Mech: Age of Steel by Tim Marquitz

Mech: Age of Steel Reviews

• 
  Matisse

  Still working my way though the second half of it, but I've got the gist of what this collection offers.
  
  I was wondering, in my own writing, how to translate the visual language of Super Fightin' Robots into prose. MECH shows you that there's no one way to go about it, and there's not really a clean way, either. The more memorable stories use supernatural or down-to-earth storytelling ('The Cold and The Dark' and 'The Tempered Steel of Antiquity Gray' are my favorites for this reason), while the ones that blur together take the more hard sci-fi, mechas-as-inanimate-weaponry route. Similarly, a few stories have the same structure of Set Up Conflict, Introduce Mecha, Final Battle, and the few to venture away from this are the most entertaining. That said, the ones that venture away from that structure seem like they could be novellas, and as short stories, they feel a bit rushed.
  
  I'm a little bummed that the stories are sticking to pilot-inside-the-armor style robots. Those are the most iconic, for sure, but it would be nice to see some pilot-outside, robot-semi-sentient ones, or even a straight-up Ultraman homage thrown in the mix.
  
  
  
  
• 
  Jason Copenhaver

  Turns out.. i like the occasional Mech story.. not a whole book of them. The continuous war theme really dragged on me.
• 
  Made DNA

  The description reads "in the spirit of Pacific Rim, Macross, Transformers, Robotech, Gundam, Evangelion, and more", but to be honest, there are ZERO stories inspired by Macross (aka Robotech), Gundam or Transformers. This is book was inspired by solely Pacific Rim and possibly Evangelion. For potential readers not familiar with the mecha genre, or those only familiar with Pacific Rim, this means this collection is packed with stories about giant robots versus monsters (aka kaiju) -- which is a fine if that's what you like. Unfortunately, that's not the whole genre, only a subset. Nor is it really all that appealing to the fans like myself who are enamored with the space opera aspect ala Macross, Gundam, L-Gaim, Dougram, Votoms, et al.
  
  I wanted this book to be so much more. I backed it on Kickstarter and waited for it for the longest time (and then I had problems loading my preferred version into my phone, and it took months of working with the publisher to get it to work). And it is a flat disappointment. I couldn't get through more than 30% of this book. I'm going to jump to the back and read Martha Wells (who always spins a great yarn), but I'm not hopeful as it seems even Kevin J. Anderson phoned in his story. That said, no matter how good it is, it will NOT be able to save this collection...
  
  It. Stinks.
• 
  Darren

  When I was a kid, we had a game called “Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots”. There was a red robot and a blue robot in a boxing ring, you controlled the arms with a couple of yellow buttons. The object was to knock your opponents block off. Why am I telling you this? Well flash forward around forty or so years, and my block was knocked off by Mechs: Age of Steel!
  
  If you are a fan of the following franchises: PACIFIC RIM, ROBOTECH, GUNDAM, EVAGELION, BATTLETECH, or if you fell in love with the AT-ST in Star Wars, then this anthology is for you! Among the contributing authors are: Matt Forbeck, Peter Clines, James Swallow, Kevin J. Anderson & David Boop, Anton Strout, Jason M. Hough & Ramez Naam, Martha Wells, and Jeremy Robinson just to name a few, and the stories are as tall as the robots they represent!
  
  For the most part, each story is excellent, but that also depends on your taste. This collection also falls into one of Ninetoes Reading Rules: You will find a new author to enjoy in an anthology. That’s what I love about this book, among the heavy hitting names, there are also unknown authors you will come to appreciate. This is definitely an anthology worth investing in.
  
  All in all I give this 5 bookmarks out of 5!
• 
  Brandon

  Great stories. I am baffled by the random short previews in the middle. Either include the whole story or don't. Or if you insist on putting previews in, put them at the back. Other than that, worth reading.
• 
  Anne

  I am giving this a one star review as a product because it is a bad product. Some of the stories are behind a paywall, ie the book gives you the first few pages and then gives you a link to the rest of the stories. I backed this thing on Kickstarter, I should have access to the stuff behind the paywall already, but the links don't work anymore.
  
  As for the stories themselves, I'd give it three stars for them. It's a fairly standard anthology in that some are very good, most are fine, and a few are bad. I loved "Toy Soldier" by James Swallow (what if Gundam but some of the adults are actually responsible and are justly horrified that children are piloting war machines), "Lady and the Wolf" by Scott Sigler (what if mechs get PTSD just like pilots do), and "Birthright" by Martha Wells (set in her Three Worlds universe, featuring the crew of the Escarpment). Some of the others will stick with me even if they didn't make my top three.
  
  Others are the very epitome of the "wow, cool robot" meme, and therefore very disappointing.