Service for the Dead
by Martin Delrio
MechWarrior: Dark Age: The Proving Grounds Trilogy (#3), MechWarrior: Dark Age (#6), BattleTech Novel Reading Order (70), BattleTech (DE) (MechWarrior: Dark Age — MWDA 06), BattleTech (MWDA #6)
On This Page
Description
TARGET: TERRAThe world of Northwind has been ravaged in the fierce battle between the Highlanders and the Steel Wolves—and now the Clan warriors have set their sights on Terra. The fate of the birthplace of humankind now rests in the hands of three very different MechWarriors:
Ezekiel Crow: Betrayer of the Highlanders—and on the run from both political and military enemies.
Anastasia Kerensky: Ruthless leader of the Steel Wolves—and if she has her way, the next Conqueror of Terra.
show more Tara Campbell: embattled Countess of the Northwind Highlanders—and Terra's only hope in its most desperate hour.
A desperate three-way race ensues to see who will be the first to reach Terra...and who will ultimately claim it....
. show less
Tags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
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 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 show more 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
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 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 show more 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
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
8+ Works 417 Members
Series
Work Relationships
Is contained in
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Service for the Dead
- Original title
- Service for the Dead
- Alternate titles
- Mechwarrior Dark Age: Service for the Dead
- Original publication date
- 2003-11-04
- People/Characters
- Devlin Stone; Anastasia Kerensky; Jack Farrell; Daniel Peterson (Ezekiel Crow); Tara Campbell; Michael Griffin (show all 39); Finnegan Cochrane; Ruth Elliot-Fletcher; Jean Elliot; Will Elliot; Lexa McIntosh; John Fletcher Sr; John Fletcher Jr; Annie Fletcher; Isobel Fletcher; Marks Wolf; Kal Radick; Cecy Harris; Luc Desroches; Jonah Levin; Anna Levin; Jacob Bannson; Aaron Sandoval II (32nd c.); Alexei Suvorov; Ian Murchison; Jock Gordon; Aleksandr Kerensky; Dorn Wolf; Damien Redburn; Katana Tormark; Heather GioAvanti; Victor Steiner-Davion; Owain Jones; Ivan Gorky; Burton Horn; David Ashe; Nicholas Darwin; Tara Bishop; Kriya Wolf
- Important places
- Terra (Republic of the Sphere); Northwind (Republic of the Sphere); Small World (Republic of the Sphere); Addicks (Republic of the Sphere); Saffel (Republic of the Sphere); Arc-Royal (Lyran Commonwealth) (show all 16); Kervil (Republic of the Sphere); Kurragin (Capellan Confederation); Hesperus II (Lyran Commonwealth); Tybalt (Republic of the Sphere); Tigress (Republic of the Sphere); Footfall (Republic of the Sphere); Tukayyid (Free Rasalhauge Republic); Sadalbari (Republic of the Sphere); Liao (Republic of the Sphere); Rasalhague (Rasalhague Dominion)
- First words
- Forty-eight hours after the last of the Steel Wolf DropShips lifted from the port, Tara was still burning.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)With that, he walked out through the foyer and into the night.
- Publisher's editor
- Silverstein, Janna
- Original language
- English
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 813.6
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 95
- Popularity
- 337,621
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (2.94)
- Languages
- English, German, Hungarian
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
- ASINs
- 2
