Rating: 
Summary: Fast Paced Romp
Review: A large meteor shower struck Earth in 1878, halting technological development and creating years of winter and starvation, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. With the help of the British merchant fleet, a large portion of the population of England relocated to British India. Fast forward to the 21st century, India is the center of the British Empire, France rules southern Europe and North Africa, and Russia has become an evil empire ruled by ritual-cannibalist Satan worshippers. The other major world powers are Dai-Nippon (Japan and China) and the Caliphate (an Arab-based Muslim nation that stretches up through eastern Europe). Athelstane King, an Imperial army officer, and his scientist sister Cassandra have mysteriously become the targets for assassination. They must overcome their many attackers and solve the mystery of why they are targets. During this action filled romp across British India, the Kings pull several other interesting characters into their quest, including the royal heir, Prince Charles, his sister Sita, the French ambassador, Henri de Vascogne, and a Russian seerist. Alternate history author S. M. Stirling's descriptions of the technology, geography and cultures of this alternate world are detailed and fairly believable. The action sequences are good and the story moves along at a fair clip, but I never really connected with the characters. They all seem a bit too cliched and don't seem to evolve during the course of events. The villians are very bad indeed, the heroes are brave, the royalty is noble, and the sidekicks are trusty. It might be more enjoyable for someone who likes Edwardian style novels or the Kipling British Raj stories.
Rating:
Summary: A rousing enough tale...
Review: I hadn't read much of SM Stirling, but this book is certainly a nice introduction to his work. Stirling is a solid writer and he has set up a reasonably fun premise and spent some effort to flesh out the landscape~~this novel positively lush with detail. The novel is pure formula, even calculatedly so: the style is akin to adventure novels from circa 1900, a style no longer in fashion for a variety of reasons. Could it be that the characters are pure cardboard (the good guys are ALL good, even the red herring "bad" ones, and the bad guys are pure evil Lash LaRue)? If you like modern "epic fantasy", this about the same flavor (at least we aren't forced to read a trilogy---hurray!) The novel slyly winks at the White Man's Burden concept inherent in writing about an extended Raj forced to move to India. Call it a propaganda novel for the "thousand year Raj". It's clear that Stirling knows what he's about here, even if his characters are trapped in the conventions of the Gilded Age. At 500 or so pages, it was a bit hard to concentrate near the end, but Stirling is a good enough writer to make it fun. The pages turn and eventually you put it down having enjoyed it. I've got to mention the title: the Peshawar Lancers appear on about 12 pages of the book. Still, that hardly distracts from a nice little romp.
Rating: 
Summary: Well written
Review: This was my first S.M. Stirling book, and I must say, I like what I read. The author develops his characters very well and has them speak with believable well-written dialogue between them. The world he has created is also very interesting and well thought out/researched. Something I noticed was an abundance of unfamiliar words in italics. The reason for this being the story takes place in India, so the author uses italics to emphasize Indian culture. This is not a bad thing, though can be a bit confusing. When the chapters focus on the main character, Athelstane King, the story was very interesting and tight-paced and fun to read. But when the narrative shifted to the lesser support characters, I found it a bit boring and mostly unnecessary. S.M. Stirling writes exciting action scenes and I enjoyed most of the battle sequences. One episode that bugged me though, was when two teams of good guys, neither group aware of each other, both decide to raid the same bad guy's fortress at the exact same time. I found that a bit hokey and annoying. All in all, a fun interesting read that will definitely warrant me to peruse my used bookstores for more adventures by S.M. Stirling.
Rating:
Summary: Delightful Steampunk Romp In An Alternate Future of India
Review: S. M. Sterling evokes Rudyard Kipling, William Gibson, Neal Stephenson and Bruce Sterling in this delightful alternate history view of a revived British Empire in the aftermath of a series of devestating cometary impacts on late 19th Century Earth. Comparing Stirling to Rudyard Kipling and other writers of Imperial Raj fiction seems most apt, since this novel is essentially an early 21st Century recounting of the "Great Game" played between the Russian and British empires over Afghanistan and much of Central Asia in the 19th century. I find Stirling's alternative future quite plausible, if I overlook his comet impact scenario for destroying most of Western European and North American civilization. Sure, some of Stirling's characters do come across occasionally as wooden or stilted, but the main protagonist, Captain Athelstane King, is a memorable character who could have been created by Kipling too. And yet to Stirling's credit, he engages the reader with ample doses of riveting action and fine dialogue that you tend to overlook some of the book's disappointments. Stirling's alternate history is yet another fine example of the steampunk genre created by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling in their novel "The Difference Engine". However, it lacks the graceful, almost lyrical, prose found in that novel; yet another of this book's disappointments. Still, Stirling has created a riveting future history that I hope will be the source of future novels.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Story
Review: This is the best Stirling book I have read, including the Island In the Sea of time series, and cries out for a sequal, as is evident from the dangling bits in the story. I read this book several times, and am looking forward to a sequal.
Rating:
Summary: Very predictable, yet it is a new idea
Review: The charecters are unbelivable, yet some are likeable
The plot is old-hat but parts of it are interesting.
I really don't know what to think. Mr. Striling seems to have written this book just so he could have something to do between the "Islands in a Sea of Time" serise. I really tried with this book, I tried to like it and enjoy it but in the end I just couldn't get into it. I think it would have helped if half of the book had been set before the catachlism and half of the book after the catachlism. It would have longer but in the end I feel it would have made muchg more sense. The hardest part for me while reading a book, epecially one dealing with Alternate History is accepting the events are happening. Just being thrown into this new world and being told "O.K this is whats going on", just doesn't cut it for me. Overall-I guess what i'm trying to say is that while I liked the story I think the author could have gone a lot more in depth with it.
Rating:
Summary: Easily Stirling's best...
Review: ...writing outside of the Nantucket trilogy, and maybe even better than that. A wild, breathtaking ride of an adventure story with a fascinating alt-history setting. Mr. Stirling, do a sequel already!
Rating:
Summary: Lyric Style, Engaging Characters, Great Story
Review: This is the most refreshing book I have read in awhile. I could be accused of just being one of those people who love the whole "British Raj" milieu (which is not true other than some old Errol Flynn movies), but I found the writing in this book to be elegant, the characters to be people I really cared about, and the story to be engrossing. I have found some of Stirling's other works to be somewhat turgid, much like most of Turtledove's tripe, but this story was light on it feet (with just the right dash and swagger) and engaging. I liked that he created both strong male and (at least one) female characters and emphasized the special nature of camaraderie. I highly recommend this book and will now have to go digging after something else this good. The last such book, for me, was Across The Nightingale Floor...
Rating: 
Summary: Implausible and Stilted
Review: Steve Stirling's Peshawar Lancers starts off with an interesting premise: that European civilization is nearly destroyed in 1878 when a disintegrating comet rains down on the northern hemisphere. Unfortunately that is where the innovative ideas end. Instead of seeing how the rest of the world develops in that power vacuum Stirling assumes that British simply relocated to India and gives us a rehash of the Flashman novels. Peshawar Lancers takes place about 150 years after The Fall (as he calls it) and there has been very little technological, sociological, or geopolitical change in that period. It seems that Stirling wanted to freeze history rather than explore the genuine alternative history that would arise in his scenario.
Rating:
Summary: A lot in this book was rather familiar.
Review: Even before I was halfway through this book, I knew why it some of the plot and the characters seemed familiar. They have a definite resemblence to George MacDonald Fraser's "Flashman and the Great Game." The Russian Count, the faithful Pathan servant Ibrahim Khan, the main character's native squeeze, the Thugs. Need I go on? This novel was entertaining, but Flashman and the Great Game is a much better book, without the silly premise.
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