Mechwarrior: Dark Age #17: Heretic's Faith (A BattleTech Novel)

 (8 customer reviews)

I've read the book, and I've read the reviews, and I felt compelled to write a review.

I give the book four stars out of five based on the fact that it's a pulp sci-fi book, and not intended to be a great work of fiction. If you want great fiction, look elsewhere, but like I've said in other reviews, if you're wanting a good time to imagine somewhere else...this series is a good bit of fun.

That being said, it's also worth noting I've been a fan of the Battletech/Mechwarrior universe since the 1980's. While I sympathize with some of the reviewers here, I respectfully disagree. Having a long series one exciting battle after another is fun, but if you want a series of books to last beyond five or ten books, you sometimes have to build more background, which isn't always going to be done in the most exciting manner.

As one reviewer noted, members of the clans are almost alien. While much attention has been given to their reasons for fighting and their...Read more

In HERETIC'S FAITH, Randall Bills's second MECHWARRIOR: DARK AGE novel, Bills continues to explore some of the less-important factions in the current setting. Previously, he brought us a look at live in Clan Sea Fox; in FAITH, he returns to the subject of his first BATTLETECH novel, Clan Nova Cat.

FAITH follows up on the events of DAUGHTER OF THE DRAGON, the previous book in the series. Katana Tomark, a newly-made Kuritan warlord, decides to recruit the Spirit Cats in order to supplement her rather woeful forces. This sets Kisho, Nova Cat mystic and the titular heretic, down a path of reconciliation.

It's tempting to compare FAITH to DAUGHTER. Both are character-driven novels, by authors who like to get the readers into the characters' minds. But it's hard to do so fairly; DAUGHTER focuses on two characters who are all too human. Kisho, as a Clanner, is for all intents and purposes an alien.

FAITH was an enjoyable read. However, the book didn't so much...Read more

If you read the BACK COVER of the book, there is a spoiler that the author didn't spill the beans on until the last twenty pages. Shame on whomever wrote the back cover copy. Also, they should have checked the dates involved. DECADES ago, Minoru Kurita joined the Nova Cats, not centuries. That should have been caught by some editor.

All that said however, this was a really good book. I have no problems recommending it to others.