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How David Weber spoils his readers.
Apr. 21st, 2010 03:04 pmRecently picked up David Weber's A Mighty Fortress, #4 in the Safehold series, and I haven't been able to put it down. Weber is probably my favorite author -- he really knows how to write space opera (a subgenre of military SF), which I absolutely love, and yet which seems to be somewhat difficult to find.
Even this series isn't so much space opera as hmmm... a meeting of historical and futuristic military SF. And David Weber does that extremely well. One of my favorites of his novels, and one of the very few standalones he's written, is quite similar in premise -- The Excalibur Alternative. REALLY worth checking out as an intro to Weber's style, although it's sparse on the space battles.
Interestingly, the Safehold series more than touches on that oh-so-sensitive of topics: religion (and religious wars!). Even if his characters range from uninterested to doubtful to devout to zealot, as required by the story (and as is reflective of you know, reality), Weber is eminently reasonable about it, which comes through clearly to the reader, so I never feel like he's proselytizing.
I was reading it during lunch yesterday and saw a guy across the way who was also reading a very thick hardcover book. I wondered if it could possibly be the same book I was reading. Because what other hardcover out right now is 700 freaking pages long? (Which is another reason I love David Weber -- his books are substantial, not the 265-page, font size 20 bullshit that LKH puts out.)
We made eye-contact, smiled in that hello, fellow reader way, then went back to our respective books. But a couple of minutes later I noticed that he flipped to the front of the book to look at the maps there, and suspected he MUST be reading it. So I asked him. And he was! It's always nice to meet people who are clearly enjoying the same book you are!
Matt and I exchanged a bit about whether we've read Weber's Honor Harrington series (of course, we both do!) and how we both hate some of the "Republican Crap" he puts into the stories (the moral villain of the piece is named Clinton, for one), but how Weber is still an amazing writer. It was a nice connection to make, and I almost wish I'd gotten his email because I kind of wonder what a 60-year old white male thinks of a clearly-"ethnic" girl half his age reading this sort of story (which is stereotypically read by white males). If anything!
ETA: YAY? David Weber is on twitter!
Even this series isn't so much space opera as hmmm... a meeting of historical and futuristic military SF. And David Weber does that extremely well. One of my favorites of his novels, and one of the very few standalones he's written, is quite similar in premise -- The Excalibur Alternative. REALLY worth checking out as an intro to Weber's style, although it's sparse on the space battles.
Interestingly, the Safehold series more than touches on that oh-so-sensitive of topics: religion (and religious wars!). Even if his characters range from uninterested to doubtful to devout to zealot, as required by the story (and as is reflective of you know, reality), Weber is eminently reasonable about it, which comes through clearly to the reader, so I never feel like he's proselytizing.
Safehold series:
The Gbaba have left Earth and her colonies smoldering ruins, and the few survivors have fled to distant, Earth-like Safehold, to try to rebuild. But the Gbaba can detect the emissions of an industrial civilization, so the human rulers of Safehold have taken extraordinary measures to keep Safehold society medieval forever. 800 years later, in a hidden chamber on Safehold, an android from the far human past awakens. Via automated recordings, “Nimue” - or, rather, the android with the memories of Lieutenant Commander Nimue Alban - is told her fate: she will emerge into Safeholdian society, suitably disguised, and begin the process of provoking technological progress which the Church of God Awaiting has worked for centuries to prevent. It's going to be a long, long process.
I was reading it during lunch yesterday and saw a guy across the way who was also reading a very thick hardcover book. I wondered if it could possibly be the same book I was reading. Because what other hardcover out right now is 700 freaking pages long? (Which is another reason I love David Weber -- his books are substantial, not the 265-page, font size 20 bullshit that LKH puts out.)
We made eye-contact, smiled in that hello, fellow reader way, then went back to our respective books. But a couple of minutes later I noticed that he flipped to the front of the book to look at the maps there, and suspected he MUST be reading it. So I asked him. And he was! It's always nice to meet people who are clearly enjoying the same book you are!
Matt and I exchanged a bit about whether we've read Weber's Honor Harrington series (of course, we both do!) and how we both hate some of the "Republican Crap" he puts into the stories (the moral villain of the piece is named Clinton, for one), but how Weber is still an amazing writer. It was a nice connection to make, and I almost wish I'd gotten his email because I kind of wonder what a 60-year old white male thinks of a clearly-"ethnic" girl half his age reading this sort of story (which is stereotypically read by white males). If anything!
ETA: YAY? David Weber is on twitter!
