Without Question is what they want us to do.

Without Question is the title of the novel, and that is what we are supposed to accept it as, without questions. Bryan Young is being pushed on the Battletech fandom more than Taylor Swift on the NFL fans, and I honestly think Taylor Swift’s whole thing is more organic than anything involving Bryan Young.

Disclaimer: I have read the book twice now. Once sideways between work and making my own content. Once more seriously so I could make this review. Other disclaimer: I dislike Bryan Young’s politics, but disliking someone’s politics never impacted how I review books, same with liking someone’s politics. I have done plenty of comic reviews for people who do not share “my politics“. I might even do more in the future, because there’s a few upcoming books that are coming in that I will enjoy (or not) by people who likely share nothing of my politics.

Oh, and since I know some of you might try the same shit MechFrog did on Twitter: There’s a pair of Locust IIC escorting an assault mech in Alexis star? What is that Assault mech? What were the other two mechs of the star? And why should we care?

Because nowadays you can’t tell people a book is bad without being quizzed on it.

Astroturfing: The Novel

Without Question is a bad novel, on top of being a bad Battletech novel. I can stomach bad novels when they are good Battletech novels (there are a LOT of those to choose from), as this is what you have to go through when dealing with pulp fiction, which is what Battletech is meant to be. I can stomach good novels that are bad Battletech novels. Those are uncommon, but they do show up every once in a while, when a really good author is stuck doing a Battletech book which he cares little about. We had a few of those during the FASA days.

Without question is neither of those, of course. Bryan Young has an AI-level understanding of English language when it comes to writing. Every page is padded with adjectives and descriptions just so the word count goes up and it makes us think it is more intellectual than it is. “Battletech words” are thrown in in great measure, to make sure you remember this is Battletech.

Of course, when ‘mechs are described, you should probably read the technical readout or go to Sarna. You’ll get more or less the same thing, because that’s the extent of Bryan Young’s knowledge of Battletech.

Military Strategy, or lack thereof

Let’s not discuss “military strategy” in this book as well. The good guys are all fantastic commanders and leaders, and they are great at what they do. Their plans work out perfectly because they are geniuses and know what they can sacrifice. The whole Hell’s Horse attack shows us just how awesome the NEW AND IMPROVED “bussin'” Khan Jiyi Chistu and his merry gang of awesome individuals are.

Of course, to be honest, this shows how little the author knows of military tactics and strategies, let alone in the Battletech universe. Of course, we have to pretend he does, because he puts in all the “right words” there, like “zelbringing” and such, and name calls ‘mechs that make sense to be there… sometimes. It doesn’t make your pet faction look cooler when they fight functional retards like what Clan Hell’s Horse appear to be here.

Here’s a fun thing Bryan forgot: if the Hell’s Horse were actually fighting for keeps on Sedeten, where were their warships? Why, when you basically saw the Falcons were playing dirty, did they not level the entire planet with orbital bombardments? We have magic holograms that fool everyone nowadays? Why didn’t Alaric Ward use those when he invaded Terra?

Emotional damage

Not all soldiers are unadulterated badasses. Not even amongst the Clans. But emotional wrecks like “Star Commander Alexis” (who create a new Bloodname for herself at the end of the novel because she is THAT AWESOME) generally don’t make good commanders for very long. Hell, they make dead commanders fast enough. But you have to remember: all of Bryan’s characters are awesome. They are smart but emotional. You can tell they are awesome because they share the politics of the creator, at least in some way. You needed to have polycules and threesomes in there because that’s what you need in your pulp military fiction novels targeted at young teenagers (because that’s what Battletech novels are). You talk of UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME in the Clans like it’s a new thing, not realizing that this is the basis of Clan economy. Mercenaries work in a coop where everyone votes and is equal, with Rey Palpa… I mean Katie of the FOX PATROL! in it.

Terrible characters

Without Question doesn’t want us to ask any questions about the characters. All the characters in this are bad cardboard cutouts. You are lucky if they have the depth you would expect from a saturday morning cartoon, and that is an insult to the Battletech cartoon because it was actually quite good in terms of its characters (especially when compared to this). I will channel my inner Ryan Kinnel here as well and say it: there is an unusual amount of women in this. Especially women in positions of power. “Bussin'” Chistu probably would have been a woman as well if CGL had not already made the character before Bryan showed up.

Final thoughts

You shouldn’t skip Without Question. No. This is a novel which needs to be removed from canon, like pretty much anything since Hour of the Wolf. CGL has no idea what they are doing in their “ilClan Era” and with writers like Bryan Young being put at the helm of it? It is not going to get better.

There are dozen of hungry pulp and fandom authors out there, CGL. Maybe find one that at least has the mastery of the English language to make us forget they don’t know much about Battletech, or find one who has so much knowledge about Battletech that we will given them a pass for their failures at mastering English literature.

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