This is the conclusion of the Gray Death trilogy (starting with Decision at Thunder Rift) and you should really read them in order to get the full benefit of the story arc.

Price of Glory picks up just after Mercenary's Star and, as usual, William H. Keith likes to get the action rolling early and then just keeps it coming! It's a similar style to Mercenary's Star which is good as I really enjoyed that! Familiar characters build on their roles and Grayson Carlyle continues to dazzle the universe with his godlike abilities. That's the main downside to the book actually: Grayson's inability to fail despite making catastrophically poor decisions at several points. Granted, he's only 24 and perhaps the author's intent is to show that through poor impulse control and decision-making that reeks of a failure to recognise mortality, but I don't think so as Grayson ponders good mortality very specifically in this book. That said, I don't think this is a critical flaw. It stops this being a four-star book, but it remains eminently enjoyable to fans of awesome action involving giant fighting robots!

This trilogy (but especially the last two) are a lot of fun. They're heavy on action and surprisingly well plotted. It's a bit simple admittedly, what with the cackling, murderous megalomaniac bad guy (a feature of books two and three) and the do-no-wrong good guy but (and I feel this is a really big but) the background universe plot that happens off the pages of these books and what happens to and with the "bad guys" in this series hints at a much broader canvas that is only glimpsed through this trilogy. I'll be coming back for more!

It's worth noting that there's an awesome collection of information about Battletech at http://www.sarna.net/, including mech specification and pictures, which I found to be a very nice adjunct to the novels. Just beware of spoilers! It's very easy to stumble onto major plot points while reading background information on mechs via the copious links (it's a wiki).