11-03-2006, 09:45 AM
The first fifty pages of this book sucked. I was ready to toss the book out the window. Good thing you can't open windows on the airplane.
It's the first book in a series about the multiverse. It's basically a chain of universes linked together by portals with the same planet at it's center. At one end of the chain are the Arcanans, a universe where the code of magic has been broken and is used for everyday life. At the other end of the chain are the Sharonans. They use technology that we are familiar. The laws of physics apply in that neck of the wood. Except for the high percentage of telepaths, it's just like us around the 1880's. The Sharonans are up to steam power and gunpowder and are working on oil.
The two civilizations meet at one of the portals, which they call Hell's Gate because of all the shooting involved from both sides.
Why did I hate the first fifty pages. My god did they need editing. It was page after page of exposition and tangents. Both authors felt the pressing need to tell us everything about everyone. I can understand the need to explain the world and it's people, but it never let up. They'd be in the middle of an action sequence and suddenly it was time to talk about the main Sharonan women's mother and father and how she was an ambassador to the cetaceans and how she lived on this spit of land near the ocean and there was a bell the dolphins could ring to get her attention and her father and it would not stop. You forgot what the hell was going on by the time you got from the byway. It was like a first novel without an editor.
They eventually toned the exposition down but it would creep in through out the novel. Isn't it better to do things in novels rather than talk about them?
Eventually the action moved forward and the pace picked up. In the beginning both sides of the shooting incidents were good guys appalled by the bloodshed. Then the incompetents showed up to make the misunderstanding worse. It's typical Weber. There are only supremely competent individuals or supremely incompetent individuals. And if one of the Competents is in a jam, an incompetent will come along and make the situation worse. There are no shades of grey.
Fortunately, before everything gets sorted out, opposing parties in the Sharonan and Arcanan universes see oppurtunities for advancement by escalating the conflict.
The second half of the book was okay. There is a noticeable rise in tension. All the opposing sides are being drawn nicely. I'm just hoping they get a really good editor before the next book.
And one last quibble, what's with Weber and his fascination with people carrying around pets? In the Honorverse, we had the Cats. In this book it's Birds of Prey. Why? Why do some people always have to have a semi-sentient familiar? Couldn't you find some other way to make the people stand out?
It's the first book in a series about the multiverse. It's basically a chain of universes linked together by portals with the same planet at it's center. At one end of the chain are the Arcanans, a universe where the code of magic has been broken and is used for everyday life. At the other end of the chain are the Sharonans. They use technology that we are familiar. The laws of physics apply in that neck of the wood. Except for the high percentage of telepaths, it's just like us around the 1880's. The Sharonans are up to steam power and gunpowder and are working on oil.
The two civilizations meet at one of the portals, which they call Hell's Gate because of all the shooting involved from both sides.
Why did I hate the first fifty pages. My god did they need editing. It was page after page of exposition and tangents. Both authors felt the pressing need to tell us everything about everyone. I can understand the need to explain the world and it's people, but it never let up. They'd be in the middle of an action sequence and suddenly it was time to talk about the main Sharonan women's mother and father and how she was an ambassador to the cetaceans and how she lived on this spit of land near the ocean and there was a bell the dolphins could ring to get her attention and her father and it would not stop. You forgot what the hell was going on by the time you got from the byway. It was like a first novel without an editor.
They eventually toned the exposition down but it would creep in through out the novel. Isn't it better to do things in novels rather than talk about them?
Eventually the action moved forward and the pace picked up. In the beginning both sides of the shooting incidents were good guys appalled by the bloodshed. Then the incompetents showed up to make the misunderstanding worse. It's typical Weber. There are only supremely competent individuals or supremely incompetent individuals. And if one of the Competents is in a jam, an incompetent will come along and make the situation worse. There are no shades of grey.
Fortunately, before everything gets sorted out, opposing parties in the Sharonan and Arcanan universes see oppurtunities for advancement by escalating the conflict.
The second half of the book was okay. There is a noticeable rise in tension. All the opposing sides are being drawn nicely. I'm just hoping they get a really good editor before the next book.
And one last quibble, what's with Weber and his fascination with people carrying around pets? In the Honorverse, we had the Cats. In this book it's Birds of Prey. Why? Why do some people always have to have a semi-sentient familiar? Couldn't you find some other way to make the people stand out?
So much for the flickr badge idea. Dammit