Rating: 
Summary: Napoleon Writ Large
Review: The Napoleonic Wars set in a fantasy world, including the retreat from Moscow and everything! Having said that, this is a pretty good series. The battle and war scenes are well handled, the trials and tribulations of winter warfare, partisans, and guerillas are very nicely crafted, and the only complaint I could make about it is that the hero is not too terribly bright. Loyalty is a two way street. How many times does Damastes need to be betrayed, anyway? The women are two dimensional at best and seem to exist only to allow the author the opportunity to throw a little "soft porn" into the mix. But - much better than your average sword and sorcery fantasy, intricately crafted world, and very nice flow of action. Read it, it's worth the time.
Rating: 
Summary: I got through it, but barely. A disappointment.
Review: The Seer King layed the groundwork for what could have been a terrific tale, yet it seems as if Mr. Bunch lost his way.First off, I'll tackle the graphic sex scenes. I have but one question, why? Every time I got to one of these passages, I skimmed as hard as I could to get past them. Totally unnecessary. Quite a few times I was tempted to just put the book down and walk away. They add little, if anything at all, of interest to the book. I have my own imagination, I don't need it force-fed down my throat when I am simply trying to enjoy a fantasy novel. More importantly, where was the story? I felt almost nothing for these characters. I probably felt more for some of the minor players in this book, than for the group of main characters. The plot just wound about, hitting lightly on certain ideas, and then just passing them by. The main theme of the story, when ripped away from the other pointless dribble, would probably fit on 10 pages or less. The battle scenes seemed to fit into about four different molds, and then just kept repeating themselves with slight variations. As for a novel in the fantasy genre, supposedly using magic as well, this falls far short of the mark. There was very little imagination, completely lacking in the necessary agent of wrapping the reader up in a world only found in dreams. I found myself intrigued by the first novel in the series, and was certainly hoping that this sequel would only enhance those features of that first. From my point of view, Mr. Bunch failed miserably. The icing on the cake for me was the fact that a third novel in the series is do out only a year later. It would seem to me that if Mr. Bunch does indeed want to continue writing in this genre, he needs to spend this year researching true fantasy literature, not just trying to pump out another money-maker as quickly as possible. A bad sign indeed. To sum it up, I managed to get through the entire book, which goes to show that there is still a good foundation there, but he needs to do a lot of work to get me to buy a third round. One last suggestion. The third novel had better be 800 pages +, because as far as I am concerned, anything less doesn't stand a chance of over-coming the obstacles I see to date. Now, a long book won't ensure a great read, but I feel that at least then, it will have a shot at it.
Rating: 
Summary: A retelling of Napoleon
Review: This book continues with the excellent start provided by the first book in the series, The Seer King. Chris Bunch again uses episodes from the history of tyrants such as Napoleon to again press the same point that absolute power corrupts absolutely that he made in his previous "Sten" series. This is an excellent read based on great historical episodes newly recounted with a fantasy epic twist. I'd recommend this book for anyone interested in the study of power and history with the warning that the sex in the book might prove to be a bit too wild for some tastes. All in all Chris Bunch continues on with an excellent book in an excellent series.
Rating: 
Summary: Porno movie type sex and stupid women
Review: This book was kind of a fun read but the plot and characters were very weak. First of all, no woman would ask a man to sleep with her one last time while she is dying, which is exactly what one of his consorts does. I mean please. Also the only reason why women are in this book at all is so the main character can have sex with them..very silly and lame. The second problem I had was the authors use of military titles, he borrows from Roman history and modern military rank which is a little confusing.
If you like stupid heroines saying mindless things that live for nothing but sex this book is for you.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent tale .
Review: This is a fascinating story that grabs the attention of the reader and doesn't let go. A great soliders tale. The one weakness of this publication ( series) is the graphic sex that could be eliminated totally and not be missed. For this reason I would not suggest this series to younger readers. A pity since many fantasy readers start to appreciate this genre as adolescents.
Rating:
Summary: Napoleon Writ Large
Review: This is the second volume of the trilogy which started with The Seer King. I have written a review of that volume, which I called a 'mixed bag'. Many of my problems with the first volume continue into this. The "Letters to Penthouse Variations" sex scenes are as peculiarly divorced from matters of action and character as they were in volume 1. The problems with the social-science side of Bunch's two-empire world are as bad here as in volume 1. See, this is something I know something about. How do you organize a mass movement of assassins, for example, which is equally active in the feudal countryside and among the urban artisans and proletariat? Building the peasant-worker alliance is not so easy as all that, as the Bolsheviks found, yet for the Tovieti all they have to do is wave their hands and everyone runs out and assassinates people. It's just implausible. Now I thought the warfare stuff was pretty convincing. And yet I really don't know much about the use of the bow, for example, so when I read the notes by the "Danish military history fan" below which suggest that Bunch has messed up that part TOO, I have the jarring suspicion that I only like this part because of my own ignorance :-) In this volume, our hero, general Damastes, becomes a victim of the Emperor Tenedos' obsession with ruling the world, beginning with the Empire of Maisir (he has to start there because it's the only other country that the Numantians know about :-)). Apart from Bunch's general problems, this volume suffers from the fact that our hero, general Damastes, is willfully stupid throughout the book. For one thing, Tenedos makes it crystal clear that he is intent on world conquest. Then he tells Damastes that he won't be ready to invade Maisir for five years, and he tells Damastes to go down and negotiate a peace treaty. But somehow Damastes then believes that he can bring about a treaty which will ensure peace between the two powers for a lifetime! Then when Tenedos' schemes come to light he feels betrayed and put upon, but why? But even worse, Damastes takes the longest possible time to discover the "Secret" of Tenedos's Great Spells, which anyone of ordinary intelligence has long since figured out, going back to Volume 1! Look: In one of the battles in Volume I, Tenedos orders some of his forces to undertake a maneuver that gets a lot of them killed for no obvious reason. Then, and only then, he raises a demon that wins the battle for him. And there is a lot of discussion of the "price" you have to pay a demon. OK, you get the picture, right? Don't have to hit you over the head with it, right? And you're not even from a world that's familiar with demons! But Damastes is, and he has years to think about it as he watches the above pattern repeat over and over and over, and listens to Tenedos' revealing mutterings, and STILL not until the end of volume II does he figure out the obvious. It's pretty tiresome. I would give this volume two stars, except for the fact that I feel that the trilogy should be rated as a unit, which is why I give it 3.
Rating:
Summary: Mixxed bag continues; protagonist takes stupid pills
Review: This is the second volume of the trilogy which started with The Seer King. I have written a review of that volume, which I called a 'mixed bag'. Many of my problems with the first volume continue into this. The "Letters to Penthouse Variations" sex scenes are as peculiarly divorced from matters of action and character as they were in volume 1. The problems with the social-science side of Bunch's two-empire world are as bad here as in volume 1. See, this is something I know something about. How do you organize a mass movement of assassins, for example, which is equally active in the feudal countryside and among the urban artisans and proletariat? Building the peasant-worker alliance is not so easy as all that, as the Bolsheviks found, yet for the Tovieti all they have to do is wave their hands and everyone runs out and assassinates people. It's just implausible. Now I thought the warfare stuff was pretty convincing. And yet I really don't know much about the use of the bow, for example, so when I read the notes by the "Danish military history fan" below which suggest that Bunch has messed up that part TOO, I have the jarring suspicion that I only like this part because of my own ignorance :-) In this volume, our hero, general Damastes, becomes a victim of the Emperor Tenedos' obsession with ruling the world, beginning with the Empire of Maisir (he has to start there because it's the only other country that the Numantians know about :-)). Apart from Bunch's general problems, this volume suffers from the fact that our hero, general Damastes, is willfully stupid throughout the book. For one thing, Tenedos makes it crystal clear that he is intent on world conquest. Then he tells Damastes that he won't be ready to invade Maisir for five years, and he tells Damastes to go down and negotiate a peace treaty. But somehow Damastes then believes that he can bring about a treaty which will ensure peace between the two powers for a lifetime! Then when Tenedos' schemes come to light he feels betrayed and put upon, but why? But even worse, Damastes takes the longest possible time to discover the "Secret" of Tenedos's Great Spells, which anyone of ordinary intelligence has long since figured out, going back to Volume 1! Look: In one of the battles in Volume I, Tenedos orders some of his forces to undertake a maneuver that gets a lot of them killed for no obvious reason. Then, and only then, he raises a demon that wins the battle for him. And there is a lot of discussion of the "price" you have to pay a demon. OK, you get the picture, right? Don't have to hit you over the head with it, right? And you're not even from a world that's familiar with demons! But Damastes is, and he has years to think about it as he watches the above pattern repeat over and over and over, and listens to Tenedos' revealing mutterings, and STILL not until the end of volume II does he figure out the obvious. It's pretty tiresome. I would give this volume two stars, except for the fact that I feel that the trilogy should be rated as a unit, which is why I give it 3.
Rating: 
Summary: Unimaginative and Predictable!
Review: This story is worse than the first one (which I thought merely average). In this book, Chris Bunch tries to take two historical happenings and meld them together in a fantasy world - and does so BADLY. The first part of the story is more or less a fantasy version of the Indian Sikh cult killings - right down to the strangler's cord. The second part of the story is an attempt to do Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 as a fantasy story. For anyone with just a little knowledge of history, the story becomes tediously predictable (especially the last part) as a result. I am astounded that reviewers hail Chris Bunch for his knowledge of history - he may be a vietnam war veteran, but he should have kept out of fantasy warfare, because he has not the faintest idea of medieval or ancient warfare at all. The ridiculous battle scenes (he seems to think a bow is the equivalent of an AK-47) complete the ruin of what could have been a good book, if he had done his research, and written the story with a bit more imagination. Of course, if you know nothing of history, you might like the story.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, Can't wait for the sequal.
Review: True, there are a bit too many sex scenes in this series. True, his approach to battles are straightforward, non-glorified and loaded with tactical manuevers...these are not bad things. Submerged in the story, you see this is how a general, a soldier of war, would tell a story of magic and events that are almost too much for his thinking. When it comes to war, he is a machine that remembers the facts and what is to be done. Excellent for those realists out there who enjoy proper battles, garrot-wire assassinations, and a flair of magic to shake up life a bit. True, Bunch's story is not loaded with Tolkeinesque history and Jordanesque characters...but it was a great read nevertheless. Can't wait for the next book.
Rating:
Summary: The Demon King: A depressing yet satisfying tale.
Review: While it is certainly true that Chris Bunch's work almost matches Michael Moorcock's Elric series as a dark, depressing tale, he spins his own unique yarn to the fantasy genre. The fantasy steroetype depicts the protagonist as some mendicant who will eventually mature and become king, emperor, the master wizard, etc. Instead, we have the protagonist, (Damastes) supporting the rule of Laish Tenedos time and time again, despite increasing evidence that Laish Tenedos isn't such a nice guy after all. Furthermore, though the ending of the Demon King is somewhat depressing (many second books to a trilogy are), the protagonist is at least partially responsible for his own downfall (making it all the more tragic.) That in itself is interesting. And as for the graphic descriptions of sex and violence, I firmly believe that Chris Bunch is simply trying to depict the character of Damastes as someone who is able to live for the moment, even with the whole world falling apart around him- not to mention someone who is able to put behind him the loss of loved ones. Chris Bunch has done a damn good job with his series so far, and I look forward the the conclusion in February.
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