Illusions of Victory

Loren Coleman makes a great addition to the BattleTech series. On Solaris VII the battles are fake, between warriors all over the inner sphere, from former clan members onto disgraced mech warriors looking to make a name for themselves like Michael Serce whose trying to do just that. But their are contenders out to see about taking over the planet by fermenting discontent and plunging the planet into a civil war. now Michael Serce must face his own desires, and see about keeping the planet from plunging into hell and destroying the people.

It's been a while since I picked up a BT novel, and now I have I can't put it back down. Set on Solaris you get to see the big conflict being played out in the universe on a much smaller scale... Davionist fighting Steiners, Free Worlders fighting Caps and disgruntled ex-clanners fighting anyone who stands in their crosshairs. An excellent read, and a great place to jump back into the BT universe.

This is a gladiator arena like no other. On solris 7 the games are here. this is the first real solris 7 book and it rocks. But the mechs in this book go outa the arena and on the streets cause theres a war goin around in the gaming world between the fed comm supporters and the lyrans. the battles are great, no time to breath through the whole book. this is an awsome book with mech to mech action like no other. i recomend this book to all.

I though noone could get me to see the planet of Solaris 7 from the arena fighters point of view, but Loren Coleman did just that. This is a killer book and one that is a must read.

Imagine a planet where 'Mechanized combat is a mere game, where instead of fighting wars, warriors fight personal battles for personal glory.Welcome to Solaris VII.When Michael Searcy was on a steady rise to the top of Solaris VII as the Grand Champion, the stadium he fought in "failed", and the shielding equipment broker down. Brawls broke out outside, claiming it was eithe rhte dAvionists or the Lyran loyalists faults. 'Mechs went on to carrying out grudges in the middle of common-place streets. War has taken over Solaris. Michael is set to change that.Excellent writing by Loren Coleman, a pleasant change from the Capellan stories recently to the FedCom civil war. Buy this, its important for the BTech timeline coming up!

Finally a break from the Capellan storyline! Good characters with lots of action including some of the best small scale battle scenes I have read in the Battletech series. Loren Coleman does an excellent job of bringing Solaris VII to life, (which was a very pleaseant surprise after being dissapointed in his last couple novels). The main plot and subplots tie togther nicely with all of the intrigue that makes the good Battletech novels stand out above the average ones.