March to the Stars / David Weber & John Ringo

March to the Stars

category: military science fiction, author:

David Weber & John Ringo

book 3 of March...
original copyright 2003

read in May 2012

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10, read to pass the time

As I read the first few pages of this book I finally realised just what distinguishes military science fiction... Okay, it's taken me a while. Perhaps I did understand it before. It just clicked, this time, with a very loud click.

Military science fiction is about armies! Or navies, air forces, space fleets... What it is not about, is individuals.

Standard science fiction may have an army. The hero will be, perhaps, a raw recruit. Distinguishing him -- or her -- self by courageous actions, strategic thinking, individual heroism. And, more often than not, by deliberate disregard of orders in support of the greater good.

In military SF the hero is the army. There will be great leaders. There will be heroic individuals. If there is any deliberate disregard of orders, the disregarder will be shot. In military SF the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And everyone knows it.

March to the Stars is the continuing saga of a small group of space marines, marooned on a less-than-ideal planet. Where less-than-ideal is a euphemism for, absolutely lethal... Lethal wildlife, lethal flora, lethal locals.

If this were ordinary SF, the marines would settle in and build a better civilisation. Or become tough yet benevolent rulers of the existing barbarian civilisations. Check out A Princess of Mars for a good example: tough planet, tough hero, lots of battles, lots of armies -- but not military SF.

Because the March novels are military SF, the army has two objectives: protect the nominal leader because he is a member of the imperial family, and get back to their headquarters planet. And they do this with military precision.

Monsters are destroyed and local armies are defeated. Not that the local armies offer much of a challenge: they have the numbers but not the skill of the empire's marines. Though locals are recruited -- and trained -- to become lethal fighters on the side of good.

And yes, the marines are on the side of good. Not always deliberately. It just happens that this group of marines works for the branch of the royal family which supports good... And I suspect that the marines would fight just as hard for evil, if their nominal commander said so.

"Good", of course, is in the eye of the beholder.

The current heir to the throne is just naturally benevolent. Which is just as well because his word is law. His grandfather was equally benevolent -- but believed in rule by consensus -- which lead to riots, revolution and suffering. Might is also right. And it's just lucky that the might of the nice marines is mightier than the vicious might of the local cannibals.

Have you read Doc Smith's Lensman series? In those books, might is right. Yet there is a forgiving approach to defeated enemies, an approach which is shared by Weber & Ringo. The Lensman civilisation smashes an aggressive planet... Both sides then realise that it was all a misunderstanding... The two civilisations then become the best of friends.

Towards the end of March to the Stars, the marines revisit various locals who supported the marines -- or were thrashed -- in this and previous books. Supporters have gained and are thriving. Enemies have learnt and show signs of thriving. Even the latest defeated enemies -- cannibals who are seen to be evil -- are forgiven... and will soon be returned to niceness by the power of the empire.

All very much in support of "good", though you may disagree with some of the specific implementations of "good".

So the hero of the story is the army. There are individual heroes, all with their role to play -- as a part of the army. The deathcount is large... but the army survives.

Don't get me wrong! There are individual dramas! These are stereotype soldiers with feelings... Some soldiers, we could even begin to like. Just a few, but perhaps enough.

This is military SF. It tells a story of a small army battling heroically against the odds. Enough enjoyment to leave me interested in reading more. To a fan of military SF -- I suspect that this is worth a bit more than my own six out of ten.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

PissWeakly: the Index

Swarmthief's Dance / Deborah J. Miller

Swarmthief's Dance

category: fantasy, author:

Deborah J. Miller

book 1 of Swarmthief Trilogy
original copyright 2005

read in May 2012

Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10, well worth reading

My first thought was to give an opinion for this novel of six out of ten -- read to pass the time. Then I started to think of the new ideas in the novel... and raised my opinion to seven, well worth reading.

The Swarmthief story is not great. Average excitement. Minimum tension. Unbelievable escapes. Nothing bad about all this. Just not the material for a "great" book.

Yet there are several new... and interesting... ideas. Starting with the gods.

The gods of the Swarmthief world play a central part in the story. There's an unfortunate mix of direct action and attempting to exert influence... Miller varies the gods' powers, with no explanation. Yet they are definitely key players.

And what an unpleasant lot of gods they are!

The main god character is a naive, unworldly(!) character. He doesn't get out much. Invites a pretty goddess to a picnic, offers sex and is surprised when she says, No thanks.

So, we think, nasty god of the underworld versus sweet goddess and her protective sisters... Will the humans align with good, or with evil?

Until the goddesses reappear in the story. Turns out that they are just as unworldly, over-reacting and insensitive as the god of the underworld... Help me! says one. Help me because you are my slave! says another. Sheesh! What happened to the idea that good gods care?!

The monsters, though, are good... Boring, but good.

Forget about dragons -- these are dragonflies! Monstrous dragonflies -- big enough to carry four or five people. Made up of millions of ordinary-sized insects. A small carry-case of insects will magically group into one gigantic flying insect. With a tendency to fall apart during flight...

Forget the logic, forget about conservation of mass... These monsters are brilliant!

Brilliant... yet boring. Mostly, they are just there. Standing very still. Or being forced to fly. Still, this is book one of a trilogy; there are already signs that the dragonflies -- the Swarms -- will develop.

So there are two rather original ideas: Controlling gods with variable power, no great smarts and unpleasant levels of self-interest. And gigantic dragon...flies. Great ideas! I hope that Miller is able to improve the next two books, to match the original ideas.

The next two books...

Where will Miller go, with the next two books of the trilogy?

The first book is a standard building up of a team of heroes. Meet someone interesting, they have specialist abilities, they join the team. Book two, the team goes on to battle evil, using the various abilities to solve various problems. Except...

The team was destroyed. All killed, in the final chapter... (Though with clear indications that one -- the Swarmthief of the title -- did, in fact, survive.) So much for my expectation of a standard trilogy! Or is this just another original idea from the author...?!

I'm worried that the author has too little empathy for her own characters. Should the reader also avoid forming close attachments? Will any characters survive to the end of the trilogy?

Read this book just to pass the time. With an extra point -- to become "well worth reading" -- if you enjoy some new and original ideas.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

PissWeakly: the Index

Dead Beat / Jim Butcher

Dead Beat

category: fantasy, author:

Jim Butcher

book 7 of The Dresden Files
original copyright 2005

read in May 2012

Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10, well worth reading

Another book in the Harry Dresden series... For a general flavour of these fantasies set in modern-day Chicago, see my earlier reviews of books in the series. Small Favour, for example... The books are consistently good. The hero is consistently good. The bad guys vary.

Dead Beat does have some highlights. There is, for example, the occasional good comic line: "Everyone else who lets me ride on their dinosaur calls me Carlos." Okay, you have to have read the book :-) Just take my word for it: this is a serious book with some good comic lines.

Now here's a really interesting aside...

I was browsing a site on the web, a blog for wannabe authors by a published author. A reader's comment mentioned in passing, that Harry Dresden had been in a graphic novel. And I thought, Yes, that's it: this novel is very... very... graphic!

Graphic as in graphic novel, that is.

Take, for example, a scene where Harry calls up a very powerful faerie. He can summon equally powerful beings in a suburban backyard. But for this scene, he goes to the lakeside. Stands on a very small spit of land. Just above the water level. Picture him: the wizard in black, standing tall on a small spit of land jutting over the dark and stormy lake. Calling a faerie -- who appears as a waterspout.

Excellent graphic imagery. Graphic as in graphic novel. This book is full of such set pieces. I wonder if Butcher wrote with a graphic novel in mind? Or does he just enjoy writing a book with very strong imagery...

Now, however, I must point out a weak point in the book. A serious lack of logical thinking. By the hero.

Dead Beat is about necromancy, the magic of raising or using the dead. If you master necromancy you can become immortal. So the story goes.

At one point Dresden is being tempted. Read the bad book and become an immortal, he is urged. Absorb the power of the dead and you can live forever! He seriously considers the offer.

Think how much good I could do if I had forever in which to do it, he thinks. If everyone could live forever we could stop killing each other. We would all have all of eternity in which to help make the world a better place, for everyone...

This is from the wizard who has spent, to that point, six books in the fight against supernatural baddies. Baddies who are, by and large, immortal. Has immortality made these beings into nice people? No way!

If only they had used their immortality for niceness instead of evil... But they did not.

So there's a blatant lack of logic by the hero.

No worries. As a private wizard investigator, he is best in class. And would still be best in class even if there were others in his class.

Another good book from The Dresden Files.

Saucer: The Conquest / Stephen Coonts

Saucer: The Conquest

category: science fiction, author:

Stephen Coonts

book 2 of Saucer
original copyright 2004

read in May 2012

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10, read to pass the time

Young man with brilliant mind, fit body and access to all the knowledge from an intergalactic flying saucer. Older woman, beautiful, intelligent, fighter pilot experience. All they need is some conflict in their romance and an excuse to save the world by flying the flying saucer.

Done!

The adventure continues on from Saucer. Same young man's escapist adventure. A little less worry that the girlfriend is so old. Thirty, almost! Same good fun, same enjoyable excitement.

Conquest does have less stray characters. Less walk-on parts with no real role to play. The characters are still rather pleasant... or mad and evil. Very few of those absolute villains; most of the bad guys are just people who act badly because they are involved with the wrong people.

One group in particular has evolved since the first book: the politicians. In Saucer, the president and all his men and women are pure, self-serving, game-playing idiots. In Conquest, well, they are much the same. Except with slightly improved motives. More sympathetic political logic. And, from the president, a minor hint of intelligence.

Amongst the other characters I particularly appreciate the bad guy pilot. He does attempt to kill the heroes. But when he risks crashing into a crowded city -- he pulls away. For the right reason, that he doesn't want to kill innocent bystanders.

The villains of Saucer are evil, rich gangsters with world-wide power. The villains of Conquest are, in essence, mad scientists with the usual dose of megalomania. That's just to reassure you: The two books are similar in style but completely different stories. If you enjoy one you will enjoy both :-)

The Magician's Apprentice / Trudi Canavan

The Magician's Apprentice

category: fantasy, author:

Trudi Canavan

book 0 (prequel) of Black Magician
original copyright 2009

read in May 2012

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10: read to pass the time

This book is a prequel to Canavan's Black Magician trilogy. At least I guess that it is, though I have not read the trilogy. The blurb on the back is a strong hint: "Set hundreds of years before the events..."

So there are a certain number of situations which must be created. Situations involving two countries, a hidden sanctuary, a magicians' guild, various other minor countries, people and groups. A complex set-up.

A bit too complex.

For the first half of the book I am wondering why there are several apparently unrelated groups, each following their own adventures. Okay, one group is invading, another being invaded. What about the family and friends in the city which is the home town of the invaders? How do they link in?!

There is also a problem with the building suspense...

We -- the readers -- know that there is an invasion happening. That it will begin near the home of the heroes. The heroes suspect the same. So what do they do? They head off to town -- a week's travel away from home... Then spend several days shopping, gossiping, visiting.

Okay, it is realistic. There is no definite proof of an invasion. The trip to the city is an annual event. What else should they do?! As a reader, though, I am wondering if ever there will be any definite action...

This is a saga rather than a novel... A saga of a world being changed. A world which is, as we start reading, new and unusual. To us. We are given a tour, plus a description of the slow but steady development of the world knowledge of (in particular) the heroine.

All very interesting. Just a little bit boring. Boring to me, that is; this world saga approach is standard fare for fantasy epics. Sometimes it works well. For me, Apprentice begins too slowly.

The battles -- when they finally begin -- are just a little bit... unusual. That's good, it's a direct result of the style of magic in this world. Yet it makes me think, Surely this is an ideal situation for cannon fodder? Especially for the bad guys: throw hundreds of "expendables" at the enemy in order to use up their available fire power. Ah well, I'm not the general.

Finally, in the second half of the book, it all begins to fall into place.

The amateurish disagreements within the "army" begin to make sense. In fact, they become an essential part of the story. The various characters gradually move together...

Except for the family and friends group... They have an essential part to play (in this prequel) yet they barely impact on the other characters. A minor tiff in passing, then they move on. It's difficult to set up so many essential situations, all within one book!

My last post was also of a prequel to a trilogy, a review of Vincalis the Agitator. In that review I decided that there was more required material than would fit comfortably in one book. But not enough interest for a second book. Apprentice also has more required material than will easily fit in one book. But...

Slow as it is, Apprentice could easily have been split into two books. The invasion is worth a book on its own. (Perhaps with a bit more interest up front!) The founders of the secret sanctuary -- the "family and friends" -- is worth its own book. Perhaps set in an even earlier time -- there is no strong reason why the sanctuary has to be formed "now". Okay, there is not enough material -- as is -- for a full book. But the storyline just does not fit well with the rest of the book.

So that's my opinion! Easy enough for me to say, I could not have written a book as good :-)

This is an enjoyable book. Constrained by its role as a prequel. Slow start. Quite fun and a satisfactory ending... Something to read, to pass the time.

Vincalis the Agitator / Holly Lisle

Vincalis the Agitator

category: fantasy, author:

Holly Lisle

book 0 (prequel) of Secret Texts
original copyright 2002

read in May 2012

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10: read to pass the time

There's a rich and happy society. Ruled by people who are not as nice as they pretend. Who are, in turn, ruled by a secret society who are cruel, evil and known of by a surprising number of people, considering that they are a "secret society". Then there's the underclass; the people who exist to suffer and to supply the power to support the good life of those above.

This book provides the background to Lisle's Secret Texts trilogy. It's an enjoyable book which can be read alone. It's a while since I read the trilogy and I enjoyed some of the new explanation of where it all began. I suspect that it would be a mistake to read the prequel before the trilogy; too much suspense would be lost.

As a standalone book, Vincalis is average. The plot drifts along in a logical progression... unbelievable beyond the excuse of fantasy but logical. The characters are soap opera: each one is a mixture of good and bad, with mixed motives and a tendency to shift allegiance under pressure.

There are four main characters, with the story following the point of view of two of them. Those two live a charmed life. There are threats, there are dangers, there are narrow escapes... these two avoid the worst of the torments. When characters do suffer -- it is seen, safely, from a third-person perspective. I like that! There's a limit to how much I want my heroes to suffer.

There are also social messages. The main message is, that those on top preserve their own energy-wasting lifestyles at the expense of those at the bottom. That comfort -- and the desire for continued comfort -- corrupts. It's a measure of the shallowness of the book that when a few people do take a stand against continued oppression of the poor... They take a stand, make no difference, disappear from the story.

Perhaps there is just too much in this book: The best part of a lifetime for the heroes; an empire from its dizzy heights to its sudden fall; the back story to a trilogy all in one book... A large number of sudden but satisfactory endings in the last few chapters. Is there too much to do in one book? Though I suspect that a second prequel would only stretch the plot too thin.

If you have just read the Secret Texts trilogy, then Vincalis is now worth reading. For others, it's enjoyable enough to pass the time.

The cover picture, really, says it all:

There's the hero, manacled, but otherwise unhurt. Surrounded by suspicious characters in robes, pointing, thinking, accusing but not really hurting. (Sticks and stones...) Now look again at the hero: he has the hands of a Lego person... Plastic.