Orbis

Rating:
Summary: creative engaging SF
Review: At the height of Rome's power, the Benefactors landed on an alternate Earth and went to War with Julius Caesar's legions. Unable to defeat the Benefactors, the Romans stole their spaceships and flew to a place where they could live. After two millennia, the Romans forget where earth is located, but both the Romans and the humans remain determined to defeat the Benefactors.

The Benefactors took the teachings of Christianity and used it to spread their own message. An underground resistance in North America is giving hope to the people who want to cast off the Benefactor's rule. In Europe, the Prussian Empire is openly at war with the Benefactors and is slowly clearing the land of them. There will come a time of reckoning when the Romans and its conquered people as well as the humans must meet, defy the Benefactors, and reach some kind of accommodation with each other.

Scott Mackay can always be counted on to create a work that is original in design, yet absorbing and populated with a cast of characters that unite for a common goal. The ethics of the Benefactors is also fascinating because while their plans and battles are malfeasance, their morality is not. They do what they must to survive which is the natural order of a sentient species. If they were not on Earth, would humans be so quick to condemn them.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Okay, good for young readers but very simple plot
Review: I found this a very quick read. The characters are a little too predictable. I read this in one evening, very fast book to read. It does slow down in parts and the main protagonist is saved a little to often; but hey its science fiction/alternate history. I did enjoy it and recommend it to folks who want a little light reading. More serious readers may want to give it a pass.

Rating:
Summary: So far, so good...but........
Review: I've almost finished the book...it's a pretty good alternate history idea. Interesting enough to keep the pages turning and you just can't wait to see how the whole thing ends. The alternate Romans having space travel idea is fascinating, though obviously not possible in THIS reality, could happen though in some other parallel Earth. The character development is not so bad, decent enough to make you care about them, but not so deep for you to actually make a connection with them. I do however have a bone to pick with the author.

In this book are segments which are completely not helpful to the story, doesn't add to anything...other than to seemingly show that Indians (Native Americans) are untrustworthy, overly superstitious, and worthless savages who can just be shot on site with no remorse. I was most disturbed by those particular
segments of the book. They have no extra value to add to the story other than to show that the author might possibly be racist against Indians. I found those parts juvenile and of bad taste for the author to include. If not for those, I'd have given this book 4 or 5 stars instead of 3.

Rating:
Summary: Fast Moving Fantasy, Great Imagination!
Review: St. Louis, 1947. Only, in this alternate reality, it is called St. Lucius and there is no United States of America. The Romans had a high tech civilization 2000 years ago but were banished to outer space. The Holy Catholic Church (not Roman) is a vast and ruthless bureacracy (well, yeah) which runs most of the world on behalf of the Benefactors, who claim to be "the Heavenly Host" but are actually shape-changing aliens from a different part of the galaxy. Studying Latin is a capital crime and ten cents is a large sum of money. And there's more, much more. The author's imagination is fertile indeed. Still, at heart, this is a rip-roaring cosmic adventure story in which one beleaguered man (and a few faithful cohorts) must save the world.

The characters are interesting and they grow during the course of the story. The action moves right along. The conflicts are gripping. And our guys still have that American can-do spirit and ingenuity.

Sometimes the plot doesn't totally hang together, the science is pretty thin (it's really fantasy with gadgets more than science fiction) and the Latin grammar is a little weak at times (Well, hey, the Romans are still speaking Latin!). All in all, a great read, hard to put down.

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining Weirdness
Review: This is my first Scott Mackay book, and I didn't quite know what to expect. Orbis is a very entertaining alternate history, set on an Earth in which the Roman Empire attained space travel (in spite of never splitting the atom, or even understanding its basic nature) but was eventually banished from the planet by shapeshifting aliens. I don't want to give away too much of the plot, because the plot IS the book (characterizations, etc. are nothing special), and readers of these reviews will want to proceed into other reviews with caution, if it isn't already too late. But Mackay tosses in more and more weirdness, and manages to do so fairly plausibly. Very devout Christians may be offended by his portrayal of the Catholic Church and Christianity itself, but keep in mind it's only fiction. And in spite of having a book with two races of aliens, Romans from outer space, Missouri Catholics, and Kiowa Indians all together, the work isn't a farce. What exactly it is isn't quite certain--I did find myself wondering what was the relevance of it all several times. Perhaps the most significant theme is that "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" is a very dangerous slogan to live by; and this is certainly worth remembering in these trying times. But ultimately Orbis is mostly and simply an entertaining read.

Rating:
Summary: Not for the religious hearted
Review: Wow!! Wow!! Wow!! This book is not for the religious they would consider this blasphemeous. As a son of a preacher if I'd read this book ten years ago I would of burned it. When I first started reading this book I wasn't sure what the heck was going on. I feel that this is a mind opening book. It had a great message. Faith should be based on spirtually and not on religious aspects of trying to be a perfect christian. Any way, this story starts out when a secret organization try to uncover the truth of the religious faith of christianity & catholicism. Realizing the Benefactors aren't what they seem to be, the characters notice loopholes in religion. A group of characters go on a forbidden quest to find thier salvation from the Benefactors. Little did they know that thier salvation had also became a threat. I don't like to give too much away, all I have to say this is a sensational book.