The Martian General's Daughter

After reading Fitzpatricks War I was looking forward greatly to the second novel however I found that it was perhaps a bit shorter than I was hoping for in that some areas of the empire seemed glossed over and skipped in order to keep the story tight with the current decline of the empire which is told using a end of Rome commentary. I would have liked to see more about the empire and the actions between the years as the story can be finished up in a few sessions at most and at the end I felt there were some questions left unanswered. How did the empire form? How did the other nations/empires fair? Addionally and this is no fault of the author but for a short novel the format of the book is a bit odd given I feel a paperback would have worked better and since Mars has nearly no impact on the story why in the title? However, overall I still found it an excellent story, one in which I am happy to have added to my collection and now look forward to any next novels the author will be putting out.

Having enjoyed Fitzpatrick's War enormously, I was delighted to find The Martian General's Daughter. I read most of it in a sitting, and my only disappointment was that it ended. This book is shorter than Fitzpatrick's War, but has all the same virtues. Judson is one of the rare novelists who doesn't need an editor (or has a good one). His writing is literate and vivid, and he manages to pack a lot of character, incident, history, imagination and moral philosophy into a compact length book. Novelists like Stirling and Turtledove, to whom he has been compared, could learn a lot from Judson. Their interminable series, while diverting, are padded with excessive description and exposition. Judson manages to entertain and get his points across in far fewer words. Since the theme of the novel is taken directly from the history of Rome, one is reminded of the old saw from Pliny the Elder: "If I had more time I would have written a shorter letter." Judson took his time, and wrote a shorter, beautiful book. His influences are, clearly the classics and probably Cordwainer Smith. The only reason I don't give this book a fifth star is that the story line is a little too obviously lifted from Suetonius.

Set over two hundred years into the future, in a world like Imperial Rome, The Martian General's Daughter tells of one General Peter Black through the eyes of his devoted daughter, raised on battlefields. When a plague threatens their kingdom, the general must choose between tradition, war, and the daughter he loves in this fast-paced military science fiction fable.

In AD 2293, the Pan-Polarian Empire, a direct descendent of the United States, rules over most of North America at a time when a pandemic nanotech plague has destroyed all hardware. However, with the recent death of powerful Emperor Mathias the Glistening, the nation is in jeopardy. His successor, his son Luke Anthony, is a psycho. General Peter Black leads the imperial armies. He was very loyal to the competent Mathias and wants to remain so with the incompetent Luke, but has little choice as the empire begins shattering into pieces. Fearing for his family, he especially worries about his illegitimate offspring Junta who has gone from an embarrassing reminder of her dad's weak indiscretion to his prime advisor. The futuristic story is told by Junta who sadly chronicles a dying once glorious empire as she sees it diminishing from a cancer from within. She is fully developed and from her hero worship jaundiced perspective her father and the late emperor seem real; so does the current ruler, who in Junta's mind is a sort of insane Nero. However, what makes THE MARTIAN GENERAL'S DAUGHTER superb is the thought provoking parallels between Pan-Polaria, Rome, and the United States; as Theodore Judson makes the case that the American Empire is dying from a cancer from within. Harriet Klausner