|
WarLocke posted:Unbreakable, the first book in The Chronicles of Promise Paen, literally does this with the protagonist's family heirloom glock. Is that series any good? I'm generally more of a naval than ground MilSF guy, but I'll dip into some space marine action every now and again. Is Unbreakable worth tracking down?
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2016 20:10
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 19, 2024 18:41 |
|
|
jng2058 posted:Is that series any good? I'm generally more of a naval than ground MilSF guy, but I'll dip into some space marine action every now and again. Is Unbreakable worth tracking down? I think only the one book is out so far, and for a first novel it's not that bad. I can't honestly say that it stood out to me as great, but I enjoyed the read. It's mostly self-contained, although there's a hook at the end for the author to continue the story. I'd put it at around the same level of quality as Evan Currie's Hayden War (On Silver Wings et al) books.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2016 20:35
|
|
|
Khizan posted:Why wouldn't they? It was far from the first semi-automatic handgun, but that's besides the point. To compare it to a weapon from by-gone times that is mythologized and sperged over in our times, the 1911 is the katana to the Glock's european longsword. Doesn't work as well, takes a lot more skilled man-hours, surrounded by myths about how effective it is (katana: they tested new katanas by cutting death row prisoners in half! 1911: one-shot stopping power!) Internet Wizard fucked around with this message at 04:50 on Sep 23, 2016 |
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2016 23:20
|
|
|
WarLocke posted:I think only the one book is out so far, and for a first novel it's not that bad. I can't honestly say that it stood out to me as great, but I enjoyed the read. It's mostly self-contained, although there's a hook at the end for the author to continue the story. Indomitable was published a couple months ago, if you're interested. I just bought Unbreakable, so I can't comment on it yet.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2016 23:29
|
|
|
Kind of related to gunchat, I'd like a sci fi book where every time someone references the past they really clumsily and awkwardly crowbar in the twenty.... .....third century, and never explain why.
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2016 17:08
|
|
|
Strategic Tea posted:Kind of related to gunchat, I'd like a sci fi book where every time someone references the past they really clumsily and awkwardly crowbar in the twenty.... Only thing that comes to mind is books or series with future chapter quotes from future history books. Dune, Robotech, later David Weber poo poo.
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2016 19:28
|
|
|
WarLocke posted:Unbreakable, the first book in The Chronicles of Promise Paen, literally does this with the protagonist's family heirloom glock. He probably got both terms from Weber, but neobarb/neobarbarian I first saw in H. Beam Piper's Space Viking. Jerry Pournelle used it in some of his CoDominium books too, I want to say.
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2016 21:55
|
|
|
Speaking of Weber, I just finished the EARC of Shadows of Victory, and I'm really disappointed. This is coming from a huge Weber fan. I won't spoil specific plot points, but for about the first third of the book I was just skipping whole chapters because they were either lifted wholesale from earlier books, or were giving me pointless details about life on lovely planets I just don't care about. I get it, the Verge is full of lovely planets with lovely governments, I don't need to follow the life and complaints of idiots on 4-5 of them (The only one I remember is Space-Poland). The middle third was mostly just different people reacting to events we already saw in other books too, but at least they seem somewhat relevant. Things picked up a little in the final third, as we see some more of the Mesan Alignment, but aside from one wrinkle they mostly just carried out the plans they'd said they were doing in previous books...Overall it just seemed like he was required to do another Shadows book but he only had enough content for 1/10th of a book.
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2016 10:32
|
|
|
Darkrenown posted:he only had enough content for 1/10th of a book. I've felt that way about pretty much every Weber novel since On Basilisk Station.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 00:53
|
|
|
Kesper North posted:I've felt that way about pretty much every Weber novel since On Basilisk Station. This also describes the latest few Safehold books. I really want to like Safehold, I love the setting and I've grown attached to many of the characters, but the latest one especially has a really interesting first quarter or so then decides it's advanced the plot enough and spends the rest of the book meandering around a bit of fighting and scheming that maybe deserved a couple of chapters.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 01:23
|
|
|
Yeah, the last few Safehold books have been feeling this way too, but SoV felt much worse. Maybe it's because even the most padded parts of Safehold at least have something to with the planet or history or how guns were invented etc. but the various planets in SoV are just all utterly useless details when all that really matters is they are going to revolt and Manticore is either gonna help out or not and we'll probably never hear about them again.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 11:53
|
|
|
I can't help but feel that he really should have whacked Honor in At All Costs then taken a few years off to recharge the batteries, maybe doing Safehold in the interim, then come back a generation later with Honor's kids. As it is, the whole Honorverse feels kinda stale and tired, and reprinting the same few scenes from book to book sure as hell ain't helping in that regard. 
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 16:08
|
|
|
jng2058 posted:I can't help but feel that he really should have whacked Honor in At All Costs then taken a few years off to recharge the batteries, maybe doing Safehold in the interim, then come back a generation later with Honor's kids. As it is, the whole Honorverse feels kinda stale and tired, and reprinting the same few scenes from book to book sure as hell ain't helping in that regard. If Weber doesn't have the heart/energy/enthusiasm (take your pick) to continue his series, I'm not sure even making a drastic change would help him. As flawed as the series is, I like some of the characters and setting and I want to see how it ends (even if the ending is pretty predictable). But at two books a decade I won't hold my breath. (on the subject of the Verge, Talbott Cluster is Space Philippines and Henke is Space MacArthur so they're probably going to get hosed over hard then liberated at some point)
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 17:36
|
|
|
Kesper North posted:I've felt that way about pretty much every Weber novel since On Basilisk Station. As much as I like to poo poo on Weber now, his first decade or so was really different. Go back to some things like: Mutineer's Moon Path of the Fury Honor of the Queen War God's Own Short books, fairly tightly paced, interesting plots/tech. When I'm sick I still just sit down and read Mutineer's Moon as I drift in and out of consciousness since it's short and familiar.
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2016 20:32
|
|
|
There's something to that. In Death Ground by Weber and White remains my favorite MilSF book.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2016 17:59
|
|
|
jng2058 posted:There's something to that. In Death Ground by Weber and White remains my favorite MilSF book. That's the part two against the alien hivemind, right?
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2016 18:05
|
|
|
Libluini posted:That's the part two against the alien hivemind, right? No that's shiva option. IDG is part 1
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2016 18:48
|
|
|
Crusade is a good read in that same universe, too.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2016 19:12
|
|
|
The new Peter Hamilton book came out this week, A Night Without Stars.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2016 19:37
|
|
|
Libluini posted:That's the part two against the alien hivemind, right? Hughlander posted:No that's shiva option. IDG is part 1 FuturePastNow posted:Crusade is a good read in that same universe, too. In Death Ground is indeed the first part. The Shiva Option is good too, but after a certain point it becomes obvious the good guys are going to win and it loses tension. The sense of desperation in the first part gives In Death Ground higher stakes. Crusade is good too, but I prefer In Death Ground and The Shiva Option. The rest of the books in the series, however, can and should be ignored.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2016 22:07
|
|
|
jng2058 posted:In Death Ground is indeed the first part. The Shiva Option is good too, but after a certain point it becomes obvious the good guys are going to win and it loses tension. The sense of desperation in the first part gives In Death Ground higher stakes. Biggest problem with the series is every book ends because someone did the same two things: built a hull type larger than before. Introduced a new weapon type.
|
|
#
?
Oct 1, 2016 23:40
|
|
|
Hughlander posted:Biggest problem with the series is every book ends because someone did the same two things: built a hull type larger than before. Introduced a new weapon type. Also built more ships. I mean, I really like it because it manages a great sense of scale while still keeping an eye on individual characters, but Shiva Option in particular devolves into a lot of quote:97 missile pods made the transit through the wormhole. Of these, 12 intersected and were destroyed in an instant. The remaining 85 launched a total of 255 missiles at the enemy fleet guarding the exit of the wormhole. At once, Alien point defense networks sprang to life. Missiles started dying by the dozens. Alien defenses managed to swat 86 missiles out of the void before they struck their target. Still, more than 150 missiles hit. Force fields buckled under the nuclear onslaught. Six battleships, five cruisers and a carrier were destroyed in an instant, a further 4 battleships and 2 cruisers reduced to glowing hulks that drifted aimlessly, spewing atmosphere in the vacuum like the blood of an animal with a cut jugular. It was in this moment that the first of the 129 battleships waiting on the human side of the wormhole made its transit." x20
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2016 00:00
|
|
|
rafikki posted:The new Peter Hamilton book came out this week, A Night Without Stars. Finished it today it was pretty meh. The tension pretty much evaporates 1/3rd of the way through the book and the ending is another contrived deus ex machina but not quite as severe as the void trilogy ending. Kind of a let down because Abyss Beyond Dreams was loving great
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2016 08:33
|
|
|
FuturePastNow posted:Crusade is a good read in that same universe, too. I have to skip over a lot of the broad Scots guerrilla fighting when I re-read Crusade. I rather dislike the other Starfire book, Insurrection though. Never wanted to re-read it. And when Steve White tried to continue the series on his own it all went to poo poo 
Darkrenown fucked around with this message at 10:39 on Oct 4, 2016 |
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2016 18:06
|
|
|
Insurrection is really terrible I just like Crusade because the smaller scale of the war keeps the missile spam infodumps to a reasonable level. And the marines assaulting the enemy island fortress at the end is fun. Scottish guy shoulda died horribly for his people tho FuturePastNow fucked around with this message at 18:18 on Oct 2, 2016 |
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2016 18:16
|
|
|
Darkrenown posted:I have to skip over a lot of the broad Scots guerrilla fighting when I re-read Crusade. I rather dislike the other Starfire book, Insurrectionthough. Never wanted to re-read it. And when Steve White tried to continue the series on his own it all went to poo poo FuturePastNow posted:Insurrection is really terrible Yeah, Insurrection is like a concentrated version of all Weber's worst habits. Except the ancient gun porn, I guess. In particular, especially galling in a book about space combat, the battles in Insurrection have no tactics to speak of. It's entirely "10: Show up with new hotness technology. 20: Win."  What's worse is that the basic concept, that of a rebellion by the outer fringe worlds which provides an outsized percentage of naval personnel should have been a great opportunity to be a book about veteran forces with older, less advanced ships using tactical innovation to beat a technologically superior force. Instead it devolves to the usual Weber trope: "He who has the best tech doth win in every circumstance without exception."
jng2058 fucked around with this message at 18:33 on Oct 2, 2016 |
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2016 18:29
|
|
|
jng2058 posted:In Death Ground is indeed the first part. The Shiva Option is good too, but after a certain point it becomes obvious the good guys are going to win and it loses tension. The sense of desperation in the first part gives In Death Ground higher stakes. In Death Ground and The Shiva Option are among the few Weber-books I can reread and still have fun with. Most of his modern output is excruciatingly painful to the degree I've suddenly noticed myself avoiding missile-weapons in my strategy video games because it reminds me of Weber
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2016 18:46
|
|
|
I especially liked how the last book dived off the metaphorical cliff when Steve White decided to have the new bads be some random aliens who never figured out jump nodes so they slowboated over from a different globular cluster in continent-sized generation ships. More bigger is more better, right?!?
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2016 18:48
|
|
|
That didn't bother me. One of the problems of the Starfire universe was that everyone had the same technological path. Humans, space cats, hive mind space spiders, it doesn't matter. Pretty much everyone uses the same kind of drives, missiles, and with a few exceptions, energy weapons and shields. Having a species using a different drive tech was a nice change of pace. It was the entire rest of the book that sucked.
|
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2016 20:56
|
|
|
Bolow posted:Finished it today it was pretty meh. The tension pretty much evaporates 1/3rd of the way through the book and the ending is another contrived deus ex machina but not quite as severe as the void trilogy ending. Kind of a let down because Abyss Beyond Dreams was loving great Yeah totally underwhelming, the premise is good but tired at this point. No where near as good as the original series and totally passable but still better than anything webber ever wrote. 
Washout fucked around with this message at 21:16 on Oct 2, 2016 |
|
#
?
Oct 2, 2016 21:12
|
|
|
Kesper North posted:I've felt that way about pretty much every Weber novel since On Basilisk Station. No, it's kind of like this. Mission of Honor is a bit plodding and reacting, but stuff happens. Nothing of exciting importance happens in Shadow of Victory. At all. It's all behind the scenes minutiae of events that had already been on screen and with all the important bits already.
|
|
#
?
Oct 3, 2016 22:03
|
|
|
I know this thread is for books, but if you want a really good hard-SF military space opera game, Children of a Dead Earth is well worth it. http://store.steampowered.com/app/476530 To not make this entirely about a game, the developers also have a blog where they go over the science of the game: https://childrenofadeadearth.wordpress.com/
|
|
#
?
Oct 6, 2016 01:52
|
|
|
62% of the Amazon reviews for the latest Honor Harrington are 1 star. Faith in humanity restored.
|
|
#
?
Nov 4, 2016 16:56
|
|
|
I'm still reading it but 45% in and it's definitely 1 star. Whole crapload of new characters who I couldn't care less about, talking to each other about exactly the same crap over and over again.
|
|
#
?
Nov 4, 2016 17:27
|
|
|
Zorak of Michigan posted:I'm still reading it but 45% in and it's definitely 1 star. Whole crapload of new characters who I couldn't care less about, talking to each other about exactly the same crap over and over again. Isn't it like a 20 book series and it's been doing what you describe for the last 18 books? Like, why complain now about it?
|
|
#
?
Nov 4, 2016 17:35
|
|
|
Drifter posted:Isn't it like a 20 book series and it's been doing what you describe for the last 18 books? Like, why complain now about it? haha, okay, fair point, but previous books had new events and advanced the timeline while consisting of people nobody cares about talking to each other about things nobody cares about. This one can't even do that: according to a lot of amazon reviews, it ends at the same point in time as something he published two books ago. It's a clipshow of last season, except as a book. i'm not gonna find out for myself. I'm freeeeeeeee
|
|
#
?
Nov 4, 2016 17:39
|
|
|
In the new books you at least could look forward to them clowning on the Sol Alliance some more.
|
|
#
?
Nov 4, 2016 18:50
|
|
|
Drifter posted:Isn't it like a 20 book series and it's been doing what you describe for the last 18 books? Like, why complain now about it? No, it's legitimately worse here. The more recent books were like a twenty something odd season with a bunch of filler episodes and five or six actual plot episodes distributed thereout. Shadow of Victory is like that, but the five plot episodes are now the previous season's filler, and the old filler episodes are just the Star Wars Holiday Special from different angles over and over.
|
|
#
?
Nov 4, 2016 22:46
|
|
|
I got some new advance reading copies from penguin random house. This: http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/318370/free-space-by-sean-danker/ Normally I give these away at work, but this one's space opera. I'll mail one for free to anyone in the lower 48 that's interested.
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2016 00:02
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 19, 2024 18:41 |
|
|
Danknificent posted:I got some new advance reading copies from penguin random house. This: http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/318370/free-space-by-sean-danker/ Hey if you want to hook me up it sounds pretty neat, if no one else took you up on it. If I get it I'll pick up the first one just for kicks. I'll PM you. One of the reviewers describing his first book as Weir's Martian crossed with Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat seems pretty baller.
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2016 04:02
|
|