15 replies to this topic

[Big Mek Jake]

I just recently found out that there are hundreds of novels written about Mechwarrior and the Battletech universe.

I was wondering which series I should start reading since I know nothing about the lore. The MechWarrior: Dark Age or the Battletech novels. (I want to learn about the lore leading up to MechWarrior Online mainly.)

[Cattra Kell]

Battletech if you want pre-MWO and during when MWO will take place. Dark Age is post Jihad which is 100+ years after the setting MWO will be in.

If you want a good starting place I would make the following suggestions:

Start with "The Blood of Kerensky Trilogy" for clan invasion.
The books are Lethal Heritage, Blood Legacy, and Lost Destiny all by Michael A. Stackpole.

From there, if you are still interested in the invasion I would suggest the pure clan view and background with The Jade Phoenix Trilogy.

Edited by Cattra Kell, 08 April 2012 - 09:11 PM.

[James McCraney]

Oh you're in for quite a treat; there is so much history behind the BattleTech universe and I'm glad you're choosing to get into it. Not sure where you're at in terms of all the background history, but this is a great first step: http://bg.battletech...iverseGuide.pdf and the BattleTech wiki is always a handy reference: http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Main_Page

In terms of the novels, there are essentially three lines of books: BattleTech, MechWarrior, and MechWarrior: Dark Age. BattleTech is the main line and features all of the mech on mech action, interstellar politics, and great characters that make the BattleTech universe such a classic. The MechWarrior books for the most part eschew the political intrigue and major heroes in favor of following average Joe Mechjock. It's been a long time since I read any of the books, but I remember preferring the BattleTech series because they give you a better idea of the big picture in the Inner Sphere. MechWarrior: Dark Age takes place in a later era, so the events will be mostly unrelated to what is happening in this game. I never got into these ones, so I can't really tell you too much.

As for particular books, I would highly recommend the Warrior trilogy as a starting point. It takes place during the Fourth Succession War which was one of the last major conflicts before the time of MWO. It will be a good starting point for getting oriented to the current era. If you enjoy those, I would recommend the Blood of Kerensky trilogy as well; I think these were my favorite BattleTech books back in the day. They cover the clan invasion, which should be coming to MWO next year.

Hope this helps! Come to think of it, I might dust off the Warrior Trilogy myself to get psyched for some more mech blasting.

[VPrime]

The Warrior trilogy can be hard to find for a reasonable price. I own all of the novels, battletech, mechwarrior, and dark age, but the ones that I re-read are the Battletech ones. Michael A Stackpole is the author of the main universe plotline books. If you want to find out what all those updates that MWO posts for goings on in the universe, start there with his warrior trilogy, then blood of kerensky trilogy. After that the Legend of the Jade Phoenix trilogy will tell you about the Jade Falcons, They are by Robert Thurston. After that just try to go in order of the book publishing date, The Gray Death Legion books by William H Keith are good to learn about 3025 style mechs and how to play them. I Love these books, I found Way of the Clans on my grandfather's bookshelf (he had no idea about the game, bought it for the cover) when I was 12 and that is how I got into the game. It is still one of my favorite books of all time, and I'm an English teacher with a degree in History and English

[Thom Frankfurt]

As Cattra said:Start with "The Blood of Kerensky Trilogy" for clan invasion.
The books are Lethal Heritage, Blood Legacy, and Lost Destiny all by Michael A. Stackpole.

You may also want to pick up the 'Warrior Trilogy' also from Stackpole.
Those books cover the 4th SW and will give you a good insight into the houses.

[Grithis]

"Decision at Thunder Rift" started it all for me. It's the first book in the Saga of the Grey Death Legion. I believe it takes place about 15-20 years before the MWO timeline. Hard to remember. My BT novels were stolen, some years ago.

I believe reading about the Clans would be a bad idea, at this time. We have no idea exactly when they'll be introduced, but it will at least be months after the game release. Best to learn what you'll be walking into, first. Not reading the books in order of release isn't a crime, or anything. The timeline jumps around, quite a bit. The earliest released books were about the clans, then suddenly some of the next series were telling stories that took place 50 years before the Clans even started thier journey to the Inner Sphere.

Edited by Grithis, 08 April 2012 - 09:46 PM.

[Lima Zulu]

Start with first Gray Legion Trilogy. Then read Warrior trilogy. After that you'll be ready to Blood of Kerensky trilogy or Jade Phoenix.
Then you can read second Gray Legion Trilogy, maybe Black Thorns dilogy (optional) and some single books (Star Lord, Ideal War, Natural Selection, Highlander Gambit, operation excalibur, Malicious Intents, Double blind, Binding force), and then continue with Twilight of Clans books (5 or 6). After that you can read Capellan Solution dilogy + Dagger Point. Then... dunno Haven't read books after 2000.


And definately don't start directly with Blood of Kerensky or jade Phoenix, if you don't want to be heavily misguided.

[Karel Spaten]

If you don't mind pdf/ePub, I think you can buy the Warrior Trilogy (and others) from Battlecorps.

[AdamBaines]

The Warrior Series is good also as it gives a really good current history of where we will be in the universe. Blood of Kerensy series will give you a view of whats to come.

[Oppi]

I'll just quote myself from another topic :

Oppi, on 20 March 2012 - 04:42 AM, said:

If you read the Warrior Triology ("En Garde", "Riposte", "Coupe") and the Blood of Kerensky Triology ("Lethal Heritage", "Blood Legacy", "Lost Destiny") you should get a pretty good idea of what it's all about, the major factions of the Inner Sphere, who the Clans are and so on.
The Gray Death Triology ("Decision at Thunder Rift", "Mercenary's Star", "The Price of Glory") is also a great series, and you can "grow into the universe" together with the main character (because Grayson Carlyle basically starts with a single Missile Launcher and works his way up to commanding a full mercenary regiment).

[Big Mek Jake]

Thanks everybody for the suggestions! It sounds like the Warrior Trilogy is pretty popular. I think I'll start there.

[Thom Frankfurt]

Lolimadeaprofile, on 09 April 2012 - 08:21 AM, said:

Thanks everybody for the suggestions! It sounds like the Warrior Trilogy is pretty popular. I think I'll start there.

I know that stories need a protagonist and an antagonist... Just don't fall victim to Davion propaganda.

We, the citizen soldiers of the Capellan Confederation, are the good guys. Trust me.

Edited by Thom Frankfurt, 09 April 2012 - 06:26 PM.

[Joe Davion 86]

hm...really propaganda...i think not

[LaorDeLove]

I started with the Dark Age book Fire At Will. It was good. I start reading the Blood Of Kerensky trilogy. They are good as well. Who am I kidding? They are addicting. Be careful. They will suck you in, and they won't let you out until you finished the book! Seriously! I read 200 pages in one day, Sunday. Hope you find something that you like.

[Der Kommissar]

Don't bother with the Dark Age stuff. Garbage, all of it.

You want the Warrior Trilogy, for starters. Ham-handed, but a good intro to the setting. Blood of Kerensky trilogy should also be read.

Edited by Der Kommissar, 09 April 2012 - 07:45 PM.

[Stormwolf]

Blood of Kerensky would be good starting point for MWO, since it will give you spoilers for the next 2 or so years.