Warlord

This is the standard by which I judge all military fiction. I have never found another series 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 (now released in a two volume omnibus edition - Warlord and Conqueror) 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.

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 (2003) 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.

I cannot remember when the Stirling/Drake series, "The General" was first published in paperback. At the time, it was very successful, but the entire series was out of print. Now, Baen Books, bless 'em, has reissued the first two volumes, "The Forge" and "The Hammer" in hardcover, with the remaining volumes due out in the next month or so. This is fast paced military sci fi at its best. The protagonist, Raj Whitehall, has to overcome his own planetary bureaucracy as well as defeat many bad guys. But he is not alone: he has stumbled upon a "battle computer" from the Galactic Age, and it still works. Trust me: if military sci fi is a good read for you, you simply cannot go wrong with this book and its successor, "Conqueror".