Rally Cry

The Lost Regiment, Book 1

By: William R. Forstchen

Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor

Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Boarding a transport ship after the Battle of Gettysburg, Colonel Andrew Keane and his 35th Maine regiment are swept into an alternate world. The first human civilization they encounter on this planet resembles medieval Russia, with boyars and priests ruling over the peasants and townspeople. Soon Keane and his regiment learn this world's terrible secret: that cannibalistic hordes of large, fierce Tugars circle the planet and demand tribute - including humans to be devoured. And the hordes will be arriving sooner than expected, with several hundred thousand warriors on horseback.

Using all their 19th century know-how, Keane and his men build a new society with railroads and ironworks, and with skill, cooperation, and courage, the regiment and most of the Russians work together in hopes of defeating the horde.

A great story of survival and bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. First novel in the acclaimed Lost Regiment series by the author of One Second After, One Year After, and Day of Wrath.

©1990 William R. Forstchen (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

Where have you been hiding?

I feel like I need to say, 'forgive me father for I have sinned... I have ventured away form my usual zombie genre again'. Truthfully, I am glad I did. I took a punt on this one. There were no real detailed reviews. I was running low on cash and needed a title which was long enough to make certain I could see the end of the week out.

This one took me an hour to really get into it. At first I was thinking this is just a simple army transported back in time deal. That in itself isn't a bad story line. But as the story went along it really developed into so much more. The author needs to be congratulated for the great ideas which were gradually introduced in this one. Actually, this kind of summarised my thoughts of the whole story, wasn't expecting much, but as the story went it gradually grew on me, to the point that I have purchased the next in the series.

Narration: not the best in sound quality more static than usual. The breathing of the narrator is more obvious. Speed was acceptable and could easily be listened to at normal speed. The slightly less quality might be due to the fact that this is a old release... I think 1990. The benefit of not needing to be sped up like so many titles these days is that you get full value dollar per hour wise. And at over 15 hours it is excellent value!

The story is similar to 'Destroyermen' series by Taylor Anderson, or is it the other way round? Destroyermen is similar to Rally Cry The Lost Regiment??? Either way it doesn't matter. I loved Destroyermen and now I am hooked on this one!

What I found very pleasing is the ending of this one. I won't give away any details. However, I will say this one does end well and it is not one of those stories which forces you to buy the next in the series to find out what happens. The reality is that you will buy the next in the series because you won't want it to end!

PS. Some people have tracked me on the good old inter webs and asked if I receive free copies of the titles I review, or if I get paid for reviews. I can say beyond any shadow of doubt, the answer is no I have not. Some authors have offered, but I have said no.

Fun Introduction

A fun introduction to an interesting new world. The narrator is, however, rather bland. Making it difficult to tell who he is voicing at times.

Story wise, it is enjoyable enough. The only major annoyance being the writer clearly can’t write women, and as a result their is only one female viewpoint character and she regularly is just pinning about her romantic angst for the Captain of the brigade. More annoying that anything else, but the rest of the characters are written well enough.

By far the best writing has to go to the cannibalistic Tigard, whose viewpoint chapters are exceptionally engaging as we get a look at their alien culture.

If you like ISOT stories, then this will scratch that itch pretty well. Definitely good enough for me to eventually pick up the second one.

I’m that guy- “I never write reviews but...”

I seriously never take the time to do this but this entire series is one of my all time favorites. I found this book on a discount rack back in 1994. I read it all without stopping to sleep or eat. Went back to the book store the next day and bought all the books in the series that were available at that time. Read them all in less than 2 weeks. Even wrote the author- William R. Forstchen, to thank him and beg him for more books in the series. Have been a huge fan ever since. I read this entire series over and over until the covers fell off. I bought them all again and turned my friends on to them. I’ve read them all from cover to cover 5 different times. THE most enjoyable series of books I have EVER read and I read a ton of books. When I signed up for audible, these books were the first ones I bought. Was so much fun listening to them from another readers perspective. I cannot recommend them enough.

Amazing book. Fantastic narrator!

Rally Cry by William Forstchen and read by Patrick Lawlor is a match made in heaven. Lawlor makes the characters come alive with an amazing array of voices, you'd think it was multiple people performing on this book. The story by Forstchen is a beautiful, enthralling, blend of historical warfare and science-fiction. The 15 hours that this book took to finish flew by and sets up for bigger things to come! Do yourself a favor and get it as it's worth every cent. ENJOY!

Great story, Bad narrator

I have every intention of buying the rest of the books gradually despite my preference for a different narrator. The guy just didn't have the weight and gravitas for this book. The main protagonists are 8 ft tall, eat human beings and look like devil's as the book itself describes them. It really needed to be a deep base voice like a baritone. It's not the narrators fault. Someone else should have been selected.

I could not finish the first one

I was sadly disappointed in this book. After reading One second after series I was expecting the same quality of story, I was disappointed. The performance of the reader was tiresome and uninteresting. I got through about half before I could not take anymore. Very disappointed

A budget version of 1632

if you like 1632 this is basically the same thing but done worse. it's a mostly enjoyable read with an ending that relies a bit too much of deus ex machina.

Absolutely great!

Really loved this book! The themes of dying as free men vs living as slaves, and integrity and grit shine brightly.

An Engaging Read

I really enjoyed this book! I’ll admit that some parts seemed a bit contrived, but, overall, the story kept me listening. You can tell that the author knew the history of the civil war very well (and was quite passionate about it!) The soldiers of the 35th Maine are historically realistic; for example, one is a Quaker with strong religious reservations about engaging in war that he has to sacrifice for survival. The novel really shines in its descriptions of historical technology and warfare, and they give it an authentic feel.
The tugars are revolting and horrifying! I found myself loathing them as much as the characters in the novel. Still, the author does a good job of giving them some respectable qualities.
I found it interesting how the Republican ideals of the Union regiment spread so easily to the Suzdalians and that the Americans were the first to seriously organize resistance against the Tugars. That says to me that the author thinks pretty highly of American ideals and values (“why wouldn’t any other country want to adopt them?”) I also found it almost satirical how the Suzdalians were led by corrupt, duplicitous nobles and clerics while the Americans only had one truly corrupt character.
The romance in the novel is kind of shoehorned in, but that didn’t bother me. I felt that it was honestly kind of irrelevant to the main point of the book, which were the battle scenes and the history (I’m guessing the author felt this way also.)

Charge for the Guns..

Magnificent Wish they made a movie of the series. Hits like a 50 pounder

harry turtledove like with a Civilation game feel

I wasn't sure about this title but i'd say if you like Harry Turtledove, Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series or the Civilization games by Sid Meier; then you will probably enjoy this!

I have a fondness SF Alternative history combos so was already its target audience but its look at religion, the task high speed industrialization and civil war battle tech and tatics really made this book enjoyable.

Also its nice to have a book where a Quaker is one of the main character and their struggle with non-violence principles in a barbarous world.

decent book with a bad start

the story is rather interesting and is quite similar to the series "Destroyermen". my problem is the fact that the author can't write a subjective character, I am a European reading a book with an American civil war setting and the author has decided to invalidate a incredible complex geopolitical issuse by simply going "Slavery bad" and goes froth to write their character sas if they are on a moral crusade. they write their characters deifying Lincoln as if he was the Messiah reborn desire Lincoln many glaring failings .
The narrator does a good job with the Russian parts as well as the turgars lines but after a while you can't tell the Americans and other Russians apart.
I love the Character Hans but it honestly feels stupid to put a Prussian professional soldier that deserted to America and served before the war and only have him stay a sergeant in a random maine regiments, it is just nonsensical, same with alot of the enlisted men such as the ones with Chemical, industrial and engineering backgrounds. especially the good doctor Weiss who is a formally trained doctor from Budapest ( just to point out the "revolutionary medical science he brings was standard since 1809, the author didn't do their research",),Weiss is kept as a regimential doctor despite his formal advance training where he historical and in common sense would be assigned to medical corp to lead a field surgeon hospital, instead he is a single man assigned to the health of 600+ without any orderlies or stretcher bearers. this would be like having a your head of state follower a bunch of farmers around.
there is a reference to the Spanish empire with their arebuises early on but a glaring problem would be the fact that there has been constant warfare arcoss the whole world so only having a select few factions from history is a flaw, where it is the European empires that waged unceasing wars,the kingdoms that fought constantly.


and finally the worst part, the most insufferable character: Catherine, if you removed her from this book series it would be an improvement. This is supposed to be a woman in the 1800's that serves as a nurse in a medical corps but instead is a belligerent self-absorbed woman's that speaks like she is from 1964, her Frist introduction is her barging into a man room while he is suffering from a nightmare, for a medical nurse in the american civil war this is nonsensical as she could be injured and the door was mentioned to be locked. latter as she talks to the main character she mention her past lost of a loved one only to the shut down the conversation by mentioning the dead brother of the main character to avoid further conversation that she herself began, she jumps between civil with the main character and then being cold to him, such as the bar brawl where he tries to save a soldier's life only for her to insinuate that he is a cold blooded officer.tht dosen care for his men despite the oblivious difference,Catherine is a blight upon the book. it feels like no research was do into how society behaved back in the 1800's I'm regards to how men and women behaved

Great

Thought this was going to be a bit crappy and it did have a crappy seeming start but I loved it and would suggest to anyone