Down to the Sea, Book 1: A Novel of the Lost Regiment

The Lost Regiment Series was terrific and I felt as if I lost an old friend upon completing the "final" chapter. With much surprise, I stumbled upon "Down To The Sea" and enjoyed it thoroughly. IT'S A GREAT AND FAST READ. BRING ON THE NEXT BOOK AND KEEP 'EM COMING!

This new book is substantially improved over the previous series. What turned me off before were the graphic descriptions of things, like the Tugar Moon Feast. He lost me back at "Fateful Lightning" because of this issue. I think Forstchen has scaled that back just the right amount. It's there and you are aware of it, but it isn't churning your guts and detracting from the story.After 20 years of complacency, the Republic discovers that the Kazan have been using that time to strengthen their technology base. They have larger, faster, ships with bigger guns, and tactics to match (they practiced on each other). They also have built a manufacturing infrastructure. The Republic appears to be about 40-years down-rev from the Kazan.But, there is hope. This parallels a lot of what happened at the start of WW2, when the Japanese had larger battleships, after the Pearl Harbor attack. But, picture this using "Spanish-American War" naval technology, for the Republic, and WW1 technology for the Kazan. In both WW2 and this story, air power makes the difference. This follows WW2 pattern right up until the Battle of Midway Island. An interesting side line is that he develops, air-dropped, self-propelled torpedoes but no submarines and no ship-board torpedo launchers. PT boats would be interesting too. Maybe, next episode?The other development is the Shiv, a genetically bred race of humans with Ninja-like training, but conditioned like Whirling Dervishes, as religious fanatics/soldiers, over a period of one thousand years. They are created/controlled by a Kazan group only known as "The Order". Of course, we now have a classic Political-Religious power tension, between the Kazan Emperor and the Grand Master of the Order.What this makes for is a rollicking tale with three main view points. Two of which are youngsters caught up in the main-stream. O'Donald, the Kazan puppet, Kean's son, and Cromwell. They are in the midst of all the action and it is great! Forstchen does a good job balancing the capabilities of all sides and moving quickly through what would otherwise be the tedious stuff. Balance is excellent, technology growth is fast-paced, the action is fluid, and the ending is not a disappointment.

Mr Forstchen has revitalised the Lost Regiment Series. Within half a page of this novel one is recaptured to that other world. I had felt that the previous novel was a tired, and unworthy, ending to a great series, but this book is a horse of a different colour. A true wordsmith, the author soon paints his universe anew, introduces new characters and builds on his characterisations of the old. An even more formidable foe menaces the Republic and again ingenuity, luck and the intrigues of their foes may just be enough for Keane and his cohorts to pull through, but they are faced with a daunting task. The passing of time since the last novel are well dealt with and the logical devlopments that have ensued fall naturally into place. This is a good beginning to another series of adventures, I hope that there is not too long between their appearance for the author has certainly whetted my appetite yet again.

There is no peace in a world shared by the Horde. After twenty years of peaceful life after "Men of War" our heroes have all grown old and some have even past away. Now the sons of our hero's step up into the light, graduation of the academy introduces us to four young men that this book and others will follow."Down to the Sea" also introduces the reader to a new and deadlier foe. Religious fanatics in the Horde, blind belief to follow to follow a religious leader who will stop at nothing. A game within a game within a game, and everyone is but a piece on the board. The Kazan, the new southern Horde we are introduced to, have a great navy, far greater than our heroes, and the also have an army of bred human warriors The Shiv. Mindless, soulless, Frankenstein monsters that even make the Horde nervous. I wondered as I read if this creation will only some day turn against their creators as all monsters do.Once again, William R, Forstchen gives his readers a grand and sweeping story that I feel has reached epic proportions! He is able to breath such life into his work, his characters are so real, that as you read you again feel as we did in his other "Lost Regiment" books, that we are once again with them. Our old friends are back with us again, and we are introduced to new ones, and we feel for them as we did for their fathers before them. This is really what makes the "Lost Regiment" series, Mr. Forstchen's ability to give us real characters. Hero's and villain's we can feel for, have pride in, believe in, laugh with, and cry with.There is more than a couple of great goose bump scene's in "Down to the Sea", I was stirred more than a couple of times with the same awe and power and even choked up a few times. Mr. Forstchen was worried about writing a new series, he did not wish to write a rehash, or just tack on another story to the series. I don't think he has any worries. "Down to the Sea" is a fresh and bold look into a New World of the "Lost Regiment." Another great book!

Forstchen's "Lost Regiment" books are truly unique. A straight-to-paperback series little known outside the genre, its dedicated readers have come to recognize it as one of the most reliable sources of enjoyment to be found anywhere. It seems woven from the very fabric of the American spirit: a shipload of Civil War-era Yankees is accidentally teleported to a far-off world, a world where human beings are nothing more than cattle. The Yankees, unwilling to be led quietly to the slaughter, use their knowledge of gunpowder and steam propulsion to launch a local resistance movement against the flesh-eating alien overlords. Once the local humans have tasted freedom, there is no turning back. What started out as a local revolt quickly turns into a full-scale war of liberation, as the republican ideal sweeps the world. The tale apparently ended in "Men of War" (Book 8) with the final defeat of the brutal but cunning Bantag horde.But now they're back! Forstchen, apparently unwilling to part with his masterwork, has come back for another round. And it's worth it. Far from a contrived sequel, this one is just as satisfying as the original series. It has now been twenty years since the Great War ended. The remainders of the Bantag horde are confined to a reservation, the few survivors of the Merki and Tugar scattered. The Republic, its ranks bolstered by the additions of Nippon, Chin, and other new states, has prospered like never before. Under the able presidency of unsurpassed war hero Andrew Keane, its merchants and soldiers roam the lands and seas in their increasingly sophisticated airpcraft and steamships. It seems only a matter of time before all the humans of the world are united in the common dream of liberty and equality. But trouble is brewing. Across the vast Southern Sea, a new menace is stirring: the Kazan. Untouched by the Yankee-led revolution in the distant north, this mighty horde continues to lord it over the local humans, selectively bred and trained to make the perfect slaves. Hazin, a clever and ruthless high priest, skillfully intervenes in a bloody civil war, bringing about the complete unification of the Kazan Empire. He recognizes the threat posed by the Republic, and, armed with warships and airplanes larger and more powerful than anything in the Yankee arsenal, plans to squelch it once and for all.With little time to prepare, President Keane, Senator O'Donald, and the other survivors of the Lost Regiment are faced with their greatest challenge yet. But it is their children, now of fighting age, who will bear the brunt of the terror. Even as events are coming to a head in the Kazan Empire, Andrew Keane's son, Abraham, accompanies legendary general Vincent Hawthorne to the reservation, where the Bantag grow increasingly restless. Their food nearly gone, their ancient way of life totally annihilated, these bitter survivors dream of taking back their former glory. And now, with events moving towards an i