Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > Charge your lasers, and prepare for lightspeed: The SPACE OPERA thread.
 
  • Locked thread
Adar
Jul 27, 2001
 Vernor Vinge is a co-definer of the genre and should be in the top five of any list.

* # ¿ Jun 12, 2009 01:36
  • Quote
Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 02:38
  • Quote
Adar
Jul 27, 2001
 Unfortunately, David Feintuch (the Seafort writer) pulled a GRRM with a twist - he died while writing the last book in the series, and while the publisher has the manuscript they've never gotten anyone to sign a release.

It's still a very good series. Like most series it winds up lower in quality by the end, but the first five books are still some of my favorite space opera. It's Hornblower in space but in a good way.

* # ¿ Aug 11, 2010 18:37
  • Quote
Adar
Jul 27, 2001

Tanith posted:

I just plowed through the first four of these, and by the end I wanted to do nothing but strangle the protagonist. I don't know if the departure from his narrative in the next book will make it any better, but I'm disinclined to read it. I liked what technobabble there was, and the way it drives (no pun intended) the plot was interesting.

It's just...Seafort. He needs to get run over by one of the armored buses that tour lower Manhattan. Feintuch has taken all of Horatio Hornblower's recrimination, self-doubt and self-condemnation and crammed them twenty times over into a character incapable of controlling his emotions. Most of the books are him blowing up over something trivial at subordinates or feeling bad about it later before going on and doing the exact same thing.

Midget Fist posted:

Yeah the space-war aspects and naval codes/attitudes were great and made for interesting reading but the main character was a bit of a babby. I only read the first four also, does anyone think it's worth continuing?

The fifth one isn't even from Seafort's POV. The sixth is, the seventh isn't. The new characters also have the same issues, but most of them are teenagers from whom the angst is more reasonable. I'd say they're worth reading.

* # ¿ Aug 24, 2010 18:23
  • Quote
  • Locked thread
The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > Charge your lasers, and prepare for lightspeed: The SPACE OPERA thread.