"A terrific adventure....First rate storytelling." (Ray Feist)
"The label 'science fiction' hardly describes this series as a whole, merely the premise. [It's] better described as a Civil War series with a twist." (The Washington Times)
"Science fiction lovers will cheer." (Boy's Life)
"A parallel world of majestic sweep and gripping intensity." (L. Sprague de Camp)
Anonymous
Posted May 8, 2011
T have just found out this book was written although another book company states this book was written (Published) in 2010) but im definitly going to be getting this book and reading it, I have the previous 8 and am just finishing up book #7 and will be ordering (down to the sea) I read on the other site he was going to be continuing this series but havent found any others??? whats the deal?? this book was published in Dec 2000 and nothing sense?? is it an open ended book?? not concluded because I would hate to buy a book and have it not ended after 11 yrs???
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Posted January 10, 2003
I have really enjoyed the "Lost Regiment" series and I fell that "Down to the Sea" maybe the best one yet! The story takes place twenty years after the last novel. Time has changed much in the Human Republic, it had grown, new cultures have been added and new characters are introduced. Our old foe, the Bantang Hoard are just a shadow of what they used to be but hunger for the glory of their forefathers. Meanwhile, the HAZAN, a hoard from the south, is introduced. The HAZAN are more advanced then the humans and have spent their time fighting among themselves. Now, in an attempt to consolidate their power, the new emperor and the powerful priest behind the thrown will strike north to crush the humans! What I have enjoyed from the past novels are still here, great characters, great storyline, but this novel is different. Forstchen has transformed his story from a basic survival of the human race story to much richer world of interspecies political intrigue. For the first time, the humans are facing a foe who are more advanced not only in technology but in the area of politics as well. Of course the humans have some advantages, which do not seem like much, even at the end of the book. I can¿t wait for this story to develop and look forward for the next book!
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Posted January 7, 2002
I echo the sentiments of the previous reviewers wholeheartedly!!!
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Posted August 1, 2001
This latest novel in William Forstchen's _Lost Regiment_ science-fiction series, DOWN TO THE SEA, is not only one of the most enjoyable science-fiction novels I've read in some time (well, ever since finishing his marvelous MEN OF WAR), but it is also an utterly compelling recasting of George Orwell's _1984_ in universal terms. This novel is the story of the discovery by the young Republic, a human-based nation on an alien world founded by men of Earth accidentally transported to this new world via fantastic alien technology, of a new threat to their hard-won freedom. The Kazan, a mighty empire of aliens who are kin to the Hordes who had enslaved, tortured, and murdered the human beings on this world since time out of mind, knows of the Republic, and determines to crush it. Lieutenants Richard Cromwell and Sean O'Donnell, one the son of a traitor to the Republic and the other the son of one of its great heroes, taken prisoner by the Kazan after an ill-fated reconnaissance flight over the territorial waters of the Kazan, learn to their horror that the Kazan are planning to destroy the Republic. Cromwell is allowed to escape and take word of what is about to happen back to the Republic by the high priest of the religious order that is the real power behind the throne of the Empire for reasons which have to do with an unknown game-within-a-game played by the priest against the Emperor. O'Donnell, on the other hand, remains a captive -- one to be converted to the frightening religion of the Shiv, human beings who have been bred for countless generations to become supermen beyond anything ever dreamed of by the Nazis . . . _real_ supermen with no loyalty to the Republic, men and women able to take on 100-to-1 odds and win against that could be thrown against them by ordinary men and women. Sean discovers, to his horror, that the Shiv are intended to become the tools by which the Empire will destroy the Republic, all that stands between humanity on this world and their total enslavement and destruction by the Kazan and their relatives. -- But thanks to a woman of the Shiv assigned to him, together with the drugs that she and the priests administer to him daily, soon his horror is converted to exultation, and, finally, to complete acceptance of the goal of the breeding-program by which the Kazan have been creating the Shiv over generations. In chapter 11 of DOWN TO THE SEA, Sean O'Donnell says to Karinia, concerning the breeding of human beings by the Kazan: 'I understand how,' Sean said softly, almost fearfully. 'I do not understand why.' In George Orwell's _1984_, Part III, O'Brien asks Winston Smith, '. . . Do you remember writing in your diary, 'I understand _how_; I do not understand _why_'? It was when you thought about 'why' that you doubted your own sanity. . . .' Later, in the same chapter, he answers his own question: 'The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness; only power, pure power. . . .' And just so, Karinia answers Sean McDonnell's question: '. . . Those of the inner circle know that nothing exists beyond this life. Therefoer it is power, my lover, power and nothing else that matters and that drives the game of our lives.' She smiled. 'And that power then gives us the pleasures we desire.' At the end of _1984_, Winston Smith is thinking about everything he has been through at the hands of Miniluv, the police arm of Oceania: '. . . But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. he loved Big Brother.' Sean O'Donnell has likewise undergone his own journey from hatred and loathing of the enemy to love of them and what they intend to do to humanity. He, too, has come to love Big Brother. Only in this case, it is Big Brother within himself he now loves, most of all.
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Posted January 5, 2001
A spectacular story that grabs you from the start. Keep 'em coming Mr. Forstchen!
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Posted December 18, 2000
There is no peace in a world shared by the Horde. After twenty years of peaceful life after 'Men of War' our heroes have all grown old and some have even past away. Now the sons of our hero¿s step up into the light, graduation of the academy introduces us to four young men that this book and others will follow. 'Down to the Sea' also introduces the reader to a new and deadlier foe. Religious fanatics in the Horde, blind belief to follow to follow a religious leader who will stop at nothing. A game within a game within a game, and everyone is but a piece on the board. The Kazan, the new southern Horde we are introduced to, have a great navy, far greater than our heroes, and the also have an army of bred human warriors The Shiv. Mindless, soulless, Frankenstein monsters that even make the Horde nervous. I wondered as I read if this creation will only some day turn against their creators as all monsters do. Once again, William R, Forstchen gives his readers a grand and sweeping story that I feel has reached epic proportions! He is able to breath such life into his work, his characters are so real, that as you read you again feel as we did in his other 'Lost Regiment' books, that we are once again with them. Our old friends are back with us again, and we are introduced to new ones, and we feel for them as we did for their fathers before them. This is really what makes the 'Lost Regiment' series, Mr. Forstchen¿s ability to give us real characters. Hero¿s and villain¿s we can feel for, have pride in, believe in, laugh with, and cry with. There is more than a couple of great goose bump scene¿s in 'Down to the Sea', I was stirred more than a couple of times with the same awe and power and even choked up a few times. Mr. Forstchen was worried about writing a new series, he did not wish to write a rehash, or just tack on another story to the series. I don¿t think he has any worries. 'Down to the Sea' is a fresh and bold look into a New World of the 'Lost Regiment.' Another great book!
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Posted October 26, 2000
I AM SO GLAD THAT MR. FORTSCHEN HAS DECIDED TO CONTINUE THIS STORY. FROMT HE VERY FIRST BOOK THIS SERIES GRABBED ONTO ME AND IT HAS NOT LET GO YET!!! I WAS ALWAYS INTERESTED IN THE CIVIL WAR PERIOD BUT I WAS TIRED OF READING ABOUT THE PAST. THIS STORY ALSO IS IN THE PAST BUT THE FUTURE FOR THE 35TH IS MADE UP ENTIRELY BY THEM. TRANSFORMING A PEOPLE WHO WERE IN THE MIDDLE AGES AT BEST INTO A MODERN CIVIL WAR STATE WAS NOTHING LESS THAN FIRST RATE MOXY BY THE 35TH!! AND THIER NEW ENIMEIS ARE THE LEAST FORGIVING SORT THAT MAN HAS EVER FACED. TO KNOW THAT LOSING THIS WAR MEANS A HORRIFIC DEATH (in some cases wathcing your family eaten right before your eyes) WOULD BE ENOUGH TO MAKE ME FIGHT THAT MUCH HARDER. ANYONE WHO HAS NOT READ ANY OF THE PREVIOUS NOVELS SHOULD ORDER ONE RIGHT NOW AND JOIN THE 35TH IN THEIR STRUGGLE TO FREE NOT JUST THEMSELVES BUT A WHOLE WORLD AS WELL!!!
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Posted October 25, 2000
this is the best science fiction I have ever read, Forstchens knowledge of the civil war and ancient history is impeccable. Get Book 1. Rally Cry and u will be hooked from there.
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Posted October 8, 2000
I can't wait for this book to come out! I was so sad when I heard the series was finished. Thank you, Mr. Forstchen, for writing another. Please don't let The Lost Regiment ever end! (does anyone know an email address for the author?) DJC Vancouver, BC, Canada
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Overview
"A terrific adventure....First rate storytelling." (Ray Feist)
"The label 'science fiction' hardly describes this series as a whole, merely the premise. [It's] better described as a Civil War series with a twist." (The Washington Times)
"Science fiction lovers will cheer." (Boy's Life)
"A parallel ...