Rating: 
Summary: Gripping and disturbing
Review:
"Gripping" is an overused word in reviews, but it is an uncannily perfect word to describe this entire series, set in an alternate-history where the Loyalists established a colony in south Africa after losing the American Revolution.
"Marching Through Georgia", the first in the series, takes place in the early 1940's. The Draka have dominated and enslaved all of Africa, the Middle East, and much of Asia. They have lain in wait as the Nazis exhausted themselves conquering Europe and battling Russia. Now, the Domination of the Draka is poised to take advantage of the situation and extend its iron grip yet again.
The Draka -- men and women both -- are trained from birth to be outstanding fighters, both individually and collectively. They are also trained how to be slaveholders, how to most effectively tame, train, and use human beings, as some people tame, train, and use horses. Draka are dedicated to the survival of the State, and believe that "if you desire the ends, then you desire the means".
Unfortunately for everybody else, the only way the Draka will feel secure is to put the rest of the world "under the yoke".
Stirling could easily have written the Draka as stereotyped evil villians -- powerful and nasty and easy to hate. But the author did something far more impressive ... he(?) made them human. There is much to hate about the Draka and their society, but there is also much to admire. Better yet, Stirling helps you understand *why* the Draka are who they are -- and why their slaves are who *they* are. As "inhuman" as some of their actions are, it is clear the the Draka are, indeed, all too human. *This* is Stirling's accomplishment, this is what makes this series so impressive.
(The other books in the series are "Under the Yoke", "Stone Dogs", and "Drakkon".)
Rating:
Summary: Gripping and disturbing
Review:
"Gripping" is an overused word in reviews, but it is an uncannily perfect word to describe this entire series, set in an alternate-history where the Loyalists established a colony in south Africa after losing the American Revolution. "Marching Through Georgia", the first in the series, takes place in the early 1940's. The Draka have dominated and enslaved all of Africa, the Middle East, and much of Asia. They have lain in wait as the Nazis exhausted themselves conquering Europe and battling Russia. Now, the Domination of the Draka is poised to take advantage of the situation and extend its iron grip yet again. The Draka -- men and women both -- are trained from birth to be outstanding fighters, both individually and collectively. They are also trained how to be slaveholders, how to most effectively tame, train, and use human beings, as some people tame, train, and use horses. Draka are dedicated to the survival of the State, and believe that "if you desire the ends, then you desire the means". Unfortunately for everybody else, the only way the Draka will feel secure is to put the rest of the world "under the yoke". Stirling could easily have written the Draka as stereotyped evil villians -- powerful and nasty and easy to hate. But the author did something far more impressive ... he(?) made them human. There is much to hate about the Draka and their society, but there is also much to admire. Better yet, Stirling helps you understand *why* the Draka are who they are -- and why their slaves are who *they* are. As "inhuman" as some of their actions are, it is clear the the Draka are, indeed, all too human. *This* is Stirling's accomplishment, this is what makes this series so impressive. (The other books in the series are "Under the Yoke", "Stone Dogs", and "Drakkon".)
Rating: 
Summary: This series improves with time
Review: As the first of the Draka novels, this book is most interesting only in that it leads up to the later books. If you continue through the serious, you'll find "The Stone Dogs" interesting and "Drakon" impossible to put down. Read this book and "Marching Through Georgia" as set up to the latter books or as interesting war novel. (The SF doesn't really apply until the latter books.)
Rating: 
Summary: For Military/Action Enthusiasts, Rather Than Alt Hist Fans
Review: Best suited for readers of war novels and military history, Marching Through Georgia (and the others in the series) is not all that appealing in either writing style or premises. There are no particularly compelling prose passages that one may want to reread for their interesting word choices or images. This probably explains why most of the other reviewers were more concerned that the author got the rate-of-fire of an imaginary gun correct, or deployed fantasy platoons logically, or gave his "heroes" all the best toys. I, for one, was more disturbed by the overt (and not so overt) premises of a series where the good guys are racial supremacists dedicated to an aggresive warrior culture that threatens the entire world. The author may feel that his characters are made "complex" and multi-faceted by their sexual equality and occasional misgiving over holding their racial inferiors in virtual slavery but I couldn't help feeling that this is just Nazism with a human face.
Rating: 
Summary: First in Stirling's alternate history universe of the Draka
Review: I actually didn't come across this book until I'd already read the second in the series, Under the Yoke, which is the book that truly defines the heart of the series and fleshes out the background, world, and people that makes Stirling's alternate universe to real and so chilling. Nevertheless, you WILL want to read this book and it will become one of your favorite war novels.
Marching Through Georgia is mostly a straight military action adventure (though a very good one at that - I'd have ranked it higher, but the second book is even that much better). Stirling introduces most, if not all of the key facets of his alternate universe, but his objective is to write one of the best, fastest paced war novels I've ever read, so he doesn't play with the ramifications of the world he's created as much as he does in the later books of this series.
Go ahead and get this book. Even if you read 'Under the Yoke' first, you'll certainly get hooked and will want to read this one shortly thereafter
Rating:
Summary: A chilling view...
Review: I found the whole idea to be believable but that the Draka were too good. They seldom if ever (I have read the entire series) make serious mistakes and seldom lose....The technological progress I didn't think was in fitting with a slave society mind set (think of Rome) Too many of the Draka tech advantages were as a result of civilian market research in the real world, not a priorty focus in a slave society. Though I read them and in the main enjoyed the read, the fact the Draka were ALWAYS so successful took alot from the storyline. I found The Chosen was a better thought out story and did not have all the weaknesses of the Draka series.
Rating:
Summary: A chilling view...
Review: I found the whole idea to be believable but that the Draka were too good. They seldom if ever (I have read the entire series) make serious mistakes and seldom lose....The technological progress I didn't think was in fitting with a slave society mind set (think of Rome) Too many of the Draka tech advantages were as a result of civilian market research in the real world, not a priorty focus in a slave society. Though I read them and in the main enjoyed the read, the fact the Draka were ALWAYS so successful took alot from the storyline. I found The Chosen was a better thought out story and did not have all the weaknesses of the Draka series.
Rating:
Summary: Good, frightening, and quite clever
Review: I have to admit, I enjoyed this book quite a bit, if enjoy is the right term for a book that focusses on mostly evil people.
Besides the rather interesting premise of the book, I found many of the aspects of the Draka out and out uncomfortable. They are not presented as moustache-twirling fiends, but rather as vigorous, focussed people so evil that they no longer even recognize it in themselves. These are people who honestly believe that their worldview is right, in spite of the fact that it is dehumanizing to their victims and serfs as well as themselves. I find this far more frightening than the popular view of racists who take delight in the fact that they can hurt others and are out and out sadists who wallow in their nastiness; rather they are akin to slaveowners, who were normal people who thought of themselves as good, but meted out horrors to their slaves. The book itself is rather cleverly set out to where you often begin to like and admire these Draka, whereupon they matter-of-factly discuss some common atrocity that they perform and the reader is hit with a dash of cold water, realizing that these seductive people are almost anti-human. Tie this in with "Under the Yoke" where we see exactly what these people are capable of and I think you will get a rather clever peek into what true evil is. As for the military aspects, they work rather well. In reality, a force like the Draka would have changed the world far more than we see in the novels before 1940, but it would have been an unrecognizable world to the reader. I think Stirling did as well as could be expected to put a rather implausible scenario into a history that we would recognize. All in all, this is a good book in a good series.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Wierd Stuff...
Review: I originally purchased this book several years ago,and every time I sat down to read it I seemed to lose interest after a few chapters. I finally forced myself to finish the thing--not an easy task. The protaganists of the Draka are not an admirable group unless you considered Jack the Ripper admirable. The basic plot to this novel(an alternative history?)deals with the Draka invasion of Soviet Georgia in the foothills of the Caucasus mountains and the conflict with the German Reich,which has also invaded the same geographic area. The Draka are portrayed as strong,crafty,and unbeatable. The Germans are portrayed as drunken womanizers and somewhat inept at warfare , good only at beating their heads against a stone wall. Several times I threw this book in the firestarter burn basket,only to later retreive it in the hopes that I would find something of merit contained therin. Having read other books by and coauthored by S.M. Stirling that were much more enjoyable than this one turned out,I was very dissapointed in this one.
Rating:
Summary: Good read but premise full of holes
Review: I read this book (and the rest of this series)a few years ago. The basic premise is that American Loyalists developed a colony in South Africa after losing the American Revolution. They develop a society based on slavery and conquest. At the time of "Marching Through Georgia", this society has conquered all of Africa, much of Asia and is ready to pounce on the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany who are in the throes of WW2. The series is interesting, but I believe fatally flawed. First, it assumes that the Domination could build advanced war machinery without the rest of the world catching on. The Domination develops armored cars and exports them to the American Confederacy in the 1860s, performs air strikes on Turkey during WW1 and goes after the Nazis with tanks that could probably hold their own against modern day M1 tanks. Despite the excellent results (for the Domination), the rest of the world never catches on and uses this war technology! Another problem is that it assumes Great Britain would permit a slave society within its empire in the early 1800s. The early Domination is a British Colony with slaves at a time when slavery was abolished in the Empire and the British were shutting down the slave business with force of arms. If you can get past these big problems, it isnt a bad read however.
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