What do You think about Janissaries (1996)?
The story is rather cliche and it has been done before. Alien race kidnaps band of earth soldiers. Commander of band is a student of military history. Band is plonked down on an alien world inhabited by primitive humans. Mayhem ensues.Nothing like an old seventies classic, down to the black and white illustrations. Pournelle does well when there is a strong military component. I did not have great hopes for this title, but it grew on me. Both the macroplot (the aliens) and the microplot (showing the locals how to use a pike) work very well. As usual, feelings and relationships are almost painfully caricaturised, but I suppose you read this sort of thing for the battles and the strategy. Good clean fun if you like this sort of thing, but hardly a book for the ages.http://www.books.rosboch.net/?p=1141
—Andreas
Like “Gilligan’s Island”, this book follows the adventures of a group of people stranded on a planet billions of miles from Earth. Unlike “Gilligan’s Island”, there are no laughs, and they are not the only ones stranded on the planet. A group of aliens have been snatching humans from Earth every 600 years and leaving them on this uncharted planet. A place where civilization is similar to the Roman Empire circa 400 AD.The best part of this book is the battle between the Barbarians and the Romans. War is the author’s passion and he has written military strategy and war gaming articles and books. “Janissaries” was published in 1979 and I believe would most likely appeal to fans of the previous generation of Sci Fi books.
—Connor Kennedy
Grand story, awesome premise and absolutely no substance. Not a single element of storytelling is implored here. It's a concept, a rough sketch. "They did this and then went here. Everyone now is fluent in Latin. Now it is two years later. Something occurs. It's now a week later."I was bored to death. Which frankly sucks because the concept is awesome. Planets around the universe in which humans were transplanted centuries ago, taking the current culture at the time with them. The variables could have been fascinating. The social structure, the variance of history playing out in relation to even the change of landscape. The different climates, the moons... and yet none of it is explored. I wish a better writer would steal the concept and run with it, copyright be damned.
—Rachel MacNaught
