Endgame (Battletech, No. 56)

I'd like to thank everyone who made my time as a BattleTech author an enjoyable one. I had a great deal of fun writing these stories. Hopefully you had as much reading them. Endgame is the last official -paperback- novel for Classic BattleTech, and I did my best to wrap up as many major plotlines as I could. Don't forget, however, that the stories coninue in the MechWarrior: Dark Age novel line (circa 3130) and the BattleCorps.com project which stays with the original and historical timelines. Let all your friends know that official BattleTech stories will continue!

This book is the last of the series which began about ten years ago with the Michael Stackpole's trilogy entitled the Return of Kerensky. It brings to a close the story arc which began with the unification of two great star empires (the Federated Suns and the Lyran Commonwealth); continued with the invasion of the Clans (a factionalized military society descendant from an exodus from human occupied space two hundred years prior); and ended with the final breakup of the Federated Suns and the Lyran commonwealth through civil war. The story is told through following the lives, loves and trials of the scions of the various Great Houses (the feudal dynasties which govern known space) as they emerge from late adolescence and assume leadership of their respective realms. Most of the driving books in the series, the ones that moved events in the game universe foreward, were written by Michael Stackpole. Due to monetary disputes with the old battletech license holder, Stackpole left the series. Loren Coleman was tapped to complete the last two books in the series. He had a unenviable task: picking up from a well loved writter, then having to bring closure to the story line. While the written voice is not Stackpoles, Coleman writes a sound and worthy conclusion to the series.This book details the end of the FedCom civil war, in which the rightful heir to the FedCom throne defeats his younger sister (who usurped the throne through manipulation and matricide) for control of the realm. Without revealing the ending, it doesn't quite turn out that way. What is most sad about the book is that it is an ending. We know that the universe is being fast forewarded 60 years after this book. (The franchise did this about ten years ago as well.) These characters that we have grown so fond of will never be the same, if they are still alive. The book ends with several twists and poigniant revelations, which leave you wondering what will happen next. Sure, it's a set up for the new series of books (in which some of the questions are answered,) but its sad to leave our old friends in that moment.Because it's a battletech novel, I guess there had to be pages spent on mech's fighting, but they serve more as a distraction than anything else. The character of Katherine Steiner is stereotypically vain, selfish and greedy; less genuine than in other installments. The book could have used fewer fight scenes and more emphasis on characterization.

I would say that this was an overall great book, I agree with others that it seemed rush but it did give me closure with the end of a series that I have been reading for a decade. I'm really going to miss this and I have to say one part in the book has haunted me in my sleep. Let's just say the little big space maneuver and the short quote that came with it had a major effect.

I love the battletech novels and I am sad to see them fading away. But still a great ending. I am not too keen on jumping ahead into the future like they plan on doing.

This book was excelent. Coleman really outdid himself in this one. Although the end has come, it's been a fun journey. I'll try Dark Age, but I'll miss the old characters. *Christopher Pierce sounds important, doesn't he?*