The Sword (The Raj Whitehall Series: The General, Book 5) [Mass Market Paperback]

S.M. Stirling (Author), David Drake (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1995 | Series: The General, Book V

For five years Raj Whitehall has led his men across the face of the planet Bellevue. With saber and bayonet he has conquered one barbarian nation after another. Now his greatest enemy is his own overlord, Barholm Clerett, who's so paranoid of Raj's victories that he is reduced to only one thought: Raj Whitehall must die.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Stirling and Drake conclude their thoroughly engrossing military sf series, the General, with hero Raj Whitehall having largely united the relatively civilized areas of the planet Bellevue. Resumption of interstellar flight is to be the next development. Unfortunately, as Raj combines statecraft with his military prowess, his overlord, Barholm Clerett, becomes even more paranoid than he was before; indeed, he becomes Raj's deadliest enemy. Clerett is overthrown, and Whitehall's candidate replaces him. Stirling and Drake provide their usual superb battle scenes, ingenious weaponry and tactics (the cavalry on Bellevue rides giant dogs), homages to Kipling, and many other goodies. High fun. Roland Green

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Baen; First Printing edition (February 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671876473
• ISBN-13: 978-0671876470
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #154,678 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Sword (The General, Book V), December 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Sword (The Raj Whitehall Series: The General, Book 5) (Mass Market Paperback)

Mediocre ending to outstanding series. Every other book in this series I would give 5 stars to. This one was not too bad as a story, but as the climax of a 5 part series it was flat. It had essentially the same basic plot as the others (go to enemy, overcome obstacles, make brilliant tactical move, gain victory). The overcoming of the major problems and enemies the reader has been following for the entire series (untrusting ruler, corrupt and evil chancellor) are summed up with a few sentences at the end. What made this series outstanding is its combination of realistic warfare, politics, character development, history, and fantasy. The Sword essentially leaves out the politics and character development. As a next to last book in a series, The Sword would be fine, but it fails to wrap up the overall story in a satisfactory manner. Overall, however, The General is a must-read series for any military or SF fiction fan, and enjoyable for nearly everyone else.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An overlooked Classic, November 21, 2010

By 

G. Simms "Ireadlots" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Sword (The Raj Whitehall Series: The General, Book 5) (Mass Market Paperback)

I recently came upon the Raj Whitehall series - thanks to Amazon suggesting that I might like it based on prior purchases. Love that algorythm!

Set in a distant future, but also in a post-apocolypse era, the cunning theory is that a lone remaining computer on an out-of-the-way world has determined that Raj Whitehall, a young soldier with leadrship promise, is just the guy to restore unity to the world -and ultimately to humanity across the stars.

If you know Stirling & Drake, you know they are tops in military SF, with fast-paced battles, and a keen sense of what is required to put an effective fighting force into the field. In this series, they cunningly adapt stories of Alexander the Great, American Civil War battles (and unless I miss my guess) one or two from WWII. But what makes this series special is the much better than usual character growth and complexity of ideas - especially those between freedom and statism, democracy vs. feudalism, tribalism vs. humanism.

Highly recommended. Those of us who are "type A" should read them in order (although not strictly necessary). I will give no more details, other than to say this this book provides a very satisfying conclusion to the series of 5 (which then has grown subsequently in a slightly altered sense with a follow-up series which is a bit less enjoyable.)

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent 5 Book Series, September 12, 2000

By 

silliman89 "silliman89" (Burke, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sword (The Raj Whitehall Series: The General, Book 5) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the standard by which I judge all military fiction. I have never found another that was it's equal. Even when the same authors got together again for books 6 and 7 (which I have reviewed separately) they couldn't recreate the magic of this series.

THE GENERAL series is about a fallen interstellar society which has climbed it's way back up to the technological level of the American Civil War. The hero, Raj Whitehall, has to reunite the planet in order to reach the stars again some day. This involves a lot of fighting and empire building. What gives Raj his edge is the pre-fall computer he has linked with that can see through his eyes.

This series has outstanding character development, a solid and well thought out overall plot line, and good story resolution in each book. The two things that really make the series the top of its genre are the interaction between the computer and the hero, and the realism of the situation. The interaction is a delicate balance that the authors perform magically. If the computer (Center) contributes too much, then the hero has too much of an edge, he doesn't have to try, and the story becomes boring. Without the computer, the hero is just this god like superhuman character that can do no wrong. The computer assistance makes Raj identifiable to the reader, even after he overcomes overwhelming odds to defeat the enemy. The realism comes from the fact that Raj is based on the life of a real person. The whole story is very similar to the story of Byzantine General Belisarius who conquered most of the Mediterranean world for his Emperor after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. That makes it very believable. The characters are very real. Their actions really happened a millenium and a half ago.

This is a must read for any fan of military fiction or empire building.