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Falkenberg's Legion #1-4
The Prince
Tired of the tyrannical rule of Earth, the colonists on the planet Sparta have revolted and hire John Christian Falkenberg and his mercenary legion to train them how to fight, but Grand Senator Bronson, one of Earth's most powerful rulers, will do anything to stop Falkenberg and crush Spartan independence.
1151 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2002
12 people are currently reading
363 people want to read
About the author
Jerry Pournelle
263 books546 followersDr Jerry Eugene Pournelle was an American science fiction writer, engineer, essayist, and journalist, who contributed for many years to the computer magazine Byte, and from 1998 until his death maintained his own website and blog.
From the beginning, Pournelle's work centered around strong military themes. Several books describe the fictional mercenary infantry force known as Falkenberg's Legion. There are strong parallels between these stories and the Childe Cycle mercenary stories by Gordon R. Dickson, as well as Heinlein's Starship Troopers, although Pournelle's work takes far fewer technological leaps than either of these.
Pournelle spent years working in the aerospace industry, including at Boeing, on projects including studying heat tolerance for astronauts and their spacesuits. This side of his career also found him working on projections related to military tactics and probabilities. One report in which he had a hand became a basis for the Strategic Defense Initiative, the missile defense system proposed by President Ronald Reagan. A study he edited in 1964 involved projecting Air Force missile technology needs for 1975.
Dr. Pournelle would always tell would-be writers seeking advice that the key to becoming an author was to write — a lot.
“And finish what you write,” he added in a 2003 interview. “Don’t join a writers’ club and sit around having coffee reading pieces of your manuscript to people. Write it. Finish it.”
Pournelle served as President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1973.
From the beginning, Pournelle's work centered around strong military themes. Several books describe the fictional mercenary infantry force known as Falkenberg's Legion. There are strong parallels between these stories and the Childe Cycle mercenary stories by Gordon R. Dickson, as well as Heinlein's Starship Troopers, although Pournelle's work takes far fewer technological leaps than either of these.
Pournelle spent years working in the aerospace industry, including at Boeing, on projects including studying heat tolerance for astronauts and their spacesuits. This side of his career also found him working on projections related to military tactics and probabilities. One report in which he had a hand became a basis for the Strategic Defense Initiative, the missile defense system proposed by President Ronald Reagan. A study he edited in 1964 involved projecting Air Force missile technology needs for 1975.
Dr. Pournelle would always tell would-be writers seeking advice that the key to becoming an author was to write — a lot.
“And finish what you write,” he added in a 2003 interview. “Don’t join a writers’ club and sit around having coffee reading pieces of your manuscript to people. Write it. Finish it.”
Pournelle served as President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1973.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
September 19, 2011
This omnibus collects all the John Christian Falkenberg novels. It consists of:
Falkenberg’s Legion
Prince of Mercenaries
Go Tell the Spartans
Prince of Sparta
The story ranges from the fall of the CoDominium to the rise of Sparta and the First Empire of Man that replaces it. However the macro story takes a backseat to the battles.
This is solid military SciFi. However, the fact that the first two novels are in fact lashups of earlier works set to a common frame gives the whole story a somewhat disjointed feel. The individual episodes are good though, and so are the characters. Interestingly, these novels are set in the same universe as The Mote in God’s Eye, but centuries earlier.
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=1143
Falkenberg’s Legion
Prince of Mercenaries
Go Tell the Spartans
Prince of Sparta
The story ranges from the fall of the CoDominium to the rise of Sparta and the First Empire of Man that replaces it. However the macro story takes a backseat to the battles.
This is solid military SciFi. However, the fact that the first two novels are in fact lashups of earlier works set to a common frame gives the whole story a somewhat disjointed feel. The individual episodes are good though, and so are the characters. Interestingly, these novels are set in the same universe as The Mote in God’s Eye, but centuries earlier.
http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=1143
November 13, 2015
The capstone of the Aldersonverse, this brings together just about all of Pournelle's CoDominium Era fiction into one place. It is quite likely what, in its component version, what got me into mil-SF in the first place. Pournelle having seen the elephant, it had the ring of reality to it even when I was reading parts as a preteen, and now as retired military I recognize things I know from experience.
The only thing wrong with it is that despite decades of begging the good Dr Pournelle, he's still not gone a century deeper into the history for us. I keep telling him that the interesting part is going to be what happens after this, when the Kingdom of Sparta becomes the Empire of Man.
The only thing wrong with it is that despite decades of begging the good Dr Pournelle, he's still not gone a century deeper into the history for us. I keep telling him that the interesting part is going to be what happens after this, when the Kingdom of Sparta becomes the Empire of Man.
May 8, 2020
Viewed in its entirety, this series makes more sense, but also calls into question the economics of the future history in which the stories take place. The Alderson Drive, named after a fan and JPL staffer that Jerry Pournelle knew, only works in this setting if it's pretty close to free to actually operate. Otherwise, the costs of shipping become outrageous, given the time frames involved. Also, the military operations in the story just seem like they are out of scale with the size of the colonies.
In any case, the stories are about the fall of an empire, very much analogous to the fall of the Roman empire, but set in the 21st century. The Cold War has dragged on to become a cold peace, with a world government dominated by the U.S. and Russia being in place just when it become feasible to establish interstellar colonies. For reasons that don't quite make sense unless you assume that the government officials are pretty much all bad guys, these colonies are burdened with exported criminals, political dissidents, and random welfare recipients. The numbers shipped out don't actually make sense, Like everyone else, I did my job, and I did my best. I just did it longer, not better. because there are enough to harm the colonies, but not enough to help Earth. It's a plot point, though, so just go with it.
This story is nominally framed around a charismatic officer who is sacked from the government's military for making political enemies. He forms a mercenary unit to take the place of government troops in the brushfire wars breaking out in the colonies. Most of this story is solid military SF, and the only problem I had with it was the huge sums of money that the one Grand Senator was willing to spend to try to break Falkenberg and anyone he tried to support. The reasons took too long to become clear, and I'm still not sure they work.
Still, the stories were interesting, the adventure and military parts were exciting, and many of the characters were memorable. This book is a big chunk, though, so be warned that you will get plenty of exercise while carrying it around to read.
In any case, the stories are about the fall of an empire, very much analogous to the fall of the Roman empire, but set in the 21st century. The Cold War has dragged on to become a cold peace, with a world government dominated by the U.S. and Russia being in place just when it become feasible to establish interstellar colonies. For reasons that don't quite make sense unless you assume that the government officials are pretty much all bad guys, these colonies are burdened with exported criminals, political dissidents, and random welfare recipients. The numbers shipped out don't actually make sense, Like everyone else, I did my job, and I did my best. I just did it longer, not better. because there are enough to harm the colonies, but not enough to help Earth. It's a plot point, though, so just go with it.
This story is nominally framed around a charismatic officer who is sacked from the government's military for making political enemies. He forms a mercenary unit to take the place of government troops in the brushfire wars breaking out in the colonies. Most of this story is solid military SF, and the only problem I had with it was the huge sums of money that the one Grand Senator was willing to spend to try to break Falkenberg and anyone he tried to support. The reasons took too long to become clear, and I'm still not sure they work.
Still, the stories were interesting, the adventure and military parts were exciting, and many of the characters were memorable. This book is a big chunk, though, so be warned that you will get plenty of exercise while carrying it around to read.
February 26, 2022
Four books about space marines set in the same universe as The Mote in God's Eye and Hammer's Slammers. Basically the origin story of Hammer's Slammers. As we all remember, in the 1990's the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. got tired of the Cold War and divided the planet up between them, forming the CoDominium. Then in 2010 FTL travel was discovered, which gave us hope that we could find the moon and Moonbase Alpha after it had been blasted out of orbit in 1999. After 80 years of mismanagement and stagnation the CoDominium is falling apart and the last hope for civilization lies with the Fleet and the outlying worlds.
The first book covers the origin of John Christian Falkenberg III and his rise through the ranks of the CoDominium Marines. He quickly moves up to take over the 42nd regiment as Colonel, and along the way makes an important enemy that stays with him for the next three books. The second book finds Falkenberg dismissed from the Marines and his regiment disbanded, which he immediately forms up into a mercenary unit. The Legion goes to put down an uprising on Tanith the prison planet, and hints of a bigger plan start to show. The first two books are heavily political with less actual war porn, so a lot more Heinlein and less David Drake.
The second two books are total war porn on the planet Sparta. There's still a great deal of politics, but the battles take up huge swathes of each book. The first of these two is centered around one great set-piece battle and a secret weapon. The second book covers a guerilla insurgency with numerous small skirmishes.
All of it is well done, the political and the battle scenes. Many interesting characters and well placed surprises.
The first book covers the origin of John Christian Falkenberg III and his rise through the ranks of the CoDominium Marines. He quickly moves up to take over the 42nd regiment as Colonel, and along the way makes an important enemy that stays with him for the next three books. The second book finds Falkenberg dismissed from the Marines and his regiment disbanded, which he immediately forms up into a mercenary unit. The Legion goes to put down an uprising on Tanith the prison planet, and hints of a bigger plan start to show. The first two books are heavily political with less actual war porn, so a lot more Heinlein and less David Drake.
The second two books are total war porn on the planet Sparta. There's still a great deal of politics, but the battles take up huge swathes of each book. The first of these two is centered around one great set-piece battle and a secret weapon. The second book covers a guerilla insurgency with numerous small skirmishes.
All of it is well done, the political and the battle scenes. Many interesting characters and well placed surprises.
July 27, 2021
Great book, very thought provoking and forward thinking. I had finished reading the first two books (West of Honor & The Mercenary) several years ago, and trailed off on finishing the other half (Go Tell The Spartans & Prince of Sparta); other books got in the way. Great for amateur military historians or enthusiasts.
April 19, 2021
Excellent, Excellent, Excellent. A must read for Codominion fans, and a must for War World fans, the transition from Codo to Spartan Hegemony is fantastic!
June 22, 2024
I am mixed about it - like it initially then it dragged so overall have to say it was okay
November 17, 2007
read 12.27.05
Previously published in four parts as Falkenberg's Legion and Prince of Mercenaries by Jerry Pournelle, and Go Tell the Spartans and Prince of Sparta by Jerry Pournelle and S.M. Stirling.
Previously published in four parts as Falkenberg's Legion and Prince of Mercenaries by Jerry Pournelle, and Go Tell the Spartans and Prince of Sparta by Jerry Pournelle and S.M. Stirling.
November 30, 2014
Old school military sf at its best. It starts out quite disjointed as this is a whole bunch of short stories, novellas and novels stuck together, but get past the first third and it's a very enjoyable read in an interesting universe.
May 27, 2016
This is a collection of all 4 books in the series, and I believe it has some additional material. If you can, read this series in this book form. And it's a fine series, if you like space, and battles, and warfare. And good characters.
January 22, 2008
This is actually several novels and I think a novella or two combined. The combonation of social commentary and hard science fiction is an absorbing read.
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January 9, 2010baen ebook
August 26, 2010
1100+ pages, quite the time investment.
May 11, 2012
Excellent books in this omnibus
May 28, 2012
The quality of the series contained in this book lowers considerably with the addition of a second author, S. M. Stirling.
November 6, 2012
Great set of books.
June 6, 2015
Damn good military sf.
April 6, 2016
Old school speculative literature which really focuses on creating a fictional world with a clearly expressed set of rules and problems and then asking: what if..?
April 20, 2017
Excellent Military Hard Science Fiction. I really enjoy Pournelle's work.
April 25, 2017
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is actually 4 books in one chronicling the Falkenberg Legion. I definitely give high marks for the military sci-fi elements but, I also enjoyed the more personal storylines of the men and women of the Falkenberg Mercenary Legion and all the different worlds and people they interacted with.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews