In the Heart of Darkness
(Bellisarius #2)
by Eric Flint, David Drake
military science fiction
copyright 1998
read in March 2016
rated 7/10: well worth reading
Tough blokes being tough... Beautiful women being... tough. Heroic heroes -- and heroines. Brutal and stupid villains. Plus a few upstanding, moral, clever, "we'd rather be friends but we've sworn to kill you" villains.
Sword and sandals, violence, cunning plots -- foiled -- and explosives... That's why it's "science fiction" and not historical fiction. And "military" ? Yes, lots and lots of fights and battles.
The authors have changed their writing style. Lots of short sentences. Single word sentences. Emphasis through repetition.
I may laugh at the over-the-top characters -- and action -- but I like the characters. And I enjoy the action. (There's blood and gore... but it's all a bit cartoonish. Makes it more acceptable.)
Does all that make this novel, "well worth reading" ? Well, in part...
I've also read a couple of duds. Meaningful books which are hard to read. Or that fail to interest me.
What a huge relief to read a book which is 99% entertainment !
And there's the 1% bonus, of actual facts...
A few descriptions of battle tactics. Nothing I've ever thought about before so I'm pleased to be given some new ideas -- in an entertaining format. Are these good battle tactics ? I have no idea :-)
Though I wonder about the "cross the T" approach to a naval battle... The heroes seem to speak and write Greek. Did Greeks have a letter T -- in that particular form of a line crossing the vertical ?
There are also the characters from history. I've checked one or two. Okay, there are some similarities to historic fact... Not much. No worries -- the book is interesting enough that I read about the named characters.
It's simplistic stuff.
And a lot of -- violent -- fun.
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