Customer Reviews

Down to the Sea, Book 1: A Novel of the Lost Regiment

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a really nice surprise. I picked this book out of habit. Often once I get hooked on a series I continue to buy the novels produced in the series regardless of the quality. This was the case in the Regiment series. The series before this novel had been showing the strain of 7 novels set in the same world with the same characters. The plot was repeating and the characters were losing their luster.

This book is a breath of fresh air. Set twenty years after the events in the last Regiment novel "Down to Sea" casts the children of the heroes of the previous books into the lead rolls. This is a ploy that often backfires in series extensions but it works very well this time around.

The new enemy in the Kazan are related to the hordes of the past but are far more advanced then the horde of the past. In this conflict the horde will have the technological advantage, not the humans. The son of a traitor is the hero or zero of this war.

Quite a good book, which is the promising beginning to a new series, set in the same world as the Regiment novels.

Forstchen's "Lost Regiment" books are truly unique. A straight-to-paperback series little known outside the genre, its dedicated readers have come to recognize it as one of the most reliable sources of enjoyment to be found anywhere. It seems woven from the very fabric of the American spirit: a shipload of Civil War-era Yankees is accidentally teleported to a far-off world, a world where human beings are nothing more than cattle. The Yankees, unwilling to be led quietly to the slaughter, use their knowledge of gunpowder and steam propulsion to launch a local resistance movement against the flesh-eating alien overlords. Once the local humans have tasted freedom, there is no turning back. What started out as a local revolt quickly turns into a full-scale war of liberation, as the republican ideal sweeps the world. The tale apparently ended in "Men of War" (Book 8) with the final defeat of the brutal but cunning Bantag horde.

But now they're back! Forstchen, apparently unwilling to part with his masterwork, has come back for another round. And it's worth it. Far from a contrived sequel, this one is just as satisfying as the original series. It has now been twenty years since the Great War ended. The remainders of the Bantag horde are confined to a reservation, the few survivors of the Merki and Tugar scattered. The Republic, its ranks bolstered by the additions of Nippon, Chin, and other new states, has prospered like never before. Under the able presidency of unsurpassed war hero Andrew Keane, its merchants and soldiers roam the lands and seas in their increasingly sophisticated airpcraft and steamships. It seems only a matter of time before all the humans of the world are united in the common dream of liberty and equality.

But trouble is brewing. Across the vast Southern Sea, a new menace is stirring: the Kazan. Untouched by the Yankee-led revolution in the distant north, this mighty horde continues to lord it over the local humans, selectively bred and trained to make the perfect slaves. Hazin, a clever and ruthless high priest, skillfully intervenes in a bloody civil war, bringing about the complete unification of the Kazan Empire. He recognizes the threat posed by the Republic, and, armed with warships and airplanes larger and more powerful than anything in the Yankee arsenal, plans to squelch it once and for all.

With little time to prepare, President Keane, Senator O'Donald, and the other survivors of the Lost Regiment are faced with their greatest challenge yet. But it is their children, now of fighting age, who will bear the brunt of the terror. Even as events are coming to a head in the Kazan Empire, Andrew Keane's son, Abraham, accompanies legendary general Vincent Hawthorne to the reservation, where the Bantag grow increasingly restless. Their food nearly gone, their ancient way of life totally annihilated, these bitter survivors dream of taking back their former glory. And now, with events moving towards an inevitable global war, their chance seems to have arrived.

As the Republic braces itself for trouble, its scientists and engineers struggle to develop the technologies necessary to meet the Kazan on their own terms. It looks grim, but the Republic is not a nation of quitters. Far from surrender, their ready to prove that the free spirit truly is invincible.

Every bit as powerful, moving, and compelling as the earlier books. There is no higher compliment.

Just when I thought "Men of War" was the last book of the Lost Regiment series, I accidently came upon "Down to The Sea". This book takes place twenty years after the "Men of War" with new characters as well as a few old. The Kazan are a different type of Horde in their politics and religion as well as technology. Like the previous 8 books, you won't want to put it down until you have finished it. Looks like a start to another great series.

There is no peace in a world shared by the Horde. After twenty years of peaceful life after "Men of War" our heroes have all grown old and some have even past away. Now the sons of our hero's step up into the light, graduation of the academy introduces us to four young men that this book and others will follow.

"Down to the Sea" also introduces the reader to a new and deadlier foe. Religious fanatics in the Horde, blind belief to follow to follow a religious leader who will stop at nothing. A game within a game within a game, and everyone is but a piece on the board. The Kazan, the new southern Horde we are introduced to, have a great navy, far greater than our heroes, and the also have an army of bred human warriors The Shiv. Mindless, soulless, Frankenstein monsters that even make the Horde nervous. I wondered as I read if this creation will only some day turn against their creators as all monsters do.

Once again, William R, Forstchen gives his readers a grand and sweeping story that I feel has reached epic proportions! He is able to breath such life into his work, his characters are so real, that as you read you again feel as we did in his other "Lost Regiment" books, that we are once again with them. Our old friends are back with us again, and we are introduced to new ones, and we feel for them as we did for their fathers before them. This is really what makes the "Lost Regiment" series, Mr. Forstchen's ability to give us real characters. Hero's and villain's we can feel for, have pride in, believe in, laugh with, and cry with.

There is more than a couple of great goose bump scene's in "Down to the Sea", I was stirred more than a couple of times with the same awe and power and even choked up a few times. Mr. Forstchen was worried about writing a new series, he did not wish to write a rehash, or just tack on another story to the series. I don't think he has any worries. "Down to the Sea" is a fresh and bold look into a New World of the "Lost Regiment." Another great book!

This new book is substantially improved over the previous series. What turned me off before were the graphic descriptions of things, like the Tugar Moon Feast. He lost me back at "Fateful Lightning" because of this issue. I think Forstchen has scaled that back just the right amount. It's there and you are aware of it, but it isn't churning your guts and detracting from the story.

After 20 years of complacency, the Republic discovers that the Kazan have been using that time to strengthen their technology base. They have larger, faster, ships with bigger guns, and tactics to match (they practiced on each other). They also have built a manufacturing infrastructure. The Republic appears to be about 40-years down-rev from the Kazan.

But, there is hope. This parallels a lot of what happened at the start of WW2, when the Japanese had larger battleships, after the Pearl Harbor attack. But, picture this using "Spanish-American War" naval technology, for the Republic, and WW1 technology for the Kazan. In both WW2 and this story, air power makes the difference. This follows WW2 pattern right up until the Battle of Midway Island. An interesting side line is that he develops, air-dropped, self-propelled torpedoes but no submarines and no ship-board torpedo launchers. PT boats would be interesting too. Maybe, next episode?

The other development is the Shiv, a genetically bred race of humans with Ninja-like training, but conditioned like Whirling Dervishes, as religious fanatics/soldiers, over a period of one thousand years. They are created/controlled by a Kazan group only known as "The Order". Of course, we now have a classic Political-Religious power tension, between the Kazan Emperor and the Grand Master of the Order.

What this makes for is a rollicking tale with three main view points. Two of which are youngsters caught up in the main-stream. O'Donald, the Kazan puppet, Kean's son, and Cromwell. They are in the midst of all the action and it is great! Forstchen does a good job balancing the capabilities of all sides and moving quickly through what would otherwise be the tedious stuff. Balance is excellent, technology growth is fast-paced, the action is fluid, and the ending is not a disappointment.

We are back at the world that Forstchen has created, this time twenty years after the events that were described in book 8, "Men of War." The challenge this time are the Kazan, of the same race as the Hordes, but more advanced, and the resurgent, although weak, Bantag, still led by Jurak. An innovative element is the entire Kazan culture, with a secretive and powerful religious sect that manages to be more dangerous than the Kazan emperor, and this sect's daring experiment in biological manipulation and religious braiwashing of humans. There are some elements from earth's modern military history that play out well in the novel, like the controversy between the advocates of a battleship navy and those who pull for a carrier navy (big guns against planes), and most of the new characters are engaging. There are problems with "Down to the Sea," though, and the four stars reflect those problems. For starters, the introduction on the back cover refers to a Lieutenant Michael O'Brien who is captured by the Kazan. Maybe he was, but this character does not appear in the book at all. The two who are captured are O'Donald's son and Richard Cromwell (Tobias Cromwell's son), who ends up being the hero of the story. Other points have to be addressed: there is a certain implausibility with so many of the Republic's landmarks and even warships named after American Civil War battles. After wars such as the ones described by the author in which humans confronted the Hordes and millions died, the American Civil War should be a fading, almost quiet memory for the men from New York and Maine. It is not very convincing that the newest, biggest battleship of the Republic is named "Gettysburg," since so many battles in this New World have been far costlier than Gettysburg, and have meant far more to the natives. English as the official language is convenient but, again , not convincing: millions speak Russian, Greek, Latin, Chinese, etc. English as imposed from above would be a struggle. Still, I liked the book. For all my complaints, this is the best series going right now. Besides, at the rate the Republic is advancing, space will soon be their next endeavour.

When writing a series book like this that has a multifacetd storyline and variables it helps to not leave people hanging and have more consistency. For instance we know its 20 years later but little is said about what has happened then. Having a timeline chart would be helpful. Another would be a worldmap. This has always been a complaint of this series which the author did include in book #8. In this one we have no idea about what countries are in the Republic, where the major rivers, oceans, and cities are, or where the campaigns are taking place. Also there is alot of mention of the alien technology in the previous books. I find it hard to believe that in 20 years the humans hadn't visited all the ancient horde sites or deciphered the sacred scrolls. Finally while most of the book is a good page turner the ending, as in book #8, is too chopped off. But all in all I still reccomend the book and I look forward to the next.

Andrew Lawrence Keane is the President of the Republic and his society is finally advancing itself, thanks in part to its peace of 20 years. However, the Golden Horde (Keane's arch enemies) still want war. This is no surprise. The Hoard's entire social, economic, and food source derives from making war on human beings. This time it's the Kazan Tribe. However, the Kazan's internal power structure evolved differently from the other Horde tribes. The ruler shares his power with "The Shiv", a weird semi-religious cult of quasi-humans. Actually the Shiv are the real rulers of the Kazan tribe, they maintain their power by keeping the Horde busy with internal squabbles and civil wars. Thus they control the Hoard by maintaining the status quo which in turn keeps the Horde weak. The Shiv selected Keane's Republic to be the latest patsy which the Horde can beat their war shields against. Naturally, the dim leader of the Horde, Yasim, seems more than compliant with the Shiv's wishes.

The Republic's task is to defeat their enemy while facing political problems. Since the Republic is a democracy and people can vote to have the President removed, Keane must walk a political tightrope, he has to mobilize his people for a war while maintaining his populaces freedoms. A significant problem is the Kazan's technology, which is superior to the Republic's. They must modernize their systems ASAP, otherwise they face doom.

I admit it, I like these stories. I cannot help myself. I am a bit of a history buff and I also enjoy science fiction/fantasy, which is exactly what these books are. They are fairly well written and fast to read. I think I finished "Down to The Sea" in one day. The only criticisms I have with this book are that it lacks maps and its conclusion. Maps would help me better visualize the geography (especially for the sea battles). The ending is rather abrupt and needs a better reconciliation. Based upon the ending I can only assume that William R. Forstchen, the author, intends to write a sequel to this novel. However, I consider these to be minor problems and I recommend this and all of the Lost Regiment" stories, I think you will enjoy them if you like fast paced plots and good dialog.

This is another good book. This is a great series. I am still waiting for mor information on the ancients and what caused their downfall.

This book picks up 20 years after the final battle. There is a new race of "beasts" out there. This race is much more advanced than the humans. At least 50 years. Truly giant ships and fast planes. I would say they are advanced similar to America just prior to WWII.

The ending is left wide open for the next two or three novels. I hope Forstchen keeps it up!

I hope there will be further installments in the series.

The armies fielded by the Union (and Confederacy) during the American Civil War were among the last armies fielded by any nation that had the knowledge and ability to duplicate or create from scratch all of their equipment. This was in part due to the "low tech" nature of that equipment, it was also due to the overall educational level of the personnel.

"Taking" a regiment of Union troops to a strange world and putting them "under the gun" would indeed give them great incentive to both duplicate and improve their technology, The Civil War, having been a political war, would have forced them to try to recreate their republic.

Given a little time and a lot of luck, I like to think the series might depict what such a group would have actually done or tried to do.