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Title: The Ruins of Power (Mechwarrior: Dark Age, 3) by Robert E. Vardeman ISBN: 0-451-45928-8 Publisher: Roc Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 1.64 (11 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Intriguing scenario of political intrigue (3.5 stars)
Comment: I'm not familiar with Battletech, Mechwarrior, Dark Age scenarios, but bought and read this book because of its author, Robert E. Vardeman. Not being able to judge what others might expect as a result of the above-mentioned affiliations, I can only evaluate it on a stand-alone basis as a work in its own right. In short, I found the book to be pretty good! Political intrigue turns out to be the core of the work, and here, as elsewhere, Vardeman has done a good job presenting institutional and governmental power struggles in a fictional scenario. This may not be the style expected by fans of Battletech, but from my end I'm impressed that the book is no mere string of shoot-em-up antics. Rather, it has a balance between presenting its characters, a broad political context, specific tactical information in a number of key action sequences, and also apparently fitting into a broader framework of tied-in games and novels. I think it does a good job of fitting into this web. It's main weaknesses, I suppose, would have to be in character development. I found all the roles presented to be interesting enough, but some of the key persons in the story weren't quite fleshed out enough to come across with full credibility. Main villainess Elora had motivations that seemed a mite too simple. Marta Kinsolving's character was never properly explored in this text. Most of the characters are intriguing and interesting to watch and listen to as they scheme and try to piece together what threats are building against them, but as characters are never truly round - effectively being defined merely in terms of the roles they're playing in the power struggles in a semi-isolated sector of the universe. This shortcoming wasn't enough of a drawback to sink the book too much, though. The book reads well enough and has a couple of extended action sequences that I imagine are aimed toward the Battletech crowd specifically. I was particularly impressed by the way that power struggles involved many social institutions - media, government, military, and business. For the scenario of intrigue alone, the book is well worth reading. I'm not sure who the typical Battletech reader is supposed to be, but I was impressed that this book was no simpleminded slugfest. The political intrigue was a lot better thought-out than I would normally expect from a series that sounds vaguely to be based on the appeal (?) of mechanized militarism, and this (plus an interesting counterpoint of a concern with pacifism) made the book a rewarding experience for me. In the end, I can't count it as an actual classic - mainly because of the limits of having to be squeezed into a broader scenario and series. But it was a refreshing change of pace to find these good elements within what looked like an action-dominated scenario. As for the action scenes themselves, I thought they worked quite well, too! But if you want something more than just another routine of action/combat events, check this book out! It does a good job of linking the combat into POLITICS!! 9:20
Rating: 4
Summary: Intriguing scenario of political intrique (3.5 stars)
Comment: I'm not familiar with Battletech, Mechwarrior, Dark Age scenarios, but bought and read this book because of its author, Robert E. Vardeman. Not being able to judge what others might expect as a result of the above-mentioned affiliations, I can only evaluate it on a stand-alone basis as a work in its own right. In short, I found the book to be pretty good! Political intrigue turns out to be the core of the work, and here, as elsewhere, Vardeman has done a good job presenting institutional and governmental power struggles in a fictional scenario. This may not be the style expected by fans of Battletech, but from my end I'm impressed that the book is no mere string of shoot-em-up antics. Rather, it has a balance between presenting its characters, a broad political context, specific tactical information in a number of key action sequences, and also apparently fitting into a broader framework of tied-in games and novels. I think it does a good job of fitting into this web. It's main weaknesses, I suppose, would have to be in character development. I found all the roles presented to be interesting enough, but some of the key persons in the story weren't quite fleshed out enough to come across with full credibility. Main villainess Elora had motivations that seemed a mite too simple. Marta Kinsolving's character was never properly explored in this text. Most of the characters are intriguing and interesting to watch and listen to as they scheme and try to piece together what threats are building against them, but as characters are never truly round - effectively being defined merely in terms of the roles they're playing in the power struggles in a semi-isolated sector of the universe. This shortcoming wasn't enough of a drawback to sink the book too much, though. The book reads well enough and has a couple of extended action sequences that I imagine are aimed toward the Battletech crowd specifically. I was particularly impressed by the way that power struggles involved many social institutions - media, government, military, and business. For the scenario of intrigue alone, the book is well worth reading. I'm not sure who the typical Battletech reader is supposed to be, but I was impressed that this book was no simpleminded slugfest. The political intrigue was a lot better thought-out than I would normally expect from a series that sounds vaguely to be based on the appeal (?) of mechanized militarism, and this (plus an interesting counterpoint of a concern with pacifism) made the book a rewarding experience for me. In the end, I can't count it as any sort of a classic - mainly because of the limits of having to be squeezed into a broader scenario and series. But it was a refreshing change of pace to find these good elements within what looked like an action-dominated scenario. As for the action scenes themselves, I thought they worked quite well, too! But if you want something more than just another routine of action/combat events, check this book out! It does a good job of linking the combat into POLITICS!! 9:20
Rating: 1
Summary: Why can't we give it ZERO stars?
Comment: I can't begin to tell you how upset I am at this book. Vardeman should definitely stick to writing about Vor.
Something that threw me off very early in the story was that the main characters (Dale, Austin & Sergio) shared the same last name as Raul Ortega from 'A Call to Arms.' This universe is still in it's infancy, lets at least wait till we're about 15 novels into it before we start recycling surnames.
'Ruins of Power' had the potential to be a powerful story with the characters it introduced. Unfortunately, the author never takes any time to dig deep into any of the characters; many questions go unanswered. Why is Sergio Ortega so adamant a pacifist? What evidence is there that Sergio was a great mechwarrior in his past? Why does Segio not confide in his own son, Austin, as to what Dale and Hanna knew of Lady Elora's work to undermine his authority as governor? It is obvious Sergio can trust no one, so why not his son? Is it because he feels that Austin is incompetent? Well that can't because Austin is given a political postition alongside his father plus he spends a week outfitting a Centurion for battle (i.e. programming it, loading LRM ammo & AC ammo, and other superhuman feats). It seems Austin is more than ready for the truth; I hope you can sense the sarcasm. We are also introduced to Capt. Manfred Leclerc of the First Cossack Lancers charged with protecting the governor till they are handed over to the Legate's control. Manfred's relationship with Austin is never given much time so you can imagine my surprise when Austin deeply embraces Manfred (who has been in hiding). Does Austin look to Manfred as a surrogate father, a big brother, what?
Despite the many character flaws inherent in this book (don't get me started on Legate Tortorelli) there were some definite technical mistakes. As I mentioned before, Austin loads LRM & AC ammo into a Centurion locked in a museum. How in the world does he accomplish that without some sort of gantry or crane? Whatever. Also, the Centurion is capable of much more damage than it was allowed to dish out. It was taken out of battle early and Vardeman even wrote of Austin having to watch heat levels even after firing only two weapons/salvos. Unless the Centurion had no heatsinks, Austin should not have given heat a second thought until he was in the thick of battle. Besides, his long range weaponry should have taken out any mech-killing tanks well before he was in range of their guns. Lastly, is the mysterious Atlas that arrives with Envoy Parsons to save the day. Not only do we not know who is piloting the Atlas (Vardeman spends no time in the cockpit of the Atlas for the reader) it seems he is the worst pilot in all of the Republic. The Atlas is ordered to minimize collateral damage to the city and to fire only when fired upon. There was no mention that the Atlas even took any vehicles out! In fact, the Atlas was about to be felled by the Home Guard forces before the battle turned. It seems to me that the Republic would have sent along an elite pilot (a Knight or something), Vardeman should have given his name, and would be able to take out any vehicle with well-placed laser, gauss or LRM salvos. Please do some research before writing and/or talk to past BT authors.
Bottom line, this is a horrible story. I could have written it and I am not very creative. There were no 'levels' to the plot, the characters, the battles, etc. Buy this book just to add it to your collection. Read it once and never touch it again unless you have a wobbly table that needs fixing.
By the way, I thought Far Country was entertaining (but yes, it was dumb).
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Title: Truth and Shadows (MechWarrior: Dark Age #5) by Martin Delrio ISBN: 0451459385 Publisher: WizKids, LLC Pub. Date: 05 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Ghost War (Mechwarrior Dark Age, 1) by Michael A. Stackpole ISBN: 0451459059 Publisher: WizKids, LLC Pub. Date: December, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Service for the Dead (Mechwarrior Dark Age, 6) by Martin Delrio ISBN: 0451459431 Publisher: Roc Pub. Date: 04 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: By Temptations and By War (MechWarrior: Dark Age) by Loren L. Coleman ISBN: 0451459474 Publisher: Roc Pub. Date: 02 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Fortress of Lies: A BattleTech Novel (MechWarrior: Dark Ages, 8) by J. Steven York ISBN: 0451459636 Publisher: Roc Pub. Date: 03 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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