More book reviews from my Goodreads account.
Empire From the Ashes by David Weber
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Some folks think of epic space opera and say, why? Others say, “Hey, maybe the Moon is actually a massive abandoned space battleship and the human race was founded by its mutinous crew tens of thousands of years ago” and say, why not?
An omnibus of Weber’s earliest solo series (Mutineer’s Moon in 1991, followed by The Armageddon Inheritance in 1994 and Heirs of Empire in 1996), the tale is a bit more roughly-hewn than his later works. MM, the earliest, is the most straightforward, establishing the universe and its key players. TAI is a direct follow-up, though Weber makes the decision to humanize his overarching foe, which is one of his standard tactics but also seems to complicate and weaken the narrative. HOE blends two tales, the primary of which comes across as both a sidebar tale of the the particular universe and as a presaging of pre-tech themes Weber will visit in works (including Off Armageddon Reef).
The overarching story doesn’t quite hold up (the first two books make a good duology; the third is primarily in the same setting), but the individual tales are rollicking good adventures, with little depth but plenty of massive star battles and flashing swords. I’ve read it multiple times, and will likely do so again in the future.
Off Armageddon Reef by David Weber
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
There’s a lot to like here for David Weber fans. It’s a new series for one thing, and (aside from some brief introductory chapters) there’s no space opera.
There’s sea opera, instead.
There are classic Weber themes here — multiple nations vying against each other, the advantages that technological advances give, massive battles, tragic and noble deaths, incompetent commanders leading to military disaster, the dangers of Ludditism, and the venality of churches that take on temporal power (vs. the virtue of believers who also believe in freedom).
Oh, and the naval battles. Lots (eventually) of big, exciting naval battles, Battles of Lepanto writ large. It’s like Weber really jonesed for some naval warfare, and set up a pretty spiffy SF/Fantasy world in which to do it.
Ont the other hand, it’s hardly without flaws.
1. After some pretty exciting world-building, the action shifts into … politics. Lots of politics. Lots and lots of politics, church and state, lots of nations, and bushel-baskets-full of players. It drags the action down to a screeching halt, from which it doesn’t recover for about half the book.
2. The above isn’t helped by Weber’s decision to show linguistic drift by turning modifying common names — Haarahld, Kahlvyn, Nahrmahn, Makferzahn, Maysahn … It’s an intersting idea, but it fills every name with such unusual morphemes that it’s highly distracting, and slows the eye at every passage so you can sound the name out.
3. The ostensible protagonist — Nimue/Merlin — is something of a cypher. We get a bit of perspective early on, but for most of the book, the character varies between Brave Hero and Quiet Counsellor. But it’s all action, and little inside. Merlin isn’t quite two-dimensional, but he’s certainly not three-dimensional. Make it 2.2-dimensional.
There’s a lot of good stuff here, and plenty of Good Guys to Root For, and Bad Guys to Hiss At (and very little doubt about Who’s Who), but it also feels like it could have used a good editor to trim down the excessive sailing ship detail and verbiage. This is a 772 page book that could have been done in 500.
I plan on picking up the next book in the series (there are three more, with a fourth coming in September) — but I’m not so eager that I wanted to plow through to it immediately.
The Excalibur Alternative by David Weber
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This feels like it should be one of Weber’s earlier novels, but it’s a relatively recent 2002 vintage (and adapted from a short story the year before). It’s also, for Weber, a a rare done-in-one, telling the tale of a 14th Century English army snatched up by aliens to fight (legally low-tech) wars on their behalf.
Weber knows and enjoys his ancient warfare, and despite a jolting change 7/8 of the way through the book (to bring it to some sort of triumphant conclusion), it’s fascinating to watch the intersection of technologies he describes. He’s done a better job, though, in both space battles and hi-tech/lo-tech melanges, so I can’t give this a particularly high rating. But it’s good fun, and quite readable, as hamburger in lieu of steak.
Mission of Honor by David Weber
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The latest in the Honorverse series by Weber, it’s both an improvement (by bringing some of the key characters back into focus) and another treading-water-interim novel (between major changes in action). Major plots (both the author’s and various covert forces) are advanced, battles are fought, long-time cast members die (mostly, alas, offstage), more cast members are introduced …
Indeed, one of the problems with the Honorverse storyline is that it has become so complicated, with so many characters, that to advance things along Weber is forced to rely even more on his talking heads routine. This usually works well, but it happens here in such in a whipsaw fashion that the overall story feels more like a series of vignettes than an actual novel.
It also leads to some editing flaws — particular turns of phrase that get repeated too often, too close, or threat elements that flare up, are worried about, then later dismissed almost in passing.
But we do get more Honor (after her near-absence in recent novels), and the big events of the past half-dozen books are finally coming to, if not a climax, then a major new chapter. Plus there’s a lovely twist at the very end that made me almost want to give the book another star.
Recommended only for folks who have read the series to date, but, if you have, you won’t be disappointed.
The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn by Nathaniel Philbrick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Philbrick’s tale is of both Custer and Sitting Bull, and of their respective “last stands” — one at the Little Bighorn, one at a reservation some years later. He goes into much detail of both of their lives — neither man the monster, knave, nor unalloyed hero their respective supporters and detractors have painted them as — and how those lives led to their actions and the actions of their followers at the Little Bighorn and beyond.
Good book, chock full of detail which lends both a sense of detail and an understanding of the whole. My only regret of the unabridged audiobook version (read quite well by George Guidall) is the lack of a map to follow along the relative courses of Reno, Bentine, and Custer’s units.
Highly recommended.
Too Much Tuscan Sun: Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide by Dario Castagno
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I picked this book up in a shop in Greve on our just-completed vacation. It’s a fun kinda-tell-all about life as a tour in the Chianti area of Italy, particularly in and around Siena. Spread out over twelve months, and interspersed with vignettes from the author’s life in Chianti, TMTS is usually humorous, often informative, occasionally poignant, and a nice counter-point to anyone’s trip to Tuscany.
Castagno focuses on tourists from the US, usually with an good-natured smile. There’s some Ugly American in here, but always with a patina of reasoned fondness, and, in most of the more egregious cases, an unstated sadness for those who miss the good parts of touring Tuscany. And, that said, it sounds like most of his tours “get it” and get a lot from their stay.
Nevertheless, one gets the impression a lot of Americans spend a lot of time swilling Diet Coke, in the heart of Tuscany.
And, yes, after finishing it, I wanted to book him for our next visit. 🙂
Recommended for anyone visiting the area, or anyone touring Italy, or anyone touring anywhere. Though I suspect the cases that make for the best telling are the folks who’d never see themselves portrayed within.
Really enjoyed your review of War & Remembrance—you captured the depth and scope of Wouk’s storytelling beautifully. It’s clear you have a deep appreciation for historical fiction. Thanks for sharing your insights!