Customer Reviews

The Tide of Victory

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ok
Overall the alterantive history series is good, very good actually. In general I recommend it. But...

As each new volume is released the characters begin to act more like comedians and less like actual people. It appears that the authors are trying to milk as much $$$ out of it as possible

The intra character quips which were charming in the first series are wearing really thin. The plot is pretty much done, we know whats going to happen, and who will do it, no mystery here.
I really cant believe this volume doesnt finish it up.

It would have been a great 3 book series! You can easily pull out the hokey banter (10%) the repeated quips (10%) the repetitive story lines (10%) and the history lessons for those who havent read the previous volumes (20%)

Of course you can filter and distill the 6 books (1 still unpublished) into 3 so that your left with a darn good story. But filtering out 40%-50% is burdensome. It gets so bad at times that I start skipping pages!

Im tired of hearing how big one characters breasts are, or how "only the soul matters in the end" or how one character looks like a weasel, and being told over and over again about past episodes that occured in earlier volumes etc. etc. etc ad nauseum...Sheesh...

This series could have been a classic, but it's degrading itself with every new volume. I still recommend the series, but thats more in the way of how bad most other works are, and how good this one "Could have been"

This is an incredible series but it is also one whose time has come to end. This book leaves little doubt to the final outcome at the end of the novel and has very few suprises outside the death of two main characters. The book is well written but seems to almost have fallen into a pattern. The dialogue is starting to seem repetitious and the characters are almost beginning to act a little over the top. Quite a bit more occurs in this novel then in the previous installment in the series which is gratifying. Don't get me wrong, this is still an enjoyable book in a great series. The time has come for the series to end. I still recommend this as a buy and it is still one of my favorite series but it is beginning to seem a little stretched.

... in this case it could be justified. I 've read all the books of Drake/Flint's Bellisarius-series so far and like them a lot. It's just that the story becomes drawn out with so many sub-plots and -stories. The upcomming sixth book hopefully will conclude the story arc - but IMHOP four books would have done the job.

This book itself is well written, the characters are known even if there is some fluctuation: one major killed , a few new introduced. However for someone who doesn't know the story so far the book must be an enigma: there is this Roman General Bellisarius, who must be mad because he talks with some inner voice and ponders American Civil War decisions while campaigning in India....

Sounds crazy, reads crazy and then there is a book cover that crys SWORDS! SEX! EPLOSIONS! Please! Was this really necessary? This is a book of alternate history and is by and large meant to be serious. So why did the publishers burden it with this cover? Do they worry that because of the lenght of the series the readers might abandon it and know want to gain a new, somewhat different audience?

I loved this series from first to last but all good things must come to an end. The authors have now got groups of characters in too many far flung locations. As they each depart for parts known, the thought comes to each that they may never meet again...sob, sob...yuck, yuck. This is getting stale. I'm also afraid that the some of the scenes in Maratha, the Sind, the coast of India, the Red Sea, Malwa, the Hind Kush, and on and on are more sound bites than plot lines.

To add interest (and pathos) to the plot, without adding new characters, the authors have decided to kill off a few folk (I won't say which ones). Two deaths were due to the chances of war...unfortunate but the series would be totally unbelievable if none or very few of the good guys died...bad guys can always drop like flies. The other death was due to causes that I do not believe were consistant with the character's development ...and that is a flaw. Finally, I'm getting the impression that someone's contribution to this volume went a little gadget crazy this time. Too many pages were spent describing the new gadget and traveling with it so it can effect large destruction of Malwa property. I appreciate that this was to some degree the raison d'etre for this series but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

Frankly, I did not like this book as well as the others. It's still a 4 but I hope that the series ends with the next volune. I think that the authors and these characters and this situation are running out of steam.

The Tide of Victory (2001) is the fifth SF novel in the Belisarius series, following Fortune's Stroke. In the previous volume, Link awoke within Lady Sati. Then Nanda Dal forced Venandakatra to lift the seige of Deogiri.

Belisarius and Antonina returned to what was left of Charax. Demodara was called back to India, but first he returned Valentinian to Belisarius. Irene agreed to join Kungas in his bid to restore the Kushan empire.

In this novel, Belisarius plans an invasion. With the forces of his allies, he will be leading over a hundred thousand troops toward India. The major problem, of course, is the logistics. He will need a major fleet to carry the troops, supplies and equipment.

Antonina is coordinating all the support functions for her husband. She is his leading diplomat as well the director of research and liaison with the Empress Regnant. She is also mother of the Roman Emperor Photius.

Khusrau Anushirvan is the King of Kings of Iran and non-Iran. His nephew Kurush leads the dehgans, the major land allied land force within the invading army.

Eon bisi Dakuen is the nagusa nagast of Axum. As the ruler of the Ethiopians, he leads the major allied sea forces against the Malwa. He also has some very tough marines on his ships.

Kungas would be the King of the Kushans. He marries Irene in a Christian wedding and will marry her again in Buddhist services.

Shakuntala is the Empress of Andhra. She is pregnant with the child of her husband -- and lover -- Raghunath Rao. Rao is just waiting for the child to be born before he leaves for Bharakuccha.

Justinian is the former Emperor of Rome and is now the Chief Justiciar and the Master Artisan. He has created the woodclad steamships that will destroy the Malwa sea forces. Justinian also builds wheelbarrows.

Damodara is the best field commander in the Malwa forces. Naturally, the presence of Rana Sanga and his Rajputs figures largely in this reputation. Still, Damodara listens to his subordinates, but he leads by his wisdom rather than his rank. Damodara is much like Belisarius.

In this story, after some last minute changes, the allied army splits into three attack vectors. Khusrau starts in Chabahari, marches inland to Sistan, and then crosses the desert to Sukkur. Belisarius takes Barbaricum and advances up the Indus toward Sukkur. The allied troops catch the Malwa forces in a classic hammer and anvil maneuver.

Meanwhile, under very high security, Kungas takes his Kushans to Marv and drives out the Malwa. Then he marches to Begram, which he makes his capital. Eventually, he takes the Khyber Pass and thereby starts a new front in the war against the Malwa.

In India, Venandakatra the Vile is having major problems with Damodara. He is not used to anyone telling him that he is foolish right in his face, so he orders Damodara to leave Bharakuccha. Damodara informs him that the army will be gone by the next evening.

Shakuntala is worried about Raghunath Rao. He has promised his wife that he will not risk his life until the succession is secure. After the baby is born, however, Rao will be paying a short visit with Venandakatra.

This tale continues the destruction of the Malwa forces. While they still have a huge army, their morale is dwindling. Link may be more logical, but Belisarius is an artist of warfare.

The story has moments of joy and humor, but it is still full of conflict. From cultural shock to major battles, Belisarius and his allies are shaping the future. The Malwa -- and others -- are reeling from the shocks.

This novel concludes at the brink of the Punjab. The last volume of the series -- The Dance of Time --will ensure the triumph. Read and enjoy!

Highly recommended for Drake & Flint fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of major battles, covert operations, and personal relationships. If anyone has not previously read this series, start with An Oblique Approach.

-Arthur W. Jordin

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 war scenes are done very well in this particular book also. It is fairly sad when one of the major characters dies after a battle.

I've been reading and re-reading this series. I WANT the next one! There was a "Coming Soon" on the inside cover of my paperback for the next (last?) book in this series, but that was years ago! I want to know what happens in this interesting alternate history. I really thumb my nose at those who are put off by historical inaccuracies - those are in the veil of illusion, anyway. What counts is the soul of the series.

The characters almost step off the pages. I really enjoyed the book and can't wait till the next in the series.

OK, admittedly this is a fascinating series, but in this volume the storyline gets a bit silly. By all means buy this book, if you have read the others. However, in my opinion it is the weakest so far. Not enough Belisaurus, too much Antonia.

I am sure all the threads will come together in the next installment but they are loose in this one and this volume has become a paean to political correctness.

The next one needs more Belisaurus, more strategy and tactics regarding the final conquest of the Malwa and some more insight into the difficulties of moving a culture into the future by the insertion of weapons and tactics

Ignore the people who tell you that the series is in decline at this point, and you should skip ahead. This volume is critical to the development of both the plot and several key characters, including a few long-developing threads that will not make sense until well into the final chapters. If you have been following these adventures, you will not be dissapointed by this volume.

As to the death of two familiar characters, which some of the other reviewers have complained about, I can only say that people do die in wartime; that's one of the things that make war something to be avoided. Both events are completely appropriate to what the characters would be doing, and plausible given the risks they were taking at the time. If you only want battle scenes with a Disney-movie morrality (the good guys never die!), you're probably in the wrong series of books anyway.