Rally Cry by William R. Forstchen

[Archangel Michael]

I picked up this book at Barnes & Nobels today. I've read only about 60 pages in, and so far, I think it's pretty good. What do you think. Are the other eight books worth the money?

[Chewy]

Originally Posted by Mikey

I picked up this book at Barnes & Nobels today. I've read only about 60 pages in, and so far, I think it's pretty good. What do you think. Are the other eight books worth the money?

AYe - the collection is worth a look. I've got all 8 of them and its been a good read. It gets a bit samey after a while but its worth perservering with.

[Archangel Michael]

Here's my opinions after the first 140 pages.

It's a godd book so far. I like how Forstchen makes the Rus society very much like that of medieval Russia. The Tugars could be descendents of Mongols (Rus lives in fear of a nomadic-like people with yurts), excecpt for they are not human. Maybe they are half-human? So far, we know of tree other civilzations (the Cartahginians, Myanas, and is Roum Romans?), and that several Rus cities are named after real Russian cities. One thing that strikes me as odd is that how could a regiment of civil war soldiers have such a wide base of knowledge (trains, mills, printing press, blacksmith, and mining). I've been wondering when the 35th will get some ballons and some zeppelins to have fun with, and might happen in book tow in Rally Cry. It seems that some soldiers are armed with Sharps carbines and other wtih muskets, will they all be armed with Sharps carbines by the end of the book?

[David S Poepoe]

Mikey, if you plan to read the entire series I don't think you want to know the answers to your questions. It will take alot of the fun out of the story. I've read all eight and Forstschen said that he was going back to work on the second series. I think by the third or fourth book you get a fairly good idea of the history of the Horde.

Regarding the wide knowledge of the 35th Maine Regiment, and don't forget the accompanying New York Artillery company, the background of the typical American Civil War regiment, perhaps skewed to a degree since this is a Northern regiment also, was fantastically diverse. Also most of the technological advancement is just building upon that which they were fairly familiar with. There's no tremendous technological leap. In the time period of the 1860s it is possible, particularly in the mass drafting of civilians, that someone would have experience in a certain field which would amount to mastery in OTL. For example: A 1860s railway engineer drafted and transported to the world of the Horde would have a better idea of how to build a basic train, with the aid of a competent ironworker, than a 2004 M-1 Abrams tank driver, if transported, would be able to build a basic tank. For the most part the everyday car that we drive is so utterly complex, with its onboard computer to regulate the workings, that many of us can not build a car from scratch in its entirety.

[David Howery]

I loved the first book (the whole idea behind it was just way cool), but the rest of the series... not so much. It was kinda repetitive.... I don't want to say too much if you really want to read them, but if you read the first book, you read the theme for the whole series....

[wkwillis]

In 1864 the US had the scientific method, electromagnetics including dynamotors and batteries, the first beginnings chemistry and some notion of the periodic table, thermodynamics including steam and internal combustion motors, very good optics, crop rotation, evolutionary biology, physiology, photography, some pretty good geology, the beginnings of genetics, and a quite advanced set of economic and governmental theories.
They did not have disease theory, radio waves, cybernetics, or any understanding of nuclear physics.
People in the North had access to public libraries and spent the time we spend watching TV reading. They had large numbers of scientific journals in public and university libraries. The North had many immigrants from other countries and had themselves experienced rapid technological change, especially in war. They had already had speculations and prototypes of blimps, submarines, airplanes, automobiles, machine guns, poison gas, etc.
I haven't read any of the series for years because they got to repetitive, but the technological advances seem understated if anything. As the area under the control of the new US expanded they were better able to afford engineering development and even research. After twenty years on the new world they should have been far in advance of 1880's technology because they would have been spending far more than our world did, because our world did not have government funding of science and engineering, and they did, since they relied on continuing technological advances to repel the hoard.

[David Howery]

not to mention the incentive to increase warfare technology that the fear of being eaten by 8' tall maneating ogres who ride giant horses and behave worse than Mongols would give you....

[ejvandekaa]

there is a 9th book named: "Down to the Sea".

[The Gunslinger]

Well, they're pretty good, but once you read the first one, and the second one, and the third one, the plot gets a little predictable. Once you read the first one, not a whole lot changes. The first book in the new series was good though, I just hope something more comes of it.