Men of War

This is absolutely the best alternate history series that I have ever read- you not only end up caring about the characters, but you want become part of the action. When they say that this series "reads like a bullet" they are not exagerating. Any author that can get me to zip through five or six hundred pages in two or three days is doing something right. There are scenes that you remember for years- compared with many books these days that you can't remember after a few months.... The idea of Union Soldiers transplanted to an alien world and taking an oath to carry on Mr. Lincoln's war until an entire enslaved planet is free still chokes me up. There are scenes like a brigade strength force forced to form a giant square on an open plain and fighting to the last man (while singing the Battle Hymm of the Republic) that you don't forget. Or a Republic airship sweeping down to rescue Hans and his Zulu and Chin comrades from worse than certain death....powerful images. As for the villians,well, the "Moon Feast" is my definition for evil. Oh yes, it is also comforting to think that the real life 35th Maine and 44th New York didn't simply dround like rats, but went on to unite Russians, Romans, Chinese, Vikings, Zulus, etc. under the flag of the Republic.... My only real criticism is that if you have any experience in industry and engineering then the speed at which the Yankees manage to industrialise a pre-industrial society (and go into mass production) will drive you nuts! By the way, this isn't the final book of the series. _Down to the Sea_ brings the Battle of Midway to Keane and the Republic. With any luck Forstchen will bring us even more....

Over ten years have passed since Andrew Keane's Union regiment was marooned on a world far from our Solar System by alien technology. During that time, again and again the Lost Regiment has had to engage in battle after bloody battle with the hordes to defend their freedom and that of the Republic which they helped bring into being on that world at unspeakable cost. Now everything they fought and died for may have been in vain. Humanity is weary beyond bearing from relentless warfare with the alien natives of this world, and the hordes have broken the Republic's will to fight. Andrew Keane has resigned his commission over declaration of a peace parley between the Republic and the hordes. He and his remaining veterans begin a clandestine campaign taking the Lost Regiment into the very heart of the Bantag realm to destroy the Bantag's ability to make war on humanity. But it is left to Sergeant Major Hans Schuder to strike freedom's final -- and mortal -- blow against the enemy, and bring both sides kneeling together in the dust of an alien world, confronting a tragedy that will ultimately end the war between them and bring peace with honor to them both. Once more William R. Forstchen brings to life one of the most beautifully realized alien worlds in science fiction. As always, his characters, as rich and complex as any of us in the real world, reveal unexpected abysses and soaring heights within the soul and spirit, both human and otherwise. Mirrors to each other, the aliens and the human beings in this magnificent series show us how low we can fall -- and how unexpectedly we can be redeemed. William Forstchen has the gift of enabling us to experience the universe through alien eyes so well that we are unexpectedly appalled to find what evils "we," his aliens, have perpetrated -- and humbled and exalted to discover what heights "we," both alien and human, can attain. Throughout this enthralling novel I found myself wishing that it and the series of which it is the triumphant capstone would never end. At its wonderfully satisfying close, I wonder now what this supremely gifted author will do next. It'll be more than worth the wait to find out.

What more can I say? The previous reviews pretty much sum up my feelings. This is the best series I have ever read. Great plot. Great characters. Great ending to the series. Some authors drag out a series until you lose interest. Forstchen keeps it tight and entertaining from beginning to end through all 8 books. Every book gets my highest recommendation. Go and get Rally Cry (book 1). You won't be able to stop until you complete Men of War (book 8).To Bill Forstchen: How about starting a new series that picks up a few years from the end of Men of War. An expedition to the Portals in the northern lands has great possibility. So does exploration of the southern lands beyond the Great Sea. I can just picture advanced airship designs that roam the planet!

This book is a great conclusion to a terrific series. I have enjoyed each of the novels in the Lost Regiment series, and they have been excellent in both conception and execution. Forstchen has masterfully handled key concepts like the importance of technology and economics in warfare while keeping the relationships and emotions of the men of war in the forefront of his stories.While I am sorry to see the series end, it's good to know the author would rather leave the series at a logical conclusion than try to continue it for the money.I would recommend The Gamestar Wars by the same author for those who liked this series.

Forstchen has truly created something that far surpasses anything that has come before and probably set the golden standard for the genre. Drake, Pournelle, Stirling, Niven, Saberhagen, and Forstchen's other books do not come close to this series. Rickety aerosteamers and land and sea ironclads, as primitive as they are, somehow have a superior eloquence in conveying the drama of war over the sophisticated spaceships, supersonic planes, or lasers which have up to this decade been the staple of other military science fiction. This concluding chapter itself is a true microcosm of what fans and admirers have come to expect from the series. While this means incredible battles, tense political interplay, fierce confrontations of personality and fate, surprising twists, and some heavy references to the importance of logistics, technology, and strategy, the book also carries with it some of the faults of the series; namely, the inconsistency with the characters' names begs for some coherent editorialism. True to form, Fortschen changes the Rus orthodox priest's name from Casmar to Casmir! At the end of the book one of the character's name is reshuffled in a pretty blatant mistake though it only happens once. I won't risk giving anything away, but readers will see it when they get there. However, as the series has always done, the tremendous story more than makes up for these annoyances. The conclusion to all the important threads is not COMPLETELY detailed, but the book does present a definitive conclusion to the Bantag War and the answer to humanity's future existence or extinction. By the end of the book readers will know which side won the war, what species will dominate the planet, and what the very GENERAL implications for the future of the Republic will be, so longtime readers need not despair on that account. I would have preferred a highly detailed account of the next 100 to 1000 years like one reviewer requested, but as it is, the last chapter which wraps things up is satisfying enough. Beyond that, Forstchen seems to have indicated that he is through with the Lost Regiment, and I commend him for letting this terrific series run its course and ending it with the dignity and the treatment it deserves. The new use for the aerosteamers in battle is some of the most exciting stuff I've read since the rocket barrage at Hispania or Timokin's charge at Rocky Hill! We've all wanted to see the humans on the offensive and wondering how much longer the Republic could hold out under the strain of constant war and here are the answers. This is the worthy conclusion I was looking for.Oh, and the maps were very helpful.