The General Book V: The Sword

by David Drake and S.M. Stirling

Book Overview

For five years Raj Whitehall has led his men across the face of the planet Bellevue. With saber and bayonet he has conquered one barbarian nation after another. Now his greatest enemy is his own... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671876473
• ISBN13: 9780671876470
• Release Date: February 1995
• Publisher: Baen Books
• Length: 343 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.2" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

Excellent 5 Book Series

This is the standard by which I judge all military fiction. I have never found another that was it's equal. Even when the same authors got together again for books 6 and 7 (which I have reviewed separately) they couldn't recreate the magic of this series.THE GENERAL series is about a fallen interstellar society which has climbed it's way back up to the technological level of the American Civil War. The hero, Raj Whitehall, has to reunite the planet in order to reach the stars again some day. This involves a lot of fighting and empire building. What gives Raj his edge is the pre-fall computer he has linked with that can see through his eyes. This series has outstanding character development, a solid and well thought out overall plot line, and good story resolution in each book. The two things that really make the series the top of its genre are the interaction between the computer and the hero, and the realism of the situation. The interaction is a delicate balance that the authors perform magically. If the computer (Center) contributes too much, then the hero has too much of an edge, he doesn't have to try, and the story becomes boring. Without the computer, the hero is just this god like superhuman character that can do no wrong. The computer assistance makes Raj identifiable to the reader, even after he overcomes overwhelming odds to defeat the enemy. The realism comes from the fact that Raj is based on the life of a real person. The whole story is very similar to the story of Byzantine General Belisarius who conquered most of the Mediterranean world for his Emperor after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. That makes it very believable. The characters are very real. Their actions really happened a millenium and a half ago.This is a must read for any fan of military fiction or empire building.

Hey I loved it

Okay I read the other review and had to add my opinion.I loved the series, it's from stem the stern the best series I've read this year.The other guy had a point about how it'd be cooler if the technology had continued to advance with centers assistance (david, s.m.? can you hear us?)But the fact is that the story is compelling, the characters well written and frankly is just a really fun read from stem to stern my biggest complaint is that the series is ended already.I'd love to see more books, with more interesting technological advancement using centers resources. I'd like to see what popinlach and raj make in a few years...and say a colony rebellion...but the books rocked. all of them.. the "sequel" the choson, was only about 75% as good but still worth reading...