Customer Reviews

An Oblique Approach

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

An Oblique Approach is the first novel in the Belisarius series. Byzantium was the Empire of Rome in the East, ruled at this time by Emperor Justinian. A former Thracian peasant, Justinian had selected a minor Thracian noble, Belisarius, to be his bodyguard and then later to head the army facing their Medean foe. While Belisarius was not the Emperor's friend (for Justinian had no friends), they respected each other and Belisarius' wife Antonia was a close friend of the Empress Theodora.

When Belisarius was traveling to assume command the army at Daras, the monk Michael of Macedonia and Anthony Cassian, the local bishop, came to his new house in Aleppo, bringing a strange object found by Michael within his cave in the desert. A faceted crystal that seemed to form and reform, they said that it had brought visions to their minds when they held it and they urged Belisarius to take it into his own hands. When it was passed to him, the crystal flared into light and flooded his mind with visions.

The crystal could induce visions and feelings, but was mostly unable to communicate directly. The visions showed a future in which the Malwa empire of northern India conquered all the known world and induced feelings of dread and despair. But all who held the crystal also felt certain that the future shown and felt was not necessarily the only possible future. The crystal had come to enlist Belisarius himself in an effort to preclude this bitter future in favor of one more consistent with their own desires and inclinations.

While the exhausted crystal quietly regained its strength, the human party formed a conspiracy to counter the evil plans of the Malwa. Deciding to keep the secret among themselves for a time, they arranged for a location to build a secret arsenal and weapons project on property controlled by Anthony. They also agreed that Anthony would arrange for the services of John of Rhodes, a clever ex-naval officer, as the head of the project.

Belisarius had to leave the conspiracy in the others' hands while he assumed command of the army in Daras. The prior commander, Libelarius, had left his army understrength and riddled with corruption, so weeding out the rot was Belisarius' first task. Then he had to rebuild his command structure and replace those struck from the roles.

Belsarius was charged with building a fort near the border as a deliberate provocation of the Persians, but Belisarius needed to conclude the campaign quickly in order to get back to the conspiracy. Once the fort was finished, he arranged for the Army of Lebanon under its two generals, Bouzes and Coutzes, to join with him against the Persians. Then he baited Bouzes and Coutzes with news of a Persian army pay chest and sent the Persian commander a nasty note. Thereafter, he waited for the afternoon wind to blow from the west.

This story depicts an intervention from the future followed by a counter-intervention from the same era. The intervention itself is not described in this volume, but the crystal represents the counterforce. The first portion of the story consists mainly of clearing the decks to allow the conspirators to investigate the real enemy, which could only be done in India by Belisarius himself.

Belisarius does have one large advantage in that his bucellarii, his personal guard, are past masters of covert operations. He doesn't have to hire or acquire specialists, but only has to say who will be left behind. He gains another asset in Irene Macrembolitissa, spymaster for his friend, and fellow general, Sittas.

A reviewer complains that this is a rehash of the General series, but does not seem to understand that that series was loosely based on the historical actions of the real live Belisarius. Another reviewer frets that Belisarius is too perfect, yet fails to note the respect given to the actual general by military historians. Belisarius was only a man, but clearly an unusual man in many respects and nothing in this novel up to the initial visit by Michael and Anthony is inconsistent with known historical facts.

Still another reviewer accused the authors of poor characterization, citing the similar sense of humor among all the military personnel. Interesting enough, that observation is not new, having been made by many others down through the centuries. Professional military men (and women, for that matter) have an ironical and sometimes morbid sense of humor, maybe due to their close association with death and dying. Drake has first-hand knowledge of that sense of humor!

This story sets the stage for the series and tells of the initial efforts of the conspirators. It contains enough battles, raids, and assorted mayhem for any two other books. And it is just getting started.

Highly recommended for Drake & Flint fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of alternate wars and political intrigue.

I'm going to review the entire series, rather than only the first book. Hopefully it will help if some are prepared for what's ahead.

Drake and Flint have killed this series for me with their childish sense of humor.

Jokes that were only 'cute' when they first appeared (occasianally) in An Oblique Approach, are downright nauseating when they are FEATURED in the rest of the series. Every character--be they Thracian, Greek, Persian, or Indian--has an identical sense of irony and sarcasm, and Drake and Flint bash you over the head with it like a cataphract wielding a cudgel. Fer cryin' out loud, even the friggin CRYSTAL sports a sense of humor (I use the term loosely) that is identical to every other character in the series!

Half-way through In The Heart Of Darkness I was rolling my eyes at the overly-pithy, self-aware wit that was creeping up more often. By the end of Destiny's Shield, I was groaning audibly.

The characters are all cookie-cutter: You've got a couple of hard-as-nails hookers with hearts of gold; some grizzled old soldiers with unfailing loyalty to their general; some enemy generals that just drip honor (so you know they'll be switching sides before it's all over); and the vile, honorless, and militarily incompetent enemy generals who howl at the guile and cunning of Belisarius, then ignore the counsel of talented underlings who have spotted his traps.

The battles are pretty entertaining, strategically, but they are all routes. There is never a sense of danger, that the battle could go either way but for the brilliant battlefield maneuvering of Belisarius.

All in all, An Oblique Approach was a pretty darn good book. The account of Princess Shakuntala's rescue was particularly well written. However, I'm going to do something I rarely do--stop reading a series before it's over. I just can't read "trudge trudge trudge" and "mutter mutter mutter" anymore! Add to that the drunken conversations where the only point seems to be to make you laugh at the way people mispornun... mipsunorn... er, hic, mispronounce words when inebriated, and I've had enough.

Mutter mutter mutter.

Grumble grumble grumble.

I first came upon this book when I saw it featured in the free library at the Baen website along with its sister books, "Heart of Darkness" and "Destiny's Shield". Since it was free I took a gander and was immediately hooked. The first book effectively introduces a mystery of grand proportions. In the world of 6th century Rome, Belisarius is a character that is not what we would expect of a Roman general. We expect ruthlessness and atrocities and looting, all the characteristics of a barbaric time in our history. However, what I saw was something which I could truly admire and respect. Belisarius has a fiendish mind for strategy and tactics, combined with that gift is a high code of honor and ethics. He will not stand helplessly and watch evil being committed in his world. He will not "compromise" with his lessors. And he definitly will not be defeated by a bunch of "savages" from India. Read the book based upon Belisarius' character alone. Fortunatly that's not all the reasons why you should read it.

The story is set in authentic historical context in the time of Justinia, Emperor of Rome. However, future is melded into the past. A device of unfathomable complexity and intelligence is sent from the future to protect history. It chooses Belisarius as its sole avatar. Belisarius will see the future and the possible future that will be, if he does not act. That future results in a world aflame with agony, and Belisarius will do whatever in his power to prevent that future to exist. Whatever it takes, he will do, and he will do it with the same standards of decency, honor, and ruthlessness as he has defeated all his enemies with. Belisarius will bring into being weapons powered by gunpowder, rockets and grenades that shatter human flesh. Technologies of the future will be retrofitted to fit with the technological base of Rome. The enemy, indeed the enemy of all civilization, the barbarians will meet their match. The barbarians have numerical superiority but their ethics allow them only to use numbers and not elite troops like the Roman's cataphracts. Eric Flint brings his own wry humor into the mix, that is also a reason to read the book. The enemy will be brought down by brilliantly described combat but the dialogue of the characters will show wit, humor, and intelligence to the reader. Absolutely one of the most enjoyable series I have ever read. The series will span the war with the Malwa barbarians, this book will feature the beginnings of that war.

I can easily imagine how this series got started: a couple of guys musing, "I wonder what would have happened if an ancient general had access to modern weaponry and tactics..."

The result is an engaging look at an alternate reality where Belisarius, a real-life general of antiquity, is contacted by a sentient "jewel" from the future. It shows him a horrific future in which the Indian Malwa dynasty conquers the world for the forces of darkness, and he immediately enlists to stop them. He is given knowledge about gunpowder and modern weapons, and he sets about gathering allies for the war that only he can see coming. The action is almost nonstop as Belisarius journeys to India with new allies to learn about his enemy and help the oppressed Indians begin a revolution from within.

Detractors will point out that Drake has done this before with S.M. Stirling, and that is true, up to a point. One major difference, though, is the fact that the sentient gem in this series is not all-powerful from the start; it grows and learns throughout the book, gradually becoming more self-aware and developing a personality. Another aspect that makes this book stand out is the cast of characters. Many of them are familiar from history lessons, and all are individual and interesting. The interplay between strong characters keeps the book from becoming just a dry series of battles and strategies.

To sum up, this book has all the fighting action to satisfy a fan of military SF, combined with an intriguing premise. It is skillfully written, and I am eagerly awaiting future installments of the series.

This is an extreemly well writen book. The characters are well portrayed, and even remain fairly close to most of the historical accounts of the real people they represent. The research done on middle ages roman warfare was obviously very through, as one would expect from a book with Drakes name on it.

The main complaint Ive heard about this book is that the main characters are generally "supermen", with a mere handfull of them literally beating off 10 or 20 times their numbers at points. Thats actually true, but it doesnt weaken the story in my opinion. Rather, I think it lends the book a feeling of high adventure with exagerated heroes similar to those found in classic mythology (you know... perseus, Achiles... those guys).

The other complaint is that the characters lack the gritty amorality (realism, a cynic might say) that you so often see in Drakes characters. This is also true, but thats totally a mater of taste. There IS a much more clearly defined line drawn between the "good" guys and the "bad" guys here, but that hardly makes the story weak.

Really, what this book puts me in mind of is a land-locked archaic version of David Webers "Honor Harringont" serries, and I strongly reccomend it.

Too often I've picked up what looked like a good novel, and have been disappointed. I remember a WWII novel covered with rave reviews, but started off as pureil trash and went downhill.

I picked up "Oblique Approach" expecting a David Drake type SciFi quick read, shallow and fun. Much to my surprise this book turned out to be much more than its cover or authors would indicate. This may well have been Drake's way of saying that he can do better than potboilers. It may be that he and Eric Flint are natural collaborrators.

Whatever the reason, this is a book chuck full of history, geography, culture, combat, intrigue, complex characters and good old fashioned SciFi and a great read. My only gripe is that now that I've read the first book, I've got to read the series.

Being a new fan of alternate history I came across eric flint's 1632 and loved it. When I went looking for more, An Oblique Approach seemed to fit the bill and I was not dissapointed. Fast paced and tightly written it kept me turning pages far into the night. Belisarius and his schemes, his men and women all combined to make a rich tapestry that tantilized and delighted me. (And the mutterings made me laugh out loud). If you are looking for a well written, intriguing and yet historical novel this is it.

I missed this one when it came out, largely because David Drake's name on a book is a strong *NEGATIVE* recommendation to me. Drake's stories are usually nasty, and his characters people who, were they dying of thirst in the desert, I would not spit upon them lest the moisture help them live.

But *THIS*, this is Eric Flint's work I am sure, with Drake supplying, at most, an outline. I ran into Flint by reading his magnificent "1632" and, when I learned of this series, went out and got all the volumes. I'm working my way through them now.

There *are* parallels between this series and the Stirling/Drake "General" collaboration, but while Stirling's good, Flint is easily the master. The writing is strong and, in places, is pure poetry. I don't want to spoil anything, but just wait until you read "How the Monsoon Visited the Palace", and what it wrought there!

Flint writes superbly, bringing all his characters to full and vivid life. We see their loves, their hates, their dreams and their nightmares. Belisarius has a cause worth fighting for and an enemy that makes the MPAA, the RIAA, and the Nazis all rolled into one look like spiteful, spoiled children. I would deem it an honor to die guarding *this* Belisarius' back. Or I would follow him to hell. Judging by the vileness of the enemy, it looks like I'll have that privilege before the series is over.

Thank you, Eric. I don't find stuff this good very often. May all kindly Gods and Goddesses watch over you and your word processor!

The parallels are so extensive you may think you are reading the same book. The major difference is it happens on earth in Byzantium, instead of far in the future on another planet in a psuedo-Roman empire. If anything it is less interesting from a human perspective because in this story Belesarius seems to be the most perfect speciman of humanity to have ever lived.

The following are correlations between the two series that I noticed:

Paranoid emperor with wife of questionable background. Insanely competant general with similar questionable background wife. Terrible threat to civilization that can only by thwarted by general. God-like assistance from sentient mind-reading crystal sent back from the future (instead of a sentient computer left over from the past).

General in danger from emperor due to competence. Relationship of the two wives used to protect him by working behind the scenes to send him away to "safe" area where he promptly works to save civilization. As part of the scheme, wife pretends to be having affairs.

Sentient crystal gives General "visions" of the future to guide his actions and also makes him an unbeatable fighter by speeding up his reactions and making him super-aware. Crystal also helps the war effort by bestowing advanced weapons technology (stirrups, rockets, etc.) upon the general.

This is a below average Drake book. I think that the Belesarius character is too perfect, and the key turning points in the plot develop as a result of coincidences that always seem to occur at the right time and move in the right direction.

Several other characters seem to share Belesarius' surreal competance. But for Belesarius, everything just seems to be going his way. He never makes a mistake, never loses his composure, much less a fight, never misjudges or missteps. And his handfull of cataphracts and Ethiopian warriors confronts armies and dispatches them all with nary a scratch.

So far (this seems to be the first in a series), Belesarius has not really had to make any hard choices or painful sacrifices or to bear the consequences of his determination to pursue his goal, and everything is going his way fabulously.

I normally enjoy Drake's books and had hoped for something better, but for me, this just wasn't a very interesting story.