Sho-sa Yubari Takuda and his Draconis Elite Strike Team, a group trained in all methods of warfare, find themselves on a planet inhabited by a primitive alien race enslaved by another group of humans.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Poorly written with bad characterization.,
By
This review is from: Battletech 13: Far Country (Paperback)
I consider Far Country badly written and unappealing. It should have a Young Adult label on the cover; it lacks the vocabulary, subtlety, and sophistication of any adult book. The quality of the Battletech novels varies greatly. When I was a child, I made the mistake of buying books based on series. The Legend of the Jade Phoenix Trilogy was excellent and it drew me into the Battletech universe. Intrigued about the Inner Sphere and the Clans, I bought many more Battletech books. Years later I have piles of uninspired stories like Far Country. Like Dragonlance and Star Wars, the Battletech name appeared on good books and then was handed out to unqualified authors. Loyal fans are drawn to any reference to Kerensky, Davion, or Clan Jade Falcon. Looking at other Battletech reviews on Amazon, I see that many fans loyally collect the entire series, and complain about the trash they were somehow compelled to buy; they recommend that the awful books are worth having just to complete the set. I've learned to buy books based on reviews and authors, not just brand name.
A Draconis JumpShip full of troops prepares to Jump to another solar system. Unfortunately, according to Rice, within the sphere of the universe there are rifts in which time, space, and mass do not exist. One of these rifts collides with the ship and randomly transports it to an unknown system. The ship is heavily damaged and the survivors settle a habitable planet, creating three civilizations. Five hundred years later, in the present day of most Battletech books, another JumpShip suffers the same fate, and arrives crippled in the same system. The survivors set down on the foreign planet. Their latecomers' leader is our protagonist Takuda, leader of a Draconis Elite Strike Team of commandos. With them is the antagonist Vost, leader of mean-spirited mercenary MechWarriors and their Techs. Rounding out the list of survivors are the crewmembers of the JumpShip and DropShip. The castaways meet a race of bird-like sentient aliens, making this the only Battletech novel to mention extra-terrestrials. By bizarre coincidence, these aliens strongly resemble the two Locust `Mechs stored in the crashed DropShip. In one awkward passage, a DEST member wonders whether the humans and bird-beasts could crossbreed. Apparently DEST members are not selected based on intelligence or taste. Each character is a two-dimensional caricature. Rice summarizes the identity of each person with a simple personality trait. Nobody matures or reveal hidden aspects of their character. Yakuda is an idealist who preaches about peaceful utopias. Whenever anyone approaches him about military alliances, he tells them to put away their weapons and get along with their neighbors. When attacked by a `Mech, he orders irreplaceable Inferno missiles to be fired at the `Mech's feet, since he doesn't want to hurt his enemy. Rather than assassinate enemy `Mech pilots, which should be a specialty for a DEST commando team, he waits on the defensive for enemies to attack head on. With these weak pacifistic actions, he allows good people to be killed. He's too much of a schmuck to earn the reader's sympathy. One of his commandos is a complainer, so every reference to him mentions his complaints. Another one fears strong religions. Vost and two of his mercenaries are described in three short subsequent paragraphs, from which I've selected excerpts. "Seagroves is the easiest. All he wants is money, and he thinks gold is it." "Vost is easy too. I've been with him for almost six months, and there's only one thing he wants: women. And the more the better. The idea that women are servants is right up his alley." "The last one to deal with is Hoond. She's a typical, insecure woman. She's doing a man's job in a man's world. All you have to do is treat her like a man." This is all you will need to know about these characters. The three civilizations settled by the first colonists are also described in three short, subsequent paragraphs that oversimplify each group. The first is a dictatorship idealizing martial discipline throughout society. The next society consists of religious fundamentalists focused on killing heretics. The third is a merchant oligarchy. Each society is violent, petty, hierarchical, and chauvinistic. The characters stupidly fail to appreciate that they are cut off from the rest of the universe and must conserve technological resources. They fire more than a dozen irreplaceable missiles at empty buildings in order to impress the locals. They burn jet fuel way too quickly. They salvage practically nothing from the precious crashed DropShip. Without ruining the plot, I can say that the castaways split up and spend the novel battling each other and reforming military alliances. This excerpt accurately depicts the childishness of Rice's writing: "The window frame catches were of gold. Gold! GOLD!" Also note how a women weakly insults Vost: "`Answering that question could fill a book ... Unfortunately there would be no pictures for you to color. Maybe we could add some so that the reading wouldn't be quite so tedious.' The women snickered." Rice tried hard to make an allegorical story about the futility of war and about the dream of humanity achieving a better society. Unfortunately, the book is neither inspiring nor thought-provoking. It meanders its way to an anticlimactic and disappointing ending. Avoid this book. -Zach Zelmar
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Real Time Comparisons,
By "hyper_hyper_psycrow" (Dublin, Ireland) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Battletech 13: Far Country (Paperback)
This book in my opinion is the most real of the battletech series. It compares well the main differences in our culture on Earth today. The exploitation of people considered lower then Western civilisation, The idealists who wish to change the way all this works, and of course the profit makers from the wars and divisions in our people. This book contains alot of messages about the flaws in our society and if given the chance to start again, would we make the right choices? Mr Rice does a good job telling a story and the characters (at least the main four) are developed well. Vost and Takuda make the two main comparisons in leadership interesting and insightful, One a merciless climber with only his own self intrests at heart and the other a long term thinking man with everyones intrests to bear. Quite like the Republicans and Democrats really. The battles in this book are generally kept short and sweet and the aggresion from the characters is focused more into political manoevering and back handed deals. This is especially true of the mecenaries. Overall a good story and a nice break away from the main battletech stories. The writer makes a point to remind the reader that there is no Clans, no Co-ordinator, no Com Star and no way back. To be fair it isnt really a true battletech book, especially if you have read the likes of Natural Selection, but it has the same general story of battletech summed up into one planet. The Enclaves would be the successor states, with their backward technology, poor social system and a lack of good resources and all fighting for a goal which will always be unavailable. DEST plus the mercs would almost be like the Clans with their new ideas, modern technology and social differences but also like the clans for ever infighting. Its these comparisons both to our real lives here on Earth and the situation in which the battletech Universe is at that make this book so enjoyable. I would easily recommend it to anyone who reads or doesnt read the battletech novels. A Very enjoyable story.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
One of the most unique battletech books,
By A Customer
This review is from: Battletech 13: Far Country (Paperback)
I really enjoyed this book. It was much different from other battletech novels in that it involves a lost jump ship crew and the passengers suffer a misjump and arrive at a world populated by an alien species as well as a group of humans decended from another group who misjumped there several centuries before. Fortunately, the newly arrived humans are led by a DEST commando. The action usually seen in other battletech books is not here, but I was still intrigued by the subtle power plays in the novel. Definately a great book.
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