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Summary: Forward the Tree!!! Forward the Flame
Review: Prince Roger Ramius Sergei Alexander Chiang MacClintock is a punk. You have read the other reviews assination attempt, stranded on planet and alone the Marines of the Bronze Battalion struggle to make it home. I really liked this book although not as much as I liked the STARFIST books. It did, however contain a medium mix of humor and gore. Julian has now replaced George Bass as my favoirte steriotypical marine.
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Summary: Shades of Gunga Din
Review: Take a British (sortof) prince and his contingent bodyguards, and drop them in the middle of a hostile land filled with hostile natives. The old British Regiments would have marched to the coast, eliminating any of the opposition in front of them. Prince Roger handles it a bit differently. Even though he is depicted as an effeminate wastral, he has a lot going for him. I recommend this to any fan of military scifi.
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Summary: This first installment is setting the stage for a good serie
Review: The Empress of Man Alexandra VII sends her spoiled youngest son Prince Roger MacClintock to waive the flag at the planet Leviathan's Net-Hauling event. Roger protests about having to visit a backwater orb that smells for light years around. Roger remains unhappy with the assignment, but knows he must carry it out wondering why his father is persona non grata at court and why nobody trusts him to support his mother once he learns the truth. On the trek through space, terrorists disable the ship forcing an emergency landing on the dangerous planet Marduk that makes Leviathan look like the center of civilization. Accompanied by marines, Roger needs to grow up rather quickly if he is to survive the hostile planet whose low-tech natives are as deadly as any species in the universe. MARCH UPCOUNTRY is an exciting science fiction coming of age tale that never slows down for even a paragraph. Roger makes the plot work because readers believe in his transition from spoiled brat to responsible adult team member. The "good guys" including Roger are fully developed, but the villains lack substance. Military science fiction experts David Weber and John Ringo prove that the total sometimes is greater than the sum and that is saying a lot since these two writers are among the best today. Harriet Klausner
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Summary: Weber and Ringo ring changes on Xenophon
Review: The Greek Xenophon wrote about a mercenary company forced to march back through a hostile Persia. His book, Anabasis, is often translated March Upcountry. This re-telling of the story takes the spoiled brat youngest son of the Empress of Man, a small company of his bodyguards, and drops them unexpectedly on a very hostile planet with limited supplies and a very long way to walk. David Weber, author of the Honor Harrington series, and John Ringo, new SF luminary whose books _A Hymn Before Battle_ and _Gust Front_ have given new meaning to inviting your enemies for dinner, have written a great space opera about visiting exotic places, meeting strange people, and mostly killing them. Along the way, Prince Roger does some growing up, and begins to learn the responsibilities that go along with his privileges. Once again, Weber and Ringo have written a "one sitting" book...allow enough time to finish the book once you start, because you won't want to put it down.
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Summary: So, ya don't need to write if a bigname's on the cover
Review: The writing is poor, the character development is almost nil, and Kipling doesn't need to be forced on anyone, especially in lieue of decent storytelling.
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Summary: Prince Roger and other characters
Review: This book is a "Keeper". I enjoyed the character development, they have all types: The "whinner", "doom-sayer", the "it could be worse", the characters allow one to identify with the book. This books show that Prince Roger is more than a spoiled brat, and I look forward to more books in this series.
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Summary: March Up Country
Review: This is a very good Ground-pounder-in-space yarn. As soon as I read it I wanted to get my hand s on the sequl.
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Summary: Guilty Pleasure
Review: This is another of those collaborative efforts by writers of military SF in which there is no attempt to do anything new or different, but with a lot of crowd-pleasing battles. The essential story, of what will be a multi-book publishing effort, is a coming of age tale. The unhappy, and spoiled, boy becomes a capable and tough man. It would only take one, not very thick, novel to tell this story, but it is spread over several large tomes in order to make room for a lot of rousing battle scenes. Ugly barbarians are blown away with gleeful abandon by the authors, with most of the attention on exactly how our heroic castaways kill all their foes (since the story is designed to remove any question about whether to kill them.) Its a lot of fun, but lets face it, we've read this book before (or ones just like it) by both authors. There isn't enough characterization to make anyone in the book appear as an individual anyone could care about (I had to check the cover once or twice to remember which series I was reading.) Even the political machinations that set everything in motion are presented with clear good guys (the imperial family) and bad guys (everyone else.) The book does provide exactly what it promises: a lot of great fight scenes (without any question of who to cheer) and the certainty of a whole lot more in the future. It isn't a timeless classic, but if you enjoy the genre you'll enjoy this one (its practically an outline of the genre.) I recommend it to readers who object to simply re-reading the authors previous works, but don't expect this novel to push ANY of the boundaries of military SF.
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Summary: Yummy, Another one from the Master!
Review: This is so different from the usual Miltary Sci-Fi! The "toots" or databases everyone carries is new standard equipment for a future soldier. As usual Weber creates a fantastic world one wishes one could travel to. I like the soldiers, but I'm really disappointed with the body count which is why it only gets 3 stars. Looking forward to the next installment.
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Summary: Fun Adventure Reading
Review: This is the first book that I've read by either author. This is also my first book of the Military Sci-Fi genre. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was suprisingly pleased! To quickly summarize the plot: Prince Roger is the spoiled brat son of the Empress of Man. He is third in line to the throne and is basically considered useless by everyone. An unfortunate event causes the Prince and his reluctant Marine bodyguards to be shipwrecked on a primitive and hostile planet Marduk. To return home, Roger and his Marines must battle their way across half the planet. Even though their technology is superior, it is still a struggle to make the trek. I found the style of the book interesting. Sometimes, the descriptions of flintlocks and other weapon technologies ran a bit too long. However, the characters in the book are great - especially Prince Roger who really changes as a person throughout the course of the book. Some characters are funny, in a way that made me chuckle and look forward to scenes that included them. The book isn't perfect. There are some things that I bothered me. Like the fact that some characters are introduced and virtually forgotten. Some scenes are too long. Some battles are too repetitive. But the authors put forth a commendable effort into making each fight unique and overall, I found it very enjoyable and fun adventure reading. The characters are funny and not implausible, and the journey the endure poses interesting challnges. I look forward to reading the sequel.
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