Battletech 49: Path to Glory

I have enjoyed this series of Sci-Fi books and this is one of my all time favorits. It shows what it is like for Clanners who have been forced to change and adapt to living in the Innerspher. True Glory is with ones own quest for a better way of life and understanding ones place in it.

I like the charicter descriptions you really can tell how they felt.The story is full of suprise and comes down to reality at the end-people die in wars!

I am not going to pretend that I do not find books featuring the clans interesting. The entire mythos surrounding them has always interested me and this book looks further into one of the more mystical clans - the Nove Cats. The book readily shows how this clan is attempting to intergrate itself with the conquering Inner Sphere and the feelings of warriors from both sides as to these affairs. It may not further the primary story line of the civil war but it does begin a very important secondary plot that may well spill over into the main conflict. If I were reading this story as a stand alone, with no knowledge of the current storyline I would give it top marks, the author is very gifted and his mix between action and thought is very well balanced and I will certainly be anticipating more of his work.

Randall N. Bills has replaced Bryan Nystul as the BattleTech line developer at FASA. Considering this, the novel is a must read. It may not be a core novel in the development of the BattleTech universe, but its worth grabbing if only to check out the new developer's perception of certain facets of the universe. His interpretations of things (such as clan honor, etc etc) will be canon soon enough...As for the book itself, its not bad. It isn't a Stackapole book, but it is certainly better than the slop RoC has been sending down lately (Measue of a Hero and Starlord come to mind as particularly atrocious novels). Attention to character is important, glad to see that getting some consideration once again. Entertaining reading with a well paced plot and relevant characterizations. More writing of this quality and the Battletech line will be alive and vibrant again.

Even the best action scenes in the world mean little if you don't care about the characters involved, or if you don't understand the meaning of the conflict. That's not a problem here--well-drawn characters go at each other in battles where the personal stakes are high. The characters draw you in, and once you're in this book, you race toward the climax.The main reason for giving this book four stars is that it's the author's first novel--I need to leave room in case the author gets even better in the future.