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Loading... Destiny's Shieldby Eric Flint
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. Read Online: http://webscriptions.net/10.1125/Baen... khms | Oct 16, 2007 |    http://nhw.livejournal.com/190840.htm... Someohow or other I picked this up electronically under the impression that it was the first in a series, and I could read it and decide if I liked the others. In fact it's the third in a series of alternative history novels where the sixth century AD Byzantine general Belisarius, with computer sidekick, battles against an Indian dynasty who have been supplied with gunpowder by allies from the far future. I won't bother with the rest. Belisarius and his entourage were all fascinating personalities, but this is fan-fiction about them at six-volume length. They never lose a battle or an argument, and have all the best lines to the point that you wish their enemies would hire new speechwriters. It's also not clear what the ultimate aim of Belisarius' time-travelling backers is - they can hardly turn history back into the proper channel after clearing up the Malwa menace (as Belisarius does with the river Euphrates in this book). Pleasant enough reading, but not really compelling. (  )nwhyte | Sep 17, 2005 | 0.016 seconds to build listing  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com (ISBN 0671578723, Mass Market Paperback)Eric Flint and David Drake's alt-history epic devoted to real-life Byzantine butt-kicker Belisarius has reached part three--Destiny's Shield--and this installment finally busts loose with some serious head-to-head. Everybody's favorite general is leading an outnumbered Roman-Persian force to check Malwa aggression in the east, forced to action by the fiends' sea-borne invasion of the Tigris-Euphrates delta and their subsequent siege of Babylon. For those unfamiliar with the series, this what-if puts the Malwa Empire in control of the Indian subcontinent thanks to diabolical assistance from across time, granting their forces superior strategy and advanced weaponry. But the ever-canny Belisarius is equal to the challenge, with no small help from a telepathic crystal named Aid that acts as both adviser and seer.The writing tandem of Flint and Drake still proves strong--relative newcomer Flint (Mother of Demons) seems well-paired with military-SF powerhouse Drake, creator of "the meanest bunch of mercs who ever nuked a world for pay" (that'd be Hammer's Slammers, natch). The two offer up their usual dose of meticulous historical detail and realistic, mud-and-blood combat and tactics. Throw in some time-bending fun like Belisarius's "invention" of the Knights Hospitaler and phrases like "fire in the hole," and you know you're in for a good time. (Of course, if you're new to the series, check out the first book, An Oblique Approach.) --Paul Hughes (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:52 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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