Rating: 
Summary: A Strong Start, But a Weak Finish
Review: "Test of Vengeance" is a tale told from the viewpoint of Jake Kabrinski, an Elemental officer in Clan Ghost Bear. The world of Battletech is filled with massive Mechs which can tower 12 meters high. Elementals are Clan warriors who are genetically gifted with height and muscle, and who wear powered body armor.Jake is a warrior who has never known true loss or defeat. But, as the saying goes, there's always someone better out there, something Jake will discover. How he deals with this revelation is the crux of this story. Jake's story is set against the backdrop of the Ghost Bear's reaction to a rogue Draconis' Combine's unit's attack on the GB's new capitol of Alshain. There is also opportunism on the part of the crusader branch of the splintered Clan Wolf, resulting in treachery by Clan Hells Horses, mortal enemies of the Ghost Bears, especially the HH Khan, Malavai Fletcher, the mad, maimed leader of Hells Horses. This novel started off strong, but dealt fairly poorly with Jake's reaction, IMHO. There was a credibility problem with a certain military action set in space. No Combat Aerospace Patrol, apparently. It is a daring piece of well written action. The problem is that it's just not believable. The biggest problem of this book is the end. Far to much is reaveled about certain future actions and events, without offering any followup. And a followup with certain characters, to see their reaction to Jake's maturation is not included, as it should have been. This book will still be liked by most fans of the series, and it offers a nice glimpse from the infantry point of view, instead of the usual mechwarrior viewpoint. Throw in a good look at the Ghost Bears, and most fans will be satisfied. However, this book was not all it should have been.
Rating:
Summary: A Strong Start, But a Weak Finish
Review: "Test of Vengeance" is a tale told from the viewpoint of Jake Kabrinski, an Elemental officer in Clan Ghost Bear. The world of Battletech is filled with massive Mechs which can tower 12 meters high. Elementals are Clan warriors who are genetically gifted with height and muscle, and who wear powered body armor. Jake is a warrior who has never known true loss or defeat. But, as the saying goes, there's always someone better out there, something Jake will discover. How he deals with this revelation is the crux of this story. Jake's story is set against the backdrop of the Ghost Bear's reaction to a rogue Draconis' Combine's unit's attack on the GB's new capitol of Alshain. There is also opportunism on the part of the crusader branch of the splintered Clan Wolf, resulting in treachery by Clan Hells Horses, mortal enemies of the Ghost Bears, especially the HH Khan, Malavai Fletcher, the mad, maimed leader of Hells Horses. This novel started off strong, but dealt fairly poorly with Jake's reaction, IMHO. There was a credibility problem with a certain military action set in space. No Combat Aerospace Patrol, apparently. It is a daring piece of well written action. The problem is that it's just not believable. The biggest problem of this book is the end. Far to much is reaveled about certain future actions and events, without offering any followup. And a followup with certain characters, to see their reaction to Jake's maturation is not included, as it should have been. This book will still be liked by most fans of the series, and it offers a nice glimpse from the infantry point of view, instead of the usual mechwarrior viewpoint. Throw in a good look at the Ghost Bears, and most fans will be satisfied. However, this book was not all it should have been.
Rating: 
Summary: The Clans at Play amidst a Universe in turmoil.
Review: Honestly, the Fed-Com Civil War would be good read, as it will be finally of focus in Patriots and Tyrants. However, the BattleTech Universe does not revolve around the Inner Sphere. The events chronicled in Test of Vengence describe events unfolding in the Clan Sphere, and the impact that it has on the Steiner vs. Davion conflict. All the last few books released has been "setting up" events that led to the outbreak of Civil War. Will it destroy the fledgling Star League and throw humanity back into the dark ages? Well, you'll have to read the books and follow the chain of events to get to the "meat" of the matter. Last comment: the Crusader Wolf Clan is kicking themselves in the ...by rubbing the Ghost Bears the wrong way. Soon we'll have a united Rasalhague people if they are lucky...don't know what I'm talking about? Where have you been the last 14 years (3049-3063)? This book is a good read...one of the best tales about new Clan life in the Inner Sphere. But do read all the books...to get a better understanding of the universe. Go Clanners! Go Kerensky's hope!
Rating: 
Summary: Worst. Battletech. Book. EVER.
Review: I have a lot of patience for the bad writing and plotting inherent in reading the Battletech books. It's something you learn to live with - even appreciate - as you read these books. I survived the crippling of some of the better characters in Stackpole's later books, the glossing over of important facts in many of Coleman's books, and even the butchering of the Japanese language that occurred at the hands of all of the authors. (with the exception of Charrette, one of the few truly excellent writers in this series) There have been some bad books - some really bad books - in this series. But none of them have come close to the sheer, terrifying awfulness that is 'Test of Vengeance.' Nystul may be an excellent game designer, but his writing is atrocious. From the first battle scene where he describes the 'Gnome' battle-armor as requiring 'an extra shot to finish off' (destroying the illusion separating the game dynamics from the reality of the book) to the use of allusions and slang by the Clanners that they never would have used, Nystul weaves a story that breaks the rules set forth by the authors who came before him. Toward the end, I was forced to skim the book because the mangling of Clan culture was so profound that I couldn't even finish the book. That has never happened with a Battletech book, and I've read some very, very bad Battletech books. Battletech is my favorite 'pulp' series, and I am willing to forgive a lot of issues with these books. But as much as I wanted to enjoy this book for its unique perspective on Elementals, the fact that it got everything so very wrong prevented me from doing so. I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this book to anyone, regardless of how much of a fan of the Battletech universe they are. (as I have ties to the Battletech community, I will make this an anonymous review to avoid unecessarily hurting feelings)
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book
Review: I love this book. Bryan Nystul has wonderfully brought the BattleTech Universe to life in this book. I must however add a disclamier. Test of Vengeance is not a novel for the "Squid boy" fan base. If your looking for combat action between some horrible 3055 'mechs with max tech configurations look elsewhere. However if you enjoy reading a well written thought provoking BattleTech novel than pick this one up. Hell buy two, you can always read it again, I did.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book
Review: I love this book. Bryan Nystul has wonderfully brought the BattleTech Universe to life in this book. I must however add a disclamier. Test of Vengeance is not a novel for the "Squid boy" fan base. If your looking for combat action between some horrible 3055 'mechs with max tech configurations look elsewhere. However if you enjoy reading a well written thought provoking BattleTech novel than pick this one up. Hell buy two, you can always read it again, I did.
Rating:
Summary: Worst. Battletech. Book. EVER.
Review: I was so looking forward to the story of a Clan Elemental. I actually teased myself by reading all the other Battletech books I bought this week first. However, the butchering of Clan culture just about made my eyes bleed. The only thing Bryan got correct was the lack of contractions. I kept waiting for Clan artillary to show up. The fact that it was no biggie that that the Ghost Bears have freebirth scum as mech pilots!?!?! Dear lord, kill me now. The clanners joking and flirting during unit formations.... where are the razor blades? Junior warriors questioning the qualifications of their Star Captain (twice in the same meeting) and living to tell!?!? What I finally concluded was that the book was originally written about conflict between the Dracs and the Draconis March worlds, focusing on armored infantry, but then Bryan decided it would work better as an Elemental story and went back and just changed what HAD to be changed to force into a clan story template. I can't comment on his writing style because I could not read more than one page at a time without putting the book down to vent my frustration at the butchery I was witnessing. Someone else, please write an Elemental story!!
Rating:
Summary: Great Idea.... Horribly Executed.
Review: I was so looking forward to the story of a Clan Elemental. I actually teased myself by reading all the other Battletech books I bought this week first. However, the butchering of Clan culture just about made my eyes bleed. The only thing Bryan got correct was the lack of contractions. I kept waiting for Clan artillary to show up. The fact that it was no biggie that that the Ghost Bears have freebirth scum as mech pilots!?!?! Dear lord, kill me now. The clanners joking and flirting during unit formations.... where are the razor blades? Junior warriors questioning the qualifications of their Star Captain (twice in the same meeting) and living to tell!?!? What I finally concluded was that the book was originally written about conflict between the Dracs and the Draconis March worlds, focusing on armored infantry, but then Bryan decided it would work better as an Elemental story and went back and just changed what HAD to be changed to force into a clan story template. I can't comment on his writing style because I could not read more than one page at a time without putting the book down to vent my frustration at the butchery I was witnessing. Someone else, please write an Elemental story!!
Rating: 
Summary: Battletech from another perspective
Review: I'd give this book 3 and a half stars if I could. It's a worthwhile read for any Battletech fan, but there's a number of flaws throughout it to offset it's high points. Here's a list of what I liked, a lot, and why it's worthwhile: * Takes place at some of the major events in Ghost Bear/Draconis Combine history, and you'll hear about the events here in most other BTech books. * The Elemental's perspective is something that's not even been hinted at since Jade Pheniox trilogy, and is completely worthwhile. * Because of the unique aspect to combat, there's very little horribly repeated cliche lines about PPC fire being man-made lightning, and no "waves of heat" nearly causing pilots to fall unconcious (In the boardgame they actually DO fall unconcious - it'd be way more dramatic if this happened in the books more often.) --- Now, the downsides: * The Clan and elemental culture is messed up. It's true elemntals use contractions way more than Clan MechWarriors, but these people sound like Americans. * Clan logic is shot - Hell's Horses isn't just unstable, it violates Clan ethics, and Ghost Bear has no Clan reasoning what so ever; they seem to think of everyone as equals with no caste system, showing no disrespect to even scientists. This may annoy some readers familar with the history badly. * A supposedly symbolic but utterly stupid constant dual between a Draconis special forces soldier and the main character keeps coming back - both cultures would consider not killing a fallen warrior disrespectful, but here, it happens multiple times. --- All in all, it's a worthwhile book, with combat scenes that feature not only the elementals perspective, but some great joint-operations tactics. Ghost Bear is one of the few Clans where an elemental might get in charge of 'mech forces, so that part I have no problem with - despite the fact the main character seems abit too stupid for the job, he does kill things well, and that's enough with the Clans. The fights later in the book with alternate power-armor and heavy lasers are great, too, as well as some Zero-G combat that's fit for a movie. Not as good as many of the old-school plot-heavy books, but refreshing enough amongst the new action-heavy ones to be a memorable read if you like the subject matter.
Rating:
Summary: Battletech from another perspective
Review: I'd give this book 3 and a half stars if I could. It's a worthwhile read for any Battletech fan, but there's a number of flaws throughout it to offset it's high points. Here's a list of what I liked, a lot, and why it's worthwhile: * Takes place at some of the major events in Ghost Bear/Draconis Combine history, and you'll hear about the events here in most other BTech books. * The Elemental's perspective is something that's not even been hinted at since Jade Pheniox trilogy, and is completely worthwhile. * Because of the unique aspect to combat, there's very little horribly repeated cliche lines about PPC fire being man-made lightning, and no "waves of heat" nearly causing pilots to fall unconcious (In the boardgame they actually DO fall unconcious - it'd be way more dramatic if this happened in the books more often.) --- Now, the downsides: * The Clan and elemental culture is messed up. It's true elemntals use contractions way more than Clan MechWarriors, but these people sound like Americans. * Clan logic is shot - Hell's Horses isn't just unstable, it violates Clan ethics, and Ghost Bear has no Clan reasoning what so ever; they seem to think of everyone as equals with no caste system, showing no disrespect to even scientists. This may annoy some readers familar with the history badly. * A supposedly symbolic but utterly stupid constant dual between a Draconis special forces soldier and the main character keeps coming back - both cultures would consider not killing a fallen warrior disrespectful, but here, it happens multiple times. --- All in all, it's a worthwhile book, with combat scenes that feature not only the elementals perspective, but some great joint-operations tactics. Ghost Bear is one of the few Clans where an elemental might get in charge of 'mech forces, so that part I have no problem with - despite the fact the main character seems abit too stupid for the job, he does kill things well, and that's enough with the Clans. The fights later in the book with alternate power-armor and heavy lasers are great, too, as well as some Zero-G combat that's fit for a movie. Not as good as many of the old-school plot-heavy books, but refreshing enough amongst the new action-heavy ones to be a memorable read if you like the subject matter.
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