Hour of the Wolf Review (BattleTech Fiction)

Hey everybody, we’re back with another fiction review.  I’m trying to clear up all the IlClan era fiction I have, and that means today I'm going to talk about Hour of the Wolf by Blaine Lee Pardoe.  This is it, we’re at the seminal battle to end the Dark Ages era and at the start of a bright new future.  Let’s dig into this book (spoiler free) and I'll give you my thoughts at the end.  

Summary 

Clan Wolf in its near entirety have breached the Fortress Wall and have assaulted Terra itself.  Nearly the entirety of its Touman has come to take the battle to Devlin Stone and his Republic of the Sphere.  The fighting starts in space and eventually the Wolves make planetfall.  The Wolves stick to clan honor for the majority of the battle, but they’re tested at a couple of different points.  Also, near the height of the campaign, the Jade Falcons arrive to lay claim to the title of IlClan, pitting ancient enemies against each other for the greatest prize in history.  

The Falcons and the Wolves fight their campaigns differently, but eventually, they do defeat the defending Republic troops, forcing a Trial to determine the future.  The remaining warriors of both clans take to the Canadian wilderness to battle for the Ilclanship, and with it, control of the potential future of the Inner Sphere.  Both clans pull out all the stops (and there are some surprises along the way) until only one clan is left standing.  

In the aftermath of the trial, futures are set, legacies restored, and a new government rises on Terra.  What this means for the rest of the Inner Sphere is debatable, but it does kick off the Ilcan era, as the Ilclan has taken Terra and fulfilled one of Nicholas Kerensky’s original mandates of the Clans he founded.  

My Thoughts

This is not my favorite Battletech book.  Have you ever read a book that thought it was smarter than you?  The book has a tinge of…what feels like smugness that permeates it.  It runs from the first few paragraphs all the way through to the conclusion and puts me off a bit.  That said, this book is so big, and so important to the timeline of the BattleTech universe, I don't know who could have written this book and it come through with an absolute 5 star rating.  

It’s got a lot going on, and it has to be told, and I don't fault the book for that.  It’s not my favorite work (and if you want to read the sourcebook for it, Ilclan is available and we reviewed it here.  Note, that has spoilers).  If you want to read every bit of BattleTech fiction, Hour of the Wolf is a piece of BattleTech fiction, and it is important for the “Fiction drives the story” perspective of BattleTech.  

Overall:

Not the best, Not Far Country.  

Rating:

3 Stars.   

You can pick this up off of Catalyst Game Labs here, or at your local book store (Amazon is local to everyone if you believe hard enough)