What would happen if Belisarius, the great Byzantine Roman general, matched wits with a supercomputer trying to take over the Earth and change human destiny. In Eric Flint's opinion, Belisarius and his troops kick butt! A great Roman-era military saga. Good characters, good strategy and good battlefield action. Belisarius has his own AI from the future helping him a little which counters the computer manipulating the troops from the other side, but in general this is Belisarius pitting his own wits against the enemy generals. Good stuff, even if we know which side is going to win. ( )

Out of the four books in this series that I’ve read so far, I enjoyed this one the most. I enjoyed the previous three books a lot also, but this one stood out more for me because Belisarius’ enemies finally presented him with some real challenges. This added more tension to the story and it caused some anxious page turns. As with the previous books, this book still told a fun story with humor and interesting characters.

In this series, there are usually several chapters throughout each book with alternate points of view to give us a chance to keep up with what’s happening in different parts of the world as related to the over-all story. (There may not have been much of that in the first book, from what I remember, but there definitely has been in the others.) In the previous books, I enjoyed those stories but I was also usually anxious to get back to the Belisarius chapters. In this fourth book, I found the non-Belisarius chapters to be almost as enjoyable as the Belisarius chapters.

I’m looking forward to book five. ( )

#4 down. They are definitely getting better. Belisarius has defeated the bad guys, kicked them out of Persia, even "killed" the evil overlord from the future (in one incarnation). Two more books to go. ( )

A series that starts out strong with an interesting premise, by this time is starting to feel flat, as the authors seem more enamored with creating soap opera drama instead of a tight story. ( )

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