BattleTech Legends: Decision at Thunder Rift: The Gray Death Legion Saga, Book 1 Paperback – February 7, 2019

Great book. This one started the whole thing, the whole fictional universe tied to the game, Battletech. If you're looking for a good place to dive into the fiction, into the lore of the Inner Sphere, this is the best choice. Read the trilogy, then go looking for Michael A. Stackpole's 'Warrior En Guarde' as a follow up. Two very different approaches to storytelling. Both great.

Let me preface this review by stating that I have been a battle tech fan since I was about 15 years old. I started off playing the mechwarrior games which got me so interested in this universe that I quickly became addicted to the long running book series. On the other hand this means I came into the universe rather late, started off with reading the Warrior trilogy by Stackpole and took off from there. This means that most of these earlier books were out of print, unavailable to me, and nigh impossible to hunt down. Which leaves me delighted to see them being released in E-book format now, as I've always wondered about what history I missed in the earlier books, especially when the books I started off with made reference to events that took place in these earlier books.That being sad, at first I had a hard time enjoying this book. I can't really put my finger on why exactly, maybe it was just the authors writing style, or maybe it was the very slow build up in the book.The author took quite a bit of time developing the setting, the community and psychology of that community on Trellwan, and in establishing his characters. Don't get me wrong, I love a good setting and great characters, but I feel like this book dragged in the first half because of this. Or maybe its because I was already familiar with some of these characters from the later books, that I was having a hard relating them these older versions of them, before they were fully established.I forged ahead though, slowly, and by the time I reached the the last third of the book, I couldn't put it down. Yes, I did just complain that the author took too much time setting up all of these characters, agendas, and plot details, but he did it tie it all together in a thrilling, exciting, and gripping ending. Which left my inner mechwarrior extremely satisfied and ready to move on to the next one in the series.A couple of other reviewers mentioned that this was a poor conversion to e-book format, like they had just scanned the pages from and old copy and pumped it down the pipe without doing any thorough spell checking or corrections, and that is very true. The blending together, or it seems sometimes missing words, and missing quotation marks could be extremely confusing at first, but once you get used to it it doesn't interrupt the flow of the book too badly. It is rather sloppy, but it doesn't ruin the overall quality of the story contained within the book.Bottom line, if you're never read a battle tech book but are kind of curious, I don't think this would be a bad place to start. If you're like me and love the universe but never got a chance to read these earlier books, I think you'll enjoy it.

Action packed, excellent story telling, and an overall good read. The e-book version on my phone does have a few typos as I have come to expect, but not so much so as to interfere with comprehending the book.1 point for die hard Battletech fans, there are a few minor cannon discrepancies, but they are only minor, and unless you know the game system inside and out most people will miss them. They do not detract from the story's enjoyability.

Amazing read. Highly recommended for any Mechwarrior. Price is reasonable as well. One two three four five six seven eight

I'm a fan of giant robots treated as realistic weapons of war. Up until the end of the 20th century, the tabletop game franchise of Battletech was king of the Mecha genre in the west. That is until Gundam Wing and the original Gundam series aired on Toonami and all but dethroned it. However after nearly two decades, Gundam lost its novelty on me after seeing the "same" story over and over again with whinier and shallower characters like SEED and 00, so I looked to alternatives. Among them was Robotech, Dougram and the tabletop franchise inspired by both of them: Battletech. Up until now, I hadn't had any exposure to Battletech beyond seeing software boxes at computer game shops, playing the OG XBox Mech Assault games and a once in a lifetime stint in a Battletech Sim pod at a Houston,Texas Dave and Busters. But once I got the chance to get a more in depth look at its nearly two centuries worth of lore I got hooked for the novels.Decision at Thunder Rift is the highly recommended introduction to the world of gritty robot warfare and Machiavellian scheming/backstabbing politics that takes place in Battletech.In this first installment in the Saga of the Grey Death Legion we see the origin of the most successful mercenary crew in Battletech history. Our story starts on the backwater planet of Trellwan with our hero, Grayson Death Carlyle who is a Mech pilot cadet, son the CO of the "Carlyle's Commandos," military unit and the closest I've seen to an "Amuro Ray" archetype in Battletech (fittingly enough, he has a rival with a red color fetish). What was supposed to be a nice, friendly, peaceful, chat with a third-world country in space goes awry when it turns out to be a sucker punch from a rival superpower. With Grayson the sole survivor of his father's unit, he must use proficient, but unpolished training to gather a ragtag crew to fight off the invaders with 08th MS Team style tactics and the terrain of a cavernous mountain range known as the eponymous Thunder Rift.This being the first Battletech book, don't expect anything mind-blowing. The illustrative writing style is good, there are moments of well-played suspense scenes and cliffhangers at the end of a few chapters. Descriptions of mecha battles feel clunky, but make sense in that they're translated from the tabletop game rules and go a long way to show how ranged weapons are more practical than robot kung fu throw-downs or flashy, light saber duels as real warfare has proven. Though Battletech mecha are no slouches when it comes to feats of agility involving acrobatics or martial arts, they just appreciate gravity more than other examples. Battletech being an offshoot of the eighties mecha anime craze, will have readers who are fans of the genre feel like they're reading an on-screen transcription of a mecha anime.The main characters namely Grayson and the female lead, Lori Kalmar have emotional baggage, such as the former who witnessed his dad getting sadistically squashed along with the massacre of everyone he's known and Lori having been raised on planet of sexist douche bags. One of them even learned the hard way not to treat a female Mechwarrior such as her like a street hooker. Also a rather neutral side character who was unwillingly involved with the conspiracy that kicked off the plot comes to terms with whose side he should take and whom to blame for his problems at the end. In all fairness the book doesn't go in depth with the character's emotions, because this is a futuristic war novel that focuses more on warfare and the struggle to give invaders the boot rather than the emotional issues of the characters, which is a perfect relief to mecha fans tired of cheesy, anime soap operas.Decision at Thunder Rift is the perfect diving board for newbies and diehard mecha fans looking to explore the awesome Battletech universe despite the franchise not getting much on-screen media attention beyond that rather weak Saban, cartoon adaptation with the worst robot animation ever seen. Though sadly, this franchise has all but been forgotten and fallen on hard times like Warhammer Fantasy and has been itching for a comeback. There's turn-based strategy Battletech game coming out this year. So if you enjoy this book you'll probably love the new Battletech game. And I hope battletech gets the much needed comeback it deserves, possibly enough to become an Anime I hope.

There are numerous typos, and mistakes through out the book. Despite, this William H. Keith Jr. still writes a fun story. This book is an excellent introduction the BattleTech universe. It contains everything you'd want: battlemechs, war, betrayal, redemption, heroic deeds. If you're at all curious about the BattleTech books, and the greater BattleTech universe itself, this is a great beginning point - just mind the mistakes.

This book is a classic and is an absolute must read if you are going to start reading the Battletech books or Gray Death series.Some quality and writing issues. The kindle version I read had plenty of spelling and grammatical errors. Also the writing didnt seem to flow well in certain parts... almost like the timeline jumped, a short segue would have been very beneficial. Also, many characters seemed very forgettable.Overall good, and I enjoyed it. I am a fan of Battletech and reading a Battletech novel again brought me back to my teenage years :)

Decision at Thunderrift war in der deutschen Version das erste Buch, welches zum Thema BattleTech raus kam, in der englischen noch besser und erstens ein großartiger Einstieg in die Welt des Sternenbundes (bzw. dessen, was heute ihm nachgefolgt ist), spannende Unterhaltung und einfach ein MUSS für jeden, der davon träumt einen BattleMech zu pilotieren. Ride the red line - Warrior!

New to Battletech Fiction? Start here. This books and The Gray Death Legion Trilogy is an excellent starting place for Battletech Fiction

Brilliant book. I've always loved military Sci-fi, but never had the pocket money to buy both Battletech AND Star Wars, so I'm quite late to the party on the BT universe.Al I can say is that I'm hooked. In many series, DaTR is the first book in the BT universe, and gives a great "hit the ground running" introduction. Not even stopping to do any major explanation, all the relevant information is given during the story, making this a great first book.DaTR (and the BT universe in general) is the tale of the continuing human strife in the 31st century, where massive bipedal tanks known as Mechs own the battlefield. More agile than tanks, more flexible than artillery, and more durable than aircraft or hovertanks, they've become the de facto engine of war.In this book, a small garrison world on the border between two great empires falls afoul of a cunning plot. However a young boy in training to be a Mech Pilot turns out to be the most capable soldier in a town of civilians and guardsmen, helping them to fend off marauders, and ultimately helping the local populace to take the fight back to the invaders. Here begins the tale of the infamous Grey Death Legion...I own this book in both eBook and physical format, and have read it (many years apart) in both formats.

Das Buch ist ein Klassiker, es war das erste Buch, das auf Deutsch rauskam. Wenn man Englisch versteht und seine Nostalgie bedienen will ist das Buch sehr gut geeignet. Einziger Wermutstropfen: Bei der Portierung Richtung Ebook sind doch ein paar Fehler passiert. Das sollte eigentlich nicht passieren, wäre schön gewesen, wenn nochmal einer drüber gelesen hätte vor der Veröffentlichung.