| Title: | Arcana Caelestia |
| Notice: | Directory listings are in topic 2 |
| Moderator: | NETRIX::thomas |
| Created: | Thu Dec 08 1983 |
| Last Modified: | Thu Jun 05 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 1300 |
| Total number of notes: | 18728 |
Has anyone else read the Janissaries stories by J.E. Puurnelle?
The latest: Storms of Victory is out and it, more so than the previous
two, cries for a sequel.
The jist of the story line is that there presently exists a
Confederation of spacefaring nations that uses humans to administer
the Confederacy. One race has been illegally taking human soldiers
to the only planet known where some super weed grows for about five
years out of every five hundred (some strange orbital mechanics
make the growing season just right in only those times). The main
plot follows the circa 1980 soldiers they bring to now grow the
crops, with a side plot on the politics of the Confederation.
Pournelle is a military historian and it shows. The stories each
have one or two realistic feeling medieval battles punctuated by
a few shots from M-16's.
I liked the first two, but I think (other than the obvious loose
ends) this one is the best. The co-author, Roland Green (I think)
probably helps give Pournelle more empathy.
Tony
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 600.1 | SCOMAN::RUDMAN | MACHINE MALFUNCTION--Down to Eng. | Tue Apr 05 1988 12:15 | 8 | |
I read the first; it was O.K., but didn't give me the impetus to
begin CLAN AND CROWN. I prefer the Falkenburg stories.
Don
P.S. Wonder how the M16's would've fared at the siege of Constantinople?
Probably would have been good for the mop-up.
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| 600.2 | I'm into hightech SF | SNDCSL::SMITH | William P.N. (WOOKIE::) Smith | Tue Apr 05 1988 13:48 | 9 |
The first was good, the second was pretty mediocre, and I've put
the third aside. If I wanted roman legions and ancient politics,
I wouldn't be reading "Science" Fiction.... Course I'm only about
1/4 of the way through it, so when I have more time I'll probably
finish it just to see if it gets any better.
Hope Springs Eternal!
Willie
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| 600.3 | tactics and politics are interesting if there's a story... | VIDEO::GUENTHER | Wed Apr 06 1988 13:11 | 7 | |
re: .2
Don't bother continuing, it's pretty much the same all the way
thru... I think this book is the least interesting in the series...
/alan
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| 600.4 | BENTLY::MESSENGER | An Index of Metals | Wed Apr 27 1988 03:07 | 4 | |
I liked them, but the more books he writes that postpone the conflict
between the mercs and the Shalnuksis the higher my boredom level
grows...
- HBM
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