Stackpole and BattleTech go together very well. I can’t wait to start reading some of his Star Wars novels. If they are as good as the BattleTech novels he’s written, then they will be awesome!
Anyway, I’ve read through the entire Blood of Kerensky Trilogy now and here’s my thoughts on the first book.
I’m glad they got Stackpole to write this trilogy, because I don’t think anyone else could have handled bringing in the Clans so well. It starts off following Phelan Kell of the Kell Hounds. During a mission out in the Periphery going after some pirates, they encounter ‘Mechs their computers can’t identify. For example: one kept switching between a Catapult and a Marauder. Of course the Mad Cat was more than a match for his Wolfhound and he ended up getting taken as a bondsman.
Meanwhile, the Federated Commonwealth and Draconis Combine got a taste of the Clans as well losing about a dozen worlds each.
I really enjoyed the book and would urge you to find it, if you can. It’s well worth the effort.
Ah, the Clan invasion… Clanners invading the Inner Sphere by surprise… The Inner Sphere basically bending over and taking it through this first book. Good times, good times… 
