The Belisarius Series
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The Belisarius Series
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An Oblique Approach
by
David Drake
and
Eric Flint
In northern India the Malwa have created an empire of unexampled evil. Guided or possessed by an intelligence from beyond time, with new weapons, old treachery, and an implacable will to power, the Malwa will sweep over the whole Earth. Only three things stand between the Malwa and their plan of eternal domination: the empire of Rome in the East, Byzantium; a crystal with vision; and a man named Belisarius, the greatest commander Earth has ever know. |
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In the Heart of Darkness
by
David Drake
and
Eric Flint
The Malwa Empire has conquered 6th century India and is forging the subcontinent's vast population into an invincible weapon of tyranny. Belisarius, the finest general of his age, must save the world. Guided by visions from a future that may never be, he and a band of comrades penetrate the Malwa heartland, seeking the core of the enemy's power. And when Belisarius leads the forces of good, only a fool would side with evil. |
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Destiny's Shield
by
David Drake
and
Eric Flint
Eric Flint and David Drake's alt-history epic devoted to real-life Byzantine butt-kicker Belisarius has reached part three and this installment busts loose with some serious head-to-head. Everybody's favorite general is leading an outnumbered Roman-Persian force to check Malwa aggression in the east, forced to action by the fiends' sea-borne invasion of the Tigris-Euphrates delta and their subsequent siege of Babylon. For those unfamiliar with the series, this what-if puts the Malwa Empire in control of the Indian subcontinent thanks to diabolical assistance from across time, granting their forces superior strategy and advanced weaponry. But the ever-canny Belisarius is equal to the challenge, with no small help from a telepathic crystal named Aid that acts as both adviser and seer. |
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Fortune's Stroke
by
David Drake
and
Eric Flint
Getting to follow big, bad Byzantine Belisarius around the alt-history battlefield--courtesy of Eric Flint and David Drake--comes in a close second to having your own personal unit of cataphracts. Following on the heels of Destiny's Shield, the fourth installment in this popular series follows the superhuman general as he harries Malwa troops in the mountains leading into Mesopotamia. He's still got the across-time assistance of the crystal Aide to help him deal with the threat, augmenting his senses and keeping him briefed on the tactics of everyone from Wellington to Turenne. But Link, the Supreme Commander of the Universe, still calls the shots for the evil empire, and Belisarius has to double-time to keep up especially facing such shrewd field commanders as Damodara. |
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The Tide of Victory
by
David Drake
and
Eric Flint
The fifth volume of the big, exuberant Belisarius saga is appropriately titled, for in it the alliance of Romans, Persians, and Ethiopians takes to sea to bring war to the coasts of the Malwa empire. This move strikes at the heart of the Malwa forces and encourages their rebellious subjects--at high cost, however, for the Malwa are as determined, if not as numerous, as ever, and fighting in what is now northwest India and on the coasts is fierce and bloody. New maritime technology makes the allies more effective at sea but doesn't prevent some desperate last stands or save the attractive young Ethiopian emperor from a mortal wound. The main hope for allied victory lies in the fact that some of the Malwa's comrades in arms are beginning to have second thoughts, and that Narses, the treacherous eunuch, seems more capable than ever of betraying three or four different parties before breakfast. Meanwhile, the saga continues to be a feast for any military sf reader with a sense of humor. |
