The Tide of Victory

De: David Drake, Eric Flint

Narrado por: Pete Bradbury

Armed with lancers, breech-loading rifles, steamships, and galleys, General Belisarius, accompanied by his own ally from the future, ventures into the Malwa Empire, a sixth-century kingdom ruled by Link, a horrifying and evil entity from the future.

©2001 David Drake and Eric Flint (P)2020 Recorded Books

great series

I enjoyed both the story and the reading of this book.
in war, people die.

This is a great series

I love this series. I loved it in print and now that a disease is taking my eyesight, I love it even it even more in audio. It is well thought out, planned, and the characters are real enough. They are as complex as the people we know. The action is good and the historical references are to the point. The best part is the humor. When is the last volume going to be available?

Inconsistent time line

Good once got started. Need to ignore strange time line. Jumps in at about 650 AD. Time of the general and Justinian. In middle of campaign but no explanation as to who from future or no, where special device came from or the alien etc.

Warfare evolution with a master strategist

The Tide of Victory is the fifth installment in the Belisarius saga by the writing duo of David Drake and Eric Flint. In this alternate history tale, futuristic advanced intelligences have sent AIs back to the sixth century to alter the course of history in their favor. Belisarius was a successful Roman general at that time who received advice to assist in fighting the ‘evil’ Malwa empire. Between Rome and Malwa are several other developing civilizations. Belisarius deftly integrates the advanced warfare technology offered including gunpowder and steamships into a skillful strategy to confront the Malwa forces while diplomatically forging alliances with adjacent powers.

Drake and Flint continue a compelling and engaging tale that offers a glimpse into the subtle and not so subtle impact of technological advancement to warfare. In many cases, the advance is almost trivial, but the creative ways in which technology is implemented makes for an enjoyable listen while at the same time recognizing that earlier periods of human history were constrained by available technology, rather than creativity and imagination.

The narration is superb with excellent character distinction. Pacing is smooth.

Not as good as the previous books, for me

I really liked the earlier books in this series, with their supernatural elements. But while those are still here in a token way, this book was more like a 19th century account of a lot of troop movements. Lots of minutiae. I found a lot of it too boring and kept wandering off to read other things.
Still, it basically has what I like - intelligent people doing intelligent things, comedy, action, etc. I’m hoping the last book will be better, and have more Belisarius vs Narses