Empire of Man Books In Order

Publication Order of Empire Of Man Books

The Empire of Man series is a series of novels written by noteworthy American author John Ringo in collaboration with another famous American author named David Weber. The novels of the series are based on the science fiction genre and combine the elements of the military science fiction and space opera. All the novels in the series depict the story of the main character of the series named Prince Roger as well as the Bronze Battalion of the Empress’s Own, his personal guard. As the series is based on the life of Prince Roger, it is also sometimes called as the Prince Roger series. Apart from that, the series is also known by the name March Upcountry series as it is the name of the first novel of the series. The novels of the series show an alien world named Marduk, which is considered to be very hostile. Prince Roger and his personal guard try to cross the world of Marduk as they have been marooned there. The series also depicts the ‘Empire of Man’, which is the largest polity in the galaxy and is an Earth-based. It is ruled by Roger’s mother, who is the Empress. At the start of the series, Roger is described by the author as an essentially useless fellow and an over-handsome prince. He is third in line to the throne of his mother. Prince Roger is generally considered to be useless because of his resemblance to his father and owes the reputation to the status and acts of him. His father, the Duke of New Madrid is depicted as estranged from his wife and Empress of the Empire of Man. The series consists of a total of 4 novels published between the years 2001 and 2004.

The first novel of the Empire of man series was published under the title ‘March Upcountry’. It was published by the Baen Books publishing house in the year 2001. The opening plot of the novel introduces the main character of the series, Prince Roger MacClintock. He is introduced as a spoiled personality and is hardly considered to be worthy of his status. He is in such a position that he must let go of his playful nature and must prove his worth as a prince by becoming a man. If he does not do so, his entire galaxy is going to suffer from a stage of arrested adolescence. Roger’s mother persuades him to travel to Leviathan, to which he seems to be reluctant. The Leviathan is a focal planet known for producing ‘grumbly oil’, which is considered to be royal and is used by royal families in the celebrations. Roger finally agrees to go on the journey to planet Leviathan, however, he gets sabotaged during his voyage. He, along with his tutor, valet, four shuttle pilots, his chief of staff and a few others from his personal guards get stranded in the land of Marduk due to the sabotage.

Marduk seemed to be an obscure and quiet an unexplored planet. It was extremely rainy and humid on Marduk. The planet is dwelled by 4 armed amphibians who were called as Mardukans. In order to return to his civilization, Roger is forced to make alliances with some local polities. As a prince, Roger is required to display a responsible image of himself, unlike his immature behavior and foppish tendencies, in front of the Marines, who expect to see their prince in a new role. Seeing his changed behavior and effective capability, Sergeant Nimashet Despereaux gets attracted towards Prince Roger and so does the Prince. This results in a romantic relationship between the two in the middle of the long journey of the prince. Soon, with the help of a few allies, Roger finds a way to a spaceport, which will take him off the planet and back to his civilization. However, before he could do that, he realizes that his siblings had been killed and that the EMpire considered Roger to be responsible for their deaths. He was in fact set by his father and his ally, who sabotaged his ship and captured the Empress.

The second novel of the series was published by the Baen Books publishing house in the year 2001 and was titled ‘March to the Sea’. In the opening plot of the novel, the regiment of the Empress is depicted as being always faithful for their prince as he was the tertiary heir to the throne of the Empress of Empire of Man. The regiment included Bronze Battalion comprising of the Marines of Bravo Company. Even though Roger was the prince of the empire, he was essentially arrogant, over handsome, spoiled, whiny, rotten and extremely useless person. However, there comes a change in his personality when he goes on a journey to a different planet along with his Bodyguards. On the voyage, Roger and his royal guards get stranded on an alienated planet after saving themselves from an assassination attempt by their enemies. Being stranded on the lonely planet, they faced extreme heat conditions, even though it rained in the jungles for 5 to 6 hours a day. Roger and his bodyguards are forced to march past half of the planet and pass through Capetoads, atul-grak, damnbeats and killerpillers. They also encounter dangerous local potentates, treacherous and barbarian migrations and a whole ocean full of serpents, that had the ability to swallow a topsail schooner as a whole.

It was believed that even the most rotten and spoiled brat can turn into a grown up and responsible person under the perfect circumstances. And it seemed the difficulties in his journey were the perfect things that helped to change Prince Roger. It subsided the spoiled and petulant exterior of Roger and showed his inner strong personality, which proved that he was a real MacClintock. He resembled a scion of the dynasty of the warriors which had created the Empire of Man over thousands of years ago. Even the Marines who were employed to guard him were impressed to see a new sense of light and belief in the Prince. They became much more determined to save the Roger and take him off the difficulties of the planet, back to his civilization alive and healthy. However, it did not seem to be an easy task as the dwellers of the planet posed a great threat to their ideas and attempts.