A good romp
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This is the last, unfortunately, in the Prince Roger series. Let's get one thing straight immediately. It isnt great literature. It's a well written adventure story where the good guys overcome the bad guys using any means that they can. Just like in the real world eh?
But this is FANTASY so we can allow some departure from reality. Isnt that why we read books like this? Well I do and I enjoyed every page. I have read other reviews where the characters are called cliches. So what: it's nice to know how the characters will react sometimes.
I am saddened by one thing. It is the last book in the series. Surely Mr Weber and Mr Ringo, don't you have to finish off the baddies? Settle the other star nations. Sort our Roger and his family - not to mention all the others?
I know you are both busy and (I hope anyway) writing sequals to other series' (HH, Fury, etc) this series could do with just one more book to tie up some loose ends.
4 stars only because there was some chaff amongst the wheat but overall this is an enjoyable read.
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At last, my Prince returns........
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For a whole afternoon last Sunday, I was infused with delight and anticipation. I have found the 4th book in this fab series of course!! I could not wait to get home to read it and fortunately I was not disappointed. Usually I read fast, but this time I was determined to slow down and savour the twists and turns of 'We Few'. For those of you who have read the first three books in the series, you will not need any introduction to the story line or its very believable characters. For those of you who haven't, what are you waiting for?? Go forth, find/purchase and enjoy. :-) Hmm..... I think I will read the first book again, third time.
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Excellent 4th Book in the Roger McLintock saga
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"We few" follows on from the trilogy of books in which Prince Roger McLintock, spoilt younger son of the Empress of an interstellar empire, is stranded on the primitie planet Marduk.
The sequence of books so far in the series is:
March Upcountry
March to the Sea
March to the Stars
We Few.
Having fought their way from one end of a primitive planet to the other, captured a spaceport, and captured an enemy starship, Prince Roger and the 12 survivors of his bodyguard had acheived what they thought would be necessary to return home. Unfortunately they now find that there has been a coup on Old Earth, in which the sabotage of Roger's ship was only the first act.
Roger's mother the Empress Alexandra is being held prisoner by the evil Prince Jackson and by Roger's own father: his brother, sister, and all his nephews and nieces have been murdered. And in the belief that he was dead and can't answer back, the real criminals have made Roger the scapegoat for the murders, so that all his potential allies think he's the traitor.
But the people who are running the Empire have made two mistakes. First, Roger is very much alive: second, he's a McLintock and they've made him very, very angry ...
The "We few" of the title is a reference to the few survivors who fought all the way round Marduk and the bond between them.
Excellent collaboration between John Ringo and David Weber. The naval battle scenes and political manouvering could have come out of an Honor Harrington book, while the ground fighting scenes are very reminiscent of the "Posleen" series. In other words, the best of both writers.
The ending does appear to leave open the option of at least one more book in the series, so I will wait with interest to see if another one comes forward.
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Pocking Brilliant!
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This is the final instalment (to date) of Weber and Ringo's Regiment of Bronze series.
Roger McClintock and his personal protection had finally made it across two continents and an ocean to the sole Imperial outpost on Marduk where they'd obtained transport off world.
All too few had survived the exceptionally violent wildlife and equally friendly natives, but some had and those natives became true believers in the cause of Roger's survival. The ones Roger and his people had left alive anyway...
Now all Roger and his all-too-few fellow travellers had to do was persuade those who only knew the playboy prince and didn't believe he could change as much as he had that he could be emperor. The proof would be unpleasant for all involved.
Roger's mother, the Empress was under the thumb of the real conspirators leaving only Roger's ability to win allies to free her from the horrors of her incarceration.
Jointly written by Weber and Ringo, the series as a whole and this in particular show a degree of grittiness rare in Weber's individual writing, an undoubted influence of Ringo's time in the military. This is an intense and page turning read.
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A solid 4th installment of the Saga of Prince Roger
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This isn't the best of the four books that comprises this series to date. That being said it is a solid addition. Where the first three concentrate on survival in hostile terrain this moves Prince Roger and the Basik's Own into the murky waters of political intrigue that is terran poltics. The latter is handled deftly and has the hallmarks of David Weber. Yet Ringo as ever the rising star of military SF shows his ability in the realistic battle scenes. The fact that people we have come to care for die with regularity only enhances the believability in this almost unbelievable story. Who dies this time? Read it and see.
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