Customer Reviews

Patriots and Tyrants (BattleTech #52)

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

 

 

The saga that was started back in the early 90's continues. Loren's book is a worthy contribution to the Battletech novels. He has seamlessly woven his book from where Michael Stackpole left off with his outline for "Tide of Tyrants" which was never to be. Even with the number of words restricted by the publisher could not diminish the significance of this new installment. Many of the characters that Battletech fans have loved are there... along with the usual twists and turns and surprises.
The story unfolds with the continued building of civil unrest and discontent throughout the former Federated Commonwealth. Katrina (Katherine) is still causing problems and is increasing being more ruthless in her displays of power. Victor, the new Precentor Martial of Com Star has been monitoring the increasingly alarming situation and looking for the necessary evidence to prove that Katrina was behind their mother's assasination.
The book is worthy successor to the Battletech traditions and will prove to be an easy read and a great way to be clued-in on the latest happening in the "Inner Sphere".
Get It and Read It!

Great book. Coleman is on Par with Stackpole with this one. Keeps you rivited and anxious to read on. The little last bit of the epilogue is very intresting. I have an idea where it is leading to but I wont let it slip to you all yet :-) Your gonna have to read it a figure it out yourself.

I've been reading battletech for almost 6 years. I've read all of them but the weird ones that didn't pertain to anything. But there were the rest, the ones by Stackpole, Keith, and Pardoe.The adventures that got me through high school. That kept me up very late at night, madly flipping page after page. And those stackpole books, those were my favorites. The other writers were good, but none could ever grab my attention like his. It seemed as though the plot of the entire series moved with his books. The only relevent stories were told by him. Having him gone is a serious blow to the series. As I read Patriots and Tyrants, I found the characters that I had become so familiar with, Victor, Omi, Focht, and even the insidious Katherine Steiner to be shallow and without the usual depth. If Stackpole really was pushed out of the series because of word limitations, then ROC needs new management, becuase battletech is turning into the Mechwarrior series. Mike, if you're reading this, you will be missed. I'm thankful for all those hours of escape you gave me from geometry class, boring lunch hours, and countless times when I was babysitting my sister. You're the reason battletech got as far as it did, and it'll never be the same...

As for the book itself. Patriots and Tyrants was ok. It had some action and plot development. If you're a long time fan of the series, then you should pick it up.

I could hardly wait to read Patriots and Tyrants. As a continuation of the main BattleTech storyline, I was curious to see if Loren Coleman would prove to be a worthy successor to Michael Stackpole. While a good read, the book suffers from its shortness. Stackpole was able to write at length about not only the mech battles but the personal side of the BattleTech universe. Now the two are squeezed into less than 300 pages.
Still the book is very good. I especially enjoyed the conflicting scenes played out by Victor and Omi against Katherine at Christmas. Coleman did a fantastic job in portraying the siblings as polar opposites.
Although too short for my taste, Patriots and Tyrants is a very enjoyable read. I only hope the word limit placed on authors is seen for the folly it is and is removed soon.

Patriots and Tyrants was a worthy successor to the main story arc by once-former Battletech author Michael A. Stackpole. Though he will be missed, he did leave a legacy in the form of his established characters and, apparently, an outline as a guide to the remaining authors in the series. Unfortunately, the main Battletech story is winding down and the Mechwarrior series now appears to be the main thrust of the published Battletech work these days. Stackpole is helping the new owners of the Battletech license cook up a new story line. One that, while it has a whole host of new characters, exists in the same Inner Sphere -- albeit 100 years later.

Anyway, I like Loren L. Coleman's style. He doesn't tell the character Victor as well as Stackpole, but then Stackpole created him. This is a good book, but it left me hanging. Not in a good way -- it was entirely too short. There was no real resolution. The publishers are really shooting themselves in the foot by imposing word count limits. Get this book, as its story is the main story arc. You don't want to miss out on that do you?

After his Victory against the Clans, Victor returns. But now KATHERINE rules his Realm and he becomes Prezentor Martial of Comstar. But a "civil wars" starts in his old home and after the death of his brother, Arthur and a killer how trys to kill his great love Omi. He starts his war against his own sister, to get his brithright back.

The Book war quit interesting: I read it as it was puplished a few month before in Europe. There are some very unusal parts, like the endscene and so on. But there are battlescenes as well as political stuff and all of them are very good. Coleman makes a good job and I am really interested in the last 2 Novel of our BT-Timeline, with ends 3067.
hope my my english is not so bad ;-)

Compared to the previous books that have made up the main story behind BattleTech this book is lightweight. For example, the Stackpole classic "Bred for War" it literally twice the size. This is mostly the fault of ROC in their stupid word count limitations that drove Stackpole away from writing BTech fiction in the first place. Suffice to say I finished this book in no more than two or three hours.

That aside, Loren Coleman has done a good job picking up from where Stackpole left off. The characters pick up well from previous novels. The plot moves forward, albeit not with the same depth as might have been desired. Also the battle scenes are good, if somewhat brief. I just feel that I've been left hanging with the story only half done. I very much enjoy BTech fiction and this book was good, I would have just liked something deeper. I'm sure that Loren Coleman has the ability to do more, it's just that he's being artifically limited.

So while not a bad read, there's just not enough depth to give it a better review.

Patriots and Tyrants represents an end of an era. Too bad, Battletech deserves better. Loren Coleman's previous books were far better then this one. As the familiar Battletech timeline ends, the newest books appear to be a last attempt to end the series before the new timeline begins next year. I only hope the next two books provides the closure that this great series deserves.
The chief problem with Patriots and Tyrants is the loss of Michael Stackpole. His presence throughout the series always elevated Battletech beyond the triviality of mech bashing. Despite operating on Michael's notes, Loren can't quite capture the characters that have become part of Michael Stackpole's vision of the Battletech universe. Still, despite this flaw, the book is clearly showing that Battletech is about to change and the familiar plotlines are about to change forever.

I have to say that Coleman are just one of the remaining few good novelists after Stackpole in the old late-FASA team. (Stackpole left sometime earlier) Heard that Stackpole had been advising Coleman on this book so it is effectively 2 in 1. Anyway, FASA is no more and it's WizKids turn, so this is the last of the FASA's BattleTech era and enter WizKids' Battletech era. Wizkids is going in another direction with Battletech leaving the current era to Fantasy to complete. At least you know that Stackpole is on Wizkids team. I'm not so sure about Coleman. (I think so and sure hope so!) As I said, this is The Last of the Era so go get it!!!

It mad me cry! Coleman tries but he pretty much killed all stackpole's characters- they all [stink] now. Katherine and Victor both turned shallow, Tancred wasn't himself anymore, and they just had to try and kill one of my favorite characters- Arthur