Rating: 
Summary: Weak. Much More of Ringo than Weber in this Book
Review: "March Upcountry" is billed as a collabarative effort between crack sci-fi writer David Weber and "rising star" (A matter of opinion) John Ringo. Unfortunately, this book appears to have largely been written by Ringo, which explains the character development, which is both poor and uneven. Compared to Weber's collabarative efforts with Steve White, this effort is truly sub-par."March Upcountry" tells the story of Prince Roger MacClintock, 3rd child of the Empress of Man. Roger is a spoiled brat's brat. Ordered by his mother to conduct a ceremony on a distant planet, he ends up stranded on a distant world after his spaceship is sabatoged. His only hope is to travel to the other side of the planet to a space port, while hiding from an enemy and trying to survive on a hostile planet, filled with warring city-states and ravenous wildlife. Roger's sole hope is his bodyguard company of Marines. As a result, there is a lot of action. Too much in fact. There are a lot of problems with this book. As someone else has noted, the character of Cord mostly disappears after an important buildup. There is sudden, and unexplained maturation of a character. There is the beginnings of a romance, with an instanteous attraction between 2 unlikely characters. It would have been nice to know why the characters would be attracted to each other, but Mr. Ringo can't be bothered with such details. I say Mr. Ringo, because there is very little of David Weber in this book. Mostly we have Mr. Ringo cramming Kipling's military poetry down our throats at every opportunity, no mater how laughable the situation is rendered by these inappropriate actions. Further, the author forces things greatly, including relying on the crutch of a corrupt appropriation process to reduce the technical advantage possessed by the marines. Never mind that marines regularly infiltrate other worlds which are hellholes, meaning that deffective weapons would have shown up prior to the events of this book. Still, this book is not a total washout, and Ringo did improve after his first book. There are a number of interesting characters, who will become more interesting if they're no longer 2 dimensional. The good news is that several characters do threaten to take on 3 full dimensions. There is interesting high level intrigue and an interesting universe which has been created. Just don't go into this book expecting the high sci-fi standards regularly used by Mr. Weber. Keep your expectations low on this book, and you won't be dissapointed. It will be interesting to see if the sequel "March to the Sea" is an improvement. Still, I can't help but think how much better a David Weber/David Drake version of this book would have been.
Rating: 
Summary: A solid military Sci-Fi novel
Review: A solid novel for those who like military Sci-Fi. Written by two of my favorite authors - Weber and Ringo. They give the characters a life of their own, making them belivable and part of you. You end up caring about them and what is happening next. This book reaches up and grabs you and doesn't want to let you go. The ONLY problem with it is the fact that there really isn't an ending - you will need to get the next book (March to the Sea) to find out what happens next.
Rating:
Summary: outstading book
Review: an outstanding collaboration of weber-ringo. great action sf.exactly what you would expect from any book with david weber's name on the cover. a great series for all fans of honor h.
Rating: 
Summary: Up to Weber's standard.
Review: As good as the Honor series, from a more personal point of view. Very good, easy read.
Rating: 
Summary: Buy it used, its not worth paying full price.
Review: Basically, as another reviewer has already pointed out, this book is Xenophon meets Captains Courageous. In this case, the whole is much less than the sum of its parts. The plot is utterly predictable, the writing mediocre, character development nil (Ok, Ok, who buys lousy SciFi for character development anyway?) and the blood and gore insanely high. AND the book ends in the middle! Buy March to the Sea to find out how it ends! I probably will buy it but not retail! I would suggest, if you haven't already read them, Pournelle's earlier Falkenberg books as being much better examples of the military SciFi genre (however, steer clear of his collaborations with S. M. Stirling--much weaker entries). Or for that matter, you could pick up the first few of the Honor Harrington series (esp. Basilisk Station).
Rating:
Summary: A march in need of a finish
Review: Enjoyed the novel but was keenly disappointed that it will be continued in a sequal. Would have much preferred that the authors complete the story in a single volume.
Rating:
Summary: Weber is back
Review: For me, Weber seems to have gotten a little flat and predictable in the Honor series and Ringo didn't ring my chimes at all in his HYMN BEFORE BATTLE, so I held off on reading this despite the intriguing back cover copy. Well, I'm sold. Prince Roger is a fop, rebelling against his family and being as annoying as he can be to everyone around him. When his mother gets completely fed up and sends him off to show the flag somewhere very far away, his ship is damaged and he ends up on an enemy-occupied world, halfway across the planet from the only spaceport (which is, of course, occupied by the enemy). MARCH UPCOUNTRY tells of the beginning of Roger's march, accompanied by his marine-bodyguards, around the world. It's exciting military action. The high technology equipment comes in handy against aliens and unfriendly predators, but even The Empire of Man hasn't overcome the problems of dirt getting into modern equipment and making it unreliable or worse. Better, from a story perspective, Roger tries to help but ends up doing the wrong thing or getting in trouble for doing the right thing. Roger is an interesting character and his emotional and political development through this novel deepens the readers interest far more than does the pure body-count of the military scenes. MARCH UPCOUNTRY grabbed me early and held onto me until I set it down, breathless, at one in the morning. Weber and Ringo, well done.
Rating:
Summary: The next book, please..
Review: Have read both books in this series, and what fun!
If you go to the bookstore looking for particular authors...these guys are always on my list.
Rating:
Summary: Bring on the Marines!
Review: His Royal Highness, Prince Roger Ramius Sergei Alexander Chiang MacClintock was a royal pain in the ... well, he was a pain. His older brother, Prince John, was Heir Apparent and already a galaxy renowned diplomat. His sister, Princess Alexandra, would be one of the best Fleet admirals even if she did not have her family connections. But Prince Roger showed no interest in anything except hunting big game and dressing well. Alexandra VII, Empress of Man, was determined to keep her youngest son out of direct danger. Therefore, she sent Roger to a remote planet named Leviathan as a show of imperial support. The Bronze Battalion was to transport and guard the prince during it all. While en route, the military ship was sabotaged and then was under enemy attack. Very few survived and were stranded on the planet Marduk. The Marines would have to trek half way around the globe in hope of commandeering an imperial ship for a return to Earth. However, the natives were NOT friendly! Even the local fauna would try to eat anything that moved! The heat and almost constant rain made things worse. Prince Roger would just have to get over himself and grow up FAST! ***** First off, ignore the awful cover art, I don't believe it is the fault of the authors. No, the female Marine is NOT ballet dancing. No, Prince Roger does NOT look that way. In fact, the prince has very long, blond hair that any woman would envy. One Marine referred to it as "the hair of Lady Godiva." Other than the cover art, the book is beyond excellent! The story is VERY well written, realistic, has a touch of humor, and the Marines can really kick BUTT! The prince matures steadily and even becomes an asset to the team! He also has the most awesome assassin program in his "toot". All-in-all, this is highly recommended reading! *****
Rating: 
Summary: This one is a dud... Too bad.
Review: I agree with lawzam, this one is a disappointment. After reading all of the Harrington series, I expected the same quality, and it's just not there. The characters are cartoonish, the story flow is erratic. It looks like the authors forgot the basics of writing a 5-paragraph essay. It was a sure bet that any Harrington book would repeatedly move you between tears and elation. This one leaves you bored most of the time. The only thing I was impressed with is a description of the exotic carnivors and especially their hunting habits. Those are cool. It looks like the ending is intended to be a cliff-hanger, in an attempt to create a captive audience, perhaps because the authors realize that otherwise their chances to get the next installment out successfully are slim. Yet it fails miserably, there is neither resolution nor suspense, just an end of chapter. And why on earth do the authors go into all the irrelevant details of steel-making technologies near the of the book? Yawn. Remember how HH almost never raised her voice, yet always made her point across quite emphatically? This is the complete opposite. Constant swearing, without much reason. F- and s-words everywhere. Quite pathetic really. Zero romance, too. I hope a new HH installment is coming up, hopefully a novel, but a collection of short stories would do. I pray David Weber does not waste his time on this lame story...
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