[.ca] Destiny's Shield HC (ISBN 0671578170)

From Amazon.com:
Eric Flint and David Drake's alt-history epic devoted to real-life Byzantine butt-kicker Belisarius has reached part three--Destiny's Shield--and this installment finally busts loose with some serious head-to-head. Everybody's favorite general is leading an outnumbered Roman-Persian force to check Malwa aggression in the east, forced to action by the fiends' sea-borne invasion of the Tigris-Euphrates delta and their subsequent siege of Babylon. For those unfamiliar with the series, this what-if puts the Malwa Empire in control of the Indian subcontinent thanks to diabolical assistance from across time, granting their forces superior strategy and advanced weaponry. But the ever-canny Belisarius is equal to the challenge, with no small help from a telepathic crystal named Aid that acts as both adviser and seer. The writing tandem of Flint and Drake still proves strong--relative newcomer Flint (Mother of Demons) seems well-paired with military-SF powerhouse Drake, creator of "the meanest bunch of mercs who ever nuked a world for pay" (that'd be Hammer's Slammers, natch). The two offer up their usual dose of meticulous historical detail and realistic, mud-and-blood combat and tactics. Throw in some time-bending fun like Belisarius's "invention" of the Knights Hospitaler and phrases like "fire in the hole," and you know you're in for a good time. (Of course, if you're new to the series, check out the first book, An Oblique Approach.) --Paul Hughes

Another fine book in a great series:
The long expected Malwa invasion of Persia has finally struck and the Persians turn to their ancient enemies, the Byzantine Romans, for help. The ex-Emperor Justinian convinces Theodora to send Constantinople's greatest general--perhaps the greatest general in the history of the world--Belesarius to help. With only ten thousand soldiers, Belisarius will have to work a miracle to survive, let alone defeat the hordes of Malwa arriving from India. Fortunately, Belisarius has been planning a miracle for some time now. The stakes are high. The Malwa are led by Link--an intelligent artifact sent from the future with the goal of eliminating any notion of talent or freedom from the planet. Belisarius defeats a raiding Malwa cavalry force as he approaches ancient Babylon where the Persian Emperor is beseiged. In the meantime, his Indian ally, Shakuntala, has begun her own campaign against the Malwa occupation of most of India. Belisarius's wife, Antonia is sent to Alexandria to reassert Roman Imperial authority (as was often the case in historical Byzantine Egypt, religious disputes threaten Roman rule) and to create an arsenal for her husband and Shakuntala--and the nucleus for a new front against the huge Malwa armies. Authors Eric Flint and David Drake again combine in this third novel in the Belisarius series. Flint and Drake deliver a powerful mix of military fantasy (what would Belisarius have done if he had access to effective gunpowder-based weapons), pure tactics, and touches of real historical research. Even with the greatest general of history, the defeat of a super-intelligent artifact seems a little too easy and occasional modern themes creep in (would holy men like Michael really have been quite so broad-minded about the various Christian faiths at war with one another, and would Anthonia really have so actively worked to protect the Jews of Alexandria?) but that is largely quibbling. DESTINY'S SHIELD makes for a compelling and page-turning (or scroll-bar clicking) read.

I wish this pair would write school history texts...:
They do a good job of making history much more personable and interesting. Granted, they are writing fiction, but relying on history for a general basis. A lot more folks might like history class more if we could put them to work.

I Love Belisarius:
A continuation of the Belisarius saga doesn't leave much to be desired. The interplay of the characters is fascinating and wonderful.

3rd in a great series !:
Great, great, great book. I especially enjoy a great series since I sometimes read 2 to 3 books a week. Very engaging, the characters are real and well developed, the plot is very interesting. I generally do not go in for alternate history but this one draws me in for some reason. The paperback was dadgum hard to get a hold of. I finally bought one for $20 from one of the amazon resellers. Was in good shape !

3rd book in the Belisariad:
This is really a novel of alternate history, with a few alien SF or before-their-time inventions added to create plot situations for eastern Romans in A.D 531. It's a light page-turner, with something exciting, clever, or anachronistic in every chapter to make it fun. It is written in three parallel streams-General Belisarius allied with Persians to defend Babylon against an overwhelming alien-led Malwa invasion, his wife Antonina attempting to recover Egypt as the foundry of empire, and a rebel empress subverting the Malwa powerbase in the Ghats of India. There's a good balance between plot, lead characters, and military affairs here. A number of basic cusswords are tipped in for flavor, but battle is fairly bloodless as military fiction goes, with a wry sense of (military) humor throughout. I'm afraid the authors give no organized backstory (what has happened in the previous two books) so this is not the place to discover how history was diverted from its "true" course into this alternate world. And of course there's no closure to the story. The characters have not learned something new but are simply farther along their courses to their destinys in later volumes. Most everyone seems to be a competent, tough, moral, and resourceful soldier to admire. Killers they may be, but you feel they are OUR killers. For Belisarius in particular everything always falls out right. Indeed, it had better if the overwhelming numbers and gunpowder weapons of the Malwa are to be overcome.