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The Gamester Wars #3
The Napoleon Wager
When the ruling Kohs of the Magellanic Cloud learn that the power of the Overseers is a sham based on the mysterious technology of the long-vanquished First Travelers, they threaten to turn their simulated battles into real ones. Original.
- GenresScience FictionFiction
299 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 22, 1993
2 people are currently reading
51 people want to read
About the author
William R. Forstchen
120 books1,763 followersWilliam R. Forstchen (born 1950) is an American author who began publishing in 1983 with the novel Ice Prophet. He is a Professor of History and Faculty Fellow at Montreat College, in Montreat, North Carolina. He received his doctorate from Purdue University with specializations in Military History, the American Civil War and the History of Technology.
Forstchen is the author of more than forty books, including the award winning We Look Like Men of War, a young adult novel about an African-American regiment that fought at the Battle of the Crater, which is based upon his doctoral dissertation, The 28th USCTs: Indiana’s African-Americans go to War, 1863-1865 and the "Lost Regiment" series which has been optioned by both Tom Cruise and M. Night Shyamalan.
Forstchen’s writing efforts have, in recent years, shifted towards historical fiction and non fiction. In 2002 he started the “Gettysburg” trilogy with Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich; the trilogy consists of Gettysburg: A Novel of the Civil War, Grant Comes East, and Never Call Retreat: Lee and Grant - The Final Victory. More recently, they have have published two works on the events leading up to Pearl Harbor and immediately after that attack Pearl Harbor, and Days of Infamy.
In March 2009, Forstchen’s latest work, One Second After, (Forge/St. Martin’s books) was released. Based upon several years of intensive research and interviews, it examines what might happen in a “typical” American town in the wake of an attack on the United States with “electro-magnetic pulse” (EMP) weapons. Similar in plotting to books such as On the Beach and Alas Babylon, One Second After, is set in a small college town in western North Carolina and is a cautionary tale of the collapse of social order in the wake of an EMP strike. The book has been optioned by Warner Bros. and currently is in development as a feature film. The book was cited on the floor of Congress and before the House Armed Services Committee by Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R.-MD), chair of the House Committee tasked to evaluate EMP weapons, as a realistical portrayal of the potential damage rendered by an EMP attack on the continental United States.
Forstchen resides near Asheville, North Carolina with his daughter Meghan. His other interests include archaeology, and he has participated in several expeditions to Mongolia and Russia. He is a pilot and co owns an original 1943 Aeronca L-3B recon plane used in World War II.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/willia...
Forstchen is the author of more than forty books, including the award winning We Look Like Men of War, a young adult novel about an African-American regiment that fought at the Battle of the Crater, which is based upon his doctoral dissertation, The 28th USCTs: Indiana’s African-Americans go to War, 1863-1865 and the "Lost Regiment" series which has been optioned by both Tom Cruise and M. Night Shyamalan.
Forstchen’s writing efforts have, in recent years, shifted towards historical fiction and non fiction. In 2002 he started the “Gettysburg” trilogy with Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich; the trilogy consists of Gettysburg: A Novel of the Civil War, Grant Comes East, and Never Call Retreat: Lee and Grant - The Final Victory. More recently, they have have published two works on the events leading up to Pearl Harbor and immediately after that attack Pearl Harbor, and Days of Infamy.
In March 2009, Forstchen’s latest work, One Second After, (Forge/St. Martin’s books) was released. Based upon several years of intensive research and interviews, it examines what might happen in a “typical” American town in the wake of an attack on the United States with “electro-magnetic pulse” (EMP) weapons. Similar in plotting to books such as On the Beach and Alas Babylon, One Second After, is set in a small college town in western North Carolina and is a cautionary tale of the collapse of social order in the wake of an EMP strike. The book has been optioned by Warner Bros. and currently is in development as a feature film. The book was cited on the floor of Congress and before the House Armed Services Committee by Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R.-MD), chair of the House Committee tasked to evaluate EMP weapons, as a realistical portrayal of the potential damage rendered by an EMP attack on the continental United States.
Forstchen resides near Asheville, North Carolina with his daughter Meghan. His other interests include archaeology, and he has participated in several expeditions to Mongolia and Russia. He is a pilot and co owns an original 1943 Aeronca L-3B recon plane used in World War II.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/willia...
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 21, 2016
The Napoleon Wager
Author: William R Forstchen
Publisher: Del Rey Books
Published In: NYC, NY
Date: 1993
Pgs: 299
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
The ruling Humans, Gafs, and Xsarns of the Magellanic Cloud have spent an eternity under the thumb of the Overseers, a mysterious advanced race who police the others to keep them from war and enforce civility and law. The Kohs of the first three races have discovered a secret though. The Overseers are squatters just like they are. Their great power is only based on the tech of another even more ancient race long vanished from this area of space, The First Travelers. Now, with the control that the Overseers have used repeatedly on the wane as the power of the Kohs rises, the war games that the Kohs have been playing may be about to become real. And no one will have the power to stop them.
Genre:
Adventure
Alternate History
Fiction
Military
Science fiction
Space
Space opera
War
Why this book:
This is a re-read. I loved the trilogy the first time around. This time I’ve read it as it’s component parts and in the cases of the first two parts loved them, at least, equally to how I loved them before.
______________________________________________________________________________
Favorite Character:
Napoleon Bonaparte is a great character in this book. Very well written.
Least Favorite Character:
Corbin Gablona is an idiot. Evil. Short sighted. An idiot. He’s gone through the previous books acting like he was invulnerable. The lessons of The Assassin Gambit should have disavowed him of that ideal. But here he is acting, if possible, even more that way. Very OOC.
Favorite Scene:
When the ancient alien machine that cheats at space chess sets Napoleon up to refight Waterloo on the interior surface of a giant alien dyson sphere in space.
Pacing:
The pace is good. A bit slower than the previous books, but alright.
Plot Holes/Out of Character:
Corbin’s freeing a cadre of Al Shiga from their world, including Ali Hassan after what happened to Corbin and Aldin Larice when they escaped at the end of The Assassin Gambit rings false. Considering the kind of person Corbin is, he wouldn’t be able to play the-enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend card. He couldn’t do it. It rings false to the character that he has been built into over the last two books. This is both a plot hole and an out-of-character situation. Even if he is planning on double crossing the Al Shiga, this still rings false for the character as presented previously. The character as written to this point, through the previous 2 books, would have been just as interested in killing all the Al Shiga as he is in doing away with Aldin Larice.
Whereas the previous two books spent much more time with the titular time traveler, Napoleon has barely appeared by halfway and is still in his home time. The historical personages were such a huge part of the previous books that this strikes a, not a false note, but an odd one, to be sure. And Oishi, one of the 47 Ronin from Book 2, is playing an extensive role in this one as well, whereas Alexander has been mentioned in passing only. The characters finally begin discussing a jump through time....and, it’s not Napoleon they are discussing.
Hmm Moments:
The visit to the Xsarn Hive World and the traditional greeting. Bleech! Skatophiles would love that scene.
Why isn’t there a screenplay?
While this one is big on destruction, a lot of the first half of the book is taken up with conversation and exhibition. Why do this? Why do that? A world is blown up by a light speed cargo vessel. Do we really want to do this? Will it have the desired consequence? A raid on a pleasure world. Must we act like the barbarians? Will this device truly work? Create an artificial wormhole that runs amok.
______________________________________________________________________________
Last Page Sound:
Nice.
Author Assessment:
Forstchen writes historical personages exceedingly well. Once Napoleon appears in the books, he dominates the proceedings. Alongside Oishi both from the previous book and Alexander from the first book, Napoleon may be one of the best written characters that I’ve ever read.
I will be reading other stuff by Forstchen.
Editorial Assessment:
Excepting my thoughts on Corbin which are discussed above, this was well put together.
Knee Jerk Reaction:
really good book
Disposition of Book:
Re-read pile
Would recommend to:
genre fans
______________________________________________________________________________
Author: William R Forstchen
Publisher: Del Rey Books
Published In: NYC, NY
Date: 1993
Pgs: 299
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
The ruling Humans, Gafs, and Xsarns of the Magellanic Cloud have spent an eternity under the thumb of the Overseers, a mysterious advanced race who police the others to keep them from war and enforce civility and law. The Kohs of the first three races have discovered a secret though. The Overseers are squatters just like they are. Their great power is only based on the tech of another even more ancient race long vanished from this area of space, The First Travelers. Now, with the control that the Overseers have used repeatedly on the wane as the power of the Kohs rises, the war games that the Kohs have been playing may be about to become real. And no one will have the power to stop them.
Genre:
Adventure
Alternate History
Fiction
Military
Science fiction
Space
Space opera
War
Why this book:
This is a re-read. I loved the trilogy the first time around. This time I’ve read it as it’s component parts and in the cases of the first two parts loved them, at least, equally to how I loved them before.
______________________________________________________________________________
Favorite Character:
Napoleon Bonaparte is a great character in this book. Very well written.
Least Favorite Character:
Corbin Gablona is an idiot. Evil. Short sighted. An idiot. He’s gone through the previous books acting like he was invulnerable. The lessons of The Assassin Gambit should have disavowed him of that ideal. But here he is acting, if possible, even more that way. Very OOC.
Favorite Scene:
When the ancient alien machine that cheats at space chess sets Napoleon up to refight Waterloo on the interior surface of a giant alien dyson sphere in space.
Pacing:
The pace is good. A bit slower than the previous books, but alright.
Plot Holes/Out of Character:
Corbin’s freeing a cadre of Al Shiga from their world, including Ali Hassan after what happened to Corbin and Aldin Larice when they escaped at the end of The Assassin Gambit rings false. Considering the kind of person Corbin is, he wouldn’t be able to play the-enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend card. He couldn’t do it. It rings false to the character that he has been built into over the last two books. This is both a plot hole and an out-of-character situation. Even if he is planning on double crossing the Al Shiga, this still rings false for the character as presented previously. The character as written to this point, through the previous 2 books, would have been just as interested in killing all the Al Shiga as he is in doing away with Aldin Larice.
Whereas the previous two books spent much more time with the titular time traveler, Napoleon has barely appeared by halfway and is still in his home time. The historical personages were such a huge part of the previous books that this strikes a, not a false note, but an odd one, to be sure. And Oishi, one of the 47 Ronin from Book 2, is playing an extensive role in this one as well, whereas Alexander has been mentioned in passing only. The characters finally begin discussing a jump through time....and, it’s not Napoleon they are discussing.
Hmm Moments:
The visit to the Xsarn Hive World and the traditional greeting. Bleech! Skatophiles would love that scene.
Why isn’t there a screenplay?
While this one is big on destruction, a lot of the first half of the book is taken up with conversation and exhibition. Why do this? Why do that? A world is blown up by a light speed cargo vessel. Do we really want to do this? Will it have the desired consequence? A raid on a pleasure world. Must we act like the barbarians? Will this device truly work? Create an artificial wormhole that runs amok.
______________________________________________________________________________
Last Page Sound:
Nice.
Author Assessment:
Forstchen writes historical personages exceedingly well. Once Napoleon appears in the books, he dominates the proceedings. Alongside Oishi both from the previous book and Alexander from the first book, Napoleon may be one of the best written characters that I’ve ever read.
I will be reading other stuff by Forstchen.
Editorial Assessment:
Excepting my thoughts on Corbin which are discussed above, this was well put together.
Knee Jerk Reaction:
really good book
Disposition of Book:
Re-read pile
Would recommend to:
genre fans
______________________________________________________________________________
January 6, 2025
Advenure-filled, funny and tricky plot. The twists of Napoleon saved from death to take part in a galactic war game is the very best part. History buffs will love the second chance at Waterloo for Napoleon and his old and new companions especially Wellington.
October 9, 2016
This is a very satisfying culmination to a very good series. Full of great characters, struggles, and surprises. I know WRF didn't write a 4th book in this series, but the ending is certainly open enough to allow it. I would keep reading anything in this universe. Sorry to see it all end.
July 16, 2020
I did enjoy the series but I feel book 3 is the weakest one of them all for it took too long to start becoming engaging and interesting. When the pace picked up the story was entertaining and funny. I'm not sure what it means but my favorite character in the book was a machine! The sections with Napoleon were clearly the highlights of the story.
August 7, 2014
This book was better than I, remembered. I don't know if Napoleon in this book is an accurate representation, but he was an interesting character.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews