Rating: 
Summary: The New Barbarians
Review: Are there any old fantasy and sf hands out there who remember the backlash against sword and sorcery and its barbarian heroes in the early 80's? Well guess what? The new barbarians are Swordswinging Lesbian Ultra Redoubtable People, or S.L.U.R.Ps for short, if I may coin a phrase. This book is just one more in the long line of recent (last 15 years) sf or fantasy novels to feature all powerful women who do absolutely EVERYTHING better than men. The only truly capable men are villains, all others are second string support to the women. That's not to say this is an entirely BAD book. This novel is OK, if a little irritating. Everyone moves a few steps closer to the great confrontation that will surely take place in book 3, and Stirling does well with the settings and descriptions, but does he REALLY and TRULY believe that S.L.U.R.Ps are still interesting, groundbreaking, innovative characters? Ho ho ho! Give me a break! I am going off to read some Conan novels. One star only for riding the all-too-crowded Xena bandwagon.
Rating: 
Summary: Dust, Mud, and Waves
Review: What a relief to be reading a tautly-written science fiction novel where I can actually identify with some of the characters directly, rather than having to pretend. Interracial lesbian moms in an assistant leadership position: great stuff.I was interested to see all the commentary on why women weren't originally included in military ventures, and I had to snigger, remembering how much larger, on average, Nantucketer women would be than most of the population of the world at that point, even before one begins adding in martial arts hobbies. To possible readers I will say this: 1. Read the first book first. 2. Leave any bigotry at home. 3. Provide yourself with snacks, and make sure you hit the bathroom first!
Rating: 
Summary: Flawless Through and Through
Review: Other reviewers have complained of the feminist stuff. I bet they would have not complained of a different novel even if machismo is exploding out of its pages. I don't know who is that supposed "engineer" who faulted the technical stuff in this novel as unrealistic. He probably got his engineering degree from a universe different from our's (or Nantucket's). I mean what was he complaining about? The Civil War style rifles or the Winchester like Westley-Richards or the Gatlings? Come on! What did he want, Mausers and Maxim machineguns? I admit that the steam ram is a bad idea (those resources would have been better used on building a seaworthy version of the steam-powered ironclad warship like the Monitor in our time line.) Bill Cody's rocket artillery was well-deployed in battle. Rocket artillery had almost the same effect at several hundred meters as a triple-load case shot from a Napoleon at 25 paces. The only thing I strongly disagree with is regarding the siege of Troy. The marines there said that the city will be doomed because enemy siege guns can be brought at night close enough to bombard the city. I disagree with this. The technology needed to make flares was available (flares were used extensively in night battles of the American Civil Wars.) Thus the movement of siege guns (awkward and time consuming even in the best of times) will be made impossible under the guns and mortars of the marines. Even if Walker's forces get the siege guns close enough, the marines and Trojans could have easily defended the city with an earthen rampart which would absorb most of the kinetic energy of the cannonballs from the siege guns. The people of Troy can also dig trenches and bunkers if Walker uses siege mortars. So what if the city gets pounded into rubble? The value of Troy lies in its strategic position commanding the sea in the region. Walker would have to spend is rifle brigade in to take Troy. No way he could succeed using his barbarian allies. Case shot, mortars, and Trojan warriors will make short work of them. Walker's riflemen have at best a 50-50 chance of winning. Whatever happens, that rifle brigade will be pretty decimated by the time everything is over.
Rating: 
Summary: The Lesbian Marches On
Review: I suppose the author was concerned that too many folks liked the bad guys in the last volume of this set so this outing he converted them from interesting people to monsters. Given no other heros than some weak kneed but immensely intellectual folks and the almost psychotic lesbian martial arts ship captain as heros, they do look better by comparision than in the first story. I mean, really folks, the intellectuals figure out how to speak Bronze Age middle east (whatever) in a few days, instantly become a major force and organize the civilization against the bad guys who also manage to do the same for another group in another area of the world. Like the Bronze Age folks are a bunch of directionless children hoping to be led somewhere. I found the constant political correctness being shoved down my throat disgusting, but the writing is terrific and the general imagination of the author a decent counter to his politics. BTW, the only Asian is a throwback to the 1930's S.F. depiction of Asians as being smart, cunning and very cruel. In this, the only Asian, a woman, is so cruel that she is the effective threat against Bronze Age warriors. Now that's cruel. I'm surprised this book hasn't gotten the attention of some anti-defamation group.
Rating:
Summary: Not quite perfect, but a great read.
Review: I was completely awed by the first novel in this series. The author did a fantastic job of conveying the enormity of the task the characters faced in surving The Event. I often found myself asking "what would I do?" in there place. Unfortunately, that sense of wonder isn't present in the second novel. Instead, good old Yankee ingenuity has tamed the wilds of Nantucket and started Westernizing the rest of the world. I understand the need to compress time for the sake of the narrative, but I did not believe such changes could occur in such a short period of time. My credulity was also stretched by the numerous near-death experiences of Marion Alston. She can't keep getting injured and waking up in her lover's arms and remain a believable character. Those nits aside, I still found the novel to be very enjoyable. The characters remain well-drawn and the historical details seem well-researched. I'm very much looking forward to the third installment!
Rating: 
Summary: Flawed Narrative Stance
Review: I really enjoyed reading this book - read it on the beach in a couple of days. Unlike some of the other reviewers, i am not particularly bothered by the lesbianism, or the lack of explanation of the "event". The biggest problem i had was that the author makes no distinction between what omniscient, infallible gods would do, and what the nantucketers do. Draka revisited, except benign this time. The RON never makes an ethical, technological, economic, or political misstep, in the author's view. Especially in the case of technical decisions related to warfare, many of the choices that the RON make are odd, or arbitrary, but they are protrayed as unassailable strokes of brilliance. If the author adopts this sort of stance, i think he assumes the responsibility of discussing all the eliminated alternatives. since this is ridiculous for a novel, the stance of the narrator should be more neutral toward the actions of the fallible, imperfect, incompletely knowledgeable nantucketers. This book reads more like a utopian polemic favoring Nantucket, rather than an attempt at a speculative technical history. The brawling ninja females, unlikely as they are, are such a staple of this genre that they probably can be forgiven. They are laid on a little thick, however. Don't _not_ read or buy this book because of my review, please. Just my opinion. The idea and setting is so imaginative that its entertainment value is high, despite my nerdy technical criticisms.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining but (somewhat) politically heavy-handed
Review: Bought the book on my way to the airport. It seems one can never find enough of the time-traveller genre. My three stars are based on a scale of five being the perfect book v what is ACTUALLY available out there. So, a three is above the median. The book would have been rated higher had the author lightened up on the feminism. (One reader responded in a manner I very much agree with, writing, 'would a female have walked the gauntlet' and 'would that image have been received well by the readers?' - or something like that.) I don't mind the lesbo stuff, to me it has just as much place in literature as the hetero, but the severity of some scenes did make me wonder if the author has yet to work out some fantasies in his own life.... As far as the validity of the war, fighting-styles, engineering, etc., I am happy to say I found not much fault, though I did give a wink to the author's artistic license. Good attention to detail, too. But the Coast Guard??? Give me a break, I've been to the Vineyard several times and I KNOW a couple of ex-Green Berets in the area. HA! (BTW, I didn't read the first book. I didn't know it existed, but this book was nevertheless entertaining enough for me to read it in four work days.)
Rating:
Summary: Along with others - "A GOOD (not Great) MIDDLE BOOK"
Review: I felt a lot of the "survival" tension from the first book was lost in this one. There were a few too many drawn out battle scenes for my taste, but all in all, still glad I bought and read it. I hope the next installment comes soon. I'm intrigued to see if he develops/integrates the group that left for the West Coast (which gets minimal coverage in this book)into the Nantucketters survival in the next book. Interesting possiblities there.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: Stirling has done a great job with this sequel. The focus has shifted from the story of survival of the Nantucketers to the building of alliances with the empire of Babylon and subsidiary countries to prepare for the upcoming war. I, too was disappointed to find the story skipped eight years from the first book, but the author hinted he's saving the intervening years for future stories. I was especially fascinated by the descriptions of ancient Babylon and Greece. Agamemmnon, Odysseus - the cast of the Iliad are mostly on stage with the resident bad guy, Walker. I have hopes Odysseus will eventually be on the side of the angels. This book seems painted with broader brush strokes, probably because it covers more time. It's still a great read and I can't wait for the next book.
Rating:
Summary: Strong Women, Weak Men
Review: Why, oh why, does S. M. Stirling hate men? I asked myself that question over and over again in reading this novel and it's predecessor. With two exceptions that I can think of, the women are portrayed as strong/positive, while the men are portrayed as weak/negative. Can not women be evil and men be good? I would like to think that both genders are capable of roughly equal amounts of positive and negative character traits, but the author does not seem to think so. The biggest problem with both of these books, however, is that the author does not seem to understand that Bronze Age warfare relied on far more brute strength than modern warfare. The reason that women did not regularly participate in warfare until the second half of the 20th Century had little to due with sexism and much to due with physical strength. I would suggest that the author should read more about the ancient Greek and Roman styles of warfare before he ventures down this path again.
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