The Lost Regiment Sereis by William R. Forstchen

I saw the last two books of this sereies at the local bookstore, and though about buying the first book in the series off Amazon. Before I decide to buy it, is it any good?
 
I loved the first book in the series... unfortunately, the series' quality dribbled downhill after that, little by little... the books have kinda the same formula... the US troops beat a small horde of the aliens, and up pops a bigger one.. they beat that one and up pops a bigger one.. and so on...
 
Ya, its like what David says. It's just a lot of the same thing over and over again for several novels. It's a pretty good read though, Read the first one, once it sets the stage, not much changes.
 
David Howery said:
I loved the first book in the series... unfortunately, the series' quality dribbled downhill after that, little by little... the books have kinda the same formula... the US troops beat a small horde of the aliens, and up pops a bigger one.. they beat that one and up pops a bigger one.. and so on...

That's true to a certain extent. What is really interesting is the technological progression which develops as the series goes on as the Yankees have to keep developing to stay ahead of the aliens. Also very interesting is how the Yankees impact the culture on this world...the scenes where the medieval Russian troops go off to battle singing "Battle Cry of Freedom"...in Russian...are just hilarious to me, for example. The alien culture is also very interesting, although you don't get to see nearly as much of that. I thought the books were outstanding.
 
Mikey> basically, I would recommend just getting the first book and reading it... the sequels don't really add that much, and the first book is a pretty complete novel by itself. I love the whole idea behind the series... giant maneating ogres with a mongol-like culture... what's not to like? :)
 
Having read the entire series, and learned that Forstchen is probably getting back to writing the second series, I have to say that they are pretty good books. They are in the same vein as "The General" series, and even they got pretty formulaic by the third book, but its interesting to watch the quick adoption of new technologies. I always eagerly awaited the next book, and continue to do so today.
 
I loved the first book in the series... unfortunately, the series' quality dribbled downhill after that, little by little... the books have kinda the same formula... the US troops beat a small horde of the aliens, and up pops a bigger one.. they beat that one and up pops a bigger one.. and so on...

I agree, the first one really is awesome though.
 
There are nine books in the series right now, correct?

Technically it is two series...the first, of eight books, which deals with the struggles of the original Lost Regiment. Then the second series, which as of now consists of one book, DOWN TO THE SEA, which begins to chronicle the adventures of the children of the members of the original Lost Regiment.
 

Jasen777

Donor
Like others have said: started off good and then went downhill.

And I was vastly disappointed when half-way through the book "Never Sound Retreat," the good guys sounded retreat :(
 
His last installment - Down to the Sea - was published in 2000. I think this series has died out. The earlier reviewers are right, it's the same story over and over again. I recall getting chills down my back when I read description of the human prisioners being killed by having the aliens eat their brains while they were still alive.
 
Finally something we don't need to blame Thande for Forstchens writting went down hill after he start hanging with Newt Gringrich.

Can you say "1945".:eek:
 
If you want highbrow entertainment read some shakespeare,if your after a bit of escapism with a bit of blood and guts give it a go!

p.s watch out...I think the good guys win....
 
The first four books were very good. I found the first book simply exceptional and read it so many times in my younger days that it began to fall apart. The second book stands in contrast to the other three, with the naval combat and the human enemies. The third book was interesting with the "we have guns, of course we'll defeat the savage hordes...oh look, we've just been outflanked." And who couldn't like the last stand aspect of the fourth book. After that, though, it wasn't that the books then started going progressively downhill, but rather they went from good to utter and total crap, not worth the paper they're printed on in one step. Well, the ninth book somehow was even worse. When the names of characters on the summary on the back of the book don't match the names of the characters in the book, you know you're in for a ride. And by that point, the whole "and another horde emerges to challenge the humans" had gotten real old.
 
Huh. I actually stopped reading at book 4 because I couldn't find the fifth one...

Although the details about how rifle X works and the logistics were kind of appealing...
 
Well, I just purchased all eight on EBay for 10.00 with shipping...hopefully they're as good as most of you are saying. If not, hell, it's only a ten-spot.:D
 
That "Well, we defeated them last book, but here comes an even bigger, badder bunch who just didn't feel like getting involved until now" theme quickly got old. I wrote a satire about what would happen if the copyright on The Lord of the Rings had been broken (there was a lawsuit to do this a few years ago) and Forstchen among others had signed on to do the "revised" version. If anyone is interested I can post it.
 

Thande

Donor
That "Well, we defeated them last book, but here comes an even bigger, badder bunch who just didn't feel like getting involved until now" theme quickly got old. I wrote a satire about what would happen if the copyright on The Lord of the Rings had been broken (there was a lawsuit to do this a few years ago) and Forstchen among others had signed on to do the "revised" version. If anyone is interested I can post it.

That sounds interesting. I can imagine what it would involve :rolleyes:
 
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