Rating: 
Summary: It's about time!!!!!!
Review: As a fan of the Capellan Confedration and Sun-Tzu Liao this book really appealed to me. Mostly all the other b-tech book portray Sun-Tzu and the Confederation as fanatics and as an evil that must be stopped by the heroic Federated Commonwealth. This book tells a Capellan side of the story and portrays Sun-Tzu not as a maniac but as a great leader who wants to regain his lost realm. If your a fan of the Confederation GRAB THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Rating:
Summary: the best of the last five or six BT books
Review: Coleman does a great job!!! A must read for all battletech fans. Good mixture of action and intrigue. Now you have a reason to hate Sun-Tzu. He is a real Successor Lord -- has power and knows how to use it to get what he wants. This is the type of book BattleTech readers should be able to expect from FASA. Stackpole and Thurston take notice.
Rating: 
Summary: Extremely Well Done Cliffhanger
Review: Coleman has written a great book and a cliffhanger to boot! I bought this book when it came out and by the time I had finished it I was already waiting anxiously for the next one to come out. The book portrays a side of Sun-Tzu Liao that we have not seen in the Battletech books before. I hope the conclusion was as good as this one was.
Rating:
Summary: Ambitious effort results in great novel
Review: Coleman is really starting to show his skill at telling a complicated story. In this novel he bounces all around the Capellan Confederation and the St. Ives Compact, following some old favorite characters and some new ones as they square off in a political turf war. I may have lost count, but you follow at least six "threads" throughout this novel. Coleman has done a good job balancing political intrigue and down and dirty fighting. Just when you tire of schemes within schemes, along comes a 'mech battle to brighten your day. One word of warning: if you've already purchased and read the Shattered Sphere sourcebook, then you already know the major plot twists in this novel. BUT, even if you do know them you will probably still enjoy this book as there are plenty of little twists and turns to keep you guessing. Why not five stars? I needed more development of Isis Marik to make me completely happy. C'mon! We know what everybody else is thinking, why not her?
Rating:
Summary: As good as Stackpole!
Review: For all those fans who didn't think any other BTech author could hold a candle to good ol' Mike Stackpole -- check this out. Masterfully written; Coleman proves he can handle an epic storyline while maintaining the "flavor" of the universe. My only complaint is that I have to wait for the sequel.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed!
Review: I am really disappointed by this book.Sun Tzu is still hungry for power and does not care the least bit for his people! The first new elected Star Lord is the first one to abuse that position, too. I know the result of this two book "solution" and hope he will pay for that. The authors really do have problems: they do not know enough of militarian behaviour. To make their goals available - most of the time against all odds - the heroes must be nearly unbeatable or "immortal" and the opponents must act stupid! The CC was the smallest of the "big Houses" and owned a downed military. So how does it come to that famous victories for them? ==> Shifting the odds (by the author)! Once I liked the CC for its exotic and religious ways and the peace!!full way of Asian philosophy (even the mad ancestors did not threaten that image) but this Sun Tzu is one to cast away! I hope that the new Precentor Martialum will pay him back within 10 books! It would be justice!
Rating: 
Summary: Stackpole-ish, which is good!
Review: I just can't get into the Capellans, but that aside, its a well written story with just the right amount of credible mech battles (as credible as mech battles can get!), which is what I mean by "Stackpole-ish." Like it or not, Stackpole is *the* BTech measuring stick, and no-one's measured up yet. Some have come close, and I'd have to include this novel and author. The difference is Stackpole clearly writes to an adult audience, the other authors are less clear in who they're writing to. Mostly adolescents I'd speculate. This one falls into the latter category too. Some of the main characters aren't more than two-dimensional, and it's just an overall light read, but hey, this is BattleTech, a series based on a game; we don't read it expecting Tolstoy, we read it for a quick diversion and visit to a "cool" universe where "giant robot-like" war machines blow each other to smithereens. This one's a good lunch-time read.
Rating:
Summary: The Capellans return at the helm of a sane ruler... sweet...
Review: Is it not hard to imagine the Capellan Confederation rising up as a strong Successor State again? Loren Coleman is striving to make it believable. Sun-Tzu Liao has decided to make a sort of movement, Xin-Sheng (rebirth in Chinese). He is increasing patriotism across the Confederation, and has just started a campaign to reclaim lost worlds from the 4th Succession War: the St. Ives Compact. The story revolves around the struggles of Aris Sung, Maurice Fitzgerald, Warner Doles and Cassandra Allard-Liao, with Sun-Tzu and Isis Marik providing the backbone of the plot. A must for all BTech readers!
Rating:
Summary: The Capellans return at the helm of a sane ruler... sweet...
Review: Is it not hard to imagine the Capellan Confederation rising up as a strong Successor State again? Loren Coleman is striving to make it believable. Sun-Tzu Liao has decided to make a sort of movement, Xin-Sheng (rebirth in Chinese). He is increasing patriotism across the Confederation, and has just started a campaign to reclaim lost worlds from the 4th Succession War: the St. Ives Compact. The story revolves around the struggles of Aris Sung, Maurice Fitzgerald, Warner Doles and Cassandra Allard-Liao, with Sun-Tzu and Isis Marik providing the backbone of the plot. A must for all BTech readers!
Rating: 
Summary: Fine writing, boring book
Review: The book was written well, but overall...it was really a VERY non-important part of the BTech universe. I kind of see the book as a waste, becuase it kind of re-covers events during Operation Serpant that really didn't matter. The whole book could have been summed up in a few sentances. No surprises or big events here...really a yawn. However, it was written well...if that means anything. But, i you enjoy the would-be exploits (there really were only a ew skirmishes) of some no-name pilots from Liao...you may enjoy it.
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