The Radiant Warrior Omnibus

Conrad Stargard #1-3

by Leo Frankowski

One moment Conrad Schwartz was suffering from a severe hangover as he hiked through the mountains of present-day Poland, the next he was running for his life from an angry Teutonic knight. Things went downhill from there, and he finally had to face the disheartening fact he had somehow been stranded in 1231 A.D. He would have been happier if he had known less history. But there was very bad news in his new future, so he set out to turn Medieval Poland into the most powerful country in the thirteenth century. It wouldn't be easy. He would be investigated by the Inquisition, be knighted, round up vassals, build a city, survive armed combat with the Champion of the Teutonic Knights, invent the steam engine and cloth factories, establish universal education, and organize an army. He needed the army most of all, because he knew that the Mongol hordes would attack in only ten years and destroy Medieval Poland-and that would really mess up Conrad's life.

Genres: Science Fiction, Time Travel, Fantasy, Fiction

752 pages, Hardcover

First published December 7, 2004

Reviews

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sexist, a dubious grasp of historical intricacies and a serious streak of chauvinism, not to mention the belief that there is no problem which cannot be solved by solid engineering, in short, a nerdy fantasy of the highest calibre.

Conrad Stargard, a patriotic Polish engineer with a penchant for American education, beer and Hugh Hefner's life style, gets stranded in thirteenth century Poland, just in time for the coming Mongol invasion, by the negligence of one of his cousin's employees. Incidently, his cousin operates a transtemporal corporation which routinely makes the time stream their personal playground, but for several reasons is unable to come to his rescue.

Not one to easily admit defeat, Conrad proceeds to singlehandedly initiate the industrial revolution in medieval Poland and prepare his country to stomp those pesky Mongols. In his copious free time he creates his own personal harem and founds a chain of taverns staffed with bare-breasted waitresses.

As he goes on to achieve his goals in life he pursues more and more outrageous goals, simply to stave off boredom.

Entertainment which encourages suspension of disbelief and tolerance of a considerable amount of silliness. In later books, however, the level of bullshit reaches such heights that the entertainment it provides no longer outweighs its numerous flaws.

[Allen McDonnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had read more than once all of the first six Lord Conrad adventures published by Leo Frankowski in the mid 1980's. In the mood for some light reading I went looking for Kindle editions of these books and discovered that all six have been collected into Omnibus editions, the first three as this book. Couldn't beat the price for books I know and enjoy because they are so deliciously 'Politically Incorrect' in their portrayal of male-female relationships in a historical context. there is a lot of light humor and appeal to male vanity and sense of adventure in these books and it was a lot of fun to reread them all over again.

[Alexandru · Rating 2 out of 5]

The third book was the last straw for me, Conrad has became a scum, to be more precise he was already scum from the first chapter but he became an even worse scum with every book.
Conrad is it all, a religion fanatic, a sexist piece of trash, an ass kisser of the highest level, etc.
No more, the following event made me hate this series.
When the just knighted ex accountant of Conrad raped Krystyana while the villagers cheered outside the house as she yelled and called for help. Then as if magic(author forceful intervention) Krystyana became the perfect lover of said rapist while Conrad was perfectly fine with it. Conrad is a piece of trash, I can only hate this series and I will never read anything more from this author.
Stay away from this series and author.
PS: Two stars because the writing isn't bad, if not I would have given 1.

[Roy Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intensely and offensively sexist by modern (or any) standards, but possibly period correct. Like a much more detailed and far reaching version of Twain's "A Conneticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court".

[Volpot · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars. I finished this omnibus because I kept thinking something interesting would happen. It never did. Instead it was one boring description of the introduction of a technology into medieval Poland after another; with the only "relief" from that boring technology narrative being the MC's boring narrative about his (and others') sexual exploits with every 14-15 year old girl in the surrounding countryside.

[Šimon Podhajský · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you didn't grow up on hard sci-fi, and/or explanations of technology don't excite you, subtract a star. If stories where women exist only to serve men's sexual whims don't make you feel queasy, add a star.

(Did I mention that the women are mostly underage and, in a rare storyline where one refuses the knightly advances, it just takes a rape to turn the no to an enthusiastic yes and a hand in marriage? Did I mention that intelligent horses receive better treatment than women?)

Then again, I fit two out of three for the unholy trinity of Frankowski's detractors - "Feminists, Liberals, and Homosexuals" - so I shouldn't be surprised. Why I spent a day reading this instead of finishing the Vorkosigan Saga, I'll never know.

[Lynn Calvin]

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