128 replies to this topic

[Helmer]

Moved to Off Topic

[Victor MacGregor]

Legend of the Jade Phoenix made me rethink my negative opinion of the Clans, so I count that as one of my favorite books.

Close Quarters is a real good read for the mercenary-minded.

[Phoenixfire]

Measure of a Hero
Call of Duty
Operation Audacity
or as I call it the Archer Trilogy

Legend of the Jade Phoenix comes in a close second

[Peiper]

Surrender You Dreams by Blaine Lee Pardoe gets my number one vote. He is by far, the best Battletech writer - though that's not to put down Coleman, Stackpole, Keith and Thurston. I think I just dig Pardoe's fast stories and geeky historical references. Some Battletech authors are so redundantly descriptive you'd think they got paid by the word! And who ever let Ilsa Bick near a typewriter? And I thought The Ruins of Power was melodramatic... Stick to soap operas.

For those of you looking to get into the history of Battletech, I recommend The Warrior Trilogy by Stackpole. Many are recommending the Blood of Kerensky Trilogy for new readers, but I disagree. The Warrior Trilogy flushes out the character of each of the great houses of the Inner Sphere and a good deal about how the human societies work together or apart. It's hard not to get excited about the Clans with the Blood of Kerensky books, but their invasion means a whole lot less if you don't first understand who they are invading!

MWO takes place at the very beginning of the Clan Invasion of the Inner Sphere, but I'm willing to bet we won't be playing AS the clans for awhile. We'll all be fighting for a house or merc unit to start, and the world we begin in is a direct result of the 4th Succession War as detailed in the Warrior Trilogy. The Clans might be human - as their are not aliens in BT, BUT they are alien to the inner sphere, and if you really want to have fun with MWO, immerse yourself in the understanding of what it is to be a citizen of a house so you know what your fighting for when the Clanners show up to wreck what you and your ancestors have been (re)building for the last couple centuries. The game will be more than just about pounding each other with gauss slugs and missles. You'll know WHY you're fighting.

People like the Clans because they are uber-militaristic and uncompromising in their personality, and have super-duper high-tech mechs to pound the Inner Sphere with. Hell, I love the clans - go figure by my handle. BUT, as we're starting pre-invasion, while I'm going to try to roleplay out my Merc Command as if we are essentially Clanners in Exile, by the time the Clans hit, even we will be fighting the good fight in crappy inner sphere mechs to keep the Clans from destroying all the good things in the Inner Sphere. The Clans have been isolated for centuries from the Inner Sphere and assume that they are saving the rest of humanity by conquering all. Their isolation has blinded them to the fact that the Inner Sphere has progressed culturally, technoligically, and economically in their absence, and it is their closed-minded prejudices that become their doom.

None of this will be understood if you don't first understand what the Inner Sphere is all about. SO,

Read THE WARRIOR TRILOGY by Michael Stackpole

THEN read the Blood of Kerensky Trilogy!

Edited by Peiper, 18 May 2012 - 08:06 PM.

[Skylarr]

All the above books are great. But, I would suggest reading Hier To The Dragon before reading the Blood Of Kerensky trilogy.

[Helmer]

Merged.


Cheers.

[CyclonerM]

I love many novels:
Wolves on the Border, the first i read, and the Jade Phoenix and Blood of Kerensky trilogies, which i suggest for those who hate the "Clanners" - they will understand them a bit more.

And more i will read