The last $15 I'll spend on a David Weber book

dscott8 wrote:

Capnslag wrote:Well, this book got me to sign up on the forum . I am halfway through the novel. I only have one burning question. Why did David Weber put his name on a John Ringo story ?

I am a fan of both writers and have read most of thier works. But I can't shake the feeling that this is a Ringo novel.

Because of Ringo's collabs with Weber, I tried a few of his other books and struck an S&M sexfest scantily draped in an adventure plot. Gave up on him.

Ringo has some good ones and some bad ones. His good ones are well worth reading. As you found, though, his work must be approached with caution.

There are bits of Ringo's stories that I read only once, when I first get the book, and then skip over in my (frequent) re-readings. For instance, the entire middle section of the first Kildar book; it adds nothing to the story and is sheer trash. But I don't let that spoil my enjoyment of the actual stories!
Cheers
John

John Prigent wrote:There are bits of Ringo's stories that I read only once, when I first get the book, and then skip over in my (frequent) re-readings. For instance, the entire middle section of the first Kildar book; it adds nothing to the story and is sheer trash. But I don't let that spoil my enjoyment of the actual stories!
Cheers
John

Yup. The middle of that book has no value other than the action part of it being relevant in books 4 & 5.

I came very late to this forum. I'll limit myself to saying that

1. I enjoyed the book,

2. Maybe a background in AD&D roleplaying games and a good knowledge of Bram Stoker helped, but I saw the ending coming a lo-o-o-ng way back. I was quite surprised at the complaints about "deus ex machina". While not exactly telegraphed, clues to the ending must have been present, because I was expecting vampires, certainly by the time I was about 2/3 of the way through, and maybe earlier. And finally,

3. The only Weber books I've so far not enjoyed have been the "Multiverse" books, but that's just my opinion.

One more comment – I did however, absolutely agree with the comments about L. Ron Hubbard's SF books. I don't consider myself qualified to say that they were utter garbage, but I found them totally unreadable.
.

Peter2 wrote:I came very late to this forum. I'll limit myself to saying that

1. I enjoyed the book,

2. Maybe a background in AD&D roleplaying games and a good knowledge of Bram Stoker helped, but I saw the ending coming a lo-o-o-ng way back. I was quite surprised at the complaints about "deus ex machina". While not exactly telegraphed, clues to the ending must have been present, because I was expecting vampires, certainly by the time I was about 2/3 of the way through, and maybe earlier. And finally,

3. The only Weber books I've so far not enjoyed have been the "Multiverse" books, but that's just my opinion.

One more comment – I did however, absolutely agree with the comments about L. Ron Hubbard's SF books. I don't consider myself qualified to say that they were utter garbage, but I found them totally unreadable.
.

While I was also thinking vampires they totally steal the show in the end. A few vampires get raised, end of war, probably the end of the enemy species.

Still think the Vampirism might be a 500 / 600 year old Alien virus. Left by the agent that came the first time.

I used to feel that way. The ending came outta left field, and it just felt wrong! However after re-reading it some years later, it was less of a gut punch. I'd like to read a sequel, but its got to hang together in the end.

Back on the Ringo thing,

I missed the series you all are talking about, but I did read the Posleen series.

Started out pretty good, but holy CRAP did it get bad in the end. I wound up giving up when his big afterward in one book had him saying that while he certainly believes no one MUST be religious, only an idiot too stupid to avoid eternal damnation will ever choose to be anything but Christian.

Screw you, Ringo.

That was the last book with his name on it I will *EVER* spend money on...even though I happen to BE Christian.

Besides, the Posleen series had just gotten insane (and not in a good way) by that point.

Well I have read close to everything David Weber has published, and enjoyed all of it. Some more then others, but that's normal with all authors. Its been years since I read this book, right after it first came out in hardbound. But I thought it was fun. I did catch some of the hints as I was reading the story, but the twist was so unlike the normal space opera/science fiction genre he normally writes, that it still came as a slight surprise. That just added to the enjoyment. A sequel would be fun.

Frothingslosh wrote:Back on the Ringo thing,

I missed the series you all are talking about, but I did read the Posleen series.

Started out pretty good, but holy CRAP did it get bad in the end. I wound up giving up when his big afterward in one book had him saying that while he certainly believes no one MUST be religious, only an idiot too stupid to avoid eternal damnation will ever choose to be anything but Christian.

Screw you, Ringo.

That was the last book with his name on it I will *EVER* spend money on...even though I happen to BE Christian.

Besides, the Posleen series had just gotten insane (and not in a good way) by that point.

With Ringo's stuff you have to watch out for the author--he's let some pretty poor authors play in his universe.