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Title: Into the Maelstrom

Subtitle: Citizen, Book 2

Author: David Drake, John Lambshead

Narrator: Brian Holsopple

Format: Unabridged

Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-03-15

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 8 votes

Genres: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Sci-Fi: Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Entry number two in the Citizen series, sequel to Into the Hinterlands. Science fiction adventure on the frontier realms of an empire written by biological scientist Dr. John Lambshead and nationally best-selling author David Drake.

The right man for a very bad job

The Cutter Stream colonies were at peace. If everybody behaved reasonably, that peace could last a thousand years.

Allen Allenson had known war; it had made him peaceful and reasonable. He was far too experienced to believe the same was true of all his fellow colonists, however, let alone the government of the distant homeworld across the Bight.

War was coming, a war the colonies had to win if they were ever to be more than prison camps and a dumping ground for incompetent noblemen. The experience that had caused Allenson to hate war made him the only man who could lead the colonial army.

Allenson knew he wasn't really a general, but he understood his fellow colonists better than any homeworld general could. He would free the Cutter Stream, or he would die trying.

What Allen Allenson would not do, what he would never do, was quit.

Members Reviews:

Not Drakes best

This is not a HAMMER'S SLAMMERS type of book which is information not criticism. Drake bases many of his books on historical events which are usually very old, obscure or both. This time the story is loosely based on the American War of Independence & the main character on George Washington. The outcomes of the siege of Oxford & the battles of Port Trent & Teneyk are therefore somewhat predictable even if the details are not. The story of the fighting at Oxford is one of the problems. DO NOT READ FURTHER if you do not want story details. At Oxford General Allenson uses the peculiar mist of a swamp to protect his battle winning position from Brasilian lasers. The enemy sally against this position is conducted with knives, fists & clubs as lasers will not penetrate the mist. A great point is made of the danger of igniting the unstable mist. Why didn't the Brasilians simply eliminate the position using this characteristic? More troubling is the lack of projectile weapons, the implication being that neither side has access to any weapon of this type. Yet projectile mortars are available. At Port Trent there is reference to a weapon firing bullets. Later in that battle, the Brasilians deploy flame throwers which if used at Oxford would have been catastrophic for Allenson's position in the volatile mist. In addition lasers are "worse than useless within a continuum field" so vehicles carry spring guns which shoot ceramic bolts. These would have been quite useful in the swamp mist. Had the Brasilians stood off in their boats with a supply of rocks, Allenson's men would have had a serious problem. The rock suggestion reminds me that both sides use handgrenades. The entire premise of the key fighting at Oxford is badly flawed. This is so atypical of Drakes' writing that I am at a loss to understand it. This book, if judged against Drakes' other work, is a one or two star at best. Judged against all other scifi, I am giving it a three.

The American Revolution Begins - in Outer Space

This is the sequel to Into the Hinterland.