SPOILERS==Shadow of Victory Comments, Queries and Opinions

n7axw wrote:I just read the whole thread which I found fascinating.

I won't criticize a book which I haven't read since I have decided to wait on the publication date.

Just one thing, though. I am a bit surprised that some of you expected those dead Beowulfers to be the victims of an attack by the SLN anticipated in ART. Based on a hint RFC left a while back that is floating around in the foggy reaches of my hokey memory, I have been presuming that those dead Beowulfers would be the victims of an Alighnment attack, probably with chemical or biological weapons. So go figure...

Don

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The point is that by now some ten million should have died! Exactly how is for the Creator to say.

To continue the lead guitar analogy, DW is the artist and he can and will play as many notes as he thinks is necessary, whether his audience agrees withh him or not but you can say a lot more and have a greater emotional impact with fewer well played notes. Think Mark Knopfler vs speed metal.

To be honest when I first read books where Solarian/Mesan plot began I found all those fragments very boring at that time and skipped most of it. But later, when the next books appeared my perspective changed and I enjoy those books immensely.

Regarding SoV - yes, there are many new characters on several new planets and there is a lot of jumping between characters but several backstories were really fun. I have distinctive feeling, that after next book appears many people will enjoy this one much more

Sharp Claw wrote:
I am not criticizing the craftsmanship as you are still my current favorite author and greatly appreciate the effort and the 14 hour days to get your work to your readers ASAP after the schedule slipped. I think the disappointment, such as it is and what there is of it, is due to the fact that the last three books have all ended at basically the same point in time and we really wanted the story to move forward.

I believe you had said that you had wanted to consolidate the various story lines, like Torch and the shadow series, into the main honorverse story. You clearly believed that the plot needed to be thickened and all the back stories of the various characters filled in before you could move forward and that is the source of the self indulgent comment. I had really wanted the story to move forward and didn't think so much back filling of so many minor characters, like Damien Harahap was really
Necessary.

BTW, I resent the implication that I am some anonymous internet troll just trying to upset you and get a reaction. My real name and email are known to you and your mods and my criticisms are my real opinions and I would say the same things FTF.

I never implied that anyone was trying to "troll" me. In fact, my remarks about the intnernet and civility in discourse were --- clearly, I thought -- a "while we're on the subject" follow on to my comments about why longtime readers, because of their long investment in the series, got rather more of a pass from me if their language waxed less than fully temperate. Not a single word I said was untrue or inaccurate of the general population on the net, however.

I do think --- as I said, quite clearly, I thought -- that people sometimes (in fact, fairly frequently) do not choose the same words in written discourse (electronic or dead tree) that they might choose in a face-to-face conversation where the other party to the conversation's reaction an be immediately seen and factored into the communication. There's less bandwidth, if you will, which means that the ability to interpolate and adapt is much more limited. And I do think that's tended to contribute to a decline in the civility of conversation --- and especially of argument and disagreement (note the dictionary definition difference between "argue" and "quarrel") --- in general.

Is there some way in which any of the above are inaccurate propositions?

jgnfld wrote:

n7axw wrote:I just read the whole thread which I found fascinating.

I won't criticize a book which I haven't read since I have decided to wait on the publication date.

Just one thing, though. I am a bit surprised that some of you expected those dead Beowulfers to be the victims of an attack by the SLN anticipated in ART. Based on a hint RFC left a while back that is floating around in the foggy reaches of my hokey memory, I have been presuming that those dead Beowulfers would be the victims of an Alighnment attack, probably with chemical or biological weapons. So go figure...

Don

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The point is that by now some ten million should have died! Exactly how is for the Creator to say.

The problem I am having with your statement is with those words "by now." As I would visualize the plot line, that is still for the future as the conflict with the MA comes out into the open.

Don

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Sharp Claw wrote: I had really wanted the story to move forward and didn't think so much back filling of so many minor characters, like Damien Harahap was really necessary.

While I agree with the longing to finally learn what happens after ART, I have to disagree about Harahap.
Last bit we've seen of Harahap was very(!) important. Explanation about the extent of his knowledge about MA too.
Same stuff can be said about some other stories... Like Maya and why they were ready to come aboard of the anti-MA side too.

I just hope that now we can finally move on and that we won't be getting another year or two of sidestories and spinoffs.

Is there any info on planned date/quarter for the next main line book release?

i seem to recall some mention that the final book will be about april 2018, to tie in with the 20th anniversary of OBS being released.

shenick wrote:While I agree with the longing to finally learn what happens after ART, I have to disagree about Harahap.
Last bit we've seen of Harahap was very(!) important. Explanation about the extent of his knowledge about MA too.
Same stuff can be said about some other stories... Like Maya and why they were ready to come aboard of the anti-MA side too.

I just hope that now we can finally move on and that we won't be getting another year or two of sidestories and spinoffs.

Is there any info on planned date/quarter for the next main line book release?

Earlier in the book, Harahap visited the Gamma Center. Whilst there, he was stuffed with Alignment nanotechnology, most likely including the same suicide protocols which ended Lajos Irvine's life when he started telling Cachat about the Alignment.

So interrogating Firebrand is a matter which has to be handled very delicately. And possibly with haste - Harahap himself speculated that there was a timer which would expire if he did not remain in contact with his handlers.

Granted, this time limit might provide a way of forcing Damien to cooperate. But he might not even be able to communicate that without triggering the Lajos protocol!

munroburton wrote:

shenick wrote:While I agree with the longing to finally learn what happens after ART, I have to disagree about Harahap.
Last bit we've seen of Harahap was very(!) important. Explanation about the extent of his knowledge about MA too.
Same stuff can be said about some other stories... Like Maya and why they were ready to come aboard of the anti-MA side too.

I just hope that now we can finally move on and that we won't be getting another year or two of sidestories and spinoffs.

Is there any info on planned date/quarter for the next main line book release?

Earlier in the book, Harahap visited the Gamma Center. Whilst there, he was stuffed with Alignment nanotechnology, most likely including the same suicide protocols which ended Lajos Irvine's life when he started telling Cachat about the Alignment.

So interrogating Firebrand is a matter which has to be handled very delicately. And possibly with haste - Harahap himself speculated that there was a timer which would expire if he did not remain in contact with his handlers.

Granted, this time limit might provide a way of forcing Damien to cooperate. But he might not even be able to communicate that without triggering the Lajos protocol!

We had one potential source die in CoG. Also I think Zavala will do his best and utmost to preserve Harahap for as long as possible. Really interesting question is for how long Indiana and Zavala were in contact and how many live recordings there are of Firebrand 'working'.From what it seems now they just handed him over the moment Zavala contacted them. But that's for another thread.

I just hope we'll know one way or the other asap (before 2018)

runsforcelery wrote: And I do become frustrated occasionally with what I think of as the Nitpick Crowd. Those are the folks who zero in on some pet interest and over-analyze anything to do with their particular interest area absolutely to death.

Sidles away whistling softly. No, I totally didn't do acceleration or velocity drop calculations in comparing new info to the older books over into the edit errors and spoilers thread... Over-analyze? Don't know what you're talking about