Warlord: The Hammer / SM Stirling & David Drake

Warlord: The Hammer

category: science fiction / military, author:

SM Stirling & David Drake

book 2 of The General
published by Baen, original copyright 1992, read in May 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10

The Hammer is the second book of the five-book General series. Why is the heading above, Warlord: The Hammer? Because the first two books of General are published in one volume. And if you'd like me to explain that all again... see Warlord: The Forge.

In Hammer, Drake & Stirling continue the bloodthirsty, death and glory battles by tough fighting, hard drinking & hard wenching soldiers with loyalty and heroism bursting out of their bulging biceps. Does that sound a bit negative? Well -- I enjoyed this book but perhaps I should have waited a few months longer before reading.

How many dead bodies can you handle in a month? This book is absolutely drenched in blood and guts. Strangely enough, the good guys barely get scratched... In this book, the hero's battle tactics are unbelievably successful.

I guess that, where book one had the hero learning to win battles, book two has him get so popular that he could become political leader by acclamation. The first book's Pyrrhic victory demonstrated tactical skills but lost a lot of popular support... well, his supporters in the army are mostly killed. In the second book the hero, Raj, keeps his army largely intact... which gives him a good, solid... live... "voter base". So, okay, unbelievable but plotworthy.

In The Hammer we are also given a clearer picture of the long term goals of Raj and his computer mentor. Having a long-term view -- plus support from a computer which predicts the probable outcome of choices -- also provides a different view of the hero's choices...

Traditionally, a hero makes choices based on his objectives and his ethical stance. You know: good guy sacrifices self for greater good (or for the girl), tough guy is willing to sacrifice others, anti-hero acts for himself... and the reader can follow the choices but may or may not support them. Well, Raj is a good guy with a long-term view -- and a computer giving the odds. Whatever choices Raj makes, he "knows" the outcome. Or, at least, he knows the outcome of the alternatives.

So we, the readers, have an explanation of his reasoning. We know why Raj chooses certain actions. We can see what would happen if he chose another option. And we have no excuse for wondering why he made his choices... Which can be a bit boring, really.

The Hammer is non-stop military action, loads of blood and guts, some humour. That characters are ridiculously loyal -- or obviously disloyal. Bigger battles but less doubt of the outcome...

An enjoyable book -- I will definitely look for the follow-on books -- but perhaps I will wait a while. There's a limit to how much of this over the top military heroism I can take...

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

Warlord: The Forge / SM Stirling & David Drake

Warlord: The Forge

category: military science fiction, authors:

SM Stirling & David Drake

book 1 of The General
published by Baen, original copyright 1991, read in May 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10

A note on that book name: In 1991, Stirling & Drake had The Forge published. In 2003, it was published again, along with The Hammer, in one book called Warlord. (Conqueror contains the other three of The General series of novels.) I have Warlord and have read -- and am now reviewing -- the original first novel. Later, I will read the second.

A note about the authors: In my effort to find the original date of publication of The Forge, I searched the web. In Wikipedia I found that Drake wrote a 10 to 15 thousand word outline, then Stirling did the rest. Interesting!

This book is a lot of fun. Not funny -- though there is humour -- but fun: non-stop action, tough guy heroes, support from a prescient computer. Or, rather, a super-computer which uses extrapolation and statistics to "predict" the future result of current options. The hero is tough but fair. Of course all the soldiers would -- and often do -- willingly follow him into deadly danger.

Yet there are some interesting tweaks to the standard plot...

Right from the start, the hero is married. His wife follows him to the war zone and, once or twice, into battle. Her main role, however, is politics -- using her feminine wiles to tempt and trick opponents. Is she -- as most people believe -- actually sleeping with other men? Her husband (the hero) certainly does not enjoy her dalliances... but they still love each other and only each other.

The state religion is clever: One planet, long cut off from the galactic empire, lost to all "modern" technology, with the ancient and long gone computers as gods. Priests are called "sysups" (not quite sysops), prayers end with "endfile" rather than "amen". Mind you, the enemy armies all wear loose robes and turbans and shout to allah as they charge into battle...

Occasionally, of course, the hero has to resort to violence to get support from the corrupt bureaucracy. As usual in these tough-guy stories, threats and actual violence quickly get the necessary cooperation. A more stubborn bureaucrat is thrown out the window...

... Okay, I thought, bring in the next; he'll look out the window and be more cooperative. But no! another tweak to the cliche: the window and shutters are still closed! The bureaucrat bounces back -- somewhat bruised and battered -- and is now willing to help. Nice one :-)

I did find that some of the action, especially in the first half, was hard to follow.

You know how it is, the author knows what he is writing about but fails to explain. I'm no military expert, I was occasionally lost in the heat of battle... Still, no worries, you could usually tell who had won or lost. Near the start I was forced to google bucellarii. Near the end, I googled fougasse -- though it was, in fact, well described in the book.

Learn something every day! Though I'm not sure when I'll be able to slip those words into a casual conversation...

The violence is graphic but not gratuitous: it's war, not torture. You can skim over the dead bodies and dismembered body parts. This is solid "good versus evil", with acceptance that compromise may be necessary now, to prevent suffering later. A realistic message set in a fairly brutal -- but overall honorable -- world.

Well worth reading.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.