Fortune's Stroke
   Eric Flint & David Drake
   (Associate Reviewer - D. H. BROWN)
  2000 Baen Publishing Enterprises
   ISBN: 0671578715


With his sword, his paladins & his genius, the great Roman General Belisarius & his wife & co-commander, Antonia, faces the overwhelming Malwa forces as the armies of Good & Evil gather on the fertile plains of Mesopatamia.

Though an avid science fiction fan, I have never been given to the enjoyment of alternate history. I've never read anything by Eric Flint although over the years David Drake has continued to be one of my favorite authors.

I can't tell you now, what originally drew me to this series: maybe it was my abiding love for history.

The main character, Belisarius, in the Fifth Century A.D., had always stood out in the sweep of the Byzantine-Roman Empire. He was, without a doubt, one of the last of the great Roman generals from that 1000 year saga.

Eric Flint & David Drake have brought to life the breadth & depth of that time with humor & hair-raising detail; taking from real history its politics & brutality & expanding on the possibilities that existed then.

Many historians have pondered the “what ifs”: had the the great library at Alexandria not burned to the ground, what course history might have taken. That vast storehouse of knowledge the Roman Empire had aquired & where it might have taken mankind if it hadn't been lost.

Just looking at our recent history we know that the timeline upon which we tread is so fickle: for example what would have happened if Hitler had left the Eastern Front alone, driven West when his war machine was strong & well supplied & captured the British Isles. There would have been no D-Day & no stopping, in some people's opinion, the Thousand Year Reich.

So it's probably this interest that led me to read An Oblique Approach, the first book in this series. After that I was hooked & I devoured the rest of them in one steady stream & upon reaching the end of Fortune's Stroke, breathlessly waiting for the next.

Life was much different in those days; life & war was brutal & immediate. The clash of men on battlefields was numbered in the thousands of dead & dying where the slightest wound from an enemy's sword would mean death by infection or loss of blood. And the strategies used to win battles was in the overpowering clash of arms - head on - face to face - without respite until the enemy was smashed completely, with no quarter ever given.

I know my reviews in the past in the genre of science fiction have always spoken of that hope that good science fiction gives its readers. And in this series I wasn't expecting it, after all I already knew the end of the story. In these missives of alternate history, I was very satisfied to note that that hope had been wound, like a golden thread, through their entire fabric: the might-have-beens.

Though I may not wax eloquent nor strive to place these books on my shelf for ever & ever, they have given me food for hours & hours of thought & have made reading history much more enjoyable.

I can recommend this series highly for the science fiction or history fan. I came away with the same satisfaction after reading them that I do each time I read a book in David Weber's Honor series (Echoes Of Honor - Ashes of Victory) & for me, that is high praise indeed! [Ed. - you should have heard him roar with laughter & read aloud the great battle scenes & comedic conversations!]

More in this series: An Oblique Approach; In the Heart of Darkness & Destiny's Shield.

More from David Drake: Hammer's Slammers; The Tank Lords; Caught in the Crossfire; The Butcher's Bill; The Sharp End.

More from Eric Flint: Mother of Demons & 1632
(12/10/00)

David
A RebeccasReads.com Reviewer

Reviewer's Bio:
D. H. BROWN is the author of the critically acclaimed HONOR DUE and the Citizens Warrior Series. The son of missionary parents and with the help his Uncle Sam, he has touched base in more than 40 countries.  In 1986 he produced the independent children's film Lessie's Rainbow.  During the late 80s and early 90s, he wrote the book Common Sense and delivered the seminars of the same name for the Community Action Network of Seattle (CAN).  While doing his early Vietnam recovery work, he counseled Veterans and spoke widely to men's groups in Washington state, and was a founder of The Lodge of the Wolf.

D. H. BROWN has worked as a Logistics and Weapons Specialist in Viet Nam; day laborer; Director of Security; Armored Car Driver; Police Officer; Professional Hunting Guide; Trapper; Dog Sledder; Homesteader; Truck Driver; General Contractor; Minister; Editor; Writer; Speaker; Restaurateur; Movie Producer; Antique Restoration Specialist; Personal Care Worker; PC Repair Specialist; Computer Instructor; Webmaster and Web Designer. "I write about what I know."

He lives deep in the Pacific Northwest rainforest with his wife, author and editor Rebecca and Buddy Dog, working on his next book.
Visit him at: www.dhbrownbooks.com