Baen, 1996, $5.99, ISBN 0-671-87724-0, 472 pages

Having not read the five-book General series, I came into this sequel series somewhat blind. But I knew other works by Stirling and Drake, and sure enough, Chosen moves right along with retro-tech action.

I say retro-tech because Visager is one of millions of lost worlds from the once-mighty Federation whose technology now dates to circa 1900 or so. Steam power dominates, but the internal combustion engine is working its way into automobiles and dirigibles, and other technology, especially military, is working its way into armaments.

Chosen follows two lads who become step brothers who touch a meteorite--which happens to be a self-contained computer and communications module sent by a fledgling Second Federation. The edge these two get are exclusive access to the computer and each other via telepathy-like powers. As you can imagine, that's a heck of an edge as they become rich, powerful, and utterly devoted to the elimination of a caste-based tyranny in another country. That tyranny, calling itself the "Chosen," overruns all the other nit-wit based countries except for that of our two heroes, Santander.

OK, so it's a little convenient that the other countries fold too quickly, although the one next door somewhat mimics the Spanish Civil War in parts with civil war factions backed by the major powers. As for the rest of the war, it plays out quickly, for the book spans a few decades. In some ways it's a little too anecdotal, as if Stirling and Drake took turns writing about each hero and pasted them together, and thus, the narrative jerks back and forth too much.

Still, Chosen reads well, as you'd expect from a pair of veteran writers, and you are quickly brought into the dynamic duo's activities on various battlefields, though not all of them are beset by bullets. The politics works well, and if anything, I'd like to have seen more of that, but the action never flags as the two work for truth, justice, and the Santanderan way.

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