THE TYRANT

A sequel to The Reformer (not reviewed) by polycollaborative Drake and Steve Stirling. Apparently, Drake supplied a five-part outline about Byzantine general Belisarius; Stirling novelized the first series entry but then came up short of material, so Flint was taken on. Stirling/Drake got through perhaps less than half of the material necessary to the The Reformer’s big picture (a future computer recasts the Roman wars in a historically surreal manner). In The Tyrant, Vernice Damask is a Justiciar of the Confederacy of Vanbert, which is rotting from within. The land is full of slave laborers supporting Vanbert’s surplus of great landed estates, so Demask chooses to purge the state with blood by becoming a traitor, overthrowing the government, and himself becoming The Tyrant.

Large-hearted characters in Big Prose that falls into solemn mock history interrupted by the bounding clichés common to pumped-up military SF. Fans will be pleased.