So many books, so little time...
Jun 24 '00
I'm sort of biased, I LOVE military sci fi...my favorite series are Lois McMasters Bujold's Vorkosigan stuff and David Weber's Honor Harrington series.
I've been reading other series recently and one big thing that sticks out with me is that Bujold and Weber are both able to write series fiction keeping the theme and characters alive throughout the series while making each book very much a standalone. You will enjoy the series more if you've read all the books, but you won't be coming in in the middle of the plot either.
There are a couple of series that I'm in the middle of....Frankowski's Stargard series and Paul Kearney's Monarchies of God and both of them are multi book series, Stargard is up to 6 and The Monarchies is 3 and both of them are nothing more than sections of the story. If you pick up the second book of the Monarchies, you won't know any of the characters or why they are doing anything that they are doing because the first page picks up exactly where the last book left off! The Stargard stuff is the same way, the first book sets up the action that happens in the FOURTH!
WHATS this all about??? Are these writers so bad that they can't make their points without drawling all over the countryside? The Monarchies books would be MUCH better if the three or four threads had been separate books in the same world instead of attempting to weave them together. I don't know what could possibly save the Stargard stuff, a different author would work I think.
Back to the point. We meet Honor early in her career in the Navy...the Space Navy! These books feature wonderful characters such as Honor's pet 'treecat' who is actually an intelligent being who communicates telepathically. The tactics and battles are described in amazing detail and actually seem to make sense. Honor's career is, of course, meteroic and we follow her through ups and downs and tough moral decisions. The characters continue through each story and they grow and change as real people do however with the exception of two books that were a continuation, the entire series can be started at any point. There are references to stuff that's happened before, but its nothing that deters from the story.
Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan is a man who was born with birth defects in a militaristic society that values perfection. His father is one of the top military leaders of the world and that only adds to his problems as he tries to live up to his fathers reputation. Luckily, his mom is an offworlder who softens the blows society rains on him and we watch Miles grow into an amazing young man. Again, just about any book can be picked up and you'll get the story and characters without having to read everything...although the last book A Civil Campaign, is about the wedding of the Emperor and is less action and more politics so could be a bit confusing for a new reader.
David Weber's first Honor Harrington book is On Basilisk Station and Bujold's first Vorkosigan book is actually about how his parents met and is Shards of Honor.
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Epinions.com ID:
legotech
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Member: Regina Franchi
Location: South Bend, IN
Reviews written: 49
Trusted by: 12 members
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