The Forge begins a fascinating and tremendously enjoyable collection of five books, continuing with The Hammer, The Anvil, The Steel, and the Sword. The lead character, Raj Ammenda Halgern Da Luis Whitehall is a military officer in a society living on the planet Bellevue which was cut off from the rest of interstellar civilization when civil war destroyed Man's ability to travel between stars. The chaos that followed drove the succeeding generations further and further toward barbarism. During Raj's time, the technology of the ancients is worshipped as holy. Now with the help of a still active ancient computer, Raj is tasked with reuniting his world and reversing the social entropy.

These novels have some of the most entertaining prose and most convincing battle scenes I have ever read. I have read this series at least 5 times. Thankfully, you will not have to wait for the rest of the series as I did.

This is the standard by which I judge all military fiction. I have never found another that was it's equal. Even when the same authors got together again for books 6 and 7 (which I have reviewed separately) they couldn't recreate the magic of this series.

THE GENERAL series is about a fallen interstellar society which has climbed it's way back up to the technological level of the American Civil War. The hero, Raj Whitehall, has to reunite the planet in order to reach the stars again some day. This involves a lot of fighting and empire building. What gives Raj his edge is the pre-fall computer he has linked with that can see through his eyes.

This series has outstanding character development, a solid and well thought out overall plot line, and good story resolution in each book. The two things that really make the series the top of its genre are the interaction between the computer and the hero, and the realism of the situation. The interaction is a delicate balance that the authors perform magically. If the computer (Center) contributes too much, then the hero has too much of an edge, he doesn't have to try, and the story becomes boring. Without the computer, the hero is just this god like superhuman character that can do no wrong. The computer assistance makes Raj identifiable to the reader, even after he overcomes overwhelming odds to defeat the enemy. The realism comes from the fact that Raj is based on the life of a real person. The whole story is very similar to the story of Byzantine General Belisarius who conquered most of the Mediterranean world for his Emperor after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. That makes it very believable. The characters are very real. Their actions really happened a millenium and a half ago.

This is a must read for any fan of military fiction or empire building.

"The Forge" is the first of a five volume set that details the conquest of an early industrial age planet by a brilliant military commander. The planet Bellevue is a colony world that is sinking into barbarism after an interstellar civil war has cut off all travel between worlds. Each successive cycle of time drags civilzation further and further back. But the one remaining operating computer on the planet has taken on the task of reversing this entropy, and raising man back to his former power - with the help of Raj Whithall, the youngest military commander in the army of the Civil Government.

I thoroughly enjoyed this entire series, and have re-read it at least three times. The characters are engaging, the environment is seamless, and the action will keep you up late into the night. At least you don't have to wait for the next volume to be released like I did!

This was the first David Drake book I read and I may give one of his complete novels a look. This book was ok. It didn't capture me with either the military fiction or the character development. It seemed like a passable way to spend some time when there was nothing more pressing to read. Of course, I am judging novel type character development on a collection of short stories...but it seemed flat. It certainly didn't compare to Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" (The book, not that wretched movie), or to Card's "Ender's Game".
I've heard that Drake's books are pretty good, it maybe that this compilation of short stories doesn't do his work justice. If you're interested in this genre, I'd start somewhere else to get something really captivating.

This is the third book in the series. An introduction by David Drake is followed by: But Loyal to His Own, At Any Price, The Butcher's Bill, Hangman, The Irresistible Force, Cultural Conflict, Liberty Port and Standing Down. Many of the stories are important to the Hammer's Slammers' universe. But Loyal to His Own and Standing Down are about Hammer himself, as a man and a commander. The Butcher's Bill is the first story written about the Slammers. The new story is Irresistible Force which continues the story of Lamartiere, who we met in The Immovable Object - which makes TWO stories set in the Hammer's Slammers universe about a character who was never trained to drive or fire or do anything with a tank!
This book is a must because many of the repeat stories are in books that have been out of print a very long time.

One of the best of David Drake's works. Definatly recomeded for Slamars lovers or if you are interested in military/science fiction.

This is the third book in the series and one in which Belisarius really comes into his own as the main protagonist. The first two books are really forerunners, outlining the territory in which the Malwa will confront Byzantine Rome. By the time Destiny's Shield takes place all the main figures in the story have been introduced, their back story filled out, and we begin to see Belisarius' careful planning have an effect. In general, a well-crafted read although I would encourage the reader to purchase all three books (now four) at once. Because the story is so spread out over the four it can be quite frustrating to read one alone. You won't get as much out of it because the novels don't stand up that well on their own. Much of the support that could have been given to the reader jumping into the middle of the story (such as a review of what had gone on before) has been neglected by the authors. I think this definitely lessens the value of the series to anyone who hasn't read it from book one. Also missing is a glossary of terms to describe the often-confusing military terminology. An order of battle or description of the Byzantine army's structure would have contributed a lot to the tale as well. Finally, better maps would definitely be a big help. It's quite a sweeping epic (from the Indian subcontinent to Constantinople) and most of the cities will be unfamiliar to any but the most ardent history buffs. That being said, it's a pretty good read with a good blend of strategy, action, and story that will reward the persistent reader.

I came across a novel on the Baen web page called, "1632" by an author unknown to me, Eric Flint. I read the first 21 chapters on the web page and knew that this was going to be one of the top authors in science fiction. ("1632" is like "Island in the Sea of Time" if it had been was written by Leo Frankowski.) I looked up what other books Eric Flint might have written and found this series, written with David Drake. I quickly read the first two books in the series, then had to buy the hardback of "Destiny's Shield." This is the third book in the series which began with, "An Oblique Approach." I missed reading "An Oblique Approach" when it first appeared at the book stores because I assumed it was just another pseudo historical science fiction novel. It IS set during height of the Eastern Roman Empire, in an alternate universe, but this is a GREAT pseudo historical science fiction novel. There is a certain similarity to "The General" series which David Drake also coauthored, but this is better. With "Destiny's Shield," the series just gets more interesting. I'm hooked, and now I have to wait for the next novel in the series.

Good Morning, General Belisarius. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, will be to lead your armies against overwhelming force led by the ultimate evil. If you lose, commit suicide, for humanity will enter an age of darkness that will never lift. If you or any of your companions are caught, you will face slow death by hideous torture. This message from the future will *NOT* self-destruct because you will *need* everthing it can teach you. Good luck.

With this, the third (of four so far) book in the series, the overall structure of the story is now plain. We get to watch Belisarius, his wife Antonina and their friends, like the I.M. force, begin forging a boom to lower on the Malwa. The true pleasure of this series is that it's on a much larger, far more beautiful, and incomparably better painted canvas. You don't HAVE to read the earlier books to follow the story. Eric Flint intersperses enough of a situation report into the tale that you can jump in and pretty much figure out what's going on. However, there is a lot of the fun getting to know these people over the course of several books.

As seems to be his habit, Flint's writing is superb, and the people, places, time and battles are well-drawn. Again, as always, there are wonderfully memorable scenes, including one particular sequence where Antonina comes into her own. If Belisarius is a Craftsmaster of War, she is a Cook, seasoning the siege of an impregnable fortress with a dash of force and a soupcon of violence in a display of lateral thinking that left me dumbfounded, admiring, awestruck, and laughing like hell.

Start to finish, this book is a pure delight, and I get to start on number four at once! I have only one complaint: I agree that - the maps could be better, since much of the ground of the story is unfamiliar to those of us who are not historians.

As always, Eric, thank you for hours of reading pleasure.

This collection reprints the early campaigns of Raj Whitehall on the planet Bellevue. The series takes place far in the future, as the remnants of humanity who survived a galactic civil war try to claw back toward civilization. Raj's people worship technology, quite literaly, and this leads a surviving battle computer of the old Federation to give them aid in unifying the planet.

This framing story isn't terribly important, however. The books that make up this series are about the campaigns to unify Bellevue, and the soldiers that fight in them. This is very good military science fiction, full of strongly drawn characters smacking the heck out of each other. The battles are written with energy and verve, the names of characters and places are in-jokes half the time, and the authors make clear their opinion that politics is more dangerous than open warfare.

The authors shamelessly pilfer ideas from different eras of military history in order to tell a good story. The military technology used falls somewhere between the US Civil war and the first World War; with bolt/lever action repeating rifles and breach loading field cannon. The campaigns are modeled after those faught by the Roman General Bellisarius (sometimes leading to confusion between this series and Drake's "Bellisarius" novels). The tactics used by Raj are closer to those of the British armies in the Napoleonic wars, with weapons a century advanced over Wellington's.

Raj also has the advantage that most of the time his enemies are Medieval in weaponry & tactics, simplifying his job a bit. Still, his government is so stingy in the troops it gives him that he always ends up vastly outnumbered and barely able to win the day.

Like I said; it's really good military science fiction...

I almost begrudge the fifth star in my rating because of a poor job in typesetting in this edition, but it doesn't seriously detract from the story.

Warlord is the first omnibus edition in the General series, containing the first and second novels. Eleven centuries after the Fall of the interstellar civilization called the Federation of Man, the planet Bellevue is in a downward spiral toward barbarism. The Civil Government controls only a portion of the planet and has been pushed out of the Old Residence, the original capital. Other areas are controlled by the Squadron, the Brigade, and the Colony.

Raj Whitehall is an officer in the army of the Civil Government of Holy Federation. He has recently been promoted to Captain for his role in suppressing rioting in the streets. He and his friend Thom Poplanich, a scion of the previous imperial dynasty, were exploring the catacombs under the Governor's palace when they found a Sector Command and Control Unit, a pre-Fall military/political computer facility.

The Center has been trying to break the downward slide of civilization, but lacked a suitable agent. It offered the ambitious young officer the chance of a military career beyond his wildest dreams if he allowed it to advise him; when Raj agreed, it provided the capability of instant mental communication by voice and pictures to and from Raj. When Raj returned to his duties, Center would present him with detailed, lifelike scenarios for various projected actions.

Center calculated that Thom would be executed when the Governor's heir took the throne, so he was retained in suspension within the Center, learning the skills of governing.

In The Forge (1991), the first novel in the series, Raj is given command of the Fifth Descott Guards, a hill unit from his homeland, during a coordinated feint with other Civil Government forces against the Colony borderlands. Raj has proposed the feint to force the Colony to react to a perceived raid and thus reconsider their plans to invade Civil Government lands.

In The Hammer (1992), the second novel in the series, Raj commands the Expeditionary Force attempting to retake the Southern Territories.

This series was created by Drake and fleshed out by Stirling. It was loosely based on the career of Belisarius, the Eastern Roman Empire general, who may have been the best fighting general in all history. Belisarius came to the attention of the current Emperor when he crushed the Nika rioters. His nemesis was the Imperial heir, and subsequent Emperor, Justinian, who was a brilliant administrator, but a poor general, and who saw Belisarius as a rival for the throne. Thus, Justinian repeatly set up Belisarius for failure, yet somehow the general kept winning.

The story of Belisarius has fascinated many people down through the ages and several other SF works have been inspired by his life. None, however, has ever generated the same degree of wonder as the original. This series, however, comes close.

Recommended for Stirling & Drake fans and anyone else who enjoys military SF set in a early industrial milieau.

For the last year or so, if you look on amazon for the Hammer and the Forge, books 1 and 2 in Stirling's General series, you might have noticed something unusual. They were marked as out of print, with book 2 selling from $ upwards, used. Similarly for books 3 to 5. This is very atypical for paperbacks published in the last 12 years. Typically, a used paperback of this "vintage" will go for 50 cents or so. Take a look for your favourite recent paperbacks and see for yourself. (Book 1 has been continually in print.) Quite striking. Because these prices are not determined by the publisher or bookseller, but by the independent secondary market.

Apparently, Baen (the publisher) underestimated the demand. I have also found that at least in Los Angeles, the used bookstores rarely have the General books in stock. It may well be that as Stirling's commercial successes grew in the 90s, so did demand for his backlist.

Baen has decided to assuage this demand, and strike for higher margins, by reissuing the series as 2 hardcovers. Good for them!

This is a very good book with a lot of action. I do not like the frequent use of the "F word" and other foul language. I find it unessecary. I think it would have been better without the bad language.

A sci-fi masterpiece!!!!! This book surpasses anything and everything I had come to expect from a sci-fi novel in every way. It was utterly unreal, but very down to earth. I am currently trying to get my hands on the other titles in this series. I reccomend this to anyone, sci-fi fan or not.

The "Hammer's Slammer's" series first hooked me on David Drake. "The Voyage" is a fantastic epic, encompassing all the gunplay and military sci-fi aspects of the afforementioned books. In addition, a plethora of devious and extremely clever plots exist throughout as the crew of the Swift surmounts seemingly impossible obstacles. Near non-stop action, I couldn't put this one down.

Lest Darkness Fall was one of the first great alternate history books. Since the time travel isn't given a plausible explanation it was initially considered to be fantasy. However it's mostly too real to be fantasy. Since it was written in the 30's it was a little dated, but not too badly. Also it takes place in the age of Theodoric & Justinian which I thought was after the "fall" of the Western Roman Empire. Still, it's funny & interesting to a history lover like me.

"Lest Darkness Fall..." is arguably the novel that began the entire science fiction sub-genre of alternate history. Centering around a Ph.D. candidate studying in Rome in the late 1930s, early 1940s, it tackles the idea question of "What would you do if you had the chance to save the Roman Empire?"

Perched at the very edge of the twilight of the (Western) Roman civilization, it realistically tackles the political, scientific and cultural problems of the 5th and 6th centuries A.D. in southern Europe. De Camp was not only a famous science fiction author (a lesser-known contemporary of Isaac Asimov), but he was a published historian and classicist in his own right. This book showcases all three of those fields in one go - at the height of his writing talent.

The short story paired with this, "To Bring The Light" by David Drake, is less meant as a serious contender in terms of literary quality than an homage to de Camp's work. Dealing with the founding of the Roman civilization in much the way that "Lest Darkness Fall..." deals with it's death throes, it succeeds in showing the David Drake's admiration for de Camp's work.

Ultimately, though, I'd buy the book for "Lest Darkness Fall...": it's a surprisingly ignored but wonderful novel that paved the way for what has become an entire sub-field of science fiction. Whether you like alternate history or not, though, this book should not be missed.

"Lest Darkness Fall" is considered a classic of science fiction, and justifiably so. If you enjoy "displaced in time" stories, or if the idea interests you, you can expect to like the book. The hero is a PhD-to-be who gets mysteriously plunged back to Rome in its declining years, and takes it on himself to use what he knows and avert the coming dark ages. It is funny in places, sad in a couple of places, and exciting all through. The other part of this book is a rather forgettable story by an excellent writer, David Drake. If you enjoy this book, look up "Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen" by Piper, or "Island in the Sea of Time" by S.M. Stirling

I bought this book in '84 because, well, because the cover was way cool...and it still is. The cover is just rad!

So looking at the cover I thought: out of control mechanized space mercenaries go on a rampage, way cool!

Anyway, the story, sort of took a long time getting started, and the Slammers are just talking all this pap about how tough they are, and I'm going: "Welp, the stuff is like going to really hit the fan soon man!' while looking at the cover and reading the book.

Then other people quip about their reputation and stuff, and I'm goin like these guys are like caged tigers!

Then there's more politics, and Hammer (he's like the general of the Slammers, has a huge desk and an office...and I'm goin why does this guy need this huge desk and office, he's a mercenary!)

Then, finally they get a contract to pacify some boondock planet.

And basically, they just beat up these defenseless settlers with their space tanks, and the other guys got like...rifles!

Anyway, that is like their big battle, killing these poor boondock guerillas, just sitting on them, and then some other two cent mercenary outfit with armored cars or something.

The whole thing was just disappointing.

I read another book about the Slammers later, and it had like teleporting naked aliens with spears or something...boy what a challenge.

All the Slammers do is beat up defenseless people with their mechanized space brigade or whatever it is they got.

And Hammer's henchman, Joachim, is like a pervert or something...and well...tell me who you are with and I'll tell you...

The book reminded me a lot of Falkenburg's Legion, which has a big battle with Falkenburg's guys slaughtering masses of defenseless people at a stadium...boy what a feat of arms.

The whole problem with this book is the Hammers just don't do enough hammering and slamming against worthwhile foes.

This book is short stories, starting from when (and why) the Hammer's Slammers were formed to when Colonel Alois Hammer finally came home. These stories show us a little more than later stories of the Hammer himself, a man who is ruthless towards his enemy yet loyal towards his own men (and women). The stories are; But Loyal to His Own, The Butcher's Bill, Under the Hammer, Cultural Conflict, Caught in the Crossfire, Hangman and Standing Down. It also has tiny interludes inbetween the stories that explain a lot about the background of this universe and also has an introduction by Jerry Pournelle.

This is one of my all time favorite books. David Drake is the author and this is a collection of short stories that started a whole series of books about an elite mercenary outfit called "Hammer's Slammers". This series is an exercise in reading for me as I start off well in the books, always struggle to read in the middle, but am always satisfied with the end result. I have a compulsion to buy these books whenever I find one I don't already have, even though it may take me seemingly forever to get through it.

This is a misleadingly named but excellent introduction to Robert E. Howard's non-heroic fantasy tales (no Conan, Kull or Solomon Kane stories here). Edited by David Drake and bargain priced, it includes some of Howard's most compelling stories, especially "Pigeons from Hell" and "Worms of the Earth" (I'd rank them both among the best of Howard's stories). Most of these yarns have very little indeed to do with the made-up term "Cthulhu Mythos," probably used here to lure the unsuspecting fan of Lovecraftian role playing games. Only about half the 13 items in the book have anything even remotely to do with this H.P. Lovecraft-inspired sub-genre, usually just a couple of names or passing reference. Howard's main contribution to the "Mythos" was Von Junzt's 1839 "Nameless Cults" which first apperared in the enjoyable but hardly special "The Black Stone," published in "Weird Tales" in 1931. For me this book's greatest value is as a graphic illustration of what a born talented storyteller Howard was. I first read them a quarter century ago and I still relish re-reading them. I can't say the same about most of the contents of the NYT "bestsellers list" of 25 years ago or of today.

Although the book claims to be about the Cthulhu Mythos, it is really a collection of stories by Robert E. Howard, one of Lovecraft's peers and the creator of Conan. These stories are excellent once you realize that with the exception of a little name dropping, the Great Old Ones are not to be found. Consider it the Howard Mythos.

Nothing to do with Lovecraft's Cthulhu, but great reading anyway. Neccessary reading for any Howard fan.

Bibliophile friends recommended this book to me on two counts: they said that it contains one of the deadliest hiney-kicking librarians in all of fiction, and that the partnership between the two leads is reminiscent of the late (sigh) Patrick O'Brian's team of Aubrey and Maturin. Both recommendations are definitely true. The book kept me turning pages and very absorbed in the plot. I especially appreciated that Drake didn't drag in a romance just because his two main characters were male and female. I can imagine something like that happening a few books down the line, but as fast as the plot moved in this first outing it would have been very implausible.

My only complaint was that Drake seemed to work TOO hard at making his futuristic space navies similar to Hornblower or Maturin's British Navy -- complete with masts, barefoot sailors, and prize money. David Weber's "Honor Harrington" series has a little bit lighter touch with this kind of thing. Still, looking forward to the sequel due out in August.

If I had to guess, David Drake has decided he'd like a piece of David Weber's action. Daniel Leary and Adele Mundy make an interesting pair, and Drake's description of their unusual relationship (strictly professional) is part of the interest for this novel. Leary is a young naval officer whose easy going way is quite different from any Drake character in memory. Adele Mundy is a woman whose passion is information, and together they make a dangerous team.

While in a similar vein as Weber's Honor Harrington books, "With the Lightnings" is a much different universe, an odd mixture of 3rd world ineptitude and corruption mixed with futuristic technology. The Republic of Cinnabar, Leary and Mundy's home star nation is an odd mixture of revolutionary France and Victorian England. The planet Kostroma (where most of the novel takes place) stands in as Spain for a further parallell to the world of Hornblower or Sharpe.

Drake's casual way with the lives of supporting characters is still there. They die in droves, frequently described quite graphically.

Still and all, an entertaining way to pass the time until Weber finishes his next book.

David Drake wrote a novel with Janet Morris, "Arc Riders," which is one of the finest novels about time travel in Science Fiction. He has always written good stories with good technology, but I have found it hard to identify with his main characters. And though not in the same league as S.M. Stirling, I have found his graphic descriptions of mayhem unsettling. This novel is as enjoyable as a David Weber novel, with leading characters you can identify with and like. It is not really a future war novel, more of an adventure novel with war in it. "Starliner" and "The Forlorn Hope" were good novels in this genre, but this is the best work David Drake has done alone, so far. It would make an excellent beginning for a series.