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Summary: If you liked the Redemer, you'll LOVE this
Review: A really great sequel that is, perhaps, even better than the first in the series. Fabulous. No more need be said.
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Summary: The Tyrant
Review: Along the same format as the General and Chosen series with a Roman Flavor. Adrian Gellert is the intellectual brother of the "Perfect Warrior" who using the info provided by a sentient machine and it's former host's gestalt(Raj Whitehall of the General Series)fights against and for a Empire for and against the Father of the woman he loves. Demansk comes from the highest level of the Empire his family helped build and now must decide if he will save it or destroy it with the help of his stragely omnicient son-in-law.
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Summary: PLEASE CORRECT YOUR EDITORIAL REVIEW.
Review: Despite having the same authors, this book is NOT a continuation of the Belisaurius series, but of a completely different series (the General series, with Raj Whitehall). Perhaps there is a minor tie-in to the Belisaurius books, and this is where the confusions stems from? Personally, I can hardly wait for the next installment in the Belisurius series - but this is not it.
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Summary: PLEASE CORRECT YOUR EDITORIAL REVIEW.
Review: Despite having the same authors, this book is NOT a continuation of the Belisaurius series, but of a completely different series (the General series, with Raj Whitehall). Perhaps there is a minor tie-in to the Belisaurius books, and this is where the confusions stems from? Personally, I can hardly wait for the next installment in the Belisurius series - but this is not it.
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Summary: Collaborative sci-fi gone awry
Review: Eric Flint and David Drake's "The Tyrant" is an interesting concept. The book takes a stab at portraying the fall of the Roman Empire. But instead of Rome, the scene is the distant planet of Hafardine, and instead of Caesar and Brutus, the cast include Verice Demansk, a lunky bloke with a flair for the officious, and his network of friends, family and foul-smelling enemies. I don't mean to belittle the plot. My main problem with this book is that it's sci-fi by committee. The characters are introduced and forgotten as quickly as last year's reality show. And the stilted language of our heroes - by the gods! - is enough to give anyone a punishing headache. Perhaps "The Tyrant" would have been less tyrannical had the book been about 200 pages shorter. But the authors, despite their heroic efforts, deliver just a little too much of a good thing.
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Summary: Superbly told story from a master storyteller
Review: Eric Flint, in the last few years, appeared suddenly on my list of "Must Buy and Read" authors, and it appears likely that he will never leave it. This latest book certainly adds weight to that impression.This is the second in a pair of books plotted by David Drake involving the battle computer, Center, its guide to things human, Raj Whitehall, and their chosen instrument to save a planet which otherwise has no future, Adrian Gellert. The first book was "The Reformer", and it was fairly readable, but S. M. Stirling is only a fair writer. *THIS* book, on the other hand, blazes with drama, comedy, political intrigue, hatred and revenge, love and laughter. Just about everything, in fact, that makes being alive so intriguing. I came to care deeply about all of the characters, and all of them brought perspective on what it might be like to live in a time when the old must die that the new may be born, and each player must decide for him- or herself whether to attempt midwifery or murder, or both. I found in this book two paragraphs filled with such insight that I deem the cost of this book, in both money and time reading, amply repaid by them. (I'll let you find them rather than spoil the beautiful surprises.) The rest of the book is a bonus from a master storyteller. Thank you, Eric.
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Summary: The Tyrant, a novel of Center and Raj Whitehall
Review: Finishing the story of the Gellert brothers begun in "The Reformer", the book develops the character of Verice Demansk, the father of Adrian Gellert's lover and commander of the opposing Vanbert army. Gellert is guided by "Center", a computer, and the disembodied Raj Whitehall, a general from another time and planet. The introduction of technology by Adrian brings victories, but the end results depend on man's strengths and weaknesses. Eric Flint and David Drake succeed in closing a story begun by Drake and S. M. Stirling, and the transition is very well done. Another fine novel of military SF by this pair.
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Summary: A flat tale
Review: Flint and Drake tell a tale that has some interesting technical and historical elements. What it lacks, however, is character and texture. The Rome-like empire of this book is kick-started into feudalism and industrialism by the machinations of one of its highest ranking members. The people doing so, however, are mere props to the tale; interchangeable cogs with little to distinguish them from each other. The lead character's daughter appears to be nothing more than her father in drag, apart from a few remembrances which appear to be flashbacks to earlier books in the series. The villains of the book are rarely seen at all, often appearing as no more than severed heads that appear from "off stage" after they have been vanquished, or making short speeches before they are summarily dispatched a few pages later. The authors are reasonably clever in their work (I particularly like the homages to Shakespeare) and very good at describing the new technology introduced to this Rome-like setting. They simply have not provided interesting characters to carry out the action of the novel.
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Summary: Just not that good
Review: I love the premis for this series, and I really like the authors, but this particular book just wasn't very good. The storyline shifted away from the main character so much that he couldn't even be considered the main character any longer. The "Raj/Center" characters, which are the basis for everything in this series hardly even make an appearance. The story was very predictable as were the little events that were used to fill pages.
Rating:
Summary: Just not that good
Review: I love the premis for this series, and I really like the authors, but this particular book just wasn't very good. The storyline shifted away from the main character so much that he couldn't even be considered the main character any longer. The "Raj/Center" characters, which are the basis for everything in this series hardly even make an appearance. The story was very predictable as were the little events that were used to fill pages.
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