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After the collapse of the galactic Web, civilizations crumbled and chaos reigned on thousands of planets. Only on planet Bellevue was there a difference. There, a
Fleet Battle Computer named Center had survived from the old civilization. When it found Raj Whitehall, the man who could execute its plan for reviving human
civilization, he and Center started Bellevue back on the road leading to the stars; and when Bellevue reached that goal, Center sent copies of itself and Raj to the
thousands of worlds still waiting for the light of civilization to dawn.
On Hafardine, civilization had fallen further than most. That men came from the stars was not even a rumor of memory in Adrian Gellert's day. The Empire of
Vanbret spread across the lands in a sterile splendor that could only end in another collapse, more ignominious and complete than the first. Adrian Gellert
was a philosopher, a Student of the Grove. His greatest desire was a life of contemplation in the service of wisdom ... until he touched the "holy relic" that
contained the disincarnate minds of Raj Whitehall and Center. On that day, Adrian's search for wisdom would lead him to a life of action, from the law-courts
of Vanbret to the pirate cities of the Archipelago and battlefields bloodier than any in the history he'd learned. The prize was the future of humanity.
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Creators
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Series
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Publisher
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Release date
December 15, 2020 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781980049494
- File size: 287480 KB
- Duration: 09:58:54
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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March 29, 1999
Military SF experts Stirling and Drake move into hardcover for the seventh entry in their General series (The Chosen, etc.), about soldier-statesman Raj Whitehall and the sentient computer, Center, influencing the course of civilization in a far-future galaxy. This time, the discarnate minds of man and machine do their good work on a planet that has regressed to a level of technology resembling that of the Roman Empire; there's even an equivalent to Rome (Vanbert), which has conquered the local version of Greece (Emerald, with its capital of Solinga standing in for Athens). Aided by Whitehall and Center, Adrian Gellert, a Solingian law clerk working in Vanbert, becomes involved in a rebellion, along with his warrior brother, Esmond. Before they have to flee, they introduce gunpowder grenades to Vanbert. They also equip King Casull of the Isles with arquebuses, cannon and steam-driven ironclad rams. The climax, occupying a third of the novel, involves the Islanders' assault on Vanbert's coastal city of Preble, and is told with the knowledge of military tactics and hardware, and the vividly described action, that readers expect from Stirling and Drake. There's not much originality on display here, and the ending is indecisive, but devotees of military SF should enjoy themselves nonetheless.
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