For the record I threw in the towel on this series quite some time ago (probably a dozen plus years at least) but once again have had my interest peaked again by re reading Rally Cry. This series was one of the few series that I have been able to come back to fill in as a mindless read, but everytime I read this series I think that Forstchen really missed the mark after the first book.
The first book is a bit implausible at best but an entertaining read on how an regiment and battery end up in a strange planet filled with backward people from throughout the world serving as cattle for their alien overlords.
This series could have been so much better if Forstchen would have included a few things to really sell the point. In the original book the regiment is able to do so much with just the folks they have including some sheer genius personalities such as Ferguson who apparently is a 19 year old whiz. Also their are real talented individuals in the regiment that are often put into dumb situations.
Some of things that just don't make sense.....
Why was the headquarters staff sent ahead.........
Why didn't the author chose to include a company or even a detachment of engineers into the transport. If the plan was to have them build a modern industrial world, then have Ferguson come from their ranks.
Why sacrifice some of your key people for industrialization such as Dunlevy the blacksmith. If his ability to create tools was valued then this man should not have been leading a battery. I know this is a desperate battle but if your making plows for the upcoming planting season then you probably should keep those few individuals alive that have specific knowledge.
The boat has steam engines, but apparently nobody in the boat knows how to duplicate the technology or isn't even asked. The boat for the most part serves little purpose in this book as I don't really get the feeling that Tobias and Keane are at odds. If this would have been pushed more in the book or perhaps if another transport had been included this could have made the book more interesting.
A few things I would have like added to the original boat would have been.
A group of Confederates that have also found themselves transported here. A lot of possibility of them allying with the Union folks or heading out for a later story.
The Tugar horde being of equal size as the Merki or near equal. It feels that this horde isn't even all that large in the book. I want something that causes the world to quake, the military of the horde can be smaller as they have been at peace, but its not believable that you have a huge horde in the south, a slightly smaller horde next to it and then a tiny horde next to them. It doesn't work.
At the end, I know this series is dead, but I wish that Forstchen would just hand it off to someone else to reboot it, or pick it up after book nine, although another horde larger then the Bantag wasn't all that exciting to read.....
The first book is a bit implausible at best but an entertaining read on how an regiment and battery end up in a strange planet filled with backward people from throughout the world serving as cattle for their alien overlords.
This series could have been so much better if Forstchen would have included a few things to really sell the point. In the original book the regiment is able to do so much with just the folks they have including some sheer genius personalities such as Ferguson who apparently is a 19 year old whiz. Also their are real talented individuals in the regiment that are often put into dumb situations.
Some of things that just don't make sense.....
Why was the headquarters staff sent ahead.........
Why didn't the author chose to include a company or even a detachment of engineers into the transport. If the plan was to have them build a modern industrial world, then have Ferguson come from their ranks.
Why sacrifice some of your key people for industrialization such as Dunlevy the blacksmith. If his ability to create tools was valued then this man should not have been leading a battery. I know this is a desperate battle but if your making plows for the upcoming planting season then you probably should keep those few individuals alive that have specific knowledge.
The boat has steam engines, but apparently nobody in the boat knows how to duplicate the technology or isn't even asked. The boat for the most part serves little purpose in this book as I don't really get the feeling that Tobias and Keane are at odds. If this would have been pushed more in the book or perhaps if another transport had been included this could have made the book more interesting.
A few things I would have like added to the original boat would have been.
A group of Confederates that have also found themselves transported here. A lot of possibility of them allying with the Union folks or heading out for a later story.
The Tugar horde being of equal size as the Merki or near equal. It feels that this horde isn't even all that large in the book. I want something that causes the world to quake, the military of the horde can be smaller as they have been at peace, but its not believable that you have a huge horde in the south, a slightly smaller horde next to it and then a tiny horde next to them. It doesn't work.
At the end, I know this series is dead, but I wish that Forstchen would just hand it off to someone else to reboot it, or pick it up after book nine, although another horde larger then the Bantag wasn't all that exciting to read.....
