Mechwarrior: Dark Age #16: Daughter of the Dragon (a Battletech Novel)

by Ilsa J. Bick

Book Overview

Katana Tormark's family was disgraced by a traitor. To regain her clan's honor, she challenges House Kurita's right to rule the Combine. Undermining their authority, Katana is pushing them into a conflict with the Republic they don't want. But Warlord Mitsura Sakamoto has his own desire to rule, and and he's not going to let Katana stand in his way.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451460340
• ISBN13: 9780451460349
• Release Date: June 2005
• Publisher: Roc
• Length: 295 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Slow action

Is missing a lot ao actiom. But the drama and plots are running hot.

Not quite perfect. Still, this "dragon" has no "yellow bird"

Here it is...the most controversial book of the entire Mechwarrior line. This is the book that you absolutely have to read, if only to see why everyone else is angrily shaking their fists at one another. And there is plenty to get worked up about. Violence, torture, mayhem...you have probably heard by now that this book has a very "adult" theme to it and is inappropriate for children. But that should not come as a surprise. Mechwarrior, like Battletech before it, has always been targeted at adults. And as an adult, I am pleased that there is finally a Mechwarrior novel that follows in the footsteps of the gritty, often disturbing themes of early Battletech classics such as the original Periphery Sourcebook. That being said, I thought this book was good, (definitely above average) but not excellent. Ilsa Bick has produced better (she is a longtime and accomplished writer on Battlecorps.com). And there have been better Mechwarrior novels (in my opinion, The Scorpion Jar, and Sword of Sedition particularly stand out). So, in an out of place attempt at actually using the numbers that lie between 1 and 5, I can't honestly give a perfect score when there is still room for improvement. The crux of the problem for me was that there were too many "short story" style breaks in the novel. Each might have made a nice Battlecorps story, but they slowed down the pace of the main action of the novel for me. For instance, there was a really, really well written aerospace battle in one chapter with characters that we have never seen before and will never see again. If there were only one or two of this type of scene, it would still enhance the novel and I'd say "Great!" But by the end of the book there were just too many of them. To the point where I no longer saw them as an enhancement and instead found them becoming an annoying distraction from the real story. In my opinion, this book is at its most engaging during its, shall we say, "uncomfortable" scenes that placed sympathetic characters in terrifying peril. After feasting on "steak" like that, it's difficult to find satisfaction in the "hamburger" of random people shooting at each other. Ironically, if this book has a failing, it's that, in the final analysis, there is far too little violence, torture and mayhem.

Wow. Just... wow

DAUGHTER OF THE DRAGON is perhaps the best BATTLETECH novel I have ever read. Not to say that the novel is perfect--no book is. But it's certainly the strongest so far. Where the other books in the series have generally used characters to further the plot, here the focus is the characters; the plot is secondary to Katana Tomark and the Bounty Hunter. They are it and it is them. DAUGHTER may come across strong to some readers. It serves them both a crash course in Kuritan culture, in a depth that hasn't been seen since Robert Charrette's novels in the early 1990s, and a heavy dose of realism. Bick doesn't hide who these characters are. They're violent. They swear. And they're sexual. Yet, while Bick does show the reader the truth of the characters, major and minor, she doesn't overdo it. This isn't David Mack-style carnography. She gives the reader just enough to get the proper mindset, and no more. DAUGHTER is a character study. Just by being one--and being *good*--it stands out above the crowd. The events of the book may not be epic, but they're a lot more engrossing--and a lot more interesting--thanks to Bick's unique way of getting the reader into the character's minds. I can't recommend this book highly enough to any BATTLETECH fan--or even those who aren't.

MWDA meets Reality

I have read the previous reviews from the readers who believe that this book has explicit content and that the content isn't related to Mechwarrior. I believe that for a universe such as Battletech and MWDA to be successful, all facets of the established society should be explored in order to give the universe a more real and believable setting. As an example, in this book the author takes us into the twisted mind of a serial killer and also reveals a (very mild) lesbian relationship. As the plot goes on, the author takes us through the grim reality of what such a huge universe would yield--the universe in 3135 is not a perfect place based solely on bushido or chivalry (or heterosexual relationships for that matter). Human nature will not have fundamentally changed by 3135 so murder, love in many forms, and risky business will still exist! In addition, the author does a fantastic job in developing dynamic and believable characters with many aspects to their personalities and situations--they cannot be classified as simply "good" or "evil" because there were so many different perspectives and issues to take into account. I felt that I got to understanding these characters since Bick portrayed them so well. There are not a lot of 'Mech battles in this book and I find that it is important that not every scene in a Battletech book should be 'Mech fighting. It is very important to develop politics and the people behind the machines in order to truly connect with and enjoy the book. Besides--what is Battletech without the people? Daughter of the Dragon is an important addition to the series because it lies the political and social framework that will be essential to future novels, but also ties up loose ends in the previous novels (such as Martin DelRio's "Proving Grounds Trilogy".) My only complaint about this book is that there was a lot of Japanese terms that were not defined but that is fairly minor given that these terms are not necessary to fully understand the plot. I enjoyed this book because it was a deviation from the usual, and I respect an author's commitment to individuality, especially if they do it well.

Terrific, if darker, 100% MechWarrior read

This book does not center on sexual fantasy, no matter how dark. Some of the scenes do have more of an "R" rating than most of MechWarrior or BattleTech, but nothing really over the top. A major part of this book involves a psychotic killer, and we do spend some time inside his head -- which is not a pretty place-- but he's not a patch on, say, Hannibal Lechter. As killers in the BattleTech universe go, he's much tamer than Kali Liao. She, if you'll recall, loved to nerve-gas civilians and was known for torturing people to near death then nursing them back to health only to torture them back to the edge of death. Repeated the cycle with some of her "favorites" for years. (I will grant that Loren Coleman did not go into the detail Ilsa Bick does, so to that extent Kali Liao may be less disturbing to some readers. But as pure evil goes, this guy isn't in her league.) His big mistake is focusing on Katana. Sort of like Hannibal Lechter becoming fixated on a veteran Navy SEAL and black ops agent instead of a recent FBI academy grad. Won't spoil it by telling you how it comes out. If that was all this book was about, it wouldn't be the MechWarrior novel it is. However the book is rich in the culture and politics of the Dark Age. Particularly House Kurita and the Draconis Combine. Though there might not be as much 'Mech action and combat in general as some would like, what's there is choice. While darker than some MechWarrior and Classic BattleTech fiction, "Daughter of the Dragon" is a solid read and an excellent addition to the MechWarrior: Dark Age canon.