Weber, David, and John Ringo. March to the Sea. Empire of Man No. 2. Baen, 2001.
In the second volume of the Empire of Man series, the Empress’ Own troops continue their trek across the hostile planet on which they are marooned. They pick up a few allies, learn to use native weapons, ride the dinosaur-like local beasts, and slowly educate their promising but spoiled prince. The emphasis is on military character and planetary adventure. Is it longer than it needs to be? Sure. But as in Moby Dick, it is not catching the whale that matters but enjoying the hunt. 4 stars. ( )

Okay, love Weber, tolerate Ringo alongside Weber, but not by himself. I read the first book in this series recently and thought it was decent. Not as good as the Honor Harrington or Safehold series,' or even the Weber/Evans Multiverse series, but it was okay. I think I gave the book a generous four stars. It had some good places and dragged in some other places. While browsing in a bookstore recently, I saw the fourth book in the series and read the synopsis and it sounded pretty cool, so that meant I'd have to get the second and third books. Yesterday I saw the second book, this one, in the bookstore, so I bought it. And started reading it. But I've got to tell ya, I didn't get very far. For reasons I can't fully fathom, I'm just not as into this series as I am others. It doesn't pull me in, doesn't intrigue me enough. Sure, there's action. Maybe there's too much! In the first book, after all, 75 Marines slaughtered 18,000 alien warriors in a battle. That's friggin' ridiculous. I've read it's even more ridiculous in this book. The biggest literary battle slaughter of all time. And for no good reason. Stupid, it seems to me. And I really don't care about Prince Roger. Some of the Marines are interesting, but most of them get killed off so quickly, you don't have time to get to know them. And it takes three 700 page books for some 50 or 60 humans to walk halfway across a planet to a certain city? Three? Really? This couldn't have been done in one, or at most, two books? Hey Weber -- why not turn this into Safehold and make it into a 40 book series with everyone battling everyone else in one country for eternity? Yeah, that's the ticket! I'm not reading this book, more than I have, just because it seems, even with all of the fighting that becomes a little redundant after awhile, BORING. It's just not that great of a series. The concept isn't that great. It's not Honor. It's not Safehold. It's not even the Multiverse. It's pretty weak. I don't care about these people and I certainly don't want to read three 700 page books to see them slog halfway across an alien world when that could actually have been taken care of in half a book, or perhaps even a chapter, by other writers. I'd rather invest my time and energy in other, more interesting, books. Perhaps some Asimov. Perhaps some decent military sci fi by Chris Bunch. Surely I have many other books better than this. I know there are a lot of people out there who like this book and this series. After all, it has an awfully high rating on Goodreads. It's just not for me. Sorry. Recommended for most Weber or Ringo fans. For most mainstream sci fi fans, I'd say avoid it -- there's better stuff out there. ( )

This is the third time I have read this book if it is any indication on how much I like this series. This book is a bit slower than the first book in the progress of the characters and the guardians of the Prince. Things happen to Roger to further mold his character from the snobby brat at the beginning of the fist book to the potential leader he is becoming. I am going to start reading a different David Weber series now and take a break from this and come back to the next book in the series after I am finished. ( )

An old favorite revisited. I do enjoy watching Prince Roger grow up. This one is from leaving Marshad to solving K'Vaern's Cove's problem with _that_ lot of barbarians. The tech gets a lot higher - up to gunpowder, which leads to flintlock pistols and rifles, and to rockets, and to a lot more destruction - of places, and people. The scenes of destruction get...not more gory, exactly, but bigger. 15,000 Boman at Voitan, in the first book; some 50,000 Kranolta here - but a very similar bloodbath. And not all the dead are bad guys. Among others, Roger loses someone very important to him - possibly more important than anyone, including Roger, realized until he was gone. It does lead to some advancement with Despreaux, though. We also get a lot more information and personality from Mardukans - Rastar and Honal, and Krindi Fain, in particular. I also enjoy (though not with complete understanding) Poertena's sailing talk. I know a bit about ships - enough to have at least a vague clue what he's talking about. Oh, and the coll fish poison is interesting. And - yeah. There's a lot of good bits in here. ( )

Good addition to the series. ( )