When the book started, I enjoyed the characterization. I thought it was interesting, and didn't just follow a cookie-cutter MechWarrior/Battletech plotline. I especially appreciated how the "bad guy" was interesting, and not just Evil(tm). I was a little annoyed by the stereotypes of various cultures, but at least it wasn't completely over the top with them.
Of course, that was when the book started. At some point, the "bad guy" changed. Instead of being the merc, the bad guy was the merc's employer, and _that_ guy was so completely 1 dimensionally Eeeeeviiillll (tm) that I got a bit annoyed. There wasn't even any real motivation for the bad guy to be that evil, other than to make sure that the reader would have no sympathy for him. To me, that is laziness on the part of the author. Around that time, the characterization in general started sliding towards cookie-cutter characters as well, with the general character deveopment going out the window. That irritated me as well. It also didn't take long to be able to generally predict what was going to happen. Not much in the way of surprises, unfortunately. At least it wasn't as blatantly predictable as the Blaine Lee Pardoe books I've read.

Despite all the issues I had with it, though, I did not find it to be a _bad_ book. It was at least fun to read, though not exactly high quality. I'd say it rates better than Delrio's trilogy, and definitely far better than "Ruins of Power", but it rates lower than Ghost War, A Call to Arms, By Temptations and By War, and Fortress of Lies.

Well, Moscoe is no Stackpole. That’s for sure. I too sometimes found his choice of words perplexing – let alone his unforgivable propensity to (mistakenly, one hopes!) let some characters speak twice in a row during lengthy conversations.

The book itself was interesting, but the story and villains were both cookie-cutter fare. If I wanted a hero story like that, I’d have watched the Magnificent Seven reruns on TNT.

Moscow does, I admit, breathe new life and feasibility into Agro and Industrial ‘Mechs. At least somebody has found a use for them. On the other hand, like most authors, he falls into the trap of giving his characters 9mm sidearms, making it seem as if entire planets are inhabited by two people, and completely ignoring the liklihood that even “primitive” and isolated settlements should have extensive satellite networks.

Can't someone elucidate the Dark Age universe more directly?!

Seems like most liked it.....maybe I'll try it. I mean, after the Ruines of Power, The Proving Grounds Trilogy, and Fortress of Lies.....Ugh, I am afraid.


Well, David Wilson liked it, and he's an old CBT guy, and a tough critic:p so it at least must stick to the universe pretty well. Maybe its time to give it one more try, eh?

not to crazy about it, merc companies came of really bad in it. Almost all the merc companies were made to look pathetic, and the way they rendered HRR, erg.

It was alright, but seemed like a little to much of a stretch with completely untrained civillians, giving one of the best merc companies such a hard time.

I might have had a problem with that, but the author did establish a few things in my mind:
First, the company is one of the best, but I got the impression that the particular team sent was a bit on the green side, at least in the command staff (it was his first command, after all).
Second, and this really only works for me because of the command team being inexperienced, they got lulled into thinking it would be a total cakewalk, and got tripped up by not being vigilant enough.
Third, it was stated that the employer severely limited the merc's available resources.
Fourth, on the second time around, it was pretty clear that Major Hansen wasn't too pleased with the assignment, and was doing everything he could to basically screw up the assignment without it being obvious that he was doing so deliberately. (After all, the first time he came in, he utterly ran over everything the planet threw at him, and only backed off from Falkirk because he had over extended his lines, and had already accomplished his objectives, so it wasn't worth dealing with some mosquito bites to destroy the Falkirk fighters).

So I'll give Moscoe a pass on his portrayal of the Roughriders. I think he gave plenty of reasons for why they didn't fare as well as they normally would have.

I actually had just finished reading "Ruins of Power" ( yeah, I
know, 'What took you so long, Dave?' :p ) before I purchased
"Patriot's Stand". Call me crazy (you wouldn't be the first) but I
actually enjoyed the book. Would I rate it over "Call to Arms"
or "Fortress of Lies" (my faves, so far)? No. But I did enjoy it.
:)

Another reason Major Hanson works to sabotage the 2nd mission
to Alkalurops - he wasn't exactly thrilled to hear about the
murder of the planetary Legate, prior to the 1st mission. ;)

I jst finished it and I like it.

The tech stuff about upgrading the Indy mechs was good. And the whole "Maids in the Mist" was classic.

I do agree that the villian went from someone they could have kept around for the long run into a dork in about 12 pages. That was offset by the emergance of what could be the second Ghost Knight we have seen.

I would have like to seen how they split up the salavage of the Reds and Blacks. Which mechs went where and that stuff.

And the fact that the Stromhammers were even brought made me almost fall out of my chair.

pull - intr, ... 2. To drink or inhale deeply: pulled on the cold beer with gusto; pull on a cigarette ...

from: The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition

Sorry, but that's hardly an example of bad grammar, only your unfamiliarity with a less common use of a verb. (Actually, it wouldn't be bad grammar in any case. It would have been incorrect use of vocabulary had the author been mistaken here.) Incidentally, authors are not responsible for bad grammar/spelling or incorrect use of vocabulary. It's the editor's job to make sure stuff like that is right.
However, it does sound as if the book might have suffered a bit from rewrites.

I haven't actually started it yet. So I have no opinion of my own on the book.

They sure as heck are responsible for bad grammar/spelling or incorrect use of vocabulary. It's the editor's job to edit the author's words, but the author should get it right to begin with. The editor should catch any mistakes that get past the author (hey, we all make mistakes!) but the author should make every effort to not make those mistakes in the first place.

Quite the opposite, I think. It could have used more rewrites. And according to what Janna has said about PS, it was a very difficult edit job that she was glad to be rid of when she got laid off.

Now I realized that "pull" was a real word, what I was trying to get across is that most people don't, have never and will never use or hear such a phrase. Which adds to the confusion while reading the book.

In less than 2 minutes I came up with these gems of writing skill. Some are wrong, some are right and some are just plane stupid.

Grace promised she would be and rang off. - page 28, 3rd to last line. Did she really "rang" off? I think she ran.

And pop pointed out buildings that had been pointed out to him by his own grandpa. - page 28. This may be a complete sentence but it sure doesn't sound like it.

"We can't let this bunch stampede in circles," Chato said. "I'll keep an eye on the table yammering. Could you get me a cup of tea, Grace, and talk to folks? Patch up what we did last night." Grace went, but how often on the drive home from a meeting had she thought of a good reason not to vote the way she had.
She was buying a mug of tea for Chato while Jobe bought himself a cup of coffee, so they were in a good position to see the man who walked into the Guild Hall at 10 sharp. - Ok what happened here? Did she drive home to get the tea or was that just a random thought thrown in with weird wording to confuse me.

onetime - Two words

Again, I don't think the book is horrible, it's just that so far it's not that good. And could use some good old fashioned proof reading.

The latter.

Depends on usage.

onetime (or more frequently one-time) is an adjective synonymous with "former", "once".

Without context, this may or may not be correct.

I take it you missed Loren's Ni Tehn Dho in the original CBT series?

Not too sure if Anna Lu Pohl (loophole?) counts as one.

I agree with the rest of your points, but this one I simply cannot agree with. Aside from the fact that I have both read and heard the term "pull" as meaning to take a long drink many times before, I simply do not agree that only phrases which are very commonly used should ever be used in writing. After all, encountering new words or definitions of words while reading is one of the most effective ways of expanding one's vocabulary. If you cannot discern the meaning of a word from the context, then you can make use of a great many resources to determine what the meaning was. For instance, since you obviously have on-line access, there are a lot of on-line dictionaries you can avail yourself of if you come across a word or the use of a word that you are not familiar with. I would rather not restrict the vocabulary that an author uses simply because someone might get confused by something they had not encountered before.

Tried to forget the first (thanks a lot for reminding me), and I was trying to stick to 1 example per book for the second.
But good point. MAKE IT STOP!

I have just started reading this book and so far, I am enjoying it. I have read all of the MW:DA books out to date and though I am not sure if it will fall into the category of one of the best, I seriously doubt it will be called one of the worst either. I feel it has that middle of the road feel to it and I've only into the second chapter. Just my 0.02 on this subject. ;)