Threads from Henry's Web

Tag: David Weber

  • Review – Storm from the Shadows

    Storm from the Shadows is a sequel to The Shadow of Saganami, and as such advances the general history in the Honorverse only a little bit beyond the end of At All Costs.

    I had read some reviews that said that this book ended on a cliffhanger, but I had generally dismissed those. David Weber always leaves lots of interesting things to wonder about, which makes one wait eagerly for the next book. But I was wrong. This is, even compared to a normal Weber ending, a cliffhanger.

    Many times as I read a series I get less and less enchanted with the books as I go along. It seems that authors are so anxious to keep things exciting that later books often look like science fiction as it might have been written in their science fiction universe.

    In the David Weber’s case, and particularly in the Honorverse, while I think the situation has been escalating, it is not out of hand. I like the characterization, but even more importantly the development of cultures and backgrounds. If I were to have my choice in details, I probably would have had less conversations amongst the Manpower folks (or their even more secret higher-ups), but even that is well done provided one wants to really get involved in the universe as opposed to simply following a few characters for a story.

    This book remains five out of five starts for me. There were a couple of earlier books in the series that weren’t quite fives in my book, but they were still very good books, and there is no doubt that I will read every book in this series, some more than once.

    Storm from the Shadows follows Michelle Henke for the most part, and she is an interesting character herself. We do see some additional pieces of Aivars Terekhov, who is definitely a character worth watching, and Admiral Khumalo has a substantial role to play. We get passing glances at Abigail Hearns and several other interesting folks we have met in previous books.

    There is somewhat less fleet action and a bit more politics, but in my view, that balance can shift quite a bit through the series and I’ll still be happy. I disagree with reviewers I have read who don’t like the way Weber does politics. I do think he follows some improbable tracks, given his characters and background, but he doesn’t go out of the realm of possibility and do things that look ridiculous within the universe he has created.

    All in all, I think this is an exceptionally good continuation of an exceptionally good series.

  • Book: By Schism Rent Asunder

    This is the second book in this series by David Weber.  I reviewed the previous volume, Off Armageddon Reef, here.

    Weber continues the series with more excellent writing.  I think there is nobody in science fiction who can combine exciting characters, excellent military writing, interesting politics, and a plot that keeps you reading like David Weber can. I often find that as series go on my interest drops.  After a time I quit caring what happens next, but that is not true of any of Weber’s series.

    In By Schism Rent Asunder, we get to learn a great deal about the church, its structure, and its scripture.  It’s interesting, and I’m pretty sure intentional, that the various scriptures attributed to the archangels are generally slightly rewritten passages from the Bible or to some extent from other scriptures.

    On the one hand we have religious suppresion and cruelty carried to the maximum degree, then we have a more moderate church.  Yet there remains the question of whether the entire church is based on a lie.  King Cayleb and his Kingdom of Charis have to face these questions along with the much more practical issue of whether they will manage to keep on living while fighting against “God’s church” and its secular power.

    There’s a certain amount of reflection of the reformation period in Europe with elements like excommunication and the interdict brought into play.

    This book is clearly not a conclusion to the story, but it does answer many questions even as it leaves you wondering just what those power sources are under the temple in Zion, and how long can Nimue Alban, also known as Merlin Athrawes manage to remain undetected.