"Fascinating SF"
At the height of Rome's power, the Benefactors landed on an
alternate Earth and went to War with Julius Caesar's
legions. Unable to defeat the Benefactors, the Romans
stole their spaceships and flew to a place where they could
live. After two millennia, the Romans forget where earth
is located, but both the Romans and the humans remain
determined to defeat the Benefactors. The Benefactors took the teachings of Christianity and
used it to spread their own message. An underground
resistance in North America is giving hope to the people
who want to cast off the Benefactor's rule. In Europe, the
Prussian Empire is openly at war with the Benefactors and
is slowly clearing the land of them. There will come a
time of reckoning when the Romans and its conquered people
as well as the humans must meet, defy the Benefactors, and
reach some kind of accommodation with each other. Scott Mackay can always be counted on to create a work
that is original in design, yet absorbing and populated
with a cast of characters that unite for a common goal.
The ethics of the Benefactors is also fascinating because
while their plans and battles are malfeasance, their
morality is not. They do what they must to survive which
is the natural order of a sentient species. If they were
not on Earth, would humans be so quick to condemn them. Harriet Klausner - Copyright © 2002
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted March 5, 2002
|
