Belisarius series
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The Belisarius Series is a collection of novels written by David Drake and Eric Flint and published by Baen Books. Originally intended as a trilogy, each of the initial drafts was divided into two books, with the series eventually consisting of the following books:
- An Oblique Approach (1998)
- In the Heart of Darkness (1998)
- Destiny's Shield (1999)
- Fortune's Stroke (2000)
- The Tide of Victory (2001)
- The Dance of Time (2006)
All of these are available as ebooks from Baen. The first four are in the Baen Free Library.
The premise of this science fiction (more specifically alternate history) series is that a war between two competing societies in the future spills over to 6th century Earth. The New Gods back the Malwa Empire. Malwa, advised by a human/machine interface named Link, uses gunpowder technology to conquer the rest of India. To counter this, the other side, crystalline entities, contacts the Byzantine general Belisarius and shows him the vision of the future with Malwa conquering the Byzantine Empire and the world.
Belisarius must work with imperfect tools, including the suspicious Byzantine Emperor Justinian I and the Empress Theodora, to build an alliance with Byzantium's historical enemy, Persia, the African Kingdom of Aksum and various Indian forces and individuals that remain in opposition to Malwa.
An Oblique Approach primarily revolves around Belisarius learning the strengths and weaknesses of both his Axumite allies and his Malwa enemies. It is during the calm that precedes any major conflict between rivals.
In the Heart of Darkness further explores the Malwa, both the rulers themselves and their spies planted in Constantinople. Belisarius learns of his true enemy, the mysterious entity known as Link, an artificial intelligence that uses human bodies as its interactive device. It concludes with the war between the Byzantines led by Belisarius against his Malwa enemies transforming from a cold to a hot war.
Destiny's Shield deals with the Malwa invasion of the Persian Empire, and the growing alliance between the Byzantines and Persians to stop the invasion and to cement a permanent peace.
Fortune's Stroke covers the later events of the Malwa Invasion as Belisarius must campaign against Rana Sanga, a Rajput general loyal to the Malwa who befriended Belisarius during second book of the series.
The Tide of Victory begins the third phase of the war against the Malwa, with Belisarius appointed commander of a combined Byzantine/Persian army to invade India while Axum and the Kushans carry out operations north and south of him.
The Dance of Time concludes the series as the events set in motion by Belisarius unfold, creating the opportunities that he hopes will end the threat that the Malwa pose to Rome once and for all.
