Out of the Dark
by David Weber
science fiction, fantasy
copyright 2010
read in September 2015
rated 7/10: well worth reading
Well worth reading -- if you like this type of book !
"This type of book" is humanity -- mostly Americans -- heroically battling against the rather stupid alien invaders. With loving and detailed descriptions of each and every weapon that is used. Which is interesting...
I was reading the Wikipedia entry on the movie, Conan the Barbarian. One view is, that Conan was the first movie to use weapons as a central theme. Conan had two swords. Out of the Dark has numerous pistols, rifles, mortars, tanks... Men, women and children are armed to the teeth. The humans are all heroic and largely interchangeable. Their weapons are the true heroes of this book.
There's a mild attempt to mix a few traditional enemies. The Moslem bomber joins the Americans to kill aliens. The Russian soldier -- blonde, blue eyed and ready to migrate to America -- saves women and children by killing aliens. Given a common enemy, all humans will forget their past differences...
All earth-born near-humans, that is. There's a message about living with people who are not "your" people. To me, the better message is, that there is no need to kill people just because they are different. Times change, perhaps we can leave old hatreds in the past.
What we have, though, is a rather stupid ending. Solid military science fiction. With a surprise -- deus ex machina -- ending. I thought... surely not... but it is. Not so much a surprising twist in the tail. More an out-of-place means to the end of the aliens.
Speaking of stupid...
It is only in the last couple of chapters that the humans think to interrogate any aliens ! Good grief ! So much intelligence to be gathered -- and not a single question is asked. Is this an example of the well known oxymoron, "military intelligence" ?!
If you enjoy reading about heroic Americans fighting and dying to save the world, this book is well worth reading. And yes, no matter what the cultural background of the fighters -- they are all fighting in the heroic American style. Complete with sirloin steak seared on the barbecue between battles.
If you love reading about the relative stopping power of military -- and civilian -- firearms, this is a fun book. If you like to be told the muzzle velocity of each rifle and why one weapon will blast aliens better than another, then this is a good book.
If you remember the movie Independence Day as being stupid American bragging -- do not read Out of the Dark.
If you just want some violent entertainment, gung ho super-patriotism... Non-stop support for the US gun and weapon fetish... Heroic Americans kissing mom, eating apple pie and killing stupid aliens... Then this book is well worth reading.
I think it's a rather stupid book.
And I enjoyed reading it.
"The problem with the future is that it keeps turning into the present." -- Hobbes via Watterson
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