March Upcountry

Prince Roger Series, Book 1

By: David Weber, John Ringo

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

Length: 17 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

Roger Ramius Sergei Chiang MacClintock was young, handsome, athletic, an excellent dresser, and third in line for the Throne of Man. So it wasn't surprising that he became spoiled, self-centered, and petulant. After all, what else did he have to do with his life?

But that was before his mother, the empress, packed him off to a backwater planet and he found himself shipwrecked on the planet Marduk, with jungles full of damnbeasts, killerpillars, carnivorous plants, and barbarian hordes of bad disposition. Fortunately, Roger had an ace in the hole: Bravo Company of Bronze Battalion of the Empress' Own Regiment. Now all Roger has to do is hike halfway around the planet, capture a spaceport from the Bad Guys, commandeer a starship, and go home.

Don't miss the rest of the action in the Prince Roger Series.

©2001 David Weber and John Ringo (P)2005 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Sure to please....Superb storytelling." (Publishers Weekly)

pokking portena

loved it. entertaining accents even if they weren't what you had in your head if you read it first

a delightful listen

The story is good, and I really enjoyed the reader's voice. Stefan Rudnicki always gives an excellent performance! Thank you!

Score is probably closer to 3.5 but rounding is ok

There is some good and some bad when it comes to the book. More good though.

The book is fairly well written with what feels like a good stopping point. I know they have multiple books out, and both Webber and Ringo are experienced enough they knew when a good time was. The characters are fairly well rounded, and the fact they implemented female marines alongside the male marines and didn't even make a point of it is a definite positive.

You do grow to like the main character and all of his supporting characters. I haven't read ahead, but I do home his possible romance works out as well. The plot twists are not too trope defined, and it is enjoyable overall.

The negatives are all interrelated but I don't think it should turn you off. The book is almost 20 years old, and it does feel a little dated. There is a feeling of white savior/local savage to it, or maybe it is closer to the Tonto/Lone Ranger inequalities. It isn't as bad as pulp fiction from earlier and I don't think it rests on the white savior trope too much since it is more about survival of the white boy among all the local tribal populations and less trying to save that population.

It also could be that the narrator of the book has a tendency to give Kord the whole "Tonto" accent and maybe that just throws me off. There isn't a lot of new territory in this book but it is enjoyable. There are a few parts where you can see Ringo wrote something versus Webber and when the transition happens it feels choppy since their styles are slightly different.

Overall though I do recommend the book though, well enough I am going to get the second one this weekend.

Would have been 5 across the board

But the narrator has issues. Doesnt appear to know what the bow of a boat is, a hunting bow is, or the traditional gesture of respect to royalty.
hint: they're pronounced differently.
Things like that are really the only detractors here.

should be made Into movie

what you would expect from Weber and Ringo. great book and great storyline. somehow one that's been just about overdone you made a good book out of it. narration is top notch.

Even better fourth time around

First time around was paperback. Second time around was the entire set in hard cover. Third time around was a mix of the two, depending on where I was. This fourth time around I am enjoying immensely, as I am listening to it as I'm commuting or walking the dogs. Highly recommended

Weber, Ringo, and Rudnicki -- a great combination

This is the first in the Prince Roger series, and it gets off to a great start. Typical Weber and Ringo, with lots of action and adventure, but there's more underneath here than we sometimes see. The story has Prince Roger on his way to do his "wave the flag" duty at a distant world when his ship, and the dedicated Company of soldiers assigned to protect his (in their and just about everyone else's opinion) worthless butt is forced to land on a minor and rather inhospitable world due to sabatoge. They fight the flora, fauna and natives, to march "up-country" to try to get to the one port on the planet so that Roger can return home. The interaction between Roger and his Company, especially the Company Commander, is a learning experience for everyone.

The story is well read by Stefan Rudnicki, whose narration is seamless and becomes a part of the story, never standing out or distracting.

Overall, a pleasure, and a read that makes me really want to do a couple of extra laps just to listen to it.

Fun adventure

This is a combined story of a coming of age and a military(marine to be exact) scifi. Because I started to reread Honorverse, I wanted to try the other stories Weber wrote. I'm glad I picked this book up. It's a non-stop action packed adventure story of a wild planet by a group of elite marines protecting a spoiled prince. By the end of the book the prince becomes less annoying and shows surprising( a bit too easy) amount of depth and strength as well as a promise as a future leader. Only thing that bothered me was the amount of blood and carnage that seem to be necessary with these kind of military novels. If one can get through those scenes, it's a very entertaining book.

FANTASTIC! VERY GOOD WRITING AND NARRATION.

I never thought I would enjoy a series so much. I love how Prince Roger develops in character . I like captain Palmer ? Also and all the other characters . How they continue on their journey to find a way home is very interesting and challenging. I will be following this series and have downloaded bk2.

The Imperial Marines aren't babysitters.

This series is an excellent choice if you love Military SciFy. A bit of killing, a bit of political problems and a lot of fun to listen to.