An Oblique Approach
(Belisarius #1)
by Eric Flint, David Drake
military, fantasy
copyright 1998
read in March 2016
rated 7/10: well worth reading
"Well worth reading" is not quite right... but it's enough fun to rate seven out of ten. Entertaining, simple, sword and sandals epic. Well, start of an epic, anyway. There seem to be at least six Belisarius novels. Plenty more heads to chop off and cunning plots to unravel :-)
This is boys' own adventures for older "boys". Lots of tough, heroic types slaughtering the guilty, saving the innocent. And bragging about whose whatsit is bigger... That is, each person is incredibly tough, they all like to show off their toughness, other people all gasp and admire.
It's bloodthirsty but moral. Except for the villains, who are bloodthirsty and evil... and rather stupid. In a cunning sort of way. Then there are the honest (though bloodthirsty) villains. As soon as they see the supreme size of the heroes whatsit -- they change sides and join the good guys.
From the introduction, Belisarius is based on an actual, Roman general. So I guess this is "historical" fantasy. Did the battles actually happen ? I may check that. Some of the characters did exist. I hope they were just as tough as in this book :-)
Is it military fantasy or science fiction ? The hero is guided by a supercomputer... (Okay, that may be a digression from historic fact.) Does that make it science fiction ? The supercomputer is handheld, intelligent and well beyond belief. Let's just call this, "fantasy". Though the weapons are about to go... science fiction. Or at least, anachronistic.
There's lots of information on history and historic warfare. Is it accurate ? For all I know, possibly... That possibility does add interest to the story. But...
It's an entertaining book ! Bloodthirsty, yes. So were the times, as far as I know. Moral, yes. Good guys are good and good is sure to triumph. (We're given evidence that at least some of the characters will live happily ever after.)
Not so much, "well worth reading". Unless the history is absolutely (as far as is known) accurate.
Just a seven out of ten, absolute enjoyable fantasy.
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