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Title: The Tyrant (The Raj Whitehall Series, Book 8) by Eric Flint, James P. Baen, James Baen ISBN: 0-7434-7150-4 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.43 (14 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: The Tyrant, a novel of Center and Raj Whitehall
Comment: Finishing the story of the Gellert brothers begun in "The Reformer", the book develops the character of Verice Demansk, the father of Adrian Gellert's lover and commander of the opposing Vanbert army. Gellert is guided by "Center", a computer, and the disembodied Raj Whitehall, a general from another time and planet. The introduction of technology by Adrian brings victories, but the end results depend on man's strengths and weaknesses. Eric Flint and David Drake succeed in closing a story begun by Drake and S. M. Stirling, and the transition is very well done. Another fine novel of military SF by this pair.
Rating: 4
Summary: The Tyrant, a solid read..........
Comment: Ok, I waited for the paperback on this one, but would not have been unhappy if I had bought it hardcover. David Drake had Eric Flint rather than S.M. Stirling as co-author, and it represents an interesting departure from the tone of the rest of the series. While it had it's fair share of blody battles, they were not the primary foccus. Rather the book followed the politics and fealings of the the main character and his family as they try to aviod the fall of Rome and skip the dark ages.
This plot basis is fully in line with the idea of Center trying to create an industrial base to rebuild the old federation that created it, so I was not thrown by it's placement in the series. It also had some nicely done historical events thrown in that fit neatly into the story.
I have to agree with other reviewers that there is never any doubt of the outcome of any of the events, so it is hard to be as engrossed in the battles as one usually would be, but I could not put the book down, so I have to recomend it. I don't think fans of 1633 will be disapointed in the charecter and plot development, and there is enough action to keep the 1632 crowd involved.
This is a great business travel book to pick up at the gift shop, start on the plane, and use to wind down in the evening. It may keep you up reading later than planned, but that's what a good read does.
Rating: 2
Summary: A flat tale
Comment: Flint and Drake tell a tale that has some interesting technical and historical elements. What it lacks, however, is character and texture. The Rome-like empire of this book is kick-started into feudalism and industrialism by the machinations of one of its highest ranking members. The people doing so, however, are mere props to the tale; interchangeable cogs with little to distinguish them from each other. The lead character's daughter appears to be nothing more than her father in drag, apart from a few remembrances which appear to be flashbacks to earlier books in the series. The villains of the book are rarely seen at all, often appearing as no more than severed heads that appear from "off stage" after they have been vanquished, or making short speeches before they are summarily dispatched a few pages later. The authors are reasonably clever in their work (I particularly like the homages to Shakespeare) and very good at describing the new technology introduced to this Rome-like setting. They simply have not provided interesting characters to carry out the action of the novel.
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Title: The Reformer (The Raj Whitehall Series, Book 7) by S. M. Stirling, David Drake ISBN: 067157860X Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: April, 2000 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Chosen (The Raj Whitehall Series, Book 6) by S. M. Stirling, David Drake ISBN: 0671877240 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: June, 1996 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Steel (The Raj Whitehall Series: The General, Book 4) by David Drake, S. M. Stirling ISBN: 0671721895 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: October, 1993 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: March to the Stars by David Weber, John Ringo ISBN: 0743488180 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Sword (The Raj Whitehall Series: The General, Book 5) by David Drake, S. M. Stirling ISBN: 0671876473 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: March, 1995 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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