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Products » Novels » Search » Tactics of Duty
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| Novel Information |
| Collection: |
BattleTech |
| Title: |
Tactics of Duty |
| Author: |
William H. Keith, Jr. |
| ISBN-10: |
0-451-45490-1 |
| ISBN-13: |
978-0-451-45490-4 |
| Publisher: |
Roc |
| Product ID: |
LE5490 |
| Copyright: |
© 1996 |
| Cover Art: |
©2024 Catalyst Game Labs |
| Description: |
Tyranny. Rebellion. War. Treachery, tribulation, and a relentless slide into the bloody jaws of Armageddon! Insurrection sweeps through the fragmenting Federated Commonwealth, pitting Steiner against Davion forces, and civilians against their petty oppressors. On Caledonia, it`s no different—except that the mercenary Gray Death Legion is caught in the middle of it all.
Alex Carlyle, haunted by the gruesome specter of war, and Davis McCall, a vetern legionnaire and native Caledonian, unexpectedly find themselves key players in a popular revolt against a cruel and despised Davion-backed governor. When the Gray Death Legion is called upon to put down this very rebellion, they all find themselves pawns in a deadly game of manipulation and betrayal. But Grayson Carlyle, tactician supreme and founder of the Legion, is bound by the highest duty—to protect civilization from self-destruction no matter what the odds or price... |
| First Chapter Date: |
March 10, 3057 |
| Final Chapter Date: |
April 16, 3057 |
| Number of Reviews: 1 |
 Write Review |
| Average Member Rating: 1.00 |
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Member Review - Gunslinger Patch : 15-Dec-2004 00:00 |
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0 out of 0 users (0.00%) have found this review useful
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| Rating: |
1.00 |
| Comment: |
Although it has some good moments, and some entertaining dialogue, and especially plenty of scots accents, I rate Tactics of Duty as awful simply because of the basic unbelievability of the plot twists.
Ok, with lurid description Gov. Wilmarth and his goons are shown to be utterly barbaric and evil, torturing people to death for entertainment, decorating their stronghold with the rotting corpses of their victems, not to mention using mechs to massacre whole crowds of unarmed civilians. (Shall we say moving through the landscape in a style reminicsent of Gengis Khan?)
But then the Grey Death has to violate their contract, lose Glengarry, for not obeying orders to join in the massacre, for defending the people and fighting the bad guys? What BS is this?
Does not the Grey Death's contract state that it is in breach if they are ordered to violate the Rules of War, to commit atrocities? And just how would Prince Victor frown on the Gray Death Legion removing a creature like Wilmarth and restoring the rule of law to the planet? Would even Katherine have a problem with that?
And what about the Federated Commonwealth? It has laws don't it? Laws about killing, torturing, freedom of speech, etc. Were not Wilmarth, Folker, et al in clear and open violation of the laws they were oath sworn to obey? I would say decorating a fortress with the rotting bodies of unarmed civilians who were tortured to death would be in violation of a law or two.
And come to think of it, just how would a creature like Wilmarth make it past a routine background security check to get the governor's job anyway? And how would he be at this for 5 years with Victor, Morgan Kell or SOMEBODY showing up and taking him out. And how would Grayson Carlyle on nearby Glengarry know nothing about events on New Caledonia over the span of 5 years?
All Grayson Carlyle had to do was just put out the word that these people were outlaws, dezgra, utter barbarians, and then hunt em down and present the evidence to Victor, Katherine, the Mercenary Review board, and esp. the press and there would be no hot water for the Legion, and no loss of their rulership of Glengarry.
Obviously a plot like this will have to have a bit of contriving in it to make the key events happen. But the contriving in this one is just too irrational and not at all subtle.
First we see how evil Wilmarth is, but after that, there is no outrage, no horror, the Gray Death Legion is not enraged about finding a stack of impaled heads on display. Its just, oh dear, this is going to hurt our finances. Bleh.
Why couldn't the author just frame them for something as his excuse to attack the Gray Death Legion, hell it worked for the Mariks didn't it? Framing them for an atrocity could be made a lot easier to swallow then Wilmarth being this evil and in charge of the planet for 5 years and nobody did nothing till McCall's mother happens to call her son for help.
And of course a tech hired by one of the premier elite merc regiments is so dumb that he can plant a tracking device on the Colonel's ride and think nothing of it.
The first couple of times I read it it just didn't grow on me, this past week's rereading is just not entertaining because the flaws in the plot are annoying me too much. It reminds me of how many books I read where Victor spent the whole novel NOT DEALING with his evil sister. |
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