Rating: 
Summary: The Clans continue to crumble
Review: 2.5 stars
After launching their invasion of the Inner Sphere, the Clans have steadily disintegrated. Trent of the Smoke Jaguars is caught up in this decline and his life story is a microcosm of the Clan deterioration.
The Clans were founded on idealistic principles. Trent reflects:
"Nicholas Kerensky, the founder of the Clans, had envisioned a society where only warriors engaged in combat and the rules of warfare were honored by all. Where truth and justice were tested on the field of battle. Right and wrong were clear-cut, determined by prowess shown in trials of combat."
When the Clans sought to conquer the Inner Sphere, they faced a crisis of purpose. They split into two factions. The Crusaders want to conquer Terra and rule the Inner Sphere. The Wardens want to protect the Inner Sphere against outside enemies. The split later caused the Jade Falcons Clan and Wolves Clan to nearly destroy each other.
The Clans lost on Tukayyid, forcing them to accept a humiliating 15 year truce. Further divisiveness split the Clans. The young generations are raised to love combat, and to prove themselves in conquest. Denied the chance to find glory, and thereby stripped of their very identities, they blamed the warriors who failed on Tukayyid. Trent was one of the warriors involved in this fiasco, and is hated by nearly everyone.
The Jaguars, hidebound to their rules of war and their will to dominate, expect captured civilians to support them willingly. They do not understand that Sphere citizens despise the Clans and their ruthless society. The Jaguars will commit atrocities against rebelling populations. Trent is caught up in these acts.
Exodus Road maintains this theme of destructive energy eating Clan society from within.
Another prevalent theme is crisis of honor. Trent is the standard honorable man who questions his cruel society. He is an amazing warrior who respects the value of human life. He is fair in battle and honest. His fellow Jaguars, particularly two of his commanding officers, are despicable and psychotic. They use dirty politics, deceit, and sabotage against fellow Jaguars. I found the contrast between Trent and the others to be too exaggerated. Pardoe seemed intent on eliminating any ambiguity about Trent's hero status. Trent watches his enemies commit increasingly evil acts until he is clearly justified in taking action.
The story was interesting, but rather rushed. Only a few characters were fleshed out, and the rest were forgettable. The obligatory romance was neither romantic nor interesting.
Though I did not like Pardoe's writing style in Highlander Gambit, he did an excellent job here. His prose is sharp and active. It flows well and moves quickly. The hand-to-hand combat scenes were intense. The exciting `Mech battles draw the reader into the brutal slugfest of the 12 meter killing machines.
Exodus Road is one of the better Battletech books that I have read. It maintains intensity and has a fairly good story. It provides great material about the Clans and it sets the stage for the popular Twilight of the Clans story arc.
Rating: 
Summary: A great book.
Review: A very interesting book. It shows that even the clans are very human. They even have their bad days. This book did not take me too long to read. I finished it under two hours. This is a book to get.
Rating: 
Summary: The kind of book worth reading.
Review: Although im generally partiall to box office writers such as clancy,Grisham and crichton.I must admit for a freelancer,Blaine lee did a good job,He keeps you entertained,interested,and basiclly hooked...As all good writers do.If your into battletech,this is a book worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: A good intro to the Twilight of the Clans.
Review: Dispite what some to the other reviewers said, this is a good book, and it deserves some notice, even if it isn't as good as Pardoe's other two books, Highlander Gambit and Impetus of War. The Smoke Jaguars are not very honorable, their orbital bombardment of Edo on Turtle Bay made that clear, and the story's main character, Trent, feels out of place. When his bondsman turns out to be a ROM agent, he agrees to help her find the location of Huntress, the Smoke Jaguar homeworld. Trent does this because he feels (rightly) that the Smoke Jaguars have betrayed Kerinsky's vision of the clans. I can easily see the way the Jags could have become political backstabbing freebirths, their behavior during the invasion of the Inner Sphere shows this, especially their "take no prisoners and kill the noncombatants first" attitude. Trent, of course, feels that there is no honor to be gained (and even honor lost) in killing unarmed civilians and he protests his commander's dishonorable behavior throughout the book.By the way, the Jade Falcons are a lot more honorable that the Jags ever will be, though the best and most powerful clan is obviously Clan Ghost Bear.
Rating:
Summary: An ok start to a good series
Review: Exodus road was ok for a start of this great series. As of now I'm about to read Freebirth, the fourth book of the series. In my opinion, Blaine Pardoe did a good job at representing what a disgraced clan warrior would have go through and the degrading a freebirth bondsman must go through.
Rating:
Summary: Exodus Road
Review: For all you Smoke Jaguar fans, that feel you havent gotten enough from FASA, or that they simply forget them, this book is for you. This book is 100% Smoke Jaguar Authentic:) Blaine Lee Pardoe will always have my respect for this book. In a series of novels dominated by Inner Sphere biased authors, only one other author has dedicated his work to the Clans, Robert Thurston. We need more authors like Thurston who bring us the Clans, for he cant do it alone. Now, Blaine Pardoe has for at least this one book, brought us that. To Jaguar fans, the circumstances of the book might not be so well with you, though I hate the circumstances, it is my absolute favorite book. We start with Star Captain Trent of the 267th Battle Cluster, a Smoke Jaguar veteran of the bloodbath of Tukayyid. Deeply scarred and humiliated, he defeats a ComGuard named Judith, and claims her as his Bondsman, making her a Smoke Jaguar. Trent loves his honor, and values honor and the Way of The Clans more than anything else. One day, he ends up transfered to the 3rd Jaguar Cavaliers, of Star Colonel Paul Moon, a bitter and skilled Elemental infantryman. Moon hates Trent unlike anything else, and will do anything he can to get rid of Trent. Trent's honor and his obedience to the Clan Way is suddenly interrupted by political maneuvering and corruption all the way to the Khan of the Clan, making Trent wonder where his Clan is going. Meanwhile, Trent's new friend and tech, Judith, though now loyal to the Smoke Jaguars, offers Trent a new way, also benefitting her own goals. Trent now has to chose between two extremes: Loyalty to a Clan that hates him and who he feels has betrayed the Clan Way, OR seeking his own honor and still adhering to the Clan Way, just not in his own Clan....
Rating:
Summary: Awsome and belivable
Review: Great book, but Pardoe's representation of the Smoke Jaguars is really thin. The Smoke Jaguar's are the most honor bound clan in the universe and one would not submit to propaganda to destroy a warior. Such matters would be delt with on the battlefeild. But otherwise a key turning point in the BattleTech Universe.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book.
Review: Hello, first to comment to the first review on this page, that Blaine Lee Pardoe wrote this, not Micheal Stackpole, you are reading 'Grave Covenant' :). This was a well written book, but some of the clan customs of the Jaguars are stretched thin, but still belivable. A well written book, that makes me want to read the next 4 books as soon as possible.
Rating:
Summary: So far so good....
Review: I have not yet finshed the book but so far it is very good.I as soon as i finsh it i will write a better review.
Rating: 
Summary: Downright lowly stravag who should be a vile freebirth!
Review: I haven't been reading much about Clan Smoke Jaguar but so far as my impression of this clan that it is one who practises favourism as in the case of Paul Moon in this book and it's a pack of shod down warriors who think they can overrun the Crusaders Clan, Clan Jade Falcon, as easily as storming Iron Hold. Trueborn Warrior Trent, failed in his mission on Tukkayid,and should by right be assigned to a solahma unit but heaven knew what the Jaguars were thinkin and assigned him to another unit! It is unthinkable for a Clanner to even fall in love with a freebirth let alone betray their Clan and reveal the homeworlds to the Inner Sphere stravags and Trent is guilty of both! Jez should have let him get buried underneath those Inner Sphere Mechs' feet long ago at Tukayyid. This is one Warrior who doesn't deserve another chance at a honorable death.
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