50 in '08: 23
Oct. 25th, 2008 07:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sakon76Title: 1633
Authors: David Weber and Eric Flint
Length: 592 pages
Yes, I checked all six books in the series out of the library. I'd've gotten the three "Grantville Gazette" side story books as well, but despite the fact that the library said they were on the shelves I couldn't find the bloody things. Next week, maybe.
This is the book where I looked on the back first and noticed the two authors being lauded as "masters of military science fiction," which set up a faint "uh-oh" in my head that was, to some degree, played out. The problem I have with military sci-fi is simply this: the writers tend to go off describing the nifty shiny toys and the sparkling troop formations and maneuvers... when what I care about is the story. Bujold doesn't make that mistake. (John Ringo, OTOH, does, but at least he makes it interesting.) Weber and Flint... well, I confess that there were several pages of this that I completely skimmed over because although I'm sure an actual pilot or naval person would go "ooh, look, they checked their facts and know what they're talking about!", the inner workings of the machinery fails to interest me.
That said, what this book does and does well is take a pair of characters the first book in the series had rendered utterly unlikeable and make them likeable. The military and social proceedings unfold naturally. The question of predestination is raised, and raised high. Since Grantsville had history textbooks that leaked out into the world, it's very much asked how much of a man can be judged by the life he lived in that future alternate history. Answers are not clearly given. My main caveat for this book (other than the aforementioned military droning) is that the Obligatory Romance To Placate The Female Readers feels really tacked on this time. It's not developed naturally over time, and while I so called it after the first book, it always feels fake, never real. Ugh. Spare me.
Verdict: Overall, recommended.
Authors: David Weber and Eric Flint
Length: 592 pages
Yes, I checked all six books in the series out of the library. I'd've gotten the three "Grantville Gazette" side story books as well, but despite the fact that the library said they were on the shelves I couldn't find the bloody things. Next week, maybe.
This is the book where I looked on the back first and noticed the two authors being lauded as "masters of military science fiction," which set up a faint "uh-oh" in my head that was, to some degree, played out. The problem I have with military sci-fi is simply this: the writers tend to go off describing the nifty shiny toys and the sparkling troop formations and maneuvers... when what I care about is the story. Bujold doesn't make that mistake. (John Ringo, OTOH, does, but at least he makes it interesting.) Weber and Flint... well, I confess that there were several pages of this that I completely skimmed over because although I'm sure an actual pilot or naval person would go "ooh, look, they checked their facts and know what they're talking about!", the inner workings of the machinery fails to interest me.
That said, what this book does and does well is take a pair of characters the first book in the series had rendered utterly unlikeable and make them likeable. The military and social proceedings unfold naturally. The question of predestination is raised, and raised high. Since Grantsville had history textbooks that leaked out into the world, it's very much asked how much of a man can be judged by the life he lived in that future alternate history. Answers are not clearly given. My main caveat for this book (other than the aforementioned military droning) is that the Obligatory Romance To Placate The Female Readers feels really tacked on this time. It's not developed naturally over time, and while I so called it after the first book, it always feels fake, never real. Ugh. Spare me.
Verdict: Overall, recommended.
