Customer Reviews

Birds of Prey

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4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

A lot of our Sci-fi books look at alien invasion in the current time. What if aliens had invaded in the past and been defeated? Aulus Perennius is a roman imperial spy who is recruited by a mysterious person to help track down and destroy a small group of aliens who have landed in the Roman Empire.

Drake tells a good fast paced story within a well researched Roman Empire setting which gives the book a good authentic feel. He avoids the worst excesses of ray-gun sci-fi, while introducing comic elements such as an early christian cult who try a little too hard to worship the cruxicifiction, a displaced allosaurus who has a taste for donkeys and a nerve wracking naval battle in a hundred year old ship which is ready to fall apart.

A highly enjoyable read which won't put too much strain on the brain cells. Good fun!

While not quite as good as his most recent works--Drake keeps improving from excellent to nearly perfect--I highly recommend this title. It was the first Drake work I read, and has kept me watching for his titles ever since. Naturally, if the combination of a Roman historical setting and a vicious alien threat are not to your liking, this is not the volume for you...

I was surprised to see some low reviews of this one. It's a good, solid example of the same trademark combination of history (especially military history) and high-tech aliens as Drake's better-known Belisarius series. Theme: war is war, from the ancient past to the distant future, and the human mind is more important than the technology it faces.

Drake's been there and knows his stuff, and he writes as convincingly about swords and armor as he does about the tanks he knew in Vietnam.

This novel has as a backdrop the mid-3rd century roman empire. Honestly, that is almost a placeholder, as much of the story could have been set anywhere with only a few lines or name changes.

spoilers follow, read at your own risk...

The story follows one Aulus Perennius, imperial special agent, as he is ordered to assist an unusual foreigner who carries a writ from the emperor in locating and destroying a hidden lair. You quickly find out that the lair is the province of extraterrestrials laying larvae and that the foreigner was created or sent from the future to avoid the damage these aliens would do when they hatched. The agent and his small party must journey by land and sea, facing multiple unrelated conflicts en route in order to reach the target.

The story is a bit dry; characterization is pretty typical for readers of his hammer's slammers series. Enjoyable though if you are looking for a real bona-fide roman military fiction novel, look at drake's Ranks of Bronze.

I too am suprised by the negative reviews.This is a good read combining Roman history and futuristic technology expertly. It isn't an easy thing combining two different generes but Drake pulls it off. Instead of plodding I felt that the story progressed steadily building on top of each new development. The reader identifies with the Roman agent and therefore as he learns more so do you. For Roman buffs there is also a nice twist at the end. I never saw it coming. An enertaining read.

This book is a definite disappointment after Mr. Drake's magnificent effort in "In the Heart of Darkness." Under the impression that "Birds of Prey" would be another gripping foray into alternative history/science fiction, I began "Birds of Prey" with great excitment.

The book begins well, but the characters lack depth, and the story line positively plods. Moreover, the dry, witty sense of humor that pervades "In the Heart of Darkness" is completely absent in this effort. Try the Belisarius series instead.

While I have enjoyed other of Mr. Drake's works, specifically The Dragon Lord and Killer, this book however was a disappointment. Plodding pacing and thin storyline left this reader cold.

The first chapter starts off in an interesting manner, but the book becomes very, very boring. I wouldn't recommend this as one of Mr. Drake's finer works.

Alien threat from another time causes an agent of the Empire to go on a quest to save humanity. Lots of historical and fighting detail, so if you like that sort of thing, this book will probably mean more to you. I thought the characters were generally shallow and their motives for many things either too transparent or totally opaque-- it felt like a larger book that never managed to get fully developed. Too bad, because there were some flashes of interesting plot.