Like a Mighty Army

[Timba]

The most recent book in the Safehold series is out and I just finished it. As the title indicates there is a lot of army action in this book, ship battles are few and far between. A lot of technology discussion which I enjoyed. At least one love story, maybe two although that may be me jumping to conclusions. All the old familiar characters we love and or hate along with a veritable host of characters on the various battle fronts. I found I really had to pay attention to chapter headings to make sure I knew which side the characters were on due to the many, many names.


A totally surprising twist, at least for me, that I will not define as it might be a spoiler for others.


I thought this moved the story on well and from discussions between characters in the book I remain convinced that Weber has decided he will, in some fashion, provide for his fans the ass kicking the Gbaba deserve. I know he stated previously that he did not intend to do that but it sure feels like it to me.


For me it was a compelling read, started it Friday and finished it Sunday.


Curious what others think.

 

[Parson]

Still reading it Timba. I must say that you've given me some hope for this book. So far I feel mired in interminable officers and places. I should have started a list of characters because I'm often wondering, "Now who is this again?" Will check back after its read.

 

[Timba]

Still reading it Timba. I must say that you've given me some hope for this book. So far I feel mired in interminable officers and places. I should have started a list of characters because I'm often wondering, "Now who is this again?" Will check back after its read.

Hang in there Parson. I also found the size of the cast of characters to be somewhat overwhelming. I settled on simply making sure which side was under discussion and then eventually it started to sort itself out for me.


I think a list of characters might have been helpful but I could have hopped to the back of the book for that and yet I did not, too lazy. I think just making sure I knew which side was under discussion helped a lot. I suppose it was to be expected given a world wide war but the scale is a bit daunting.


I look forward to your thoughts when you have finished.

 

[Parson]

I'm right at half way (49%) and it is starting to pick up. I've done exactly what you did. Just trying to make sure I knew on which side each character was on. I'm hoping for the "sorting out" stage.

 

[Parson]

Well, I've finished it. For the first time ever I wish that I had bought a book with a cover instead of the ebook. As I mentioned earlier, I was lost so much of the time over who was who, and where was where. I think -- not sure -- that I would have thumbed back to the list of names and places at the end to keep them straight but that was just too hard on my Kindle.

Right off, I have to say that this is my lowest rated book in this series. I would not give it more than 3 of 5 stars. The things I didn't like.

(1) We spent so much of the book dealing with tangential characters, rather than the ones we've come to know and to love.
(2) It seemed that there was entirely too much detail about troop movements and the difficulty in supplying an army. I was going bleary eyed dealing with light cavalry, dragoons, skirmishers, infantry, supply wagons, draft dragons, canals, .......
(3) [Related to 1] Almost all of the new characters I found that I did not care much about.
(4) This book seems to accomplish nothing in the saga other than set up the next book.

But, I did love the new PICA, and the wonderful hint about the long range view to get back into space. The next book had better take some major steps in that direction or I'm done with this series. (Well, maybe.)

 

[Timba]

I understand totally the points you make Parson. I think I am, perhaps, more philosophical about the need to have and describe in detail the land war and the reality that it was not going to be fought in the trenches by the main characters. I would have enjoyed more time with my favorite characters but not sure how he could do that and detail the war.


I am not as bothered by the details of the war as you, generally speaking I just go to top reading speed for those and they never seem that bad to me (endless detail about missile speeds and range in the HH series never wears me down either but I understand why some are bothered by it).


I thought he did a nice job of showing how technology was beginning to develop a head of steam everywhere and the implications of that for people in church territory and for Merlin's goals.


Based on the last few chapters I think the next book is going to revolve around taking the battle to the center of church power and I was intrigued by the indications that the head priest (whose name eludes me as I write this) seems to be losing control of at least 2 of the gang of 4. Interesting implications in that.


SPOILER ALERT:










Did you feel a hint of possible PICA romance or is that my odd mind playing tricks on me?

 

[Parson]

I understand totally the points you make Parson. I think I am, perhaps, more philosophical about the need to have and describe in detail the land war and the reality that it was not going to be fought in the trenches by the main characters. I would have enjoyed more time with my favorite characters but not sure how he could do that and detail the war.


I am not as bothered by the details of the war as you, generally speaking I just go to top reading speed for those and they never seem that bad to me (endless detail about missile speeds and range in the HH series never wears me down either but I understand why some are bothered by it).


I thought he did a nice job of showing how technology was beginning to develop a head of steam everywhere and the implications of that for people in church territory and for Merlin's goals.


Based on the last few chapters I think the next book is going to revolve around taking the battle to the center of church power and I was intrigued by the indications that the head priest (whose name eludes me as I write this) seems to be losing control of at least 2 of the gang of 4. Interesting implications in that.


SPOILER ALERT:










Did you feel a hint of possible PICA romance or is that my odd mind playing tricks on me?

I had something of that same flavor too. Is David Weber going to go down the road traveled so many times by Heinlein? But I think it's more likely that Merlin now has someone with whom he can share his feelings of earth etc. A rare gift, and it could help move the story forward.


I hadn't really thought about it, but there does seem to be some trouble brewing among the gang of 4. Maybe they are going to be the final straw that causes the wakening of "whatever" is down there under the temple. And you are right Weber did do a good job of showing the growth of innovation.


I'm like you with the missile speeds etc. But somehow that didn't translate for me with the troop and supply deployment.

 

[Timba]

I had something of that same flavor too. Is David Weber going to go down the road traveled so many times by Heinlein? But I think it's more likely that Merlin now has someone with whom he can share his feelings of earth etc. A rare gift, and it could help move the story forward.

Good point, it is a rare gift and I had not thought about it helping to move the story on but I think you are right on target with that thought.

 

[Vertigo]

Well I've just finished the previous book Midst Toil and Trouble and whilst I will go on to this one it is only because the overriding story arc is a great story but MTAT was, in my humble opinion appallingly written and it sounds from Parson's comments that this is not much better. Weber is seems to be getting steadily worse in this regard in both these Safehold books and the HH ones. Such an incredibly high percentage of the book is spent in completely static conversations, ie dialogue with no action; absolutely none or maybe just riding a horse through the snow or riding a new fangled bicycle. Also I noticed that Parson commented on peripheral characters; MTAT was filled with scenes containing only characters that we never see again, which I think is simply sloppy lazy writing. I followed MTAT with a Hornblower book and was truly shocked at how much better Forester (one of Weber's big influences) is at feeding information to the reader, including political information, almost without that reader noticing; it is expertly woven in through the action.

I really don't understand why Weber's writing has got so bad compared to how it used to be, unless maybe it's because he is trying to write too many books at once. Lets face it writing two big political series like Safehold and HH at the same time (and that's exactly what HH is now) is maybe just a little too much.

I'll certainly be waiting on the paperback prices before I go ahead.

 

[Vince W]

I tried to read the first book in this series based on the strength of HH. I dropped it after about 50 pages and have never felt the interest to try again.

 

[Vertigo]

It sounds like you might not even have reached Safehold then, at which point the story takes a totally different turn. It's certainly not the military space opera that HH is. In fairness, though, the earlier books were very good but only if you like this kind of meshing of SF and historical (which I do). However I feel both series have gone the same way now which may yet result in dropping me out of them.