The "Lost
Regiment" Series– ROC Books
By William R. Forstchen
We
have all been there. Think about it. You read two chapters of a
new book from the library, or worse, from a bookstore, and your
eyes begin to close from sheer boredom and/or disinterest. For some
reason, the cool cover art and the compelling back-cover blurbs
have not lived up to their hype. So there you are, either late at
night, or at home, inside and hiding from horribly depressing weather,
and suddenly the startling realization hits: you have nothing to
read.
When
this happens to me, and it happens regularly, I turn back to favorites
that keep me entertained and reading even after multiple readings.
William R. Forstchen’s “Lost Regiment” series
is where I inevitably go to climb back into the category of awake,
alert, living and breathing readers. The series contains eight books
that follow a primary plotline, and a ninth book that follows some
of the same characters and their descendents as they undertake a
somewhat new direction.
It
all starts with “Rally Cry”, as a regiment of just over
600 Union soldiers from the Civil War is transported to, what turns
out to be, another planet. To make matters more interesting, this
“miraculous transportation”, conducted randomly by a
spinning “wheel of light” in the sky, has happened before,
thus bringing humans from other various times and places to this
alien locale, where they settle and raise separate societies and
cultures all their own.
But
of course, in the midst of this bucolic splendor, there are bad-guys.
These are portrayed as various tribes of gigantic, lizard-like creatures,
who roam the planet nomadically on horseback, searching for food.
Unfortunately for our Union heroes, the lizard’s diet consists
of human flesh. And before the arrival of the Civil War soldiers,
the humans mostly complied with the lizard hordes, volunteering
humans for slaughter, and not raising a finger in protest.
Well,
we know that had to change with the arrival of the troops in blue,
armed with weapons far advanced from the lizards' swords and arrows.
Unfortunately though, the lizard hordes are vast, numbering in the
hundreds of thousands. How can the humans expect to survive such
an onslaught?
I know, it sounds a little weird, and a touch bizarre. But Forstchen
excels in not only painting an accurate picture of Civil War soldiers
and their technology, but dresses the entire story with broad images
of heroism, patriotism, and courage under fire. Forstchen’s
soldiers do not simply line up and fire their weapons; they summon
an inner fire they all learned at Seminary Ridge and Gettysburg.
These characters live on, in an alien environment, and they still
adhere to concepts of order, discipline, and the value of a single
human life. “…As the last volley died away, a lone bugler,
concealed inside the ruins of the Foundry, blew the first notes
of taps. It was yet another ritual from the old world. It was a
tune born of the Army of the Potomac, written by Dan Butterfield
as nothing more than a signal for lights-out. Butterfield’s
lullaby many had come to call it. Hans had once said he was partial
to it, and Andrew now thought it would be a fitting gesture…”
(From “Men of War”)
As the rain is hitting my window at 2A.M., and I have closed yet
another disappointing “thriller” that I recently purchased,
I find myself turning once again to the exploits of Colonel Andrew
Keane, commander of the army of the republic, in his “against
all odds” fight for the very survival of the human race on
a planet he is now forced to call home. I recommend that when the
occasion arises, that you do the same.
Titles
linked to Amazon.com
Rally
Cry
The
Union Forever
Terrible
Swift Sword
Fateful
Lightning
Battle
Hymn
Never
Sound Retreat
A
Band of Brothers
Men
of War
Down
to the Sea
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