Rating: 
Summary: Just a weekend read
Review:
The "Ranks of Bronze" meet "The High Crusade" and the outcome is one nice weekend read, but not up to those two. Unfortunately the book quite often gives the impression as if a lot of good story lines were not quite developed because of an impeding publishing deadline.
Especially the conclusion of the story leaves an empty feeling as if one was cheated out of a fantasy. So it's just a nice weekend read.
Rating: 
Summary: Another good Weber story!
Review: A good book that is light but still engaging and thought-provoking. It made for an EXCELLENT way to pass a Saturday afternoon! The basic storyline is fairly simple, a crew of English infantry, knights & bowmen on their way to France in 1346 get abducted by aliens, along with a few wives, children, and seamen. They are to be unpaid mercenaries, forced to fight alien races on alien worlds for the alien being that has kidnapped them.
Fairly pedestrian . . . EXCEPT for the main characters and the politics of who has kidnapped them and why. I initially thought that Weber had created human characters that were not very real in their ability to grasp new concepts, think beyond their initial prejudices and still be that stubborn and hate their captors that much. But then I remembered the people in real history who dared to dream dreams that no one else did and were there at the right time and place to try for those dreams, sometimes in the face of overwhelming odds. I also remembered that human beings ARE capable of surviving just about anywhere and, while they're at it, being individualistic, rebellious, stubborn pig-headed sneaks with very long memories. And I thought that maybe, while Sir George was definitely a rare and extraordinary human being, maybe he wasn't an impossible human being.
The story does move a bit slowly in some places in the first half of the book, but it's still an interesting read. After Sir George and the rest of the humans get their big chance, things move much more quickly. The last section of the book that starts with the Solarian Union negotiating with the Galactic Federation is wonderful, both in the story and in the story-telling.
The book has a rather eclectic blend of medieval military tactics, knightly accoutrements, the psychology of how to inspire men on the battlefield (and how to discourage them as well), Machiavellan plotting in a science-fiction setting, sudden plot twists and a theme of "what happens when someone asks the questions everyone thought they already knew the answers to?", so there are probably a lot of readers who will not like it as much as a straight fantasy book or straight sci-fi book. But for readers who don't mind genres being mixed around a bit, it's an excellent read.
Rating:
Summary: David Weber, please write the sequel!
Review: An oft recurring theme in science fiction is that of aliens kidnapping or recruiting humans to act as their slaves or mercenaries. Several well received stories spring to mind. "Janissaries" by Jerry Pournelle, which depicted contemporary American mercenaries, spawned two sequels. "The High Crusade" by Poul Anderson showed English knights in the Middle Ages ready to march on Jerusalem. Instead aliens abduct them. "Ranks of Bronze" by David Drake was a short story of a Roman legion sold to aliens to fight endless wars against enemies of comparable (non-)technology. This book is an authorised sequel to the latter. Think of it as an alternative starting scenario for "The High Crusade". The book ends with the English knights overthrowing their masters and setting up a pocket empire that is ready to confront the aliens in a Galactic War!! As others have noted, the end of this book is slightly at askance. Weber is positioning probably many sequels. He has just released "War of Honor" (2002), which is clearly the start of a new Honor Harrington series. (See my review on that for more details.) Plus he also published "The Shiva Option" which ends that series. He has built up an expertise in writing interplanetary battle scenes, and in doing so has attracted a devoted fan base. From a marketing standpoint, he is reinforcing success by introducing different but related brands, like Coke and Diet Coke. Also, if he experiences a temporary writer's block in one series, he can switch to the other, to maintain productivity. -------------------------------------------------------- Here is an aside, and something that does not seem to have been noted by others. The stories mentioned above about humans being kidnapped or recruited have all had humans as the heroes. Are there any where the humans are bad blokes? Not as far as I know. But if you relax the restriction that they be human, then you get Kzin! Yes, that's right. The Man-Kzin wars by Larry Niven. The Kzin were pretechnological tribals who overthrew and enslaved their spacefaring masters. So if you want a different take on this theme, check out that series.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining but predictable
Review: Any fan of David Weber's work will be on familiar ground with this one. The story follows the same idea of "local boy becomes Emperor" that you will find in Weber's Mutineer's Moon series. Probably the biggest flaw in this book is the central character's uncanny savvy-ness. A medieval baron simply would not be able to cope with the situation in which Sir George and his wife find themselves in. It is all just too neat. But if you suspend that bit of disbelief, the story is fun to follow and an easy read, and Weber's superb grasp and ability to explain military situations is delivered once again. So go for it, but not with too high an expectation. A good way to spend a cross country flight.
Rating:
Summary: The High Crusade was better
Review: At the outset, I must state that I bought the book to
be entertained. Weber is a good author. This is not "The
High Crusade" by Poul Anderson. This is not as good a book
as it could be. There is a ALOT more work to be done
here. The goal of the book was to free the English and
fight the aliens. The book is just too short. The aliens
fall, the English run off, the Romans from "Ranks of Bronze"
return to Earth, the aliens decide to erase Earth, and
English arrive to save the day. All this is three chapters
or so. I wanted to scream at Weber, "Look, dude, you need
to show your work. As it is, you say, in essence, *I had
this problem. I worked on it a bit. Then a miracle occured
and I got the solution I wanted.* I want that box labeled
*A Miracle* expanded a QUITE a bot more."
Rating:
Summary: A fun ride
Review: Be it clearly stated: this is not the most believable piece of SF you will ever read. But then if you were after gritty realism, you're in the wrong genre anyway! David Weber is a past master at military SF and he turns it on again with this one. I wonder if I'm alone in catching the odd hint of David Brin here (ancient, stable and technologically advanced Galactic civilisation v brash upstart humans). Some might find the premise of medieval longbowmen fighting dirty little wars for their ET masters laughable, but only if they have no sense of fun. And I really liked the nifty little twist on the Arthurian legend at the end. Like other reviewers, I hope to see a sequel for this book. But even if there never is one, it's nice to read a book in which the baddies get their alien backsides comprehensively kicked at the end. Read it without taking it too seriously. It's a fun ride.
Rating:
Summary: An OK read, but only OK
Review: David Weber is normally one of the best military sf writers going. Unfortunately, this isn't one of his better books. This novel was inspired by David Drake's excellent RANKS OF BRONZE. R.O.B. tells of a group of Roman legionaires captured in a war agains Persia, and sold as slaves to aliens who want to use them as mercenaries. I recommend it. E.A. concerns a group of English soldiers the aliens acquire centuries later. Weber appears to feel constrained by the necessity of conforming to Drake's background. And the book doesn't really end -- it justs stops, with more to come in the next book. I'll read anything by Weber, but this is one of his lesser works.
Rating:
Summary: Will we ever see another great Weber book?
Review: Firstly, let me say that David Weber is one of my 2 or 3 favourite authors of the last few years. However I believe The Excalibur Alternative, like all his recent books, show significant signs of a either a lack of care or lack of inspiration. It's a mildly enjoyable light read, but we all expect much more from Mr Weber because he has so often been so good! The plot idea is fine (I won't repeat it for the umpteenth time), but much of the writing of this book (and other recent books such as March to the Stars and the latest Honor Harrington) seems designed to fill up space rather than tell a story or develop characters. Read the Excalibur Alternative, but get it from the library or the second hand bookshop.
Rating:
Summary: Will we ever see another great Weber book?
Review: Firstly, let me say that David Weber is one of my 2 or 3 favourite authors of the last few years. However I believe The Excalibur Alternative, like all his recent books, show significant signs of a either a lack of care or lack of inspiration. It's a mildly enjoyable light read, but we all expect much more from Mr Weber because he has so often been so good! The plot idea is fine (I won't repeat it for the umpteenth time), but much of the writing of this book (and other recent books such as March to the Stars and the latest Honor Harrington) seems designed to fill up space rather than tell a story or develop characters. Read the Excalibur Alternative, but get it from the library or the second hand bookshop.
Rating:
Summary: exc alt
Review: For Mr. Weber, this is a disapointing work. For the third time in his works he has left us up in the air. Where is the rest of the story!!
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