(SPOILER) HFQ Review

I like Safehold the way it is. The info dumps are central to the main theme of the story which is how the straitjacket of the proscriptions is broken and technology introduced to Safehold.

I suppose one could argue about how to handle the info dumps, but I find them interesting. I'm no techie, but I have been inspired by the books and conversation here on the forum to read a book on the development of steam power aind to do some research on diesel.

A very mild critic I might make is that sometimes I wish the storyline would move a bit faster, particularly sinse the beginning of MTAT. But over all, there have been enough social, technological and religious vectors to explore to keep us busy and interested here on the forum even though it's been 18 + months sinse LAMA.

That, I think says something very positive about the richness and depth of the Safehold series as a whole.

Don

Thendisnia wrote:

Keith_w wrote:quote="Thendisnia "Where did Archbishop Makel of Charis get his treecat? /quote

His daughter gave him his cat-lizard. Where did you get the idea he has a tree cat?

Because it is a Cat with 6 limbs whatever Safeholdians wanna call it.

But it's not an empath.

Keith_w wrote:But it's not an empath.

Says who? I don't remember anywhere a line saying they are mind blind, maybe they just hid it better than their cousins in another world?

Bosparan wrote:

Keith_w wrote:But it's not an empath.

Says who? I don't remember anywhere a line saying they are mind blind, maybe they just hid it better than their cousins in another world?

They are mind-blind because they don't eat celery.

wingfield wrote:
They are mind-blind because they don't eat celery.

Maybe they just forgot to bring celery to Safehold.
(Would have been a much different place.)

wingfield wrote:They are mind-blind because they don't eat celery

There is documented proof that while celery boosts the mind's voice, it's not a requirement - treecats were already very treecat'y before ever humans reach Sphinx (or Safehold).
It may however indeed be the reason Safeholdians never realized the truth: After all, without the obvious celery addiction it ought to be pardonable that they didn't make the connection.

I read the review. I haven't read all the comments on this particular thread. My takes:

1. The spoiler is interesting, but obviously a minor part of the story;

2. I do agree about the lengthy forays into the technical aspects of weapon design and manufacture. I may read them on the first read, but I almost invariably skip over them when doing a reread;

3. As to any running away or shying away from the grimness or the hopelessness of concentration camps or human suffering, that's the critic's opinion, driven by her own perspective, history and, perhaps, agenda. I'm not bothered by it at all, as RFC is writing a book for the purposes of entertaining his audience, and (in my case, aside from the lengthy technical discussions)he largely does a good job of it. Otherwise, we wouldn't be here; and

4. I'm hoping HFQ will turn out to be a good read. This review is the second negative comment I've heard about the book, but I have faith.

Finally, I do have one interesting side note that may be completely irrelevant to many. It has to do with an example of authors' predilections, and whether I continue to read their works.

I absolutely loved the book, Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card. The ending, in particular, was welcome, as it put a context on the conflict that often is missing from other works. The only thing I could compare it to was the end of the Return of the King in the Lord of the Rings series, from the time the hobbits started back to the Shire up until Sam's saying "Well, I'm home." The passing of the rings, and the demarcation of the end of one era and the start of another, provided such beautiful context for the whole series, it was breathtaking.

However, with respect to the Ender series, by the time I got to the third book in the series I was disgusted. I realized virtually all of Card's books involved a conflict centered upon sibling rivalry, which he perpetuated ad nauseum. In one case, he revived someone from the dead to keep it going, and in another case, he perpetuated a sibling conflict, literally, over a time span of 25 million years. That was way too much for me and I happily stopped reading his works and never looked back.

With respect to Safehold, I do agree with the critic that the technical details sometimes are a bit too much. Yes, those details make the tale more believable. However, they also can and, in my opinion, do at times detract from the flow of the tale itself.

Some won't like what I'm saying. I truly regret that. It's just that I don't believe in blind adulation either. I love the Safehold series and all the other RFC works I've read. I just see one area where this current series might possibly be improved.

Respectfully,

X

I wonder why anyone (Tor Books or David Weber) would waste an advance copy on someone such as LizBourne. She would obviously be happier reviewing Mills and Boone. She misses the whole point of the Safehold books. The rise of technology is fundamental to the story and a large part of why DW wrote it and many of us read it. Everyone has a choice, they don't have to read DW. If a reader doesn't like his style then, fine don't read his books, but please don't try to change his style. Most of us like it just the way it is.

Of course that is not to say his work hasn't developed over time. It has got better but the basic style, so anathema to Ms Bourne, remains. Thank goodness.

And the fact that she drops SPOILERS is another good reason not to use this reviewer.

The info dumps can be skimmed, but... Please, no more up-close looks at torture or other extreme privations. I got that from the earlier books with Manthyr, and yes it was needed but *shudders* and I don't read science fiction novels to read about horror. If I wanted horror, I'd pick up a book of horror. Or a History book. Or watch the bloody news!

I read David Weber because the real world IS horrible, I *know* it is, and I don't want to deal with it at that point. I want to read a good book where YES, Horrible Things may happen to the characters but in the end Good Will Triumph. And I want it because it so rarely happens in Real Life.

But reading about a family saved, and how the characters develop around it and around the horror, can be very informative. And can develop the character. And can bring the horror of the problem home, without causing people to turn away.

I've trusted David Weber this far, I'm not going to stop. I don't think he flinches away from the horror: I think he knows that many of his readers won't read the true horror, so he finds other ways to bring it home.

You cannot tell the story, and the morality behind it, if your readers won't read it. And.... I personally hit my limit with the Manthyr incident and the others like it. Weber almost lost me on that one, any more and I would not have read on.

Cheers!
C4.

A little bit different perspective....

For me the Safehold series has been a love-hate kind of relationship. Probably because of my impatience and wanting to 'find out how it all ends', common in today's instant gratification philosophy, I found myself re-reading the entire series, again, and relishing the excruciating detailed descriptions and actually trying to keep track of people's names.

The Safehold series is actually more detailed and hard to follow than the Honorcverse, IMHO, but I must say, with the proliferation of 'popcorn' sci-fi stories (filling, but not very nutritious) , mainly Amazon sponsored, I find the details both refreshing and intriguing in my re-re-re-read. There are very few of the 'popcorn' sci-fi I read and re-read like the weber books. (And of course there are a few of the Weber books I haven't re-read either Apocalypse Troll, Out of the Dark to name a few.) But I have re-read the Honorverse, Dahak and Safehold books more than any other author's books since EE Doc Smith and the Lensmen series.

A couple of safehold books ago, I would have not given the series a very high rating because of the stretching out of the plot line. Now, I am savoring the latest re-read like a perfectly grilled rack of lamb. I'm up to a Mighty Fortress and this time I am keeping track of names, places, dates and people, and thoroughly enjoying it. In fact, I pick up new nuances and new information each time I read the series.

The bottom line is that its no longer a love-hate relationship with the series itself. The love-hate relationship is now that the series will eventually end, all questions will be answered and all of that anticipation will be over with....

(Although I profoundly hope that Weber, or Tor, does not do a Gerrold "War Against the Chtorr" on us!!!)