Customer Reviews

Orbis

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

 

 

At the height of Rome's power, the Benefactors landed on an alternate Earth and went to War with Julius Caesar's legions. Unable to defeat the Benefactors, the Romans stole their spaceships and flew to a place where they could live. After two millennia, the Romans forget where earth is located, but both the Romans and the humans remain determined to defeat the Benefactors.

The Benefactors took the teachings of Christianity and used it to spread their own message. An underground resistance in North America is giving hope to the people who want to cast off the Benefactor's rule. In Europe, the Prussian Empire is openly at war with the Benefactors and is slowly clearing the land of them. There will come a time of reckoning when the Romans and its conquered people as well as the humans must meet, defy the Benefactors, and reach some kind of accommodation with each other.

Scott Mackay can always be counted on to create a work that is original in design, yet absorbing and populated with a cast of characters that unite for a common goal. The ethics of the Benefactors is also fascinating because while their plans and battles are malfeasance, their morality is not. They do what they must to survive which is the natural order of a sentient species. If they were not on Earth, would humans be so quick to condemn them.

Harriet Klausner

I loved the start of Orbis and thought that that SF couldn't get much more inventive than a society based on a very different history involving the Benefactors, a species of aliens passing themselves off as angelic beings who rule humanity. The whole embedded within an alternate history where the Romans have gone off to the stars.

As I read further, the book remained readable and enjoyable and the parts involving the Romans and the "Resistance" against the Benefactors were interesting. But the alternate history angle started taking away from the enjoyment instead of adding to it. That's because it is such pure hocus pocus.

Put it this way - if the world was changed radically 2000 years ago, in such a way that the colonization of North America was entirely different in nature and geography, would you expect the 20th century to have a Guderian and a Doenitz fighting for Prussia? The world is soooo different, yet, somehow, the same historical figures keep popping up in the altered circumstances everywhere. No butterfly effect here, more like a badly reasoned version of Asimov's psychohistory where events always follow certain threads. Plus, the Romans and the Benefactors have interstellar spaceflight and hyper-advanced cloning, but they don't know how to build A-bombs???

If you accept the somewhat goofy historical premises the book is OK, not great. I've enjoyed other alternate history books and they always require some suspension of disbelief. Orbis' backstory was just too unbelievable though and the plot itself relies too much on its flawed foundation as well. Stripped of the historical angle, the plot is well... not exactly original. Seems to me like MacKay lost the initial brilliance of his idea about 1/3 of the way in and filled in the rest. Bit like 'The Meek' which also tanks near the end.

You may be after reading Orbis by Scott MacKay. Other authors get much praise for their genre-hopping/blending and yet one that has I think been overlooked is MacKay. He started out know as a science fiction writer, and this book was classified as sci-fi, however Orbis is as much alternative history as anything.
The Benefactors are "Angels" or "Guardians" in the author's America. Representations of the great theocratic government. But a Eucheistical(or something like that darn already forgot how to spell it. Minister anyhow) begins having doubts. A once loyal friend/follower of the Benefactors he is even more curious about the truth after being framed for owning contraband. In the Benefactor's St. Lucius Latin is prohibited due to its association with the Romans (a still thriving though exiled society in the book) and radios for the same reason. A cardinal is appointed to St.Lucius and soon recruits the minister for his quest to uncover and destroy the Benefactors before their plan dooms everyone.
My apologies that was not as articulate a summation as I would have liked to provide but honestly you have to really read this novel to understand the plot. Also I encourage patience as the first half of the book seems to set the stage for the action that is to come.

In fact throughout half the book I planned to give it a three star review as it was interesting in concept, but a little mediocre in execution, it took half the book for me to really realize what was going on. Not exactly a glowing recommendation, but I found the latter half as the plot thickened so to speak redeemed the story. This novel is not Excellent but it is really really good. It contains alternate history as I said, but also has an almost underlying element to myth and legend to it as well and in addition has ode to the western within its pages:P.

Not to repudiate my fellow(ess) reviewers, but some make this tome out to be much more controversial than I found it. The portrayal of the Indian savages remarked upon by one is no worse than anything you would find in many a Western and tamer than some. Another person seemed to feel this book bordered on Heretical. I did not find it so, my interpretation was that MacKay wasn't denying God or even encouraging the reader to doubt. Rather his message seemed aimed against blind faith especially when that faith fell into an institution as opposed to a Deity.

Enough answering other reviewers that is not what this review is about. its purpose is to merely state that I really enjoyed Orbis and in writing this review hope I point other potential readers to the books charms.

Lestat

Wow!! Wow!! Wow!! This book is not for the religious they would consider this blasphemeous. As a son of a preacher if I'd read this book ten years ago I would of burned it. When I first started reading this book I wasn't sure what the heck was going on. I feel that this is a mind opening book. It had a great message. Faith should be based on spirtually and not on religious aspects of trying to be a perfect christian. Any way, this story starts out when a secret organization try to uncover the truth of the religious faith of christianity & catholicism. Realizing the Benefactors aren't what they seem to be, the characters notice loopholes in religion. A group of characters go on a forbidden quest to find thier salvation from the Benefactors. Little did they know that thier salvation had also became a threat. I don't like to give too much away, all I have to say this is a sensational book.

`Orbis' mixes together a number of sci-fi tropes, such as a space-faring Roman Empire; a cabal of invading aliens that manipulates human history; and an alternate Earth in which society is ruled by a mutant form of the Catholic Church.

It's not a bad mix, but unfortunately author Mackay resolutely adheres to the 'Show, Don't Tell' mantra of Introductory Fiction Writing, and chooses to reveal his novel's backstory in drips and drabs, making the first ~ 125 pages of `Orbis' a rather frustrating slog.

Within these first pages we are introduced to a number of characters, including protagonist Eric Nordstrum, a high-level clergyman in the Catholic Church; an alien named Hesperus, who seeks rebirth through the acquisition of human form; and a Roman commander who is starting to develop a conscience regarding his Empire's subjugation of a foreign race.

But the reader must resign himself or herself to learning of the machinations of the invaders, and the state of their human lackeys, through oblique hints and referential passages worked into conversations and internal monologues.

Once the back story gets revealed, and Eric Nordstrum sets himself on a path to uncover the truth about his planet's rulers and the fate of their Roman adversaries, the narrative becomes easier to grasp, aided by the regular use of some well-written action sequences.

`Orbis' requires some patience in terms of negotiating the first third of the book; however, once that point is achieved, it expands to become reasonably engaging sf novel.

Fans of more offbeat alternate history tales, as well as fans of David Drake's `Ranks of Bronze / Foreign Legions' series, may want to give `Orbis' a try.

This is my first Scott Mackay book, and I didn't quite know what to expect. Orbis is a very entertaining alternate history, set on an Earth in which the Roman Empire attained space travel (in spite of never splitting the atom, or even understanding its basic nature) but was eventually banished from the planet by shapeshifting aliens. I don't want to give away too much of the plot, because the plot IS the book (characterizations, etc. are nothing special), and readers of these reviews will want to proceed into other reviews with caution, if it isn't already too late. But Mackay tosses in more and more weirdness, and manages to do so fairly plausibly. Very devout Christians may be offended by his portrayal of the Catholic Church and Christianity itself, but keep in mind it's only fiction. And in spite of having a book with two races of aliens, Romans from outer space, Missouri Catholics, and Kiowa Indians all together, the work isn't a farce. What exactly it is isn't quite certain--I did find myself wondering what was the relevance of it all several times. Perhaps the most significant theme is that "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" is a very dangerous slogan to live by; and this is certainly worth remembering in these trying times. But ultimately Orbis is mostly and simply an entertaining read.

St. Louis, 1947. Only, in this alternate reality, it is called St. Lucius and there is no United States of America. The Romans had a high tech civilization 2000 years ago but were banished to outer space. The Holy Catholic Church (not Roman) is a vast and ruthless bureacracy (well, yeah) which runs most of the world on behalf of the Benefactors, who claim to be "the Heavenly Host" but are actually shape-changing aliens from a different part of the galaxy. Studying Latin is a capital crime and ten cents is a large sum of money. And there's more, much more. The author's imagination is fertile indeed. Still, at heart, this is a rip-roaring cosmic adventure story in which one beleaguered man (and a few faithful cohorts) must save the world.

The characters are interesting and they grow during the course of the story. The action moves right along. The conflicts are gripping. And our guys still have that American can-do spirit and ingenuity.

Sometimes the plot doesn't totally hang together, the science is pretty thin (it's really fantasy with gadgets more than science fiction) and the Latin grammar is a little weak at times (Well, hey, the Romans are still speaking Latin!). All in all, a great read, hard to put down.

I found this a very quick read. The characters are a little too predictable. I read this in one evening, very fast book to read. It does slow down in parts and the main protagonist is saved a little to often; but hey its science fiction/alternate history. I did enjoy it and recommend it to folks who want a little light reading. More serious readers may want to give it a pass.

I've almost finished the book...it's a pretty good alternate history idea. Interesting enough to keep the pages turning and you just can't wait to see how the whole thing ends. The alternate Romans having space travel idea is fascinating, though obviously not possible in THIS reality, could happen though in some other parallel Earth. The character development is not so bad, decent enough to make you care about them, but not so deep for you to actually make a connection with them. I do however have a bone to pick with the author.

In this book are segments which are completely not helpful to the story, doesn't add to anything...other than to seemingly show that Indians (Native Americans) are untrustworthy, overly superstitious, and worthless savages who can just be shot on site with no remorse. I was most disturbed by those particular
segments of the book. They have no extra value to add to the story other than to show that the author might possibly be racist against Indians. I found those parts juvenile and of bad taste for the author to include. If not for those, I'd have given this book 4 or 5 stars instead of 3.