Abendau's Heir discussion

I have plenty stock so let me send from here. Yes, ask around for sure! I think I will order more books Tuesday. My gut is telling me I should.

#thezebedee
 
Jo Zebedee said:
(or gave each author five to offer - the personal approach goes a long way) then that could work well as the writer will know which libraries are big, could maybe set up a reading at the same time, and make contacts.
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This is one of the reasons why contracts at the big publishers include a certain number of free copies to the author. (Which sometimes results in the author having more copies than they know what to do with, but I think any author can put a dozen or so to good use.)
 
Well, I've finished Abendau's Heir. And I liked it a lot. I will post a review on Amazon. When last I looked the U.S. Amazon had less than 10 reviews, and by nobody I recognized. It just dawned on me that most of you live in the UK and would use their version of Amazon.

Now, I have a question for Jo. How do you pronounce Kare's name: Care or Car? I've been thinking "Care" but if that's so I keep thinking that it's a bit of a pointer at his character. Maybe that's just me?

The spoiler contains thoughts that I've been mulling over in my mind. It seems to be what this thread was designed for, but I'm not sure if it might not be a bit much. If anyone responds, I'll follow their lead about whether this should be tagged spoiler, or discussed in the clear.

Basically I'd divide the book in thirds. I thought the first third was solid but I kept wishing for more details. I would have loved to know more about Kare's childhood. But what I got was enough, and I thought that we would soon be moving onto the action part of the novel.

I thought the second third really slowed down, there were times when I was tempted to quit when the story line kept bumping up years. Unlike many of you my genre of choice is SF, especially military SF, and I kept feeling that was really a Fantasy story with a S.F. setting. I wanted more action, and felt that I was cheated out of some interesting strategy and battles, to say nothing of how the relationship developed between Kare and Sonly, between Sonly and her brothers, etc. It seemed like we would jump ahead and now what had happened was explained in short, rather than filled in by action and dialogue.

But the last third was dynamite! Finally, I was having a hard time putting the book down. I did feel that the battle strategy felt a bit too twentieth century with almost all of the action on the ground and the whole idea of orbital strikes not ever considered. In a true star drive culture sitting in one place on the ground for days is almost certainly a losing strategy. There was hint that the banned controlled near space, but the idea of a single ship on a kamikaze mission or c speed bombardment was never even mentioned. Maybe the "shield" could have protected them from that. If that's so I would have liked to have known that, even a single sentence would have changed my frustration with tactics. But the interpersonal stuff was great! I liked how the characters kept promising things to others and themselves but kept discovering that they could be forced to change their mind. I like the mental battle between Kare and the Empress. I thought the psychic bondage idea of losing powers to thwart an adversary was brilliant. I really like the wounded and defeated Kare struggling. I thought that added a great deal to realism to the story. In most story the hero is almost like a Superman, somehow above the fray and very unrealistic. I thought the idea of having love be both the greatest strength for both Kare and Sonly and their greatest weakness was absolutely dead on. And I felt that a human would likely make the kind of compromises and sacrifices that made in the name of love. In short I'm hooked on this series and want to see how it all comes together. Several probable scenarios run in my mind, but Jo has shown me time and again that you'd best not anticipate what will happen next. It's likely to be very different but very believable.

I waited to read this thread until I finished reading the book. I now wish I'd have read it sooner I would have had Jo personalize a greeting. Live and Learn, maybe book 2?
 
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I am assuming you mean Sonly. Do you want me to change it for you?

I imagine I can work put in the spoiler tag for you, too, if you want me to.
 
Oops, sorry, Teresa, I didn't see that you were on this and I fixed the spoiler tag in the first post and deleted the second, duplicate, one.
 
It's pronounced as Care, Parson (although my accent turns it into cur with a rolling R. But I've an odd dialect. :D) It's not there for any deep meaning but was a little nod to a character in a certain 70s British space opera (let's see who works that one out first. Although as it happens the two characters couldn't be less alike.) And I'll happily personalize book two. :)

You're the second sf person to mention the battle scenes and I'd put my hands up and say this is sf light in terms of the tech, and the military aspects, and borders onto space fantasy. But I didn't want to get bogged down in terms of external action when there was so much going on with the character interplay. It's also, by quite a bit, the slowest of the three books (I think), just because it establishes so much of the world and the background story.

And I'm really glad you enjoyed it and liked the moral aspects - I did wonder how you would find them. :)
 
Jo Zebedee said:
It's not there for any deep meaning but was a little nod to a character in a certain 70s British space opera (let's see who works that one out first. Although as it happens the two characters couldn't be less alike.)
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You must have had that character on your mind when you named Kare's mother Av-errine, too.
 
Because I need to get a bit closer to God, Parson (the mods will tell you I do!). :) And I believe you can help me on that.

I will facilitate the personalised book for you. PM me what you want saying. Perhaps you could give the other book to a worthy cause or you may want to keep it?
 
Teresa Edgerton said:
I am assuming you mean Sonly. Do you want me to change it for you?

I imagine I can work put in the spoiler tag for you, too, if you want me to.
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Hand slap to forehead. Yes, Sonly!! One of my great failings as a person and a pastor is my inability to retain names. I can almost always tell stories and histories of the people I know, but names seem like they are made of Teflon as they slide through the folds of my brain.
 
At least you now have the excuse that many people our age have the habit of forgetting names or using the wrong ones. (I occasionally call my daughters by my sister's name, and one of my grandsons by my son's name.) You don't have to tell people if it's a long-standing habit.

So do you want me to edit your post and change Kerra to Sonly? It would be no trouble for me.
 
I think you should change Parsnips post, Teresa. Old age is a burden, I know evertime I visit this place I get something wrong!

But long live SFF World and its leader Brian Turnip!

LOL :) :)
 
Teresa Edgerton said:
At least you now have the excuse that many people our age have the habit of forgetting names or using the wrong ones. (I occasionally call my daughters by my sister's name, and one of my grandsons by my son's name.) You don't have to tell people if it's a long-standing habit.

So do you want me to edit your post and change Kerra to Sonly? It would be no trouble for me.
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Please, it would be so much less embarrassing.

--- I have 4 granddaughters within 5 years and I usually call them by their right name. (sigh)
 
Teresa Edgerton said:
At least you now have the excuse that many people our age have the habit of forgetting names or using the wrong ones. (I occasionally call my daughters by my sister's name, and one of my grandson's by my son's name.) You don't have to tell people if it's a long-standing habit.
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I frequently confuse the names of my son and one of our dogs. Their personalities are almost identical and they get up to similar types of mischief.

I actually came on here to say that I have been busy requesting Abendau in various bookshops around the place. I'm hoping I can get away with the old "Oh, funny enough someone bought me it as a present the other day. They bought it in your rival shop across the road" routine when they phone me to say it's in stock.
 
Kerrybuchanan said:
I actually came on here to say that I have been busy requesting Abendau in various bookshops around the place. I'm hoping I can get away with the old "Oh, funny enough someone bought me it as a present the other day. They bought it in your rival shop across the road" routine when they phone me to say it's in stock.
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Parson shakes his head and says a prayer for Kerry. "Lord forgive her actions for her intentions are good."
 
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