Rating: 
Summary: A Silence In The Heavens Is Anything But Silent
Review: Any book line with such a long history and a fanatical following of readers will have problems involving new writers who continue to fail to read and recognize the origins of their new stories.A Silence in The Heavens is far better than the previous book Ruins of Power, however, this book seems to be more of a stand alone novel than the first of a trilogy. While the Mech battles are fast and furious, the storyline gets bogged down in the repetition of character description (Ok, we know Tara Campbell was a media darling as a child... must it be mentioned EVERY time someone meets her?) and political powerplays. The book also lacked the true feel of a story arc within the Clans (As if no mechwarrior has a nickname for their mech, everything was Ryoken II and Blade Mech and Hatchetman, etc. Extremely alienating). It lacked the amount of respect owed these great warriors, and made one of the most pivotal and defining moments thus far in this new galaxy into a mere four page side note. On the plus side, this book provided the first glimpses of bigger things to come, foreshadowing Liao involvement in the universe through the jaded memories of Paladin Ezekiel Crow. The description and character development of the Paladin provided more of a glimpse into the Republic of the Sphere, while also creating a sublime and secondary story-arc that can be continued in the future novels. While this book is a far cry from the horros of Ruins of Power... it remains below Ghost War and A Call To Arms in the Mechwarrior Universe... but the trilogy still has the potential to be a stellar success.
Rating: 
Summary: Dark Age- eh?
Review: As with most Battletech readers, when I heard about a whole new set of novels coming out, i thought, great.
But my god, what is this rubbish?
They made a little circle, called it the republic, and everyone gave up there mechs (which makes calling the series Mechwarriors pretty wierd).
All the good characters are gone, you hear a tiny bit about Victor Davion and his kids, but thats it.
The whole thing doesn't make any sence. If the Republic is falling apart, is the rest of the IS just watching? Who is incharge of the Great Houses? Why have the clans given up all their Mechs too? Doesn't that stop them being clansmen?
The whole of Mechwarrior DarkAge makes no sence, is badly explained, and ruined (for me atleast) the whole battletech series. After all, it takes some of the enjoyment out of reading the clasic Battletech books when you know that ultimatley every storyline in battletech doesn't follow on into this, evey plot, all the history, isn't reflected in anyway in the new Dark Age series.
I bought a load of these Dark Age books in one go, and I wish I'd just got one first, because I wouldn't have bought any others.
Anyone whole Likes Battletech, stay well away from these books. Complete Crap.
Rating: 
Summary: BattleTech needs to be cleand-up...
Review: Being a fan of BattleTech for over 10 years, I must say I've seen my share of good and bad novels, soucre books, games, etc... I was not very happy with the new Dark Age setting, as somet things just dont make too much sense (I am still struggling with the fact that some Clans - or maybe all - actually GAVE UP their mechs). I think there is a lack of consistency in this series - and this book. If A. Kerensky is such a good MW, she should have ripped the Paladin apart. Second, the Clans are depicted as rather naive - being tricked very easily. This may have been the case when they first invaded, but even in Classical Btech they learned lessons!! Did they actually FORGET everything? After living in the IS for decades, one would think they'd learn something about the people they live with. The story itself is not bad, but the action is little ridiculus.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good book.
Review: Finally, a bit of 'Mech action returns to the universe, despite the lack of quantity of 'Mechs. *spoilers ahead* Despite knowing the territory, I think the scout group was a little too cocky in trying to fool the Steel Wolves and that the Steel Wolves were stupid enough to see there was no Jupiter there. Why didn't they just send an aircraft over? In any case, it is a much much much better book than the abomination that was The Ruins of Power. I can't wait to see how the Steel Wolves manage to lose yet another campaign in the next book.
Rating:
Summary: MechWarrior Dark Age is back on track
Review: First off, I must say that I'm glad to see the MechWarrior books tying in with characters from the game. Tara Bishop graces us with her presence and we see the return of the Kerenskys once again. I was impressed and surprised to see Anastasia Kerensky's philosophy differed from the Warden Ulric that I knew and loved, but it makes for a much more twisted story. I was disappointed, though, to see the relative ease with which one of the main characters from the game was so removed from the MechWarrior Dark Age Universe and the fact that the Steel Wolves just can't seem to get a break. Maybe the people at WizKids are thinking that the Wolves were just too powerful in the previous story arcs, but I would like to see them win at least one battle!! The action in this book is good and I am looking forward to the sequel. I'm also hoping that we'll find out more about the Liao campaigns as the storyline progresses. For us old-timers, this book goes a ways to redeeming the storyline from The Ruins of Power novel. A good read overall.
Rating:
Summary: Skillful writing, good balance
Review: Having just read several of the "Mechwarrior: Dark Age" novels in the past few weeks, this one stands out as a journeyman piece of writing. It is certainly ahead of amateurish efforts like "the Ruins of Power." In DelRio's novel the descriptions are fresh and show a flair for fresh images, the characters are genuinely interesting and make sense, with sensible and believable motivations, and the books' "straight-ahead" plot draws us forward to learn the fate of Northwind. In case anyone cares, the title is taken from a line in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Much of the book's fascination comes with the clash of two well-drawn woman characters-- Anastasia Kerensky, who is also known as Tassa Kay, and Tara Campbell, the beautiful Dutchess of Northwind. The character of Tassa Kay comes forward from another "Mechwarrior: Dark Age" novel entitled "Call to Duty." She was the most interesting character in that novel, and she loses little of her luster here. Tassa/Anastasia is a warrior, but also a rather hot number with a flair for passionate, extracurricular love affairs. Since I really enjoyed this book, I will very much look forward to the second and third volumes of the trilogy. Yup, that's right-- this is the first book of a 3-volume trilogy. Probably the trilogy structure accounts for one of the greatest faults of "A Silence in the Heavens," which is the lame, unsatisfying ending. It is more a hiatus than a true ending, since the writer is priming us for the second novel. It probably should be mentioned that the book well balances "palace intrigue" against battle action. Two major battles are portrayed in detail as the author skillfully incorporates several points of view -- an infantryman's view, a tank commander's view, a mechwarrior's view, and the supreme commander's view. Some readers have complained about particular BattleTech novels as being starved for action scenes-- they will surely be satisfied with "A Silence in the Heavens." A good book. I eagerly await the remaining volumes of this trilogy. Patrick Callahan
Rating: 
Summary: Can't go wrong with a trilogy.
Review: I'm excited for a trilogy as I began reading BT with the Grey Death Trilogy (Decision at Thunderrift, Mercenary's Star, & Price of Glory) and hundreds of dollars later I'm still hooked. By the way, I noticed someone asked what happned to the Grey Death (as well as other groups and people) and you should read 'Mechwarrior: The Dying Time.' You can also catch what happened to them when you play MW: Mercenaries. If you choose the Grey Death as your sponsor and follow a path that lands you in Katrina's camp, you'll hear something very interesting at the beginning of one of the missions on Hesperus II that is a direct reference to the events in 'The Dying Time.' Any way, Amazon.com would like me to review 'Silence in the Heavens.' Delrio does an excellent job unraveling some of what the "Dark Age universe" is all about. He explains the HPG breakdown, the role of prefects & prefectures, role of paladins (no Knights though), etc. We are also introduced to characters with a lot more depth (i.e. Tara Campbell, Paladin Crow, Will Elliot, Colonel Griffin, Anastasia Kerensky, etc). The book begins with a look at the life of Will Elliot; a knowledgable wilderness guide put out of work due to cutbacks (the HPG network has slowed business down as less offworlders are likely to visit). He finds work in the military where he becomes a scout and befriends Jock & Lexa making for an unlikely but entertaining trio. I hope all 3 survive the trilogy. The only thing I don't like about Will's character is his vocal assurrance to his friends that he knows the surrounding forest like the back of his hand. I found myself saying, "I think Jock & Lexa know by now that you know where you are going even when it is dark, you don't have to keep telling them." Duchess Tara Campbell is Prefect of Prefecture III after the previous Prefect decides to take off and start her own faction (the Dragon's Fury). Delrio explains through the voices of the clan characters that Tara Campbell is a formidable warrior and such but I am still unclear as to the politics involved in electing one to the rank of Prefect. I don't mind that kind of explanation, it's what made the original BT series so interesting; a balance of action & politics. Without spending too much more time on this book, go pick it up. The end battle is written in an intersting manner. When one side does soemthing, you are immediately in the opposite camp reading how they reactt to it and what their next move is and it goes on like this back and forth. It could be annoying by not leaving anything to our imaginations but the battles are so small (relatively speaking; it's not like full RCT's fighting) that the story would be much, much shorter if you told it from one side only. But I do see that that could give you the opportunity to go into greater detail. Bottom line, I look forward to the other two books in this trilogy. Maybe the title will make more sense to me (Proving Grounds? Silence in the Heavens?).
Rating:
Summary: Now I get it! *slaps head*
Review: My biggest problem with Ghost War, Mike Stackpole's Dark AGe book, was that i didn't have a frigging clue what was going on most of the time. I'm an avid BattleTech reader, and I pretty much have what went on in THAT Series down pat, so when Mikey boy comes up and tells me my favorite characters are all dead (Damnit, I LIKED Andy redburn and Morgan Allard and Phelan Ward!) I got kind of miffed. When he told me "hey guess what, there's a new government in place!" but didn't exactly explain what was going on, I got totally lost. Prefect whaa? Exarch who? Why is this paladin and his ONE battleMech so important? Wouldn't sending a regiment of the Crucius Lancers be a better idea? Okay. Now enter this book. Suddenly, things seem more clear to me. So everyone GAVE UP their mechs!! The Paladins are the MechWarriors of these times! NOW I get it! Martin DelRio explains most of the new world very, very well. Now, as to the book itself. It's written in a very different style from most of the BattleTech books. It characterizes the foot soldiers as more important, has them playing an active role. The descriptions are no more then necessary, and there is actual HUMOR, and a good deal of it, present in the book. I laughed out loud several times, something that usually only Mike Stackpole was able to do regarding B-tech. You will too, probably. The plot is...straightforward. It would have been a LOT better, the plot anyway, if he hadn't told us what was going on on both sides. SImply put, the Steel Wolves versus the planet of Northwind. Simple, right? Yep. If he'd kept it strictly to one side or the other, he would have had a very good element of mystery added into the story. However, knowing what was going on in both side's heads, I could pretty accurately predict what was going to happen, except at the end. It's written in a lighthearted way that I can appreciate, instead of taking itself so seriously like SOME of the B-tech authors do. Overall, 4/5. Plotline lacks the element of mystery and surprise, but the book is FUN. Definately read it. The one question that the book failed to answer... WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE HIGHLANDERS?!
Rating:
Summary: Now I get it! *slaps head*
Review: My biggest problem with Ghost War, Mike Stackpole's Dark AGe book, was that i didn't have a frigging clue what was going on most of the time. I'm an avid BattleTech reader, and I pretty much have what went on in THAT Series down pat, so when Mikey boy comes up and tells me my favorite characters are all dead (Damnit, I LIKED Andy redburn and Morgan Allard and Phelan Ward!) I got kind of miffed. When he told me "hey guess what, there's a new government in place!" but didn't exactly explain what was going on, I got totally lost. Prefect whaa? Exarch who? Why is this paladin and his ONE battleMech so important? Wouldn't sending a regiment of the Crucius Lancers be a better idea? Okay. Now enter this book. Suddenly, things seem more clear to me. So everyone GAVE UP their mechs!! The Paladins are the MechWarriors of these times! NOW I get it! Martin DelRio explains most of the new world very, very well. Now, as to the book itself. It's written in a very different style from most of the BattleTech books. It characterizes the foot soldiers as more important, has them playing an active role. The descriptions are no more then necessary, and there is actual HUMOR, and a good deal of it, present in the book. I laughed out loud several times, something that usually only Mike Stackpole was able to do regarding B-tech. You will too, probably. The plot is...straightforward. It would have been a LOT better, the plot anyway, if he hadn't told us what was going on on both sides. SImply put, the Steel Wolves versus the planet of Northwind. Simple, right? Yep. If he'd kept it strictly to one side or the other, he would have had a very good element of mystery added into the story. However, knowing what was going on in both side's heads, I could pretty accurately predict what was going to happen, except at the end. It's written in a lighthearted way that I can appreciate, instead of taking itself so seriously like SOME of the B-tech authors do. Overall, 4/5. Plotline lacks the element of mystery and surprise, but the book is FUN. Definately read it. The one question that the book failed to answer... WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE HIGHLANDERS?!
Rating:
Summary: Closer but still not in the Battletech league
Review: This book came the closest to recreating the Battletech mystique that many readers have come to love and respect. They have finally started a thread of a story line that can be followed and expanded into a full series. But did they have to steal from themselves by having the daughter or granddaughter of Natasha Kerensky act as a spy for the Clans while pretending to be a mercenary??? Which leads me to one last complaint. Is any one else getting frustrated that they have not explaned what has happened to the cast of characters from the Battletech universe. What happened to Vlad Ward and Katrina Steiner-Davion, Phaln Kell and the Wolves in Exile, The Grey Death Legion, the Wolf Dragoons. the Kell Hounds, Etc and I could go on. They dropped us into a new story without resolving issues from the old one. I hope one of the upcoming books wraps up some of these questions, because they haunt me when I read this new series.
| 
