey-- time to go fishing." I wish he had shaped the ending of this book more skillfully. Especially since the third book -- which will clear up all the dangling loose ends-- is almost certainly some months away. The way Delrio writes, one gets a real sense of the mud, the pain, the laser smoke, the fatigue of a major battle. Delrio may have some military background, or, if not, he has certainly done his homework. He makes the battlefield seem very real and very gripping. I have read all but one of the new MechWarrior Dark Age series of novels. A couple of the others were pretty good-- and, alas, a couple were simply awful. Delrio's efforts are definitely right up there with the very best. With Delrio and Coleman writing more novels in the new series, I have hopes some good reading is in store for us. An excellent entertainment, and I highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Suspension of disbelief
Review: Uh, did anyone find it a little wierd how Anastasia got away from Paladin Crow in the first novel. Apparently after their climatic duel, in which Crow overloaded her Ryoken by stroking it with lightning, he let her go free. Picture this, Crow brings the Ryoken crashing down, and does not come to Tara's aid against the IndustrialMech's because he's guarding the Ryoken. Tara finally gets out of her predicament, and Crow tells her to come see what he's caught. THEN, suddenly the Steel Wolves are leaving the planet, and we are supposed to just ASSUME that the DEACTIVATED Ryoken just got back up, said adieu to the Paladin and joined her buddies off planet? Talk about wierd! Other than that little quirk, the second book is pretty good, and if you can handle a little suspension of disbelief, you'll be fine.
<< 1 >>
| 
