Rating: 
Summary: Review of basic history
Review: 'The Chosen' is an interesting twist on the Raj Whitehall series. Although well-written, this book suffers from a major flaw: people who are familiar with World War II history won't be in for many surprises. Drake has always had a habit of basing his fiction on historical events, and usually the results are both interesting and entertaining. Unfortunately in 'The Chosen' he follows World War II a bit too closely. You generally know how major events in the book are going to work out well in advance, so there isn't really much suspense.
Rating: 
Summary: Appealing to those familiar with Stirling and Drake's works.
Review: A continuation of the General series is a pleasant surprise. The Chosen continues David Drakes' penchant for molding a military fiction around actual history. S.M. Stirling contributes a strategical view of the situational plot which is usually lacking in Drakes' novels (not to the detriment of his stories, though). The S.M. Stirling/David Drake tandem achieves a notable work in this novel. Granted, I enjoy both authors, but rarely am I compelled to start and finish a book in one day. This one was an exception. The military action holds your interest while the promise of the resolution of the strategical situation keeps you turning pages. This novel is a worthy continuation of the General series, although the character of the CENTER computer is much more muted and almost non-existent. In past novels the computer was an integral part of the story; in The Chosen it is much farther in the background. In summary, the story could easily stretch over five novels as the previous series did. The story felt a bit rushed, with far less detail than I had hoped for.
Rating:
Summary: When is the next one comming out? Can't wait for more!
Review: Although this book doesn't quite come up to Raj Whitehall series, (a rather lofty peak) it is still a page turner, much, much better tham most of the other stuff out there.
Rating:
Summary: Appealing to those familiar with Stirling and Drake's works.
Review: David Drake seems to bring a degree of historical realism to the team that is lacking in SMS solo work and the story and writing are first rate. Unlike the Draka, who are cartoonish, the Chosen are much more believable as a totalitarian warrior caste complete with the inherent weakness of such regimes. The Santander Republic is also believeable and shows the good and bad of a free society going to war. The bad news: There are still the excessivly cute references (PT109 being rammed & "Gridley", for instance) that jar from the story by reminding of the authors presence. And a lot of the technological details get glossed over. How BIG are those airships anyway???
Rating:
Summary: I recomend this book
Review: David Drake seems to bring a degree of historical realism to the team that is lacking in SMS solo work and the story and writing are first rate. Unlike the Draka, who are cartoonish, the Chosen are much more believable as a totalitarian warrior caste complete with the inherent weakness of such regimes. The Santander Republic is also believeable and shows the good and bad of a free society going to war. The bad news: There are still the excessivly cute references (PT109 being rammed & "Gridley", for instance) that jar from the story by reminding of the authors presence. And a lot of the technological details get glossed over. How BIG are those airships anyway???
Rating:
Summary: A fine read...
Review: I'm a fan of Stirling's for the chief reason he, like a handful of other military sci fi writers(Pournelle and Turtledove chiefly) write convincingly. I was disappointed by the Draka series not because of the eventual outcome but by the one sidedness of the conflict. The Draka were so much more advanced ALWAYS that it became a joke. The Chosen however set a stage between two opponents that were far more realistic with strengths AND weaknesses which the Draka series didn't have. At least the serfs showed up as real people not just household artifacs. Also it is not so technology driven to abstraction as the lopsided Draka series was. The Navy actually had an important part in the book too. I have always enjoyed reading of the 20s/30s time frame anyway and the Chosen played that up well. It had it's cutsey parts which detracted from the book but that was minor. I too would have liked to see more character development but it was a fine read and throughly enjoyable overall....
Rating:
Summary: A fine read...
Review: I'm a fan of Stirling's for the chief reason he, like a handful of other military sci fi writers(Pournelle and Turtledove chiefly) write convincingly. I was disappointed by the Draka series not because of the eventual outcome but by the one sidedness of the conflict. The Draka were so much more advanced ALWAYS that it became a joke. The Chosen however set a stage between two opponents that were far more realistic with strengths AND weaknesses which the Draka series didn't have. At least the serfs showed up as real people not just household artifacs. Also it is not so technology driven to abstraction as the lopsided Draka series was. The Navy actually had an important part in the book too. I have always enjoyed reading of the 20s/30s time frame anyway and the Chosen played that up well. It had it's cutsey parts which detracted from the book but that was minor. I too would have liked to see more character development but it was a fine read and throughly enjoyable overall....
Rating:
Summary: The apology for the Draka
Review: If the end of the Domination of the Draka trilogy drove you screaming mad that the bad guys won, this should ease your ego. The parallels between the Draka and the Chosen are extensive, but the different outcome (and the inclusion of anachonistic technology to help the 'good' guys along) make this Stirling's apology for the Draka victory in Stone Dogs.
Rating:
Summary: Choppy.
Review: Not up to standards of the Raj series. Lots of vignettes, loosely tied together. I suspect they wanted to do another multi-volume series, but the publisher was only willing to do a single book--so they crammed everything into that volume. I also suspect this started out as a separate series, which the publisher told them to connect to Raj for sales purposes. It is only loosely tied to the Raj series and only by an implausible plot device. Neither Raj nor Center are central to the working out of the plot. Readers looking for a contination of the Raj stories will be disappointed. Readers looking for decent military SF will be modestly satisfied.
Rating: 
Summary: Compare this to Stirling's Draka series
Review: Read Stirling's Draka novels first for an added appreciation
of this book. The Chosen resemble the Draka, and the Santandans are kin to the Alliance for Democracy.
In both plots, the Chosen/Draka have more slaves and resources
and strive toward world conquest. Here, the technology
level is World War I. But the real contrast is in the different
strategy used by Santander, and in the resultant outcome.
It is as though in the Draka universe, the Alliance
had elected to fight in the time frame of "Under the Yoke",
instead of staying at peace, paving the way to its
disasterous fate in "Stone Dogs".
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