Exodus Road by Blaine Lee Pardoe
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book is a very quick read. I was able to pick it up and finish the book within about 48 hours. The action is fast paced. This is the beginning of the end of the Clans in the Inner Sphere. The premise is just one ComStar ROM (their intelligence agency) is needed to be captured by the Clans and convince one Clansman to defect.
This is the second time that I have read it and it seemed to be different the second time. Now that I have read more or and studied more, the premise is not much different from an East German Stasi agent crossing the Iron Curtain and seducing some unsuspecting secretary that works for NATO during the Cold War to get NATO war plans. Just put that in the BattleTech world and take out the blackmail. Rather, play on the Clansman’s sense of honor after seeing his own side betray him.
I found some of the scenes to be a little stilted but Pardoe does a good job creating believable Smoke Jaguar characters after Stackpole created many other characters. Stackpole focused mainly on the the Steiner-Davion family, Phelan Kell/Ward, Ulric Kerensky, and Vladimir Ward. Everyone else was kinda “just there”. Pardoe expanded the Smoke Jaguars.
It’s been a while since I read any BattleTech novels so this is a good refresher on just what the Inner Sphere and Clans were like.
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