Shell Games

A BattleTech Novella

By: Jason Schmetzer

Narrated by: Tren Sparks

Strength vs. Honor

For more than a decade, the Republic of the Sphere’s army hid in silence behind the mysterious, impregnable Wall of Fortress Republic. But now the Wall has come down, and Paladin Max Ergen, commander of Operation Eruptio, has his sights set on an invaluable prize. His target: Dieron, a Draconis Combine military district capital, a former Republic world harboring secrets from past wars. His troops have spent years training in isolation behind the Wall, and they are hungry for battle, ready to remind the Inner Sphere that the wounded Republic is still a force to be reckoned with.

But Dieron is also the fortress of Warlord Kambei Okamoto, one of the Combine’s top military officials, and he and his Dieron Regulars are committed to holding the line and defending their home against Republic aggression, no matter the cost. Although the Republic may have surprise and numbers on their side, the Combine troops boast the strength of an impregnable redoubt - and the keen edge of their own unimpeachable honor. And when these two forces clash, the battle for Dieron will be a titanic one indeed…

©2020 Topps, Inc. (P)2021 Topps, Inc.

Tren Sparks = Amazing

Mr. Sparks does an excellent job of not only delivering the lines in a coherent way but provides voice effects that allow you to feel in the cockpit with the on screen commanders.

Great book. We need more books on audible for Battletech.

Tren Sparks is a great voice actor. He also likes the Intellectual Property and other games. Just wish we had more Battletech on Audible.

more

good performance with a good cliffhanger at the end can't wait for the next book

Wonderful Story!

I very much enjoyed the story! It was a lot of fun and filled in perfectly with the ongoing Battletech storyline.

All Action

If you want a battletech book with nothing but action in it, look no further. My only complaint was this book bounces back and forth from the perspective of both sides of the battle, and it was hard to keep up.

May Favorite Narrator brings it again!

I've always been a fan of classic BattleTech, but this timeline was new to me—and I absolutely loved it! The story was engaging and brought a fresh perspective to the universe I already enjoy. It left me wanting even more BattleTech content. We definitely need more of this!

Good performance, no real story.

As usual the narrator is great and the writing prose and dialogue is good. Unfortunately, nothing really happens. (Spoilers ahead.) As someone who doesn't really favor the DCMS or the RotS I was kinda just bored with the overall plot. From the first battle to the last battle, the RotS just kinda win... and win..
and win... I understand that a novella only has so much room to work with, but at no point is it even a question about who is coming out on top; resulting in almost zero tension. At least one DCMS victory at any point would have made it feel so much more dynamic. This is only compounded by the fact that the majority of the story is told from the viewpoint of the DCMS, who again, just keep losing. It makes the RotS wins feel unearned/contrived; since every time Tanaka takes an action it cuts to a RAF member just countering it immediately, then it cuts to Tanaka going "Damn they're good." This is made even worse since the DCMS are all said to be campaign veterans, and the RAF are almost all greens; this being their first engagement. I wish I could give it more praise, but by the end I was just kinda waiting for something to happen.