The Tide of Victory

The Tide of Victory (2001) is the fifth SF novel in the Belisarius series, following Fortune's Stroke. In the previous volume, Link awoke within Lady Sati. Then Nanda Dal forced Venandakatra to lift the seige of Deogiri. Belisarius and Antonina returned to what was left of Charax. Demodara was called back to India, but first he returned Valentinian to Belisarius. Irene agreed to join Kungas in his bid to restore the Kushan empire. In this novel, Belisarius plans an invasion. With the forces of his allies, he will be leading over a hundred thousand troops toward India. The major problem, of course, is the logistics. He will need a major fleet to carry the troops, supplies and equipment. Antonina is coordinating all the support functions for her husband. She is his leading diplomat as well the director of research and liaison with the Empress Regnant. She is also mother of the Roman Emperor Photius. Khusrau Anushirvan is the King of Kings of Iran and non-Iran. His nephew Kurush leads the dehgans, the major land allied land force within the invading army. Eon bisi Dakuen is the nagusa nagast of Axum. As the ruler of the Ethiopians, he leads the major allied sea forces against the Malwa. He also has some very tough marines on his ships. Kungas would be the King of the Kushans. He marries Irene in a Christian wedding and will marry her again in Buddhist services. Shakuntala is the Empress of Andhra. She is pregnant with the child of her husband -- and lover -- Raghunath Rao. Rao is just waiting for the child to be born before he leaves for Bharakuccha. Justinian is the former Emperor of Rome and is now the Chief Justiciar and the Master Artisan. He has created the woodclad steamships that will destroy the Malwa sea forces. Justinian also builds wheelbarrows. Damodara is the best field commander in the Malwa forces. Naturally, the presence of Rana Sanga and his Rajputs figures largely in this reputation. Still, Damodara listens to his subordinates, but he leads by his wisdom rather than his rank. Damodara is much like Belisarius. In this story, after some last minute changes, the allied army splits into three attack vectors. Khusrau starts in Chabahari, marches inland to Sistan, and then crosses the desert to Sukkur. Belisarius takes Barbaricum and advances up the Indus toward Sukkur. The allied troops catch the Malwa forces in a classic hammer and anvil maneuver. Meanwhile, under very high security, Kungas takes his Kushans to Marv and drives out the Malwa. Then he marches to Begram, which he makes his capital. Eventually, he takes the Khyber Pass and thereby starts a new front in the war against the Malwa. In India, Venandakatra the Vile is having major problems with Damodara. He is not used to anyone telling him that he is foolish right in his face, so he orders Damodara to leave Bharakuccha. Damodara informs him that the army will be gone by the next evening. Shakuntala is worried about Raghunath Rao. He has

Ignore the people who tell you that the series is in decline at this point, and you should skip ahead. This volume is critical to the development of both the plot and several key characters, including a few long-developing threads that will not make sense until well into the final chapters. If you have been following these adventures, you will not be dissapointed by this volume. As to the death of two familiar characters, which some of the other reviewers have complained about, I can only say that people do die in wartime; that's one of the things that make war something to be avoided. Both events are completely appropriate to what the characters would be doing, and plausible given the risks they were taking at the time. If you only want battle scenes with a Disney-movie morrality (the good guys never die!), you're probably in the wrong series of books anyway.

Great, great, great book. I especially enjoy a great series since I sometimes read 2 to 3 books a week. Very engaging, the characters are real and well developed, the plot is very interesting. I generally do not go in for alternate history but this one draws me in for some reason.The war scenes are done very well in this particular book also. It is fairly sad when one of the major characters dies after a battle.

I've been reading and re-reading this series. I WANT the next one! There was a "Coming Soon" on the inside cover of my paperback for the next (last?) book in this series, but that was years ago! I want to know what happens in this interesting alternate history. I really thumb my nose at those who are put off by historical inaccuracies - those are in the veil of illusion, anyway. What counts is the soul of the series.

The characters almost step off the pages. I really enjoyed the book and can't wait till the next in the series.