Customer Reviews

Initiation to War (Mechwarrior, No. 4)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have been a fan of the Mechwarrior series ever since FASA launched Mechwarrior 2 in 1995. Once I found out that books were being published about the the Battletech universe, I just had to buy a few so I could see how the story was progressing. "Initiation To War" was my first book to read and I just have to say that it blew me away. This book really rocks! It starts out slow but it heats up pretty quick. I love this book because it causes the reader to think a lot and anaylize situations. After reading "Initiation To War" It reminded me of one of the most acclaimed movies of all time "ZULU". "Initiation To War" has a plot slightly similar to "ZULU" in that it deals with the aspect of respect, honor, and loyalty. The author did a good job writting this book though somehow I wish it would have been longer so I could find out what happened between Kelly and Sam because that was left hanging. Overall I loved this book, it has suspense, drama, and of course action. So get it, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

I liked this book a lot but its a bit slow for my taste but once it stars going it gets really good and has a lot of twists and turns that i never really thought would happen like........

Until I saw this book and its soon to be released brother I was wondering if the Mechwarrior Series of books were off line. Add to the mix that FASA was purchased by Wizards of the Coast with no info on their website about Battletech I was think I had seen the end of the ride.

Alas, three books were released at the end of the year and hopefully these won't be the last.

But I degress.

"Initiation of War" is written by a vetern of the Battletech Universe, but unfortunately this is not his best work. The story is a little slow. Normally I will read a Battletech novel in less than 48 hours. This one took me a week. One the greatest things about Battletech is the action and the mystery. Of always being on the edge of your seat waiting to see what next is about to happen the Inner Sphere, good or bad. A soap opera in novel format.

This installment had good intentions, but lacked a hook to keep the reader interested. The main hero, Kelly. is certainly a lucky dude to be offered female companionship by no less than three different women in various carears, from tech to Count's sister in an extremely short period of time.

And to go from 'Mechwarrior hopefull to seasoned veteran in one local campaign is a huge jump of faith. The story would almost make you think that Kelly is a complete natural in 'Mechs, but the truth is he is just marginally better than the others in his unit. If he had graduated a 'Mechwarrior Academy I could of agreed with this, but even the author says that Kelly isn't as good as the people he is facing.

On a positive side, you could call that realism. Unfortunaely realism in that aspect would have Kelly wiped unless he was extremely lucky. Just my opinion.

This was the first book i picked up of many mechwarrior books i have read to this day.
I really enjoyed this one and read it more than once, i really enjoyed the dark, gritty chaos that happens in this book... i need to look and see if they have a sequel to what happens to the character in this book
all in all its a good book out of the battle tech series, and is a good book to start off on if you want to start to series

I am not a person who reads books alot, but when I started the Mechwarrior Series, I was enjoying every word. This book is no exception. The storyline is straight and to the point. The romance is, as always, a twisting relevance to the plot line. The best parts, are of course, the drama of leading up to the fights, and the fights themselves.

Currently on Chapter 26, of a 39 chapter book. I am up late, having to work in the morning, but can not put it down!
If you want to look into the mechwarrior series, start with this!

Charrette, Robert N. Initiation To War. New York, New York: New American Library 2001.279 pages.
Robert Charrette's Initiation To War is a Si-fi action thriller based in the year,3061, in witch many planets have been colonized. Human mow wage war against each other in two or more story tall war machines called Mechs. The main character of this story is Tybalt Kelly. Tybalt faces many unique challenges on his way to save his country, the Country Shu. The neighboring country is ready for war on the planet of Epsilon E. Kelly (is what he is like to be called) becomes a Mech pilot.
The fight for the countries very survival has began. Kelly will learn that begin that war costs mare then just a leg.

This book is a nice read for those who are looking for nasty mech fights. This isn't all about war and death though, it also tells about how a man loses his love and gains her back again, only to have her nearly taken from him again. I wont spoil any more though, just get the book!

this is one of the worst battle tech book i have read and i have read them all.I truly hope the writing improves before the next book or someone will be loosing a customer .thx

The main concepts of war are completelt outdated, with the author's most modern ideas belonging to the 2nd WW, at best, and at worst to the middle ages. Plus you don't feel like you are in the 31st century at all. You'll rather feel somewhere in the 20'th century. It is clear that the autor hasn't got the slightest clue as how the future will look like, so he just "converted" some ideias (battlemechs=tanks, Mechwarrior=knights, planets=countries, etc). The result is...well, just not convincing.
Some parts of the story makes me doubt if the autor knows the first thig about human nature: Kelly has a harder time dealing with the memory of a man he killed acidentally (apparently it was no-one's fault - wow!) than the death of two of his best friends. Furthermore the ease with witch he sleeps with another woman while his loved one is MIA baffled me.
That said, this book is a nice, distracting, sometimes (not often) gripping read. Altough i didn't like it too much, the fact is it is not all that easy to put down. The descriptions of the fights were interesting and well described and the fact that the main character leads a (very) light lance of mechs, makes each encounter a tough one.
Overall, barely worth it.