Decision at Thunder Rift

Saga of the Gray Death Legion #1

by William H. Keith Jr.

Battletech is the exciting and innovative role-playing game of a future world that combines non-stop action with state-of-the-art technology. To claim the title of MechWarrior, all Grayson Death Carlyle has to do is capture a giant killing machine--a BattleMech--by himself. That is, if it doesn't kill him first.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Military Science Fiction, Fantasy, Military Fiction, Ebooks

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Bill Keith was raised in the mountains of western Pennsylvania, and served in the Navy as a corpsman for many years. In addition to writing fiction and non-fiction works, he is an award-winning illustrator/artist.

He has also published under the psuedonyms:
Ian Douglas (SF series: Heritage, Legacy, Inheritance, Star Carrier, Andromedan Dark)
H. Jay Riker (SEALS:The Warrior Breed series)
Keith Douglass (Carrier and Seal Team 7 series)
Bill Keith
Keith William Andrews (Freedom's Rangers series)
Robert Cain (Cybernarc series)

Reviews

[Kynan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finished: 2017-10-07


Wow! This is (by internal chronology) book two of the BattleTech series, after The Sword and the Dagger. Most lists recommend skipping The Sword and the Dagger, for a variety of reasons, but mostly "because it's terrible". I recommend that you *do* read Sword and the Dagger first, because when you subsequently get to Decision at Thunder Rift you will be TOTALLY BLOWN AWAY!


First off, if you (like me) came to BattleTech looking for giant fighting robots then you're going to be a happy camper! We've got giant robots fighting giant robots, giant robots fighting hovercraft, giant robots fighting people, if there's something to be fought, you're going to find a giant robot fighting it! So that's nice.


With regard to the story, it's actually pretty good! We follow along in the path of Grayson Death Carlyle, protege (and progeny) of Durant Carlyle, the leader of the Carlyle's Commandos 'mech Lance. It's hard to say much about it without spoiling bits of the story so let's just say there's a plot, it gets kinda twisty and, although you generally know who is and isn't going to die, it's still a fun ride.


There's equal time given to both genders when it comes to rescuing from and crying in jail, which I found rather surprising, although I guess this was written in the late 80s and not the 50s/60s - the period from which I'm used to reading "old" sci-fi.


I don't have any complaints about this book! It's a bit action movie but sometimes that's what you're after! Strap in, suspend disbelief, have fun!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book in the classic Battletech series. This one is by William H. Keith a.k.a. Ian Douglas. This is also the first book in the Gray Death trilogy that starts the Battletech series. In this one Grayson Death Carlye has been training to be a MechWarrior since he was ten. On the planet Trellwan his friends and Father are killed in a moment of treachery. Grayson is left alone on a planet with a hostile populace and he will have to build a new Battlemech regiment from the ground up. Then he will need a great deal of skill and luck to get revenge for his Father's death and to escape Trellwan and return home. A great start to this classic series of books.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like big stomping robot books then this is a great intro to the battletech universe. Enjoyable read. Recommended

[Nadienne Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm really not sold 100% on Grayson "Death" Carlyle as a main character. He's sort of a spoiled, petulant man-child, who gets everything handed to him and seems to be a stranger to overt failure. I mean, I understand that, conversely, we'd either have a complete "Mary Sue" or someone who didn't live past the first chapter as their own incompetence and overconfidence catches up with them, but still. It's somewhat insufferable to read about this 20-year old rookie becoming the hero of the hour mostly by dumb luck and being in the "right place at the right time." But, maybe that's my age talking. Were I a 20-year old or younger when I decided to read this book, mayhaps Grayson would be a hero of mine (I would have been 13, in fact), rather than looking upon this story with the cynicism and jadedness of age and wisdom. Oh, and the name should be pronounced "Deeth", but good ol' dad preferred the sound of "Death" and called himself as such.

So, he gets his first Mech handed over to him by the local government who hopes to build an adequate defense force against an encroaching enemy as Grayson is literally just about the only person on planet who knows how to use one. He gains two others through combat, defeating one and convincing another to join him over fear of death, and then hijacks a fourth. Having seized all of these Mechs while in the employ of the local planetary government, they provide resources which enables him to repair, rearm, and reequip them and merge them into a larger combined arms unit anti-Mech infantry outfit. By the end of the story, Grayson of of course emerges victorious - not much of a spoiler, as if there would be another result - and the government lets him keep all of his Mechs, as well as the local troops he trained, on top of a generous payment for his mercenary services (something like a million space-bucks, or whatever). Which he then uses to leave the planet behind, with all of the aforementioned troops and equipment in tow, and start his own mercenary unit, just like dear old Dad.

All of that being said, the story is fairly decent and does paint a nice enough picture of Mech combat, as well as being laced with a little bit of intrigue, drama, and adventure, with a nice little environmental deviation as the planet is clearly not Earth - and someone put some thought into how the colonists would have needed to adapt to this different climate. I also rather enjoy the resource-poor, tech-deprived, backward-sliding, almost-no-hope feel of the Battletech universe. It gives it that nice, light dystopian quality without making it overt and/or post-apocalyptic. It's not a bad entry into the series and possibly a good start...I guess it's Book #6 in publishing order, but Book #1 chronologically or something to that effect?

There are about a half-dozen illustrations throughout the book - sketches of scenes between characters that had just happened, and, of course, the usual sketches of the main Mechs that appear in the novel - which at this point are nearly all stolen/borrowed/lifted/copied from Robotech - with the exception of two. I admit that it's rather fun to read about the relatively expendable and fragile "Glaug" (Zentraedi Officer's Pod) from one franchise become the ferociously capable and feared "Marauder" in another.

[Ned Leffingwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decision at Thunder Rift takes place in the Battletech game universe, where soldiers fight wars in giant robots called Mechs. I heard about this book on a podcast in which the hosts are Battletech players. Battletech has a huge backstory and I appreciated this book in that it focused on a small corner of that universe. All of the action takes place on a backwater planet. The battles are small and personal. The politics of the Battletech universe made sense and did not overwhelm me. I would recommend this as someone's first Battletech novel.

[Drinkinwookie · Rating 1 out of 5]

One star but add 4 stars to that review if you are 12 year old me. To be fair this book had some things to recommend it. The villains nefarious plot is well thought out, the climax is tactically interesting and juggles three inter-related battles deftly switching at just the right moment and an honest attempt is made at describing the alien planet's topography and climate in a science fiction-y way. What dooms the book is that the characters are drawn so shallowly that to call them 1 dimensional might do them too much credit. *sigh* But I suppose characters aren't really the point in a book about stompy robot death wars. This was the author's first book and he managed to parley it into a long career as a writer so there's that.

[Damaged142 · Rating 4 out of 5]

a nice change of pace vs. what I've been reading lately.

as a sci fi nerd, when people ask me what my favorite ip is, I generally say something generic like star wars or star trek, but let me tell you. This ip is my real sci fi favorite. battletech has the most flushed out and lore rich universes. from books like these to video games and fan made docu series.


anyways back to the book. I honestly don't have a whole lot to say. it's not perfect, a few grammatical errors here and there but otherwise I found myself enjoying the story. there was a bit too much exposition for my tastes. however, I don't have anything else "negative" to comment on about the book

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first Battletech book in the series. I managed to buy a few of these over the years, but I was always pretty confused on where the start with this series, because it was later "re-started" when RoC took over publishing the novels from FASA and then RoC started re-publishing the old novels, so it was quite confusing... I wound up reading "Way of the Clans" first by accident, but that was the first RoC published book, not the first Battletech novel. Anyway, I fondly remember looking at these novels in Walden Books when I was middle school and always wanting to delve into this series.

Luckily, today, we have Goodreads! So, now, I was able to put this series in perspective and actually start with the real first books. When I read "Way of the Clans" I felt like there was something that I should have known before hand... like twelve other books worth of back story! So here I am, finally at the beginning with "Decision at Thunder Rift" and it was an excellent book. William H. Keith Jr. did a great job of blending in technical descriptions with a well crafted story and really intense battles. He managed to not make this solely about campaign battling, but keep the spirit of the RPG with political intrigue as well.

There are some references that might be a bit confusing like the Succession Wars and why so many of the Mechs are around one hundred years old and in some level of disrepair, but you might need to go read up on the setting to get up to speed on those specific things. Luckily, Wikipedia exists to help people get up to speed on the setting and I do recommend reading over the history article on Battletech before delving into the novels, especially if you are unfamiliar with the game itself.

Anyway, Battletech at this point is set in the 31st century and Keith puts us in a back water planet where negotiations have resulted in the planets care changing hands. However, things don't go as they seem and our main character Grayson Death Carlyle finds himself in the middle of intense political intrigue and though he has never taken a Mech into battle, he has trained all his life for the moment. He will get his chance sooner than he ever thought. Grayson finds himself in charge of a new company of Mechwarriors pieced together and fighting a foe that could easily crush them... but thanks to Carlyle's cunning and the skills of the other MechWarriors, like Lori, they just might be able to overcome such insurmountable odds. This book begins us on quite the saga starring Grayson and Lori.

It's funny, because at first I didn't really like the Grayson character, but I think that's by design, because as the novel continues and Grayson grows beyond his almost Paladin like attitude he becomes far more realistic. Towards the end I really wanted to read more stories about his and Lori's adventures. Now Lori, I liked immediately, she was a great foil to Grayson's idea of "the way the world should be", because she really represents more what the world is actually like. By the end of the novel I really looked forward to watching these two characters grow together and was pleased to see there are a number of novels after this one concerning them.

If you're first delving into Battletech, the complexity of the universe developed by FASA can seem overwhelming. But the book doesn't really require you to know all the powerful political players, here you really just interact with three of them. Carlyle's original loyalty to the Lyran Commonwealth, the government of Trell (the planet the novel takes place) and the Draconis Combine, enemies of the Lyran Commonwealth. Honestly, the only thing that was over complicated was the day and night system of the planet where the novel takes place. I could have done without this "feature". All in all an excellent and exciting Sci-Fi novel as far as I'm concerned.

[Barefoot · Rating 5 out of 5]

There might be some nostalgia in my reception of this book - I've read it when young and this was my first Battletech novel - but re-reading it I found it still holds up for the reasons I remember.

Among these reasons is first and foremost the setting, which - while science fiction - mirrors the medieval periods and is not yet diluted/upended by the arrival of the clans later in the series.
A human empire, once a pinnacle of civilization, lies in ruins as several heirs drag it down in constant war. Certain high technology has been lost, making battles always a messy and often a highly codified affair, least further vital technology gets lost. The battlefields are dominated by the Battlemechs, giant walking machines of war, often patched hundreds of times and their pilots either mercenaries or akin to the feudal knights of old.

Secondly the whole story is small in scale and character-driven. A small mercenary unit guarding a backwater planet is attacked and driven off, leaving the heir of the dead commander stranded. The populace is fearful of the invaders and resentful of the old, failed garrison. The commander of the invaders is persuing a more complex plan than it seems at first glance with ruthless efficiency, while some of the mercenaries under his command are beginning to shift their loyalties. All actions are motivated by these characters (and some more), and the stakes are easily comprehensible due to that.

As the third reason, the small scale also works in favor of the military action, with the set pieces on the battlefield as well as their capabilities easily identifiable and motivated by the characters. Desperate defenses, daring raids and silent commando strikes make up the main action, with the few Mechs dominating the battlefield but the supporting troops given ample time to shine.

All in all an enjoyable read, provided one doesn't expect vast armies clashing or grandiose tales of politics and intruigue amplified by military campaigns. As a lover of tales with smaller stakes and more intimate settings, this held up quite nicely for me. Only some exposition dumps irritated me a bit, but I guess introducing the setting without bloating the page count was a requirement.

[Robbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was shocked at the quality of this book. I went into this expecting a mecha penny dreadful but I was surprised by excellent characters, well paced action and an exciting story line. While I would say this is a niche piece, if you think this could be interesting, give it a read!

[Garrett Helmick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Intro into Battletech Universe

Had a really good plot. Kept me interested the whole time, and wondering what happens next. It’s the first of a 3 part saga. Can’t wait to read those!

[Timothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set before the clan invasion and the first trilogy in the greatest shared universe of all time. And featuring the greatest merc unit in knownspace :) a must read for all military sci fi fans.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story, plenty of action.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a story of great character depth, but rather a story that changed the tone of the BattleTech universe by growing the setting.

The book that made BattleTech interesting.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Action, yes, but so much more than that with growth in characters and plot twists. Very good read.

[Katrina Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is an asexual power fantasy type work

It does start off making it look like we are dealing with a stupid dumb young kid who has to mature and develop into adulthood. With us following him slowly shedding his childish naivity to grow as a person

It does not do that. The protag just starts exploding and shooting stuff until he wins

Okay, that _is_ oversimplifying things... buuut... Grayson, after the plot starts, stops being "dumb young punk" fairly quickly. With the quick shift in character being explained by over a decade of training on how to not be a dumb kid. Making the brief portion at the beginning seem very out of place

The plot does suffer from it trying to keep Grayson seem like an everyman, while having him regularly do extremely over the top actions. You need to choose one--and trying to hold onto both is... uh...

I was constantly stopping reading to ask, "okay, how would others around Grayson react to this". With me imagining Lori pulling off a hat or something and throwing it at the ground after Grayson informs her he has Grand Theft Mech'd the Shadow Hawk. Saying under her breath "motherfscker" or something like that

Any situation where Grayson is outgunned on any level, is one he pretty much instantly wins. With the only time he struggles is when he is on even ground as other around him. Which is somewhat entertaining to actually read--but it ends up becoming very noticable after about halfway through the story

When the Kuritas stocked the Castle with seven Mechs, I was shouting at the book, "YOU MEAN THE PLACE THAT GRAYSON JUST STOLE TWO OTHER MECHS FROM EARLIER THIS WEEK?!?! DO YOU MEAN TO GIFT WRAP THEM AS WELL?!?"

The city had some other Mechs from the Kuritas... that were after Grayson--and the threat of that seems silly, when you remember that Grayson managed to nick "three" mechs in the city wearing only his skivvies just in the last month

The mech battle at the com tower was an even fight when it was Grayson in his mech against another mech. Then once another Mech shows up, the fight no longer in Grayson's favour, immediately has Grayson pull an "I win" card and explodes most of the space port killing one Mech and mildly injuring the other

I'm all for the over the top stuff--this is a book about fighting using giant robots. I dig giant robots--and there are plenty of other series about sad boys being sad about being expected to get into their giant robot, that I can go to when I'm not wanting a "rock and roll STOMPY STOMP SHOOTY SHOOT MECHS!"

The issue comes from this book constantly being all, "but Grayson is just down to Earth as a guy"

The ending where Grayson is trying to bluff his way into a peace agreement doesn't work--as Grayson could have one third of the soldiers he had access to, and still conquer a few planets from the Kuritas--just based upon stuff he managed to pull off throughout most of this book

It isn't really bluffing, when Grayson has shown great competence with quite a bit less than that

At most, it could be done up as Imposter Syndrome... but not enough other stuff is present to justify that interpretation

I do suppose it would be hard to keep this from going into near parody/ridiculous territory without something tethering the protags into being somewhat adjacent to reasonability. So I will note I know why they do try to act like Grayson isn't doing ridiculous crap constantly. Though the bit at the beginning where they try to do, "Grayson is a dumb kid" is a bit extraneous

I'd have rated this five if the "but dumb kid" portion wasn't there--and if they did a better job of characters going, "holy carp, YOU DID WHAT?!?!" everytime Grayson did ridiculous Grayson type stuff

It is a power fantasy. Don't expect this to be a weighty Russian Literature style drama featuring Giant Robots. Don't expect this to be BattleTech: The Musical either. Guy interacts with giant shooty robots that shoot explosions at other giant shooty robots shooting explosions

On the "ace" side of things--there is some sexual content... but it is asexual sexual content. Not sex-repulsed sexual content. More just the sort of stuff of somebody who hasn't clued in that they are ace, doing "just normal sex stuff that people do" and uh... I'm more than okay with that way of handling body contact stuff. This isn't to say that Grayson doesn't like, you know, "do it" in the events. It just ends up being somewhat nonsexual sex, in that it happens because it is there it happen

I'm doing a terrible job explaining that part

Not certain the author meant to have Grayson seem somewhat like an Ace (Lori behaves a bit less like an Ace, just for comparison)--doing the sex because "it is something he is expect to do"... or if this is a case where "sex and giant robots is just too much, you have to choose one or the other. People can only get so erect"

Hope that in further reading of these BattleTech books, that I see more Asexual Ace representation--even if it is prolly accidental

[Edward Wagner · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a long time fan of the Battletech universe I have always wanted to get into the novels. Most are out of print or POD format that are ridiculously priced. Not to mention buying anything Battletech today gives money to CGL and they give me the ick. So because of the miracle of public library apps and my wife forcing me to sign up for them, I am now in 2024 reading books written before I was born set in a universe I know almost everything about already.

All of that said I would say this is a decent intro into the universe created by FASA all those years ago. It does a good job at introducing concepts, technology, and it does a fair bit of world building. If you are familiar with the universe and its lore you will definitely notice some things have been retconned over the years, but these instances are few and far between. I was actually pleased with how much of what takes place in this book holds up to the modern version of Battletech.

The main cons of this book are the pacing and the amount of plot armor given to the protagonist and his cohort. It’s not a long read at all, but some of the ups and downs of the plot seem unnecessary. It’s definitely the hero’s journey, with Grayson Carlisle experiencing the full gamut of tropes. But it seems that some of the “close to utter defeat” moments could have been left out and he still would’ve looked like an absolute badass. That leads me to the plot armor. If this novel was a game of tabletop Battletech, no amount of favor from the dice gods would have won the day for Gray and his merry band. To quote Jules Winnfield “we should be fuckin dead, man.” But I suppose it can be forgiven as it was early days in the lore before too many boundaries had been set.

All in all I would recommend the book to a fan of the universe or someone looking for a decent hard sci fi yarn set in a fleshed out universe reminiscent of Dune or Game of Thrones from a political standpoint.

[Jesse Dickerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I began this book on a whim, wanted a break from warhammer and didn't want to hop into a huge series and since this is only about three books I went ahead and made the decision... But it wasn't at Thunder Rift, it was on my kindle e-reader. It took me a minute to get used to Williams writing style, its not hugely different from others but different enough. Lets start out with the setting. Absolutely loved it, Trellwan is a very cool planet (wouldn't want to live there) the whole day/night cycle is really interesting and the amount of care put into the descriptions of the weather system and various geologic goings on really made the planet itself a character in its own right, props to that. So I'm not a die hard MechWarrior enjoyer, I'm very much of a passerby, I've played the old mechassault games on the original Xbox and have dipped my toe into MWO and MechWarrior 5 mercenaries so when the begining of this book hit I immediately thought about MechWarrior mercenaries (cause the beginning is very similar to what happens in that game).

The plot is very straightforward though with a hint of an underlying ploy. The corrupt politics and Greyson dealing with it was okay, but this book really shines in the sections where mechs are fighting (which is good because that's what is supposed to happen). Greyson himself is a very normal protagonist, I wanted him and Claydon to have a bit more interaction but what happened was fine. The bit of romance is just kind of thrown in, Lori is cool but I would have liked her to be a bit more of a deeper character. I also wish she would have had a bit more of a backbone, I don't think a MechWarrior (woman or man) would have freaked out like she did when that inferno launcher hit her, that's just my opinion though. The mech combat was very good though, very reminiscent of the games, actually made me want to play more of them. The only things that made me scratch my head though were a few moments when a mech would like a dodge roll? It just threw me off because I'm not used to seeing mechs do these things, I know they're probably capable of it? But it just feels a little cartoonish to me given the almost simulator-like experience of MWO and MW5 Mercenaries. All in all this was a fun read and I'm excited to experience more of the battletech universe.

[Zacus Strunkus · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has everything I could want when going into a book about mechs.

[Fabio · Rating 4 out of 5]

nobody would believe that a Locust could survive all of this

[Xan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entrenida de principio a fin. Ahora toca buscar las otras dos novelas para completar la historia.

[Duncanator · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is probably about as good as you can expect for a battletech book. It's fun, but if you want something like this that's actually good, read planet of adventure by Jack Vance.

[Randy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning of the Gray Death Legion is one of the first novels to expand on the Battletech role playing game. The great thing about the novels is that they stand apart from the tabletop game. No knowledge of the game is required. As one of the first, it's also one of the best jumping on points for new readers. There is a lot of game-established jargon here, but Keith Jr. does a wonderful job of explaining each term and providing just enough description to not read like a dictionary.

The novel starts off a little slow and spends a bit too much time setting up characters that won't be seen or referenced for the rest of the novel, but once it gets going it doesn't stop. Indeed, beyond the politicing part of every Battletech novel, the true strength of the novel is in the action sequences. Keith Jr. takes us inside the cockpit of the Mech and his descriptions are fantastic. Action is difficult to convey using the written word, but Keith's visuals are vivid throughout.

Unfortunately the villains aren't too fleshed out. They're simply there to set the plot in motion. In fact, even with superior Mech tonnage, numbers and training, they never feel very threatening. Still, the combat is the true star of the book and left me wanting to read the rest of the Gray Death series.

[Timothy Reeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't any kind of great work of literature. Nothing here breaks any new ground and the characters aren't particularly developed. But that doesn't really matter.
This book is all about exiting big-stompy robot action and it delivers on that. And if you're a fan of the Battletech universe than it's even better. But most of all it's a fun read. I didn't want to put the book down and it left me wanting more. Well done.

[Georges · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pulp fiction for Battletech fans

The battle scenes are fun and I enjoyed the attempt to dramatize the challenges of conning a 'mech. As literature it falters. The plot has a few interesting twists but takes about a third of the book before it starts getting its footing. The personalities are one dimensional stock characters from your typical Saturday morning cartoons. Long explanations of irrelevant pseudoscience interrupt the flow constantly.

[J B · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a deliciously terrible book. It expected it to be like watching a '90 B-class action movie and I hit the jackpot with my expectation. It's saving grace is the setting, which itself is pretty good and also the characters seem believable even if their dialogues are sometimes corny. The plot is predictable to a fault though, and the political intrigue is actually transparent, even though it is presented as if it was state of the art dagger-and-cloak mastery.
Wish I'd read it as a teenager.

[Alien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Abgebrochen auf S. 150 von 400. Eigentlich viel besser als mit dem albernen Cover und den mangahaften Zeichnungen zu erwarten war. Die politische Handlung ist erstaunlich stark und lebensnah. Die doch eher lachhafte Geschichte mit den Battle-Mechs störte mich aber. Außerdem ist das ganze doch allzu actionlastig, was mich langweilt. Military SF ist einfach nicht mein Lieblings-Sub-Genre

[Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was enjoying the new PC game and was happy to see some of the old books available in epub for cheap. I might have read this one back in the day, but it felt fresh and fun and not dated at all. Recommended for any fans of Battletech!

[Koriel Lambson · Rating 5 out of 5]

SOLID book. Had some AWESOME, goosebump-inspiring moments that I raved to my wife about despite her skepticism. Great quick and easy read with lots of explosions and war robots; what more could you ask for from a Battletech book?

[David A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Read, enjoyed the Gray Death Legion series. Have read many times, will read again!