Status
Call number
Series
Publication
Description
Fiction. Science Fiction. HTML: Prince Roger MacClintock, Tertiary Heir to the Throne of Man, was a spoiled rotten, arrogant, whiny, thoroughly useless young pain in the butt. But that was before an assassination attempt marooned the Royal Brat and his bodyguards on the planet Marduk, and before they had to march half way around the entire planet, through 120-degree heat and five-hour rainstorms in jungles full of damnbeasts, capetoads, killerpillars, and atul-grak, not to mention hostile peoples, to make their way back to port. Under the right circumstances, even the most spoiled brat can grow up fast; and it turns out that, under his petulant exterior, Prince Roger is a true MacClintock, a scion of the warrior dynasty that created the Empire of Man. Now both Prince and bodyguards are determined to get each other off the planet alive. Of course, the planet has other ideas..… (more)
User reviews
That being said, this was a fun and light read. I can't stop saying "modderpocker" like Poertena, and I can't stop laughing at Julian's antics. And I love how Roger finally grew up, which again only made sense after reading the book in order. It's also nice to see the introduction of the Mardukans finally playing a significant part, especially with the more developed weaponry being introduced to the Mardukans and culture differences between the Mardukans themselves and between them and the humans - March Upcountry was pretty lacking in that regard, although I suppose that was to explain the situation that March to the Sea couldn't.
Now, unlike the past two reviewers who think this isn't a good representative of Weber or Ringo's writing, well I can't say. This is honestly my first time reading either one and I don't consider this book a waste of my time. It was more military-heavy than I would have liked, but keeping track of characters wasn't too difficult.
I will admit though that I didn't like this book as much as the first one in the series. They get too bogged down in the details of weapon development and battle strategy. I ended skimming sections to get to the good stuff. However, I have it on good authority that this is the worst book in the series and book 3 is just as good if not better than book 1! So if you read my review on March Upcountry and were considering picking up the series, don't despair, it's still worth it!
One thing that was done really well in this book is the character development. Prince Roger continues to grow as both an individual and a leader. There are new developments in the romantic tension between Roger and Despraux. We also learn a lot more about Palmer, a deep character with a heavy load as he tries to balance protecting the Prince, and letting the Prince have enough freedom that he can be effective! After all, Prince Roger is the best shot of them all.