Tyranny of Steel: Book1

by Zentmeister _

Julian Weber is an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a graduate of Westpoint Military Academy with a degree in civil engineering. As U.S. involvement in Afghanistan comes to an end, Lt. Julian Weber finds himself involved in a terrorist attack by the Taliban, which claims his life. However, he quickly finds out that death is not always final as he is reincarnated into the body of a Baron's son and heir in an alternate Earth set in Late-Medieval Europe. In an era of political turmoil and civil strife, the Baron's young son is named Regent of the Barony of Kufstein and forced to contend with feudal powers. Will he be able to institute reforms leading his Barony into the age of industry? Or will he succumb to the pressure of his feudal overlords and a corrupt church that seek dominion overall?

621 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 10, 2022

Reviews

[Archie Sumner · Rating 5 out of 5]

good book

Good historical kingdom building book is definitely worth the £4 couple of minor errors in spelling occasionally otherwise 10/10 book

[Michael Burnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

Great book I can't wait to read the next book in the series I would recommend this author to anyone

[Jorge Desormeaux · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Henrietta blushed at her brother's striking demeanor and looked away; even his mother, Gisela's mouth, hung agape, which she quickly covered with her hand. Sieghard looked upon his son and heir with a gaze of fatherly approval. [...] However, he wondered how the little bugger had managed to style his hair in such an imposing manner."

This is an extract of a scene in the novel—not one of any particular importance, simply where I stopped reading. It's useful enough to illustrate the two main things that put me off.

The first one is the quality of the prose: the sentence structure feels stilted and awkward, and commas are peppered unnecessarily. This is representative of the writing as a whole, which makes it painful to get through.

The second main problem with the novel is that it's not at all subtle in selling the power fantasy. Why is the entire family staring at him as though he was a made-anew Adonis? Because he styled his hair with pomade. Unfortunately this, too, is representative of the writing as a whole: the main character is idealized to the point of near-parody for the most minor of things, while the very first antagonist is painted as foolish, impatient and cowardly.

This badly needed a competent editor and a second draft, at the very least.

[Daniel Sterlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The tragedy that this novel becomes makes me tear up. It had so much potential