Weber, David
MARCH UPCOUNTRY
David Weber & John Ringo
BAEN 2001
Pb 586 pages
ISBN#
0-7434-3538-9
This is for action/adventure fans who
don't mind a single story spread out over a trilogy. With
Weber's knowledge of military history and Ringo's experience
in Airborne, you can believe these two writers do good
military space fiction. The story is full of action as this
reader likes: it starts off hot and fast and rarely slows
for a breather.
Prince Roger Ramius Sergei Alexander
Chiang MacClintock, of the House MacClintock, Heir Tertiary
to the Throne of Man has been raised in isolation from the
intrigues of court because his father was a traitor. No one
is sure whether Prince Roger will follow his father's
footsteps or hold to his mother's rule, so not even his
guards are entirely comfortable around him. Unaware of
these political undercurrents, Roger knows only that he gets
very little respect. He assumes this is because of his
foppish and rude behavior, which is in part true, so sullen
Roger is not an easy prince for Bronze Battalion of The
Empress' Own Regiment--"the best of the best of the
best"--to guard.
Intrigues at court (unknown to the
reader and Roger) cause the Empress to send Prince Roger off
on some stupid flag-waving mission (as an excuse to get him
out of the way for awhile). Unfortunately, his ship is
booby-trapped in transit and he and his guards have to crash
land on a barbaric planet held by their enemies the Saints.
The first part of the book covers the escape from the Saints
in space and the last two thirds of the book is the "march
upcountry" from their back-land's crash-site toward
civilization. I get the impression from the titles of the
next two books that Roger and his guards don't get off this
back-world of Marduk until book three.
Though the character interrelationships
aren't as deeply drawn here as I am accustomed to from other
authors, the action and world-building make up for that
lack. And the characterization is good enough that I do
want to go buy the other two books when next I get out to a
bookstore. The inhabitants of Marduk have horned-heads, are
two and a half meters tall, have two sets of arms, and are
covered with mucus. Their society--at least that shown in
this book--is at the pre-gunpowder stage. The Mardukans are
more interested in warring with their neighbors than with
the "stupid" humans who come among them. Obviously, this is
a sure ingredient for hazard pay, especially when all sorts
of unexpected things go wrong, and the odds against Roger
and his guards keep getting higher and higher. Many of
Prince Roger's marines will never see Earth again.
Meanwhile, not only does the prince have some very fast
growing up to do, but his guards need to reevaluate who it
is they are putting their lives on the line for, and why.
My only complaint with MARCH UPCOUNTRY
was the occasional stylistic choice of framing data dumps
with dialogue. This reader finds it irritating to read one
line of dialogue then wade through two-and-a-half pages of
world-building before the other character in the scene
responds. Luckily, these annoying interruptions were few
and far between. Other than that, this is a story worth
reading. Here is a sample of the text: "'So,' Roger said
testily, 'what do we do now?' 'We wait, Your Highness,'
the company commander replied calmly. He seemed to have
gotten over his anger at the prince's refusal to carry his
own gear. 'The waiting is supposed to be the hardest
part.' 'Is it?' Roger asked. He found himself out of his
depth. This was something he'd never planned for--not that
he'd been given many options in planning his life--and it
was something he wasn't prepared for. He was accustomed to
the challenge of sports, but one reason he had embraced that
sort of challenge was because no one had ever taken him
seriously enough to make any others applicable to him. Now
he was face to face with the greatest challenge of his
life...and making a mistake on this ballfield would mean
death."
Return to Reviews