Rating: 
Summary: worse
Review: I thought that Battletech novels had hit an all time low with 'SWORD AND FIRE'. I was wrong. This represents the new achievment for poorly written Sci-Fi. If you stick this book Next to ANYTHING written by Michael Stackpole, you will kill your self laughing. Give us Stackpole, Charrette and Coleman.
Rating: 
Summary: 31 Century Mayhem!
Review: Imagine warfare in the 31st century. Do you imagine the slow lumbering tanks of today, or huge bipedal war machines with birdlike agility? In the Battletech trilogy the latter is what it's all about. Shadows of War is the sixth novel in the Twilight of the Clans series. Twilight of the Clans is about the downfall of clan Smoke Jaguar, but in Shadows of War the Jaguars give the Inner Sphere a hard pounding. The last five chapters are all nonstop action! There is one disadvantage though, the absence of illustrations makes it hard to envision some of the mechs. But in the back of the book are pictures of the most common mechs and vehicles! Shadows of War is a very exiting addition to the Battletech trilogy.
Rating: 
Summary: Must've been written by an Inner Sphere author
Review: Just finished this one. Gressman is a weaker author than Stackpole, by far, but I enjoy his work much more than Thurstons. The story is enjoyable, but lacks some credibility. Some of the battles or one on one fights left me saying "no way," or "just silly." Most annoying to me in the whole series has been the *lack* of information on the Inner Sphere side of the annihalation of Clan Smoke Jaguar. It's alluded to this novel, when remnants of the Smoke Jaguars come limping home from a beating given by Prince Victor, but that's it. What is probably the greatest Inner Sphere battles and history is totally glossed over. (Maybe they're leaving it for Stackpole(?)) Still, like all the Twilight of the Clans series, it's a must read to keep up on the events of Operation Serpent and Operation Bulldog. A word of warning: DO NOT read the little advert for Prince of Havoc in the back of this book; to my mind it gives some major spoilers for the upcoming novel by Stackpole.
Rating: 
Summary: Bloody slaughter and too many questions unanswered.
Review: Of all the books of the Twilight of Clans series, this is for sure the most martial one. Sure, some of the other books really lacked mech combat, but in this case, mass didn't mean style. Okay, a point was to be made: Warfare is brutal, bloody and no sports and in order to justify Victor S-Davion's campaign of annihilation of CSJ, his message had to be delivered with such a slaughter (on both sides) on CSJ's homeworld. And the tense timeline of this fierce battle and the dynamics of those brutal fights are a good base to get the reader's attention. But, the way Gressman describes mech combat seriously lacks the originality and depths of other btech authors (like i.e. the early Stackpole warrior trilogy). Here it's simply a chaotic string of oftenly unrelated scenes of mech combat. This woulda been accetable if Gressman had stuck with a few main characters, but alas he more than once introduces combatants in a passage and never mentions the same character again, leaving the reader wondering what happened to them. Even worse, he neglects the fate of main characters and of complete mech units. For example Russou Howell, who had been built up as main protagonist in 2-3 of the former novels just gets 2 short appearances. Or, what happened to saKhan Brandon Howell, who was skilled enough to be the only CSJ leader not to completely fail at Tukayid (InvClansSB)? What impact did the IS' reserve units have after they got summoned to reinforce the 2 main groups? Etc... Questions over questions - and not every one gets (satisfactorily) answered in the short final passages when Victor's forces arrive and the battle is decided rather abruptly. Contrary to other reader's comments I liked Gressman's detailed logistical descriptions in 'The Hunters' and he was good at that. But here, I just got the impression that Gressman either had to hurry to finish the assault on Diana or that he simply lacks the skill to span a coherent story line for such large scale mech battles. And that's what Btech is about: Mech combat. And therefore only 2 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Carbon Copy Battles, No real intrigue, bring back Stackpole
Review: Oh well, not too bad, but where is the personal touch of individuals with other individuals. Gressman is OK but he's no Stackpole. An oh by the way WHAT the H*LL is happening with Victor Davion????
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book, mediocre ending
Review: Overall, this is a good book that well portrays the horrors of war. It is well written, and one is never quite sure who is going to win the final battle on the Clan home world. The characters are well written and act more like real people, instead of superhuman characters who have no negative emotions or thoughts. The storyline is well laid out and flows very well. The only problem with the book was the ending, because just as the Clanners are about to win, reinforcements arrive from the now 2 year old Star League. This causes the end to degenerate into a "cavalry to the rescue" scenario.
Rating:
Summary: Shadows of War was Great!!!
Review: Shadows of War was a very good book if you are looking for constant action. Unlike Grave Covenent (Twilight of the Clans II), this one is filled with suspense and an overall mood that says, "What the heck are we going to get through this?!" Its great and a definite must read. One bad thing about it is that the ending is rather disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent and well paced
Review: The last Gressman book left some huge voids and chasms, only it seems for this one to fill. Everything negative in my review about #5 seems to have been addressed here. The story is involving, the combats are alive, and before you know it you're done the whole book. Can't wait for Prince of Havoc (last word December...).
Rating:
Summary: THE BEST BATTLETECH BOOK EVER!!!
Review: The ultimate Battle Tech book ever, with pure senseless violence. It's so interesting that I finished it in a day. A MUST READ!
Rating:
Summary: Decent, but not as good as the others
Review: This book was a good try, but some of the chapters were a little slow. Also, am I to believe that despite their better technology, skills, and warrior spirit, the Jaguars are beaten on a rather consistant basis by the "inferior" Inner Sphere forces(this is a problem in other BT series too)? Anyway, the book is worth reading, but I hope the next one is better. Maybe this time the clans will actually kick some butt too.
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