Customer Reviews

Warrior: En Garde (BattleTech, No. 37)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

While many consider Warrior: En Garde to not be Stackpole's finest liteary accomplishment, the entire Warrior trillogy gives a basis of what is to come in the future of the BattleTech Universe. And the Warrior trillogy starts here, with Warrior: En Garde. The Warrior Trillogy books were my first forray into the BattleTech Universe of fiction, and after finishing those went directly to the Blood of Kerensky books. I, like many BattleTech readers, consider Stackpole's books to be less fiction and more history in the BattleTech universe. Stackpole's ability to carry on multiple stories accross space and time, yet keeping them all interwoven is a litery skill he has indeed mastered, yet keeps the scenes breveft and intense. Each of the books in the trillogy, especially Warrior: En Garde could have been extended to more than three books in itself, but its elegance in simplicity is one of its greatest qualities. If you have not read this book, and the rest of the Warrior Trillogy, you are misssing out on three of the greatest BattleTech novels ever written and a good history lesson behind all the future events in the Inner Sphere.

Battletech has my vote for one of the most interesting sf universes ever created -- it ranks up there with Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Mike Resnick's Birthright universes as the most complex, well-thought through, and exciting fictional settings/timelines. And this trilogy is what started it all (well, unless you can find "The Sword and the Dagger" somewhere).

Mike Stackpole's books are the best ones in this series -- I recommend all of them -- but start here.

This was the first BattleTech book I read and it changed my thoughts of the series. My ideas of battletech were that it couldn't hold a candle to Star Wars so why bother reading it? After reading this book I swiftly snatched up all the BattleTech books in my town. This was a great book.

This is one of the most interesting books I've read. Not so much on its own, but when I finished it I had to get the next and the next after that. The three books reveal a huge portion of the backstory to the Clan Invasion and the troubles between the Nations. The last book which reveals the endings to the many different plots going on through out the books is increadible. This Triliogy is a must have for readers interested in battletech and conflict related books.

This was the first Battletech book I read. I have never liked science-fiction or conflict books. I actually read it because a friend of mine quoted from a later book and we got into a huge argument over the interpretation of the quote. He suggested that I get a little insight into the situation by reading "Warrior: En Garde".

I loved it! It definately shows a different side of the characters than in later novels. The series seems to develop an affinity for happy, perfect endings in following books, but this one stays true to life, complete with traitors, double-double dealing, love affairs, betrayal - and of course, riveting battle scenes.

I would definitely recommend it for anyone who is interested - even remotely - in the Battletech series. This is the best of all I've read, save for the first "Blood of Kerensky" novel. But the Warrior trilogy is a much-needed and quite enjoyable prerequisite. Just watch out, you WILL get hooked!!!

I've been an ardent fan of BattleTech since I was first introduced to it at my Air Force Tech School by my roomate back in 1991. BattleTech is a tabletop wargame which came about in the mid 80's and quickly grew in popularity due to it's near-future (and yet at the same time far-future) feeling, diverse and colorful Battlemechs to blast at opponents with, an unbelievably rich history to draw from, and best of all: ease of play. How many weekends I spent tossing dice down to see how many of my LRM's hit that blasted Kurita Jenner (or whatever other adversary I was facing that night) I may never know, but I can tell you that it gets into your blood and you will develop a lifelong love of the game and it's wealth of accompanying source material.

So when I realized that there were actual BattleTech novels I was overjoyed and grabbed all of them that I could lay my hands on. The first book I purchased was "Wolves on the Border", which was an excellent standalone book about the experiences of Wolf's Dragoons while in service to the Draconis Combine. My second purchase was this book, "Warrior: En Garde" by Michael Stackpole, and is an excellent followup to the former.

The plot centers around several primary characters: MechWarrior Justin Allard, son of Quintus Allard (head of the Federated Suns intelligence division), who is stationed on the Capellan March world of Kittery and training a group of green MechWarriors up to expert level. Dan Allard, his brother, serves with the legendary mercenary outfit, the Kell Hounds, on the backwater Lyran Commonwealth world of Pacifica, and Andrew Redburn, Justin's second in command, who manages to turn a surprise Capellan ambush into a turnaround victory for he and his troops. Interspersed with this are the notable characters of Hanse Davion, head of the Federated Suns, Melissa Arthur Steiner, heir to the Lyran throne, and a very deranged Maximillian Liao, who is intent on throwing the proverbial wrench into the inner workings of his Davion neighbors.

The storytelling is very good and anyone half-familiar with the BattleTech universe will be able to follow the story as it unfolds. There's an even mixture of political intrigue combined with notable amounts of Mech' mayhem, and truth be told at no point does it go over the reader's head. The main plotline involves Hanse Davion's plans to consolidate the Inner Sphere by marrying Melissa Steiner, thus fusing the two powerful Successor States into one gigantic one. This prospect puts the other Houses on edge as it obviously presents a military threat to them. When the Draconis Combine discovers that Archon-Designate Melissa Steiner happens to be within their borders, they mount an operation to apprehend her and thus stall any future developments. But the Kuritans weren't counting on the presence of the Kell Hounds...

This is a wonderful book, written in a very easy to read manner. Stackpole is very gifted with putting a cohesive plot together and maintaining it with wonderfully descriptive imagery. If there is any one downside to the book it is that he tends to use some of the same conversation devices repeatedly. For instance, there is not a single character (save for Tsen Shang with his poison laced Lee press-on supernails) that at some point does not run their fingers through their hair. Each one reacts to surprises using imagery you'd see on the board game. "Dan felt like he'd taken a PPC shot to the head", or "Justin felt like a laser had hit his stomach", etc. And I don't know, having played umpteen million games of BattleTech, I can tell you it's pretty darned uncommon to get as many headshots as his characters are in this book. The battle narratives read almost like what you'd see after 3 rounds of the tabletop game. You can almost imagine Stackpole might have been rolling the dice and firing the various Mech weapons in sequence at opposing Mechs on an actual hexmap while writing out the dialogue.

But, in truth, these are very minor quibbles, and this is one heckuva book that any BattleTech fan can tell you is wonderful and a must-read. The series gets even better with the two sequels, and even ties in really well with the previously mentioned "Wolves on the Border". The bottom line is that the Warrior Trilogy is a must-have for any fan of the game, and perhaps even for sci-fi buffs in general.

Long live Hanse Davion!

The warrior trilogy is the best btech series ever. The plot and battle r good and character cool.

Is it just me or is Michael.A.Stackpole a sci-fi god ? Seriously though, this is not his best. It is very well written but lacks the absolute brilliance of the 'Blood of Kerensky' trilogy or the pure craftsmanship of 'Assumption of Risk' , 'Bred for War' or 'Malicious Intent'. Perhaps he was just warming up in 88'.

Although this is the 1st book of the Battletech series I read, I think that it's a good Sci-Fi book. It intoduces us in the Battletech Universe on a good way and it's not difficult to enter in the story. It shows interesting characters and presents a lot of storys at the same time but they never become confused

I missed buying Warrior:En Garde when it first came out. So therefore I was missing background information that sets up much of the plot in the later BT novels. Seeing the change in Dan Allard is one of the best exaples of Stackpole's writing. So it isnt just all howling autocannons.

I recommend this book to all those devoted BT novel readers. While not the best BT book I still give it 4 stars and it refreshing to be back in a time when nobody is looking out for anyone's interests other than their own and there are no clans on the horizons