BOOK 2 - LOVE AND WAR 8 EPISODES

We concentrate on the Makarov side of the conflict for the opening Episode, witnessing Jena, haunted by memories, paying a sad, poignant visit to her sister Julianna's grave. Following this, the Tsar dispatches her to a crucial battle front to take command of one of his top regiments. On arrival, she is horrified to learn that the commander of the enemy forces she is supposed to crush is none other than Nikolai Dante, the man she loves - no matter how much she tries to deny it.

The hellish campaign of futuristic trench warfare that ensues is related from their alternating/contrasting POVs, charting their growing disillusionment with the war and realisation of its horror and futility.

Book 2 unfolds through episodic events and sequences rather than one single plotline, capturing the true nature of warfare; most soldiers in any conflict have little understanding of what is going on outside of the small band of comrades they live and die with. Orders are given from above, imparting little sense of reason, objective or strategy. The soldier, in the eyes of his superior, does not need to know these things - 'theirs but to do and die,' as they say. 'Why?' is not a question a soldier is expected to ask.

The events and experiences mentioned above include : suicidal marches into the killing grounds of No Man's land; the horrific conditions in the trenches and their effects on the men trapped in them; the futile winning and losing of ground by both sides; tunnel-rat-style warfare below ground as well as above; Dmitri's finally winning Dante over to the Cause by convincing him that the only way to stop the horrors of war happening again is to be on the winning side, the Romanov side; the no-win scenario of Dante and Jena being forced into a duel with one another in an attempt to prevent further loss of life on both their sides.

At one point, Dante and Jena have a heart-rending meeting in No Man's Land during an armistice for both sides to retrieve their dead. Tragically, they realise that even though they are still in love, they may end up killing each other. 'You chose the sides, Jena,' Dante tell her bitterly.

Dante emerges victorious in the campaign thanks to an act of ruthlessness which Jena would normally have thought him incapable of. In the aftermath of their final battle, Dante stands over her fallen form. 'Tell your father I'm coming for him. Tell him Nikolai Dante... no. Tell him Nikolai Romanov is coming for him...' he says, abandoning, it seems, everything he has previously believed in.

Jena's last sight of him is standing tall on the battlefield, Standard in hand. A Romanov Born.

BOOK 3 - THE BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (APOLOGIES TO EISENSTEIN)

8 EPISODES

Dante and the Irregulars are seconded to the Battleship Potemkin (last seen in The Great Game) as a paratroop regiment, flying into battle with the aid of Rocketeer-style jet-packs. A spectacular assault on some famous city such as Britannia acts as a reintroduction to the Potemkin, and spotlights the Irregulars in their new 'skydiving' capacity, a skill they soon wish they had actually had some training in.

The Family Romanov are also in attendance - more or less the first time Dante and Konstantin have met since Konstantin murdered Julianna Makarov. Dante is recklessly aggressive towards his half-brother; Konstantwin taunts him about being the Hero of the Romanovs - as the press have begun referring to Dante - and his failure to keep Ingrid Wagner alive.

Dante attacks Konstantin, and a brutal fight ensues. Konstantin beats his hopelessly outmatched sibling half to death, revelling in every blow. He is only stopped from hurling Dante to his doom only by the intervention of Jocasta Romanov. 'The only way you'll have a chance against me is if you shoot me in the back,' Konstantin tells Dante with undisguised contempt, ' and we both know the Hero of the Romanovs hasn't got the stomach for that.

Dante soon learns Jocasta's reason for wanting him placed under her command, to act as her bodyguard on a personal mission into enemy territory. He is sickened when this turns out to be a secret meeting with the Tsar, a last-ditch attempt to find a peaceful settlement to the war between their Dynasties. The meeting reveals - surprising poignantly - the decades-old unrequited love that exists between Jocasta and the Tsar, a relationship, Dante realises, which is hauntingly similar to his and Jena's.

When it becomes obvious that too much has happened for either Jocasta or the Tsar to make the necessary concessions, Dante steps in. He places a blade at the Tsar's throat, saying, 'I can end it all right now.' A tense stalemate occurs, terse dialogue emphasising Dante and the Tsar's hatred of each other. Dante backs down only when Jocasta asks him to spare Vladimir - just as she asked Konstantin to spare him.

During the course of the meeting, Dante also engages in a short fight with Pyre, reinforcing their hatred for each other, and setting the stage for their duel to the death at the end of the war.

The bulk of Book 3 focuses on the Battle of New Moscow, as the Battleship Potemkin mounts an incredible aerial assault on the city which bears the Tsar's countenance. Dante perhaps facing the Tsar's Red Baron-like fighter ace in aerial combat. The Irregulars defend the Potemkin from assaults by similar regiments of 'jet-troops'.

The Battle climaxes in an epic 'dogfight' between the Imperial Palace and the Potemkin. Both of them are virtually disabled, though the Palace is the victor by the narrowest of margins. Konstantin gives the order to abandon ship, intending to set the Potemkin on a collision course with the Tsar's Visage, then escape himself.

Circumstances result in Dante and Konstantin being the last men left on-board - prompting reader expectation of a reconciliation between them. Just as they're about to escape, however, Dante - displaying shocking ruthlessness - stabs Konstantin in the back, and leaves him to die.'Heroes be damned,' he snarls, echoing Konstantin's remarks after their earlöier fight.

Dante escapes in a jetpack, the Potemkin crashing into the Tsar's Visage, destroying it spectacularly. This symbolic victory marks the turning of the tide in the Romanovs's favour, and gives Konstantin a hero's death.