Customer Reviews

Destiny's Shield (Belisarius)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I came across a novel on the Baen web page called, "1632" by an author unknown to me, Eric Flint. I read the first 21 chapters on the web page and knew that this was going to be one of the top authors in science fiction. ("1632" is like "Island in the Sea of Time" if it had been was written by Leo Frankowski.) I looked up what other books Eric Flint might have written and found this series, written with David Drake. I quickly read the first two books in the series, then had to buy the hardback of "Destiny's Shield." This is the third book in the series which began with, "An Oblique Approach." I missed reading "An Oblique Approach" when it first appeared at the book stores because I assumed it was just another pseudo historical science fiction novel. It IS set during height of the Eastern Roman Empire, in an alternate universe, but this is a GREAT pseudo historical science fiction novel. There is a certain similarity to "The General" series which David Drake also coauthored, but this is better. With "Destiny's Shield," the series just gets more interesting. I'm hooked, and now I have to wait for the next novel in the series.

Good Morning, General Belisarius. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, will be to lead your armies against overwhelming force led by the ultimate evil. If you lose, commit suicide, for humanity will enter an age of darkness that will never lift. If you or any of your companions are caught, you will face slow death by hideous torture. This message from the future will *NOT* self-destruct because you will *need* everthing it can teach you. Good luck.

With this, the third (of four so far) book in the series, the overall structure of the story is now plain. We get to watch Belisarius, his wife Antonina and their friends, like the I.M. force, begin forging a boom to lower on the Malwa. The true pleasure of this series is that it's on a much larger, far more beautiful, and incomparably better painted canvas. You don't HAVE to read the earlier books to follow the story. Eric Flint intersperses enough of a situation report into the tale that you can jump in and pretty much figure out what's going on. However, there is a lot of the fun getting to know these people over the course of several books.

As seems to be his habit, Flint's writing is superb, and the people, places, time and battles are well-drawn. Again, as always, there are wonderfully memorable scenes, including one particular sequence where Antonina comes into her own. If Belisarius is a Craftsmaster of War, she is a Cook, seasoning the siege of an impregnable fortress with a dash of force and a soupcon of violence in a display of lateral thinking that left me dumbfounded, admiring, awestruck, and laughing like hell.

Start to finish, this book is a pure delight, and I get to start on number four at once! I have only one complaint: I agree that - the maps could be better, since much of the ground of the story is unfamiliar to those of us who are not historians.

As always, Eric, thank you for hours of reading pleasure.

Destiny's Shield (1999) is the third novel in the Belisarius series, following In the Heart of Darkness. In the previous volume, the traitors blinded Justinian and threatened Theodora. Narses killed John of Cappadocia and saved her life.

Thracian bucellarii, Greek cataphracts, and the infantry followed Belisarius into the Great Palace and drove off or captured the traitors inside. Then Belisarius led his troops to the Hippodrome to support Antonina and her grenadiers. The Theodora Cohort faced the mob within the Hippodrome and, with help from the cataphracts and infantry, devastated both them and the Malwa kshatriya.

Since Justinian was blind, he could no longer be Emperor. Theodora was a woman, so she couldn't be Emperor. That was a problem to be solved.

In India, Empress Shakuntala of Andhra convinced Dadaji Holkar to remain as her chief advisor. He agreed as long as his master -- Belisarius -- allowed him to do so. She also forced him to face the need to find his family.

In this novel, Photius -- Antonina's eight year old son -- is adopted by Justinian and Theodora and then acclaimed as the Emperor. Theodora will be his regnant and Justinian his advisor. Hypatia will be his governess and Justin his chief bodyguard. Belisarius will be his strategos and Antonina his comfort.

Baresmanas of the Suren is the new Persian Ambassador. His audience is the first public appearance of the new emperor. He worries Photius until the young emperor makes a slight mistake in his greeting for the ambassador. When Baresmanas smiles warmly at his recovery, Photius is relieved. Baresmanas suddenly reminds Photius of his stepfather Belisarius.

After putting Photius to bed, Antonina joins a conference with the Persian ambassador. Baresmanas is just concluding a long and involved speech warning the Romans against interfering in the secession in Persia. As he is finishing his remarks, Irene Macrembolitissa ushers in a Persian officer, who whispers in the ambassador's ear.

When the ambassador withdraws to speak to his own entourage, Irene passes on the gist of the news. Persia has been invaded by the Malwa. Khusrau -- the new King of Kings -- has instructed Baresmanas to ask for Roman aid.

The Romans can only provide about ten thousand men under Belisarius. They must leave troops along the Danube to keep out the barbarian tribes and the cataphracts under Sittas must remain in Rome to ensure its stability after the attempted coup. Moreover, they need to send troops to Egypt to put down a revolt by the patriarch and the army commander.

In this story, Belisarius leaves for Persia with his troops and the Persian ambassador. He and the Persians will face an army of two hundred thousand men. Only the Malwa could raise and support as army of this size.

The King of Kings is encamped within the ruins of Babylon. The bulk of the Malwa army has his army under siege, but cavalry units are scouring the rest of the country. Only Belisarius and his forces are available to counter these Malwa troops.

Antonina is leading the expedition against their opponents within Egypt. She has the Theodora Cohort, an infantry legion and five hundred cataphracts as well as hundreds of the newly formed order of the Knights Hospitaler. She also has Ashot as her military advisor and Irene as her intelligence advisor.

When they reach the harbor of Alexandria, the naval command tries to prevent their entry. Antonina lets their delegation board her ship, listens to their offensive remarks, and then has them bound and gagged. John of Rhodes brings in the gunship Theodora and clears out the blocking dromons.

Empress Shakuntala is having problems with her maternal grandfather. He is demanding her departure from Kerala and is neglecting to block assassination attempts against her. In talks with his advisors, the empress agrees to leave if her grandfather pays for transportation and supplies. Otherwise, her Marathas may well take his kingdom from him.

This tale brings the first military victories against the Malwa. Of course, the Malwa losses are minor compared to their total strength, but the victories by Belisarius greatly increase the morale of the allies. Then Great Lady Holi -- and Link -- come to Persia to take direct charge of the Malwa forces.

This volume includes almost every form of armed conflict other than the use of weapons of mass destruction. Still, Belisarius creates his own weapon of mass destruction. Enjoy!

Highly recommended for Drake & Flint fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of military and naval combat and political intrigue in a war against evil.

-Arthur W. Jordin

This is the third book in the series and one in which Belisarius really comes into his own as the main protagonist. The first two books are really forerunners, outlining the territory in which the Malwa will confront Byzantine Rome. By the time Destiny's Shield takes place all the main figures in the story have been introduced, their back story filled out, and we begin to see Belisarius' careful planning have an effect. In general, a well-crafted read although I would encourage the reader to purchase all three books (now four) at once. Because the story is so spread out over the four it can be quite frustrating to read one alone. You won't get as much out of it because the novels don't stand up that well on their own. Much of the support that could have been given to the reader jumping into the middle of the story (such as a review of what had gone on before) has been neglected by the authors. I think this definitely lessens the value of the series to anyone who hasn't read it from book one. Also missing is a glossary of terms to describe the often-confusing military terminology. An order of battle or description of the Byzantine army's structure would have contributed a lot to the tale as well. Finally, better maps would definitely be a big help. It's quite a sweeping epic (from the Indian subcontinent to Constantinople) and most of the cities will be unfamiliar to any but the most ardent history buffs. That being said, it's a pretty good read with a good blend of strategy, action, and story that will reward the persistent reader.

When Drake and Stirling did their "General" seriesof the early 1990's, it appeared that was the best example of past warfare combined with high tech influence ever written. I may have been wrong... there's something magical about taking what I consider one of the ten best generals in human history, a true historical figure and build a series around him where tech changes are happening faster than the 20th century. I can almost believe that the Belisarius would have been equal to the task that the series places his fictional counterpart. And what a task! The first two books in this series were but a calm prelude to the fireworks that go off in Destiny's Shield (although they were excellent in their own way). Drake and Flint really hit their stride with Shield, with battles and politics happening on multiple fronts, all critical to the the final defeat of the Malwas. I knew that Belisarius was an extremely important historical figure to Mr. Drake, this series borders on a labor of love. Thank you for making Belisarius seem so incredibly real to me!

The long expected Malwa invasion of Persia has finally struck and the Persians turn to their ancient enemies, the Byzantine Romans, for help. The ex-Emperor Justinian convinces Theodora to send Constantinople's greatest general--perhaps the greatest general in the history of the world--Belesarius to help. With only ten thousand soldiers, Belisarius will have to work a miracle to survive, let alone defeat the hordes of Malwa arriving from India. Fortunately, Belisarius has been planning a miracle for some time now. The stakes are high. The Malwa are led by Link--an intelligent artifact sent from the future with the goal of eliminating any notion of talent or freedom from the planet.

Belisarius defeats a raiding Malwa cavalry force as he approaches ancient Babylon where the Persian Emperor is beseiged. In the meantime, his Indian ally, Shakuntala, has begun her own campaign against the Malwa occupation of most of India. Belisarius's wife, Antonia is sent to Alexandria to reassert Roman Imperial authority (as was often the case in historical Byzantine Egypt, religious disputes threaten Roman rule) and to create an arsenal for her husband and Shakuntala--and the nucleus for a new front against the huge Malwa armies.

Authors Eric Flint and David Drake again combine in this third novel in the Belisarius series. Flint and Drake deliver a powerful mix of military fantasy (what would Belisarius have done if he had access to effective gunpowder-based weapons), pure tactics, and touches of real historical research.

Even with the greatest general of history, the defeat of a super-intelligent artifact seems a little too easy and occasional modern themes creep in (would holy men like Michael really have been quite so broad-minded about the various Christian faiths at war with one another, and would Anthonia really have so actively worked to protect the Jews of Alexandria?) but that is largely quibbling. DESTINY'S SHIELD makes for a compelling and page-turning (or scroll-bar clicking) read.

This book was great fun and a fast read. Like the first two in the series, it centers around the Roman general Belisarius and his fight against the evil supercomputer-from-the-future Link and its Malwa minions. In this installment, the war has moved into Persia, making uneasy allies of the Romans and their former foes.

More than one story line wends its way through the narrative. The focus is alternately on Belisarius in Persia, Antonina in Egypt, and Shakuntala in India. Various Malwa schemes are thwarted as the Great Lady Holi and her cybernetic cargo spearhead the assault into Mesopotamia.

The only real quibble I have with this book is the ease with which the good guys win every battle. Granted, Belisarius is supposed to be a genius general, but one would think a supercomputer might have *some* ability to outwit him. Instead, Link so far steadily plods two steps behind the Roman alliance.

Despite that, this is an enjoyable book. Once again Belisarius is at the forefront of the action with his oh-so-clever battle plans, but the supporting characters are not neglected. Readers will be swept along by the steadily building conflict, and are sure to eagerly await the next installment.

This is really a novel of alternate history, with a few alien SF or before-their-time inventions added to create plot situations for eastern Romans in A.D 531. It's a light page-turner, with something exciting, clever, or anachronistic in every chapter to make it fun. It is written in three parallel streams-General Belisarius allied with Persians to defend Babylon against an overwhelming alien-led Malwa invasion, his wife Antonina attempting to recover Egypt as the foundry of empire, and a rebel empress subverting the Malwa powerbase in the Ghats of India. There's a good balance between plot, lead characters, and military affairs here.
A number of basic cusswords are tipped in for flavor, but battle is fairly bloodless as military fiction goes, with a wry sense of (military) humor throughout. I'm afraid the authors give no organized backstory (what has happened in the previous two books) so this is not the place to discover how history was diverted from its "true" course into this alternate world. And of course there's no closure to the story. The characters have not learned something new but are simply farther along their courses to their destinys in later volumes. Most everyone seems to be a competent, tough, moral, and resourceful soldier to admire. Killers they may be, but you feel they are OUR killers. For Belisarius in particular everything always falls out right. Indeed, it had better if the overwhelming numbers and gunpowder weapons of the Malwa are to be overcome.

The problem with this book is that are so many characters that they are hard to keep track of. When the book changes scenes you have dig the names back up to remember who has done what. On top of this a new character is introduced about every ten pages once the main characters have taken shape.

It is very hard to understand the humor in the book. The only way to tell that a character has made a "joke" is that the characters laugh. I scratched my head many times trying to find the humor.

One thing that is good in the book is the description of tactics and battle formation. Intricate battle scenes are written in a very visual way.

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 paperback was dadgum hard to get a hold of. I finally bought one for $20 from one of the amazon resellers. Was in good shape !