Belisarius was a Roman General at the time of Justinian and Theodora. He was a brilliant tactician with a mind that was fluid and could adapt easily and quickly to changed circumstances. In this book, made up of two novels: An Oblique Approach and In the Heart of Darkness, the Historical person of Belisarius is given an alien crystal Intelligence named Aide and asked to prevent the Malwa Empire of India from conquering the world and bringing about a horrible future of war.
Belisarius accepts the charge and knows that the Malwa, in the person of a man named Venandakatra, have been sniffing around the court of Constantinople. As Belisarius has just won a war for Emperor Justinian, and Justinian gets jealous of those who show too much competence, Belisarius must take himself away from the capital until the heat of Justinian's jealousy dies down. To do so, Belisarius befriends a delegation from the land of Axum and travels with them to their homeland before investigating Northern India and the Malwa Empire. With him, he takes three of his cataphracts, two experienced veterans, Anastasius and Valentinian and a relative newcomer, Menander.
At home, he leaves his wife, Antonina, an ex-prostitute like the Empress Theodora, with a plan to counter the horrible, futuristic weapons of the Malwa through a program of duplicating and exceeding the capabilities of the Malwa arsenal. Along the way, he travels with Venandakatra and quickly sees how he earned his nickname in the vision he had of the future of "Venandakatra the Vile". Belisarious tries to get Venandakatra to believe that Belisarius is equally debased, and angry at his Emperor in the bargain, so that Venandakatra will believe that Belisarius is willing to be bought. At the same time, he sends one of his soldiers to find a man named Ragunath Rao and give him a weapon to free the Princess Shakuntala, Queen of Andhra, before Venandakatra can try to take her for a concubine as a captured prisoner of the Malwa war.
At the same time, Belisarius and Venandakatra (who has become afraid of the general after seeing the Roman martial prowess, and especially that of Belisarius himself, in a fight against river pirates) head to the area where the Malwa are waging war against the rebels. The rebels have the same gunpowder as the Malwa and use it as they are losing, mining the field under the Malwa advance and blowing it up, then emerging to kill the survivors. Belisarius's escort is saved by Belisarius's cautionary advice, and sets off the kill the rebels, while Belisarius stops the troops from fleeing while saving the Malwa Emperor. After all, it is possible that the Emperor is a cybernetic robot, also from the future, and Aide wants to find its opponent, but he turns out to be a mere human, whose death would not have changed the course of the war. With so many successors and close family members, the war would have continued regardless. In the end, the Emperor tries to bribe Belisarius with gold and jewels, and Belisarius accepts, but plans to use the money to fight the Malwa, and asks for another Bribe of the same to betray Rome. As the Emperor decides, the first book ends.
In the second book, the Emperor accepts and gives Belisarius a bribe almost as big, but Aide discovers his opposite number in Adversary, a cybernetic AI who has inhabited the Great Lady Holi, and the Malwa realize that Belisarius has been lying to them all along. Belisarius and his party (His cataphracts, Eon, a Prince of Axum, his advisors and his concubines) must flee the Malwa Empire and return to Constantinople, where the Malwa have put in place a plan to dethrone and then kill Emperor Justinian and his ex-prostitute wife, Theodora.
To foil the plot while Belisarius and company make their escape are Belisarius' wife Antonina; John of Rhodes, who has been developing new weapons for the Romans based on gunpowder he has manufactured; Sittas, a general of Rome and friend of Belisarius; Irene Macrambolitessa, Sittas's Spymaster, and two churchmen, Michael of Macedonia- a fiery preacher popular with the common people and the Bishop of Aleppo, Anthony Cassian. And eventually, they are joined by Empress Theodora herself and a few hundred newly trained troops, grenadiers, who throw gunpowder grenades developed by John of Rhodes.
In Constantinople, Venandakatra did not leave the city completely. He left behind spies and agitators who have been meeting with various Roman officials and churchmen, including the High Chamberlain of Justinian, the eunuch Narses. Along with the churchmen Glycerius of Chalcedon and George Barsymes, two nephews of the former emperor Anastasius, John of Cappadocia, the imperial tax collector and two Malwa spies: Balban and Ajatsutra, have made a plan to topple Justinian from the throne and replace him with a feckless puppet Emperor so that each of them can gain what they want: power.
But Justinian is no figurehead, and Theodora truly loves her husband and defends him with all the power and ferocity of a rabid lioness protecting her cubs. As word of Belisarius' betrayal of the Malwa slowly makes its way to Constantinople, Antonina and the others take heart: the Malwa would not be so incensed at him if they had managed to kill him. Therefore, he must be alive and returning to Constantinople by any means possible. Back in India, the Malwa send trackers out after Belisarius and his people, but under various disguises and using a number of tricks, they are able to make their exits from India separately and without harm.
Back in Constantinople, Antonina has been supplying false information to the Malwa as a spy in court, supposedly to avoid knowledge of her cuckolding her famous husband. But the truth is that she has always been faithful to him, and the betrayal was a false show to throw the Malwa off. And while her intelligence is false, she has also been learning about the Malwa presence. When the Malwa try to kill her, she is able to defend herself in the kitchen of a meat shop, slaughtering most of the Malwa-sent bullyboys with a kitchen cleaver and a boiling pot of beef gravy. She is saved at the last minute from death and realizes that the Malwa are ready to act, and then she and her new grenadiers must fight against the Roman rabble the Malwa have bribed to support them, and the Malwa assassin-soldiers who have infiltrated the city.
Because so many important men are behind the attempted coup, many of Justinian's soldiers abandon him for the coin, or are willing to support the new Emperor backed by the Malwa, but Theodora, who is witness to all of this, promises the deaths of any who have thrown their lot in with the Malwa, and after her husband is blinded by John of Cappadocia, promises to urinate in his eyesockets after his own eyes are put out. And when Belisarius makes a timely return in the midst of the chaos, she gets her wish.
The book end with Justinian still alive, but blinded, and Theodora taking over the reins of government. She and Belisarius must fight the full force of the Malwa Empire, and their Kushan and Ye-tai troops. Luckily for Rome, other kingdoms are fighting against the Malwa and will be their allies in the fight. But because of the Malwa's fear and hatred of Belisarius, Rome and Roman soldiers will be the main fighters in the War.
These were excellent books, and being able to read two at once was glorious, and staved off that horrible "Can't wait for the next one!" feeling. At least, until the end of the second book...
Belisarius himself is an actual historical personage, and even if he didn't have a futuristic supercomputer, his abilities on the field were nigh-legendary. As David Drake states at the beginning of the book, giving him a futuristic supercomputer would not have made him any more formidable a leader and general than he already was. It would have been redundant. What Aide does for him during the course of the book is help him understand how the Malwa weapons are made and how they work, no more. The decisions he makes and his generalship are his alone. They are so formidable that the Malwa, intelligent people that they are, fear him as if he were a demon for his ability to break their carefully laid plans.
In the end, the Malwa have crude gunpowder weapons and cannons, as well as massive numbers of troops, and advice from Aide's opponent, Adversary, who poses as a woman. But Rome has Belisarius and Aide as well as Roman training and discipline. Who will win? Bet on Belisarius, that's for sure!
The two authors are good at making readers feel not only a sense of place and character, but also excel at writing battles and military movements. Espionage is almost as good as the other two, and I have not yet found a place where they are bad at writing something. Each character is distinct in characterization and makes you believe in them as real people, even the ones who are not historical personages. Add in the story itself, and its a book I found impossible to put down. You root for Belisarius to win and can even feel bad for those people who are part of the Malwa empire who manage to befriend Belisarius and whom he will later be forced to destroy, like the Rajput Rana Sanga, who is an otherwise honorable military officer who Belisarius would probably be friends with if they were on the same side. But circumstances have forced them to be enemies and you know at some point that Belisarius will end up killing Rana Sanga, as each has sworn to serve their own Emperor. They understand each other, and this, of course, will make them the best kind of enemies.
To say I can't wait to read the next novel is an extreme understatement. Buy these books, or this book, and read it. Even if you are not a fan of military fantasy or military SF, you will enjoy this book. If you already enjoy those things, you'll be taken for the ride of your life by two of the best military-SF and Fantasy writers out there, and enjoy it every step of the way. On a scale of 1 to 10, this one's a 20. Read it.
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