Customer Reviews

Shadows of War (Twilight of the Clans VI, Battletech, Book 40)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Of all the books of the Twilight of Clans series, this is for sure the most martial one. Sure, some of the other books really lacked mech combat, but in this case, mass didn't mean style. Okay, a point was to be made: Warfare is brutal, bloody and no sports and in order to justify Victor S-Davion's campaign of annihilation of CSJ, his message had to be delivered with such a slaughter (on both sides) on CSJ's homeworld. And the tense timeline of this fierce battle and the dynamics of those brutal fights are a good base to get the reader's attention. But, the way Gressman describes mech combat seriously lacks the originality and depths of other btech authors (like i.e. the early Stackpole warrior trilogy). Here it's simply a chaotic string of oftenly unrelated scenes of mech combat. This woulda been accetable if Gressman had stuck with a few main characters, but alas he more than once introduces combatants in a passage and never mentions the same character again, leaving the reader wondering what happened to them. Even worse, he neglects the fate of main characters and of complete mech units. For example Russou Howell, who had been built up as main protagonist in 2-3 of the former novels just gets 2 short appearances. Or, what happened to saKhan Brandon Howell, who was skilled enough to be the only CSJ leader not to completely fail at Tukayid (InvClansSB)? What impact did the IS' reserve units have after they got summoned to reinforce the 2 main groups? Etc... Questions over questions - and not every one gets (satisfactorily) answered in the short final passages when Victor's forces arrive and the battle is decided rather abruptly. Contrary to other reader's comments I liked Gressman's detailed logistical descriptions in 'The Hunters' and he was good at that. But here, I just got the impression that Gressman either had to hurry to finish the assault on Diana or that he simply lacks the skill to span a coherent story line for such large scale mech battles. And that's what Btech is about: Mech combat. And therefore only 2 stars.

Imagine warfare in the 31st century. Do you imagine the slow lumbering tanks of today, or huge bipedal war machines with birdlike agility? In the Battletech trilogy the latter is what it's all about. Shadows of War is the sixth novel in the Twilight of the Clans series. Twilight of the Clans is about the downfall of clan Smoke Jaguar, but in Shadows of War the Jaguars give the Inner Sphere a hard pounding. The last five chapters are all nonstop action! There is one disadvantage though, the absence of illustrations makes it hard to envision some of the mechs. But in the back of the book are pictures of the most common mechs and vehicles! Shadows of War is a very exiting addition to the Battletech trilogy.

Just finished this one. Gressman is a weaker author than Stackpole, by far, but I enjoy his work much more than Thurstons. The story is enjoyable, but lacks some credibility. Some of the battles or one on one fights left me saying "no way," or "just silly."

Most annoying to me in the whole series has been the *lack* of information on the Inner Sphere side of the annihalation of Clan Smoke Jaguar. It's alluded to this novel, when remnants of the Smoke Jaguars come limping home from a beating given by Prince Victor, but that's it. What is probably the greatest Inner Sphere battles and history is totally glossed over. (Maybe they're leaving it for Stackpole(?))

Still, like all the Twilight of the Clans series, it's a must read to keep up on the events of Operation Serpent and Operation Bulldog.

A word of warning: DO NOT read the little advert for Prince of Havoc in the back of this book; to my mind it gives some major spoilers for the upcoming novel by Stackpole.

Having read this book, and then the other reviews listed here, I just had to add some comments of my own. When are we, Battletech fans and followers of the workings of the Inner Sphere, going to be allowed to read well written stories on a regular basis? My first comment deals with the fact that these authors continually recap and rehash events. Throughout this book, the author continually buffets the reader with redundant information, often related in the previous chapter. Why does the reader have to be submitted to the same drivel about this or that characters's feelings over and over. Case in point: The first chapter deals with ilKahn Lincoln Ossis' plea to the Clan Council for assistance; no sooner does he arrive on Huntress, but the reader is subjected to a lengthy synopsis of the events related in the first chapter! Secondly, the reader, ostensibly one who has been following the Battletech novels (let's face it, this is not mainsteam fiction), is continually forced to read redundant decriptions of how this technology, or that weapons system works. Doesn't the author realize the majority of his readers already know this stuff? Next, let's try and stick to the basics. In battle, as in life, simple luck has a lot to do with the outcome of events. Mosts fans of Battletech know that there are no Battlemechs that can just shrug off two hits from a Gauss rifle in the same location. The forces of Operation Bulldog waxed the Smoke Jaguars during their campaign; what was wrong with Task Force Serpent? Wasn't it made up of some of the most elite units in the Inner Sphere? Weren't they using the same equipment as Bulldog? Oh yes, and how did a sword fight between two highly trained warriors, with a susequent escape from a building about to explode, occur in less than two minutes, three tops? Having said all that, let me conclude by saying that this book is still worth reading, at least to maintain a sense of what is happening in the genre. It's too bad that the events weren't portrayed more accurately and entertainingly.

** Contains Spoilers **

While I understand times are tight, ROC's decision to cut down page count seems to have really crimped otherwise OK writers, especially given how every single novel has to go over the same ground. We get it, 'Mechs are tough and versatile. The Clans have great technology. And so on and so forth - the redundancy of exposition in each novel is almost the amount of detail for a stand-alone story, cutting further into the reduced page count.

One of my biggest complaints of the post 'Highlander Gambit' BT novels is the 'rushed' feeling. You will get errors in a series of books written by several authors at the same time. But the amount of errors and grammar per book should have easily been caught by editors.

Something I've noticed is how a description or internal monologue, often almost word for word, will be repeated a few paragraphs later ON THE SAME PAGE. Another editing point is not so much structure but when descriptive words like 'huge' 'massive' etc or adjectives are used multiple times within the same paragraph and even sentence. Other errors include units of X type combating units of Y type, then either side being identified as totally different types a few sentences later.

As for this book specifically;
**20th century this and that, such as acronyms, names, and tactics or equipment descriptions. Battletech has a serious amount of back history yet at times I felt I was rereading 'Team Yankee'.

**OK, every soldier has doubts. Yet we are constantly bombarded by the same characters' fears over and over without resolution. At the same time we are also being told, again over and over, that these commanders are all volunteers of elite units with 10-30 years of warfare behind them. Who on most levels still do not trust each other after a year plus of training and travel. Got old, fast.

**Constant rehashing of the mission goals, mixed in with the aforementioned doubts/fears. Eliminating the military capacity of a single Clan with care to cause minimal civil damage is NO different than how these same Inner Sphere forces have waged moderate intensity warfare since after the 2nd Succession War. Yet we are asked to believe these veteran soldiers feel they are doing something entirely new and heinous.

**One of the major battles is supported by artillery as the Clans come into combat range. When the Clan forces are repulsed they are simply LET GO with no further artillery or aerospace harassing attack. Yet, the point of the invasion was to eliminate the Smoke Jaguars militarily. Having to keep fighting the same units again is contrary to the IS goals.

**Despite the Clans having superior electronic gear, a night attack is mounted on a significant SJ force. Yet once again, despite air and artillery superiority at the time, the 'veteran' IS forces simply attempt a 'Mech attack.

**The part involving Lincoln Osis being wounded was utterly ridiculous. Nekekami commandos infiltrate and rig for demolition the SJ command center with 5 minute timers. They then head out, just happening to run into the Khan and his guards whom are quickly eliminated. The Spirit Cat leader decides to duel Osis after conversing with him; apparently Osis can use a sword well enough to have a chance versus a ninja assassin.

The duel near fatally wounds both fighters, with the Clan Khan immobilized. Yet suddenly a 'random' security patrol of Elementals finds him, manages to have one member dis-armor to drive a 'found' hovertruck, and evacuate the Khan just before the building blows.

So we get a surprise encounter, a conversation, a duel, and a rescue ALL WITHIN 5 Minutes?!

**Operation Bulldog forces show up in the midst of the climactic battles after having waged war and traveled on the heels of the defeated SJs? Please.


While it was nice to finally get to the invasion of Huntress after the long journeying and chapter-long ship battles of the previous novels 'Shadows of War' was pretty much a let down.

This is a favorite of mine because not only does it have loads of 'mech battles, it has alot of other things, such as assasination attempts, dark pasts, and the commander gets killed in the final battle(cool way to go, but still a bummer). It did have a couple weak points, but they don't affect the book much. In a nutshell, I enjoyed this book very much.

I have never read a better book in my entire life,and I'm a heavy reader.Non-stop action,great diolouge and the character involvment is SPELLBINDING (espesaily the chapter that deals with a female Mechwarrior with a horriying past)!!!

The ultimate Battle Tech book ever, with pure senseless violence. It's so interesting that I finished it in a day. A MUST READ!

What makes this book different than the rest of the battle tech books? In this one, there were actualy feelings. The rest of the series is just the typical good guy versus bad guy shoot 'em up type thing. This book really makes you think about how horible war really is. Therefor I thought that this book was more realistic. It truly lived up to its name: Shadows of War.

Although this book took me only 7 hours to finnish from cover to cover I was left with mixed feelings about what I had just read. The battles were, in the main, well written and enthralling but there seems to be too much attention to details which most BTech readers already know. Overall this is a very good book which leaves you eagerly anticipating the next in the series.