Martin Delrio (1)

Truth and Shadows continues the storyline of Northwind that began in A Silence in the Heavens, again utilizing a structure similar to its predecessor. This time, it's Ezekiel Crow, Paladin of the Sphere, who undergoes life-altering changes.

It's been several months since the Steel Wolves have been seen, and Northwind is finally starting to breathe easy. But Crow can't really do so—not when the specter of Liao is being hung over his head by an unknown party.

As before, much of the first show more two-thirds is spent on character development, with some minor action from the secondary cast. Only towards the end do Tara Campbell and Crow hop into their BattleMechs and join the fray.

The Wolves' defeat feels more honest this time, in that they weren't actually defeated. Rather, in the face of the scorched earth tactics the Highlanders used ("If we can't have it, you can't either"), the Wolves decide that Northwind is more trouble than it's worth, and set their sights on a new target in time for the trilogy's conclusion: Terra.

While the structure of the trilogy has already gotten repetitive, "Delrio"'s strong writing more than makes up for it. The lies, deception, and betrayals keep the reader guessing even as the story moves on towards a conflict that's been over a decade in the waiting. show less

Another book that isn't very popular with the fanbase (indeed, an entire trilogy that got rather roasted upon release), I thought that A Silence in the Heavens was pretty good at the time. While my opinion has mellowed slightly, it's still a pretty good book.

A Silence in the Heavens picks up where A Call to Arms left off, with Tassa Kay—Anastasia Kerensky—in the hands of the Steel Wolves. Being the ambitious female dog… err, wolf—that she is, she wastes no time getting down to show more business and taking the Steel Wolves under her wing.

While the book does a great job of setting up Kerensky's command of the Wolves, and the impending conflict with Northwind, it then tries to bring the two into active conflict on Northwind. Unfortunately, this battle is rather hastily carried out, without the Wolves' full forces; they're sent running when it seems like they didn't really try. It seems like there wasn't enough room for the authors to play with this battle; it was meant to set up the next book, Truth and Shadows, but it only succeeded in undermining said setup.

As a standalone book, the ending is weak—but there's two more books coming after it, which build on the much stronger basis of the book's beginning. It doesn't work as a standalone, but as a part of the trilogy or the series it's an enjoyable evolution of the Wolves. show less

Service for the Dead brings The Proving Grounds Trilogy to a close, if not a conclusion.

The novel breaks from the loose format of the previous two books; rather than spending time further exploring the character of Tara Campbell (who, truth be told, was quite well fleshed out in the earlier books), it picks the plot up right where Truth and Shadows left off and runs with it.

Northwind is no longer the battlefield; this time, Anastasia Kerensky is headed for Terra. And with The Republic's show more force reductions, Terra's defense forces alone won't be enough to stop the Steel Wolves. The battered Northwind Highlanders must rise to the challenge once more, defending not their own world, but the capital of the Republic.

While the basic premise seems plausible, the book relies on a chain of coincidences to drive the plot forward; characters make dumb mistakes, and do things they probably shouldn't have done, with little or no thought put into them. Tara Campbell is the main victim of this; she doesn't think to bring an extra copy of the evidence against Crow with her, and when challenged by him she accepts the duel rather than focusing on the Steel Wolf threat.

In the end, Service for the Dead is a middling conclusion to the trilogy at best. It ties up the immediate invasion-of-Terra plotline, but stops there; it doesn't tie The Proving Grounds together. So while the first two books were quite good, Service for the Dead is unfortunately something of a letdown. show less