Questions for any BATTLETECH fans...

[comicbookwriter]

Every year I take on a new sci-fi franchise in the form of complete DVD sets or novel series.

The one major franchise that I have never tackled has been Battletech.

I hear mixed reviews about it, but I wanted to check it out.

I did some research and noticed that there are almost 100 books in the series between the Classic-era and the MechWarrior/Whiz Kids-era and I had a question for anybody out there who has read most of the stories.

I went to the Classic Battletech websites and found the list of all the novels, but I am wondering which novels must be read to get the main core of the story. I was told by some diehard fans that you don't need to read most of the novels because many of them were filler stories written for contractural reasons and have no place in the overall saga.

Can someone tell me which books are "must reads" and which ones are skippable?

For your convenience, I have included the master list of all the Classic Battletech-era novels (the only ones I want to read anyway).

Here is the master list in PDF format:

http://www.classicbattletech.com/downloads/BattleTech_Novel_List.pdf

Out of these, which ones are absolutely necessary?

Thanks in advance for any help with this.

CBW

 

[Skywalker]

Michael A. Stackpole's The Blood of Kerensky trilogy is an absolute must-read.

But that's really the only one I know. The books became very hard to find just as I was starting to get into them.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

IIRC, Michael Stackpole was responsible for the "bigger picture" and as such wrote the more epic stories... chronicling the military and political conflicts from the point of view of the various leaders etc. Other authors did "smaller" stories with average soldiers as characters. I think at some point Stackpole left the franchise and Loren Coleman (who orginally wrote such "smaller" stories) took over for him. Never cared much for the "Dark Age" stuff.

I'd recommend Stackpole's "Warrior" (En Garde, Riposte, Coupé) and "Blood of Kerensky" (Lethal Heritage, Blood Legacy, Lost Destiny) trilogies. As has been some years now, but I think those were the BattleTech novels I enjoyed most. Call it the golden age of BattleTech. I fyou don't like those, you're probably never going to like BattleTech.

 

[stonester1]

The game rocks, btw, the board/miniatures game, that is. I'm trying out it's Canadian made genre mate, Heavy Gear. Giant robots, but that's all it has in common with BT. Mechanically, how these things move, fight, give and take damage, completely different from BT.

 

[sojourner]

I second everything Stackpole wrote. His books advanced the timeline while other writers worked around him. Personally, I love al the books leading up to the clans. Once the Clans were introduced, quality dropped in my opinion. Whiz Kids raped Battletech with that Jihad and dark ages crap. I pretend that never happened.

Far Country is by far one of the worst books written(ever, not just in battletech). It barely uses the battletech setting and is clearly adapted from an unused story idea by the author.

 

[God Magnus]

Agreed on reading the Stackpole novels. They are the backbone of the whole series in that era. I enjoyed the stories with the Clans as they were the first ones I read when being introduced to the line. I did go back and read many of the pre-Clan books and enjoyed those immensely. I had a tendency to gravitate towards the novels about mercs such as the Gray Death Legion.

I read some of the early "Dark Ages" books, but after about four of them I found that I couldn't get into it the way I had with the original series. I will probably try again down the line.

 

[DanTheGrey]

Stackpole basically guided the entire universe. Charette(sp?) was also key in some of the earlier pre-Clan novels.

I basically own and have read everything pre-Dark Age in terms of the novels and can say that a Stackpole without a doubt, and consulting the list at the link provided..

Grey Death Legion books - Not bad, a bit dated even within the in-game 'verse
Wolves on the Border - An interesting tale, skippable
Heir to the Dragon - if only to get a good feel for Theodore Kurita
The Jade Falcon books were okay, but not essential
Wolf Pack - moved things along that impacted other books

Black Dragon has a scene in it that still tugs at my heartstrings.

In the middle ground it's a bit more hit or miss, but I can say the three Mechwarrior novels (Roar of Honor, By Blood Betrayed, Ghost of Winter) can completely be skipped.

Far Country was just...meh at best. I think it was one of, if not my least favourite of all the Battletech novels pre-Dark Age.

Basically Dagger Point to Endgame, good or not, are the end of the entire arc. The closer you get to Endgame the more other authors are driving the events along with Stackpole.

 

[comicbookwriter]

Grey Death Legion books - Not bad, a bit dated even within the in-game 'verse
Wolves on the Border - An interesting tale, skippable
Heir to the Dragon - if only to get a good feel for Theodore Kurita
The Jade Falcon books were okay, but not essential
Wolf Pack - moved things along that impacted other books

Black Dragon has a scene in it that still tugs at my heartstrings.

In the middle ground it's a bit more hit or miss, but I can say the three Mechwarrior novels (Roar of Honor, By Blood Betrayed, Ghost of Winter) can completely be skipped.

Far Country was just...meh at best. I think it was one of, if not my least favourite of all the Battletech novels pre-Dark Age.

Basically Dagger Point to Endgame, good or not, are the end of the entire arc. The closer you get to Endgame the more other authors are driving the events along with Stackpole.

Okay so Dagger Point to Endgame.

I see that Grey Death Legion is the "beginning" as it seems. What would be the proper reading ORDER based on what you have said.

CBW

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

Another important thing about the novels:

Each author had basically his own set of characters and his own story arc he continued with each novel. Most of these story arcs had nothing to do with each other, except that they were taking place in the same universe at about the same time.

Therefore it is possible (and sometimes this would also make some sense) to read all the novels from one particular author in the order they were published and ignore the other authors' novels for the moment.

As it was repeatedly mentioned, Michael Stackpole was responsible for the bigger picture and wrote the really important stuff which also had effects on the other author's story arcs. Those you can't skip and it would make sense to start with him.

William H. Keith, Jr. (and his brother Andrew Keith) always wrote about the adventures of a mercenary unit called the "Gray Death Legion". Victor Milán's novels dealt with the "Camacho's Caballeros" and Blaine Pardoe wrote about the "Northwind Highlanders". James D. Long's books were about another mercenary unit called the "Black Thorns". Most of Robert Thurston's stories dealt with the Clans, in particular with the Clan Jade Falcon. Loren Coleman's early novels centered on the Capellan Confederation.

Starting with the "Twilight of the Clans" Series (also see here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BattleTech_novels) other authors than Michael Stackpole began to contribute to BattleTech's main arc. Most important were Thomas Gressman and Loren Coleman.

I guess it wouldn't hurt to read the Stackpole, Gressman and Coleman novels in the order they were published. That's the significant stuff. Most other novels are side-stories to the main arc and can be read at any point. Personally, I would recommend starting with Stackpole's Warrior Trilogy.

 

[DanTheGrey]

Grey Death Legion books - Not bad, a bit dated even within the in-game 'verse
Wolves on the Border - An interesting tale, skippable
Heir to the Dragon - if only to get a good feel for Theodore Kurita
The Jade Falcon books were okay, but not essential
Wolf Pack - moved things along that impacted other books

Black Dragon has a scene in it that still tugs at my heartstrings.

In the middle ground it's a bit more hit or miss, but I can say the three Mechwarrior novels (Roar of Honor, By Blood Betrayed, Ghost of Winter) can completely be skipped.

Far Country was just...meh at best. I think it was one of, if not my least favourite of all the Battletech novels pre-Dark Age.

Basically Dagger Point to Endgame, good or not, are the end of the entire arc. The closer you get to Endgame the more other authors are driving the events along with Stackpole.

Okay so Dagger Point to Endgame.

I see that Grey Death Legion is the "beginning" as it seems. What would be the proper reading ORDER based on what you have said.

CBW

Personally...
1) Warrior Trilogy (the Fourth Succession War)
2) Heir to the Dragon (War of 3039)
3) Blood of Kerensky triology (Clan Invasion)

Once you're in the invasion, you can keep to the Stackpole books and go back to fill in the blanks later if you're in a rush, at least to Dagger Point.

 

[ATimson]

I went to the Classic Battletech websites and found the list of all the novels, but I am wondering which novels must be read to get the main core of the story. I was told by some diehard fans that you don't need to read most of the novels because many of them were filler stories written for contractural reasons and have no place in the overall saga.

I wouldn't say that. There's a core set of novels (for CBT, everything by Stackpole through Prince of Havoc, then everything by Loren L. Coleman--possibly except Flashpoint--after that). The other books often fill in side stories or details that are referenced or used in the mainline books, but they aren't "essential". (Especially anything by Charrette, Thurston, Coleman, Keith, or Pardoe.)

As for the MWDA novels: Unfortunately, the core/side story line gets a bit trickier here. Honestly, I'd say that most of the books are core. Ones that you can definitely skip with no problem: The Ruins of Power, Patriot's Stand. Ones that you can probably skip (these are of these "flesh out the main arc" type): Hunters of the Deep, Target of Opportunity, Daughter of the Dragon, Heretic's Faith, Blood Avatar, Trial by Chaos, Principles of Desolation, Dragon Rising.

That said, for MWDA, I wouldn't skip any of those "can probably skip" books--I think that they're all worth reading, better than some of the "core" books.

 

[Skywalker]

The only MWDA novel I've read is Stackpole's Ghost War (which was the first MWDA novel, if I remember right). It was pretty good, but I thought Stackpole's lead character was a little too great and perfect and amazing, so I guess that kind of turned me off from reading anything else in the line. Now when I'm at the book store, I see maybe four or five MWDA novels and have no idea where they are in the timeline.

 

[Unicron]

I haven't read any of the novels, I'm afraid - everything I know about the Battletech universe has come from the gaming books.

 

[DanTheGrey]

^ Early on if you were playing 4th Succession War or some of the early Clan stuff the books were all you had to go on while the sourcebooks caught up

 

[sojourner]

Stackpole's books WERE like reading th source books, but with plot. They are really fun reads.
One of my favorite scenes in a book(Warrior Trilogy) to this day is Hanse Davion's wedding present to his wife. (say no more)

 

[DanTheGrey]

^ That was a classic, and good old Maxy ordering his staff to grab every plate at the reception

 

[comicbookwriter]

Grey Death Legion books - Not bad, a bit dated even within the in-game 'verse
Wolves on the Border - An interesting tale, skippable
Heir to the Dragon - if only to get a good feel for Theodore Kurita
The Jade Falcon books were okay, but not essential
Wolf Pack - moved things along that impacted other books

Black Dragon has a scene in it that still tugs at my heartstrings.

In the middle ground it's a bit more hit or miss, but I can say the three Mechwarrior novels (Roar of Honor, By Blood Betrayed, Ghost of Winter) can completely be skipped.

Far Country was just...meh at best. I think it was one of, if not my least favourite of all the Battletech novels pre-Dark Age.

Basically Dagger Point to Endgame, good or not, are the end of the entire arc. The closer you get to Endgame the more other authors are driving the events along with Stackpole.

Okay so Dagger Point to Endgame.

I see that Grey Death Legion is the "beginning" as it seems. What would be the proper reading ORDER based on what you have said.

CBW

Personally...
1) Warrior Trilogy (the Fourth Succession War)
2) Heir to the Dragon (War of 3039)
3) Blood of Kerensky triology (Clan Invasion)

Once you're in the invasion, you can keep to the Stackpole books and go back to fill in the blanks later if you're in a rush, at least to Dagger Point.

THANKS EVERYBODY!!!

All your information has been fantastic and noted.

I am in the process of looking for the Stackpole books and I just bought BATTLETECH: SHATTERED SPHERE sourcebook and I was told this covers the information from the first dozen novels or so?

Does anyone here have Shattered Sphere and can you tell me what that covers in terms of storyline?

Thanks
CBW

 

[ATimson]

I am in the process of looking for the Stackpole books and I just bought BATTLETECH: SHATTERED SPHERE sourcebook and I was told this covers the information from the first dozen novels or so?

Does anyone here have Shattered Sphere and can you tell me what that covers in terms of storyline?

Shattered Sphere covers the events of the Twilight of the Clans novels. (Well, not really the Thurston ones, but Stackpole and Gressman's.)

Unfortunately, as far as I know there's no one source for the information on the early novels. NAIS Fourth Succession War Atlas volumes 1/2 is closest, but even then it's far more about events that Stackpole only obliquely referred to, rather than the books proper.