Rating: 
Summary: OK,but I expected better
Review: I have to place this one purely in the middle of the pack. I was expecting something like the others in the series (The General, The Steel, The Chosen, etc.) and instead I get something more like a novella than a novel. Yes, it does clear 200+ pages, but the book feels like it was part of a larger one and set out before it was fully finished and polished. After all the first 10 of 14 chapters are available for reading on Baen's website. What I liked - seeing Drake and Stirling work with a pseudo-Roman empire. The peek into the world of the mind. What I didn't - Not enough development of characters. Felt too rushed in reading. And it was too short for a hardcover.All in all I'd have been happier buying this in paperback, and I suspect you will too.
Rating: 
Summary: The Reformer, should have not been written at all
Review: I think that the reformer was a horrible story it was confusing,complex,boring, and the plot was terrible. Raj whitehall and Center hardly come into this story.I believe this book to be a huge failure for Stirling and Drake, two men, who are great sci-fi war-like writers.well this time they didn't live up to their talents. In addition, i think it should'nt have a sequel to it, much less have a hard cover version of this horrible story.but thats my opinion, and it really does'nt matter to those who have not read book.but i have to say that it was a disasterous story, and a real waste of ink, by stirling and drake.
Rating: 
Summary: The Reformer
Review: Superb read. Great characters with whom I could care about and an intriguing story line. MORE! MORE!
Rating:
Summary: Half a novel at full novel (hardcover) price
Review: The writing itself was good and the story (as much of it as was there) well-told, but I was very disappointed to discover that I had essentially paid to read the four chapters of half a novel. The typeface used is also a tad oversized, which suggests that it was padded to make it seem like more for your money. Wait for the paperback, or the "combined edition".
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't end so much as just stop
Review: There are two big problems with this book, and they are reallyas much the publisher's fault as the author's. As others have pointed out, this is only half a story. Actually it may be even less, depending on how many books there turn out to be in this series. My guess would be that this is a third of a story. This wasn't a problem in the GENERAL series. This hasn't bothered either of the two authors in other series they've written. There is some logic for ending this book where they did (I'm sure it looked great in outline). The authors never really developed a big culmination though. This book just kind of stops after one fight scene. It isn't even a battle as far as I am concerned. This problem was compounded by Baen putting all but the last 4 chapters on their web site for free. After reading all that for free, I expected the pay story to go on for a while. It doesn't. I haven't counted pages, but I would estimate that there's only another 10% as far as length is concerned... If I thought the authors intended to leave things like this, I would only give this book one or two stars. The story is a follow-on to the GENERAL series, the same as "The Chosen" was. It is set in the later Roman Empire -- not a similar period, the actual Roman Empire. This Roman Empire just happens to have a different name, and be on a different planet, sometime in the future. (This is a little hoke, as some other reviewers have mentioned.) The characters are better developed than they were in "The Chosen", although not as well as they were in the GENERAL series. My recommendation would be to read the Baen web page and pass on the book until there is a sequel, or better yet a boxed set.
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't end so much as just stop
Review: There are two big problems with this book, and they are reallyas much the publisher's fault as the author's. As others have pointed out, this is only half a story. Actually it may be even less, depending on how many books there turn out to be in this series. My guess would be that this is a third of a story. This wasn't a problem in the GENERAL series. This hasn't bothered either of the two authors in other series they've written. There is some logic for ending this book where they did (I'm sure it looked great in outline). The authors never really developed a big culmination though. This book just kind of stops after one fight scene. It isn't even a battle as far as I am concerned. This problem was compounded by Baen putting all but the last 4 chapters on their web site for free. After reading all that for free, I expected the pay story to go on for a while. It doesn't. I haven't counted pages, but I would estimate that there's only another 10% as far as length is concerned... If I thought the authors intended to leave things like this, I would only give this book one or two stars. The story is a follow-on to the GENERAL series, the same as "The Chosen" was. It is set in the later Roman Empire -- not a similar period, the actual Roman Empire. This Roman Empire just happens to have a different name, and be on a different planet, sometime in the future. (This is a little hoke, as some other reviewers have mentioned.) The characters are better developed than they were in "The Chosen", although not as well as they were in the GENERAL series. My recommendation would be to read the Baen web page and pass on the book until there is a sequel, or better yet a boxed set.
| 
