WeberFan wrote:I guess this is from a pre-publication reviewer...
Big time spoiler in the review. I won't put it here, but you can see it for yourself.
[url]https://lizbourke.wordpress.com/2015/07/14/books-in-brief-hells-foundations-quiver-by-david-weber/
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It's dated back in July, and it was only on a whim that I Googled HFQ to see if there was anything worth browsing.
I hate this type of review. It is like they are writing a consumer report for a stove, when the reviewed object was a refrigerator. "I couldn't get the appliance to warm up leftovers unless I turned the appliance around and tied the food to the coils..."
Someone said that the reviewer wrote science fantasy. Well there are rules for science fantasy. The science has to comply with known science, the fantasy has to be consistent, and human nature stays the same with the exception of the human girl's response to the alien/shapeshifter's instant mating instinct.
Science fiction has rules. The science has to comply with known science. (I don't know how many books I have read where the author has no clue about relative distance in space. i.e. another galaxy.) Human nature must stay the same. (You probably remember where Captain Kirk tells the 20th century girl that no one uses money in the future. Apparently all resource allocation is done by an impartial altruistic computer.)
Alternate history has more rules than most forms of fiction. The science has to comply with known science. The development of science and technology has to comply with logic. While believers in evolution will believe that hundreds of unrelated changes to DNA that have no individual value in survival could all occur roughly simultaneously to result in an eye, the same believer will question any skipping of known technology steps. Half the entries in this forum are about what can or can not be done in the Safehold World.
An unstated alternate history rule is to give the reader some reason to believe any progress could occur. Since the beginning of the Halocene epoch, there have been great civilizations in China, India, the Near East, Egypt, Central and South America, with great public buildings. However, until the Industrial Revolution started in England and the U.S. there was no great increase public wealth or health. Indeed from a statistical point of view, "Conan the Barbarian" is more probably accurate as alternative history than the offerings of David Weber or Eric Flint, or even Mark Twain. You should read "Why Nations Fail:...". It is just chock full of nations that would of, could of, and should of, but didn't.
All of that was to say, that if an author wants to focus primarily on characters and their conflict and development, then any form of fiction except alternative history can be used. An alternative history that does not abide by the rules listed above is fantasy, and should be marketed as such.
James