We FewWe Few
David Weber and John Ringo
Cover art by Kurt Miller
Baen Books
ISBN 0-7434-9881-X
To Be Released in April 2005
Reviewed as a galley, uncorrected.
You’d think it would be easy growing up the child of the most powerful ruler the human race has ever had. And young playboy prince Roger Ramius Sergei Alexander Chiang MacClintock thought that way himself for most of his life.
He found it easy to be a spoiled, self centered, arrogant and vain (not to mention an excellent dresser) who didn’t care that he was not trusted or even wanted around the castle or the family.
Doing the day to day job of being a spoiled fop appealed to him, and knowing that he was third in line for the Throne of Man didn’t worry him, with his brother ahead of him, he counted on being free and easy for the rest of his life.
That is, until his mother the Empress of Man sent him off on a meaningless diplomatic mission just to get rid of him. And the really bad part was that his companions were his bodyguard of Marines who him and had no use for him.
If that was not bad enough, he is marooned on a barbaric planet for almost a year, presumed dead and branded a traitor and assassin by the rest of the universe after a rebellious coup usurps his mothers rule, kills his older brother, sister in law and all his nephews and nieces and points all evidence to him. After all, what better scapegoat then a dead man?
On top of that, Roger and those same Marines have to fight their way through murderous natives of the planet Marduk, giant beasts, constant rain, across oceans, and fight an army of warriors at every point, just to get to a remote space-port so you can get off the planet and return home.
And once you get to the space-port, you find out that the place is heavily guarded by the Empire's worst enemies.
The problem is, this foppish clothes-horse; this vain, spoiled and arrogant young man who was held in contempt by his own family and bodyguards has changed. Roger discovered that he was born to be a MacClintock, a warrior prince. And his Marines have learned this as well, along with the small army of Mardukian warriors who have followed you across their world.
And when you close your eyes, you see the faces of those men and women who died to keep you alive. Your Marines who died for your worthless life.
And now you are on your way home.
There are some books that it is almost impossible for me put down, and “We Few” was one of them. This was my encounter with Prince Roger and his adventures but since I was about 60 pages into this one I have been trying to find the others to no avail.
Filled with almost non-stop action, biting humor and political intrigue “We Few” is just the sort of book one needs to bring some excitement into their lives. Yes, that’s right; I said ‘Bring some excitement’. Let’s face it, we read books like this not just because they are exciting or filled with adventure, but because We Want To Live That Life.
Yes, the hero is surrounded by danger and faces death almost constantly. Yes, the hero is forced through some physical, emotional and psychological growth and introspection that most of us would hate to face; yes, the hero constantly sees death, destruction and mayhem around him wherever he goes.
But it still beats most of our lives. We know that we will probably never face alien creatures, or giant monsters. So we live our lives vicariously through our heroes and heroines in the books we read.
And it is difficult to not want to be Prince Roger. Even faced with overwhelming odds, fighting not only the entire military force of Old Earth, the rebellious traitor who has kidnapped his mother and branded him a murderer, Home Fleet, the largest and most powerful of the Empire's space fleets is under the traitors' control in space, local gangs of hoodlums and a major organized crime boss you still wish you were him.
Going home, Roger will face his most difficult battle yet. His undercover role and his identity must be kept secret while he builds a force to take back his world and name. And it gets worse when he discovers that his mother is alive but in the hands of his own father, who is controlling her mind through physical torture, drugs and repeated rape of her body and mind.
Sure the twelve survivors of Bravo Company of the Empress' Own, a few hundred ten feet tall, four-armed, horned, grizzly-bear sized Mardukians, an elephant-sized flarta pack beast, and his faithful pet Dogzard, helped bring a medieval world into the industrial revolution, but can they face the greatest challenge of all?
The Marines of the Bronze Barbarians are ready to storm Hell if Roger tells them to. But, can they retake a world?
What no one, including Roger, knows is that Roger has a secret ally. Miranda MacClintock, who died over 500 years before and is Rogers greatest ancestor wants to help.