I want to read the books....

[Ithnann]

But it does not seem I can get my hands on a lot of them as they are no longer in print. From what I have seen there is great opinion on what I should read first but does anyone know what the earliest trilogy still available is (I tend to be the person who likes to read in chronilogical order) Any help would be appreciated!

[TheGreatBlargatron]

There are allot of points you could dive into but you'd be confused no matter where if you know nothing of Battletech. it's like reading 40k novels. Just pick one and jump in, read enough and you'll figure out whats going on as you peice together the puzzle. A good place to start would probably be the Blood of Kerenksy series which begins with Lethal Heritage, followed by Blood Legacy and Lost Destiny. This series tells the story of the Clan's innitial invasion of the Inner Sphere. It will get you aquainted with the two major groups (it will take place after this game is suposed to be, round 25-30 years - no announcment of Claners or their technology in this game). I can't even remember where I started reading but I read ALLOT of those books back in the day.

OR (i just remembered!)

You could try the Warrior Trilogy

Warrior: En Garde (August 1988)
Warrior: Riposte (October 1988)
Warrior: Coupé (April 1989)

This one should be going on just before this game takes place. Same author as Blood of Kerensky series. Details the kickoff of the Fourth Sucession wars. Either of these would be a good place to start I would say. Probably best to start with Warrior trilogy if you are completley unfamiliar with Battletech lore.

Hope that helps! Ask if you have any questions!

[Sinjen Blackstar]

Warrior series is awesome. Gray Death series is pretty good as well.

[MAD-3R_Marauder]

I would suggest to start with the Grey Death series, as this will get you accustomed with the BattleTech universe from the point of few of a small merc unit (kinda what this game is all about) and which are available as e-books
.
Decision at Thunder Rift - https://store.catalystgamelabs.com/products/battletech-legends-decision-at-thunder-rift-digital
Mercenary's Star - https://store.catalystgamelabs.com/products/battletech-legends-mercenarys-star-digital
The Price of Glory - https://store.catalystgamelabs.com/products/battletech-legends-the-price-of-glory-digital

After that, the Warrior tirlogy will give you more of a great house perspective.

Unfortunately, the first book, En Garde, is out of print and is traded at ridiculous prices.
Used issues of Riposte and Coupe, the 2nd and 3rd book, can be gotten at reasonable prices (below 10 bucks at amazon)
https://www.amazon.com/Classic-Battletech-Warrior-Coupe-FAS5722/dp/0451457226


After that, Hire to a Dragon
https://www.amazon.com/Battletech-Heir-to-the-Dragon/dp/B0006IU64Q/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
and Wolfs on the Border
https://www.amazon.com/Battletech-25-Robert-N-Charrette/dp/0451453883
are absolute must-reads.

Then on you go towards the Clans with the Blood of Kerensky trilogy.


anyway, that's just my 2 cent.

[Ithnann]

Thank you everyone who responded! I spent hours looking but everytime I found something it ended up not being in print *sigh* Would be nice if they had all of them on kindle or something.

[jmsand1]

Worth heading to a used book store if one is nearby. You never know what gems are gathering dust on their shelves.

[Cyttorak]

In-universe chronological order:

1) Decision at Thunder Rift (3024): Formation of the Gray Death Legion
2) The Sword and the Dagger (3025): Hanse Davion against House Liao
3) Mercenary's Star (3025+): Gray Death Legion's second adventure
4) The Price of Glory (3026?): Gray Death Legion discovers the Helm Star League Memory Core
5) Warrior: En Garde (3022-3027): Start of the Warrior Trilogy, Beginning of Steiner/Davion alliance
6) Warrior: Riposte (3027-3029): Marriage of Melissa Steiner and Hanse Davion, start of 4th Succession War
7) Warrior: Coupe (3029): Lots of different threads going on
8) Wolves on the Border (3021-3028): Technically this novel was released before #7: Dealings of the Wolf's Dragoons with the Draconis Combine
9) Heir to the Dragon (3004-3040): Takashi Kurita assumes coordinator-ship of DC, ends at the War of 3039

Those are all the original printing novels that deal with the 3025-era setting. After that, you get into the clan era. Have fun reading!

[Ithnann]

Well, read Thunder Rift in one 7 hour sitting. Was really good! Now onto the second book!

[Sinjen Blackstar]

Originally posted by Ithnann:

Well, read Thunder Rift in one 7 hour sitting. Was really good! Now onto the second book!

I know what you mean. Hard to put them down sometimes. Thats why I don't start reading a book unless I have some free time. NO sleep is bad.

[Wonko]

Originally posted by Ithnann:

But it does not seem I can get my hands on a lot of them as they are no longer in print. From what I have seen there is great opinion on what I should read first but does anyone know what the earliest trilogy still available is (I tend to be the person who likes to read in chronilogical order) Any help would be appreciated!

Lots of good advice in this thread, one alternative to the above recommendations would be to check out <i>Shrapnel</i>, an art and short story anthology released in 1988 (Contemporaneous to Stackpole's Warrior Trilogy), it was released by FASA itself (as opposed to ROC who did the novels) and as such is formatted and was sold to more closely resemble the gaming books. It contains writings from all the important authors that shaped Battletech's early days, so you could breeze through, find an author you liked, then pursue their more conventional works.

[akaishic]

I would go online and look up "Battletech Novel list in Chronological order".
Here is the one I use:
http://www.stargazerserv.com/csv/btech/battletech_novel_list.htm
Fairly accurate in the timeline...
Also, you can get all of them on EBooks.

[Ithnann]

@akaishuc I did that and the first few were not available unfortunately.

[angel]

quite a few are available as ebooks on amazon including some that are not on the list, check out the carlsons cavaliers anthologies as they are quite good

[airmikee99]

I've found plenty of old school books on Amazon Marketplace, lots of people buy up old books from libraries and then resell them.

[Frogie]

if you get stuck trying to get some of the books give me a call i could maybe dig out my ancient copies and lend them to you if you get desperate i have most of the novels

[SlayerTheGod]

Gray Death Legion series is the best.
Try it now!