First I thought David Weber had been caught by the prequel-wave and this book was about fresh midshipman Honor Harrington at the navy academy on Saganami Island, but it seems she's still admiral and is now captain of a ship of n00bs (Wrath of Khan).
The Solarians seem to be involved in this book, which I find exciting as we've hardly seen anything of them in the other books, and it's cool to hear of someone from "Old Earth".
I hope Weber will find some new spark and material this time since the ninth book, War of Honor, had way too miniscule battles and focused mostly on the pathetic political exchanges between the newly-revolutionized Havenites and the corrupt, incompetent conservatives of Manticore (very subtle message, Weber). Clich�s and regurgitated dialogue coupled with a "Danielle Steel"-class romance sidearch between Honor and Mr. Old Spice almost made me regret buying that book, although there was some good development in the overall HH-universe.
I'll definitely check this one out, because hope, after all, is the last to die. Except for Honor, of course.
-------------------- "I'm nigh-invulnerable when I'm blasting!" Mel Gibson, X-Men
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-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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What do you mean you didn't notice my (admittedly brief) absence?
Anyway, I noticed this on Amazon about ten days ago. Looks as if it could be good, as long as he's not just using it as an excuse to do a prequel without actually doing a prequel (ie by having a character (Helen Zil-whatever her name is)who is essentially the same as Honor). Finding out a bit more about the Sollies should be quiet but I really don't know how he's going to sort out the Haven thing. If he'sstill going with the French Revolution comparason, there may be a Bonaparte-esque figure emerging but I'd heard Weber had abandoned that whole thing.
I wasn't so keen on War of Honor either but it was ok. I didn't especially mind the thing with White Haven but equally, I didn't think it was a fantastic idea.
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quote:If he's still going with the French Revolution comparason, there may be a Bonaparte-esque figure emerging but I'd heard Weber had abandoned that whole thing.
Well the french revolution usually ends in the history books when Robespierre gets killed by his own mob, and so the "Havenite" revolution ends when Saint-Just gets blasted by his own people. I'd be content with that, although the ship battles of the Napoleonic era were very exiting indeed. Isn't Horatio Hornblower set during that period?
-------------------- "I'm nigh-invulnerable when I'm blasting!" Mel Gibson, X-Men
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posted
Well, the revolution was actually declared over by Bonaparte in 1799; the Revolutionary/Napoleonic wars were essentially the same conflict from 1792-1815, with a couple of brief pauses. Hornblower is set during this period.
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posted
And the Harrington novels are about 2200's, right? I wonder how many years have passed throuh the books. Much time has passed since Basilisk Station, I seem to recall some date in the last book.
-------------------- "I'm nigh-invulnerable when I'm blasting!" Mel Gibson, X-Men
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posted
If you mean Anno Domini, it's more like 4000 or so. It's the 1900s PD, which means about two millenia of space travel.
Marian
This random sig quote is brought to you by Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design: "[Mar's Law] Everything is linear if plotted log-log with a fat magic marker."
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He wouldn't say anything. He'd just look incurably smug.
Marian
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quote:Originally posted by Toadkiller: Marian = liznotbeth??
If so weren't you two having a baby??
News to me, since my ovaries have been nonfunctional since birth. (You may now all breath a sigh of relief; barring a medical miracle I won't be spawning.)
Marian != liznotbth, but there was some confusion to that effect when I first started haunting these boards.
Marian
This random sig quote is brought to you by the Star Wars Galaxies forums: "Is it just me or is common curtsy in this game, as rear as pink rancors?" -Tarnak_Archvold, 10-03-2004 11:21 AM
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posted
Well, all kinds of things have gotten in the way of my reading and I'm currently only halfway-through "Saganami", I'll do a more proper review later.
As it is now, I'd like to ask a genre question, something all these Navy Boys of Flare might be able to answer.
CL I understand, "cruiser light" my imagination tells me, and BC is fairly obvious, but the rest? DD, Destroyer-Dingy? CA, Cruiser Albeitheavy? BB, BattleBoat? Why isn't it BS?
Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
CA is Cruiser, Armoured. DD and BB, I presume are just repetitions to avoid confusion. These are all USN designations, though. I mostly know about the RN which doesn't use them (Destroyers are just D and frigates F and our carriers' numbers are preceded by R for some reason).
I finished 'Saganami' a few weeks ago but I was still at university and rather busy and then I forgot to post anything here. Overall I quite enjoyed it although it did seem a little like a mix of previous plot lines. I may do a more complete review later.
-------------------- "I am an almost extinct breed, an old-fashioned gentleman, which means I can be a cast-iron son-of-a-bitch when it suits me." --Jubal Harshaw
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"What's behind the ship designation acronyms???"
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