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

I've loved everything up until this point. Maybe that's why the astonishingly-bad deus ex machina in the last twenty pages of this book felt like such a kick in the crotch. I'm gobsmacked that David Weber would let such an astonishingly bad ending go to print.

Screw it. I've spent hundreds of dollars on Weber books in the past, but no more.

Every band has a bad album, every actor has a bad performance, every director has a bad movie/episode, and every writer has a bad book.

That said, I recently re-read Out of the Dark and I liked it a lot better the second time, there is a lot of hints dropped about the ending. I had a similar reaction (though not as extreme) after first reading it because I missed the hints. After reading it the first time I spent some quality time on Wikipedia reading about the origins and facts etc... about the ending and the people. With that knowledge I picked up on hints that I would have missed. The problem with the hints is that most people don't know enough about the subject of the ending to pick up on them, I think that's where he erred.

William Elder wrote:I've loved everything up until this point. Maybe that's why the astonishingly-bad deus ex machina in the last twenty pages of this book felt like such a kick in the crotch. I'm gobsmacked that David Weber would let such an astonishingly bad ending go to print.

Screw it. I've spent hundreds of dollars on Weber books in the past, but no more.

Hello: This is my first and probably the only post I will ever put on this forum.

No noeed to reply to it, anyone, as I will not see whatever it is that you say - as I will not be back.

I am one of those obsessive compulsive people with an expectatation that authors, when they are not writing in the vernacular, will do their best to use proper English.

In this case, the use of the term "could care less". This term is a corruption (made by the increasingly illiterate society we live in)of the actual "could'nt care less". Think about the difference between these two phrases - they have totally different meanings. If you want to persist in using it, then please explain how much more the subject "could" care.

Please, Mr. Weber, do your bit to maintain some standard of literacy.

Oh, and I certainly have enjoyed reading many of your books.

Since you are no longer here,
my reply might benefit the rest of us.

The expression "could care less" might have
a legitimate funtion in this type of sentence:

"I could care less, but not much less!"

HTM

[quote="sir_lancelot"]Hello: This is my first and probably the only post I will ever put on this forum.

No noeed to reply to it, anyone, as I will not see whatever it is that you say - as I will not be back.

I am one of those obsessive compulsive people with an expectatation that authors, when they are not writing in the vernacular, will do their best to use proper English.

In this case, the use of the term "could care less". This term is a corruption (made by the increasingly illiterate society we live in)of the actual "could'nt care less". Think about the difference between these two phrases - they have totally different meanings. If you want to persist in using it, then please explain how much more the subject "could" care.
[snip-htm]

[quote]

sir_lancelot wrote:Hello: This is my first and probably the only post I will ever put on this forum.

No noeed to reply to it, anyone, as I will not see whatever it is that you say - as I will not be back.

I am one of those obsessive compulsive people with an expectatation that authors, when they are not writing in the vernacular, will do their best to use proper English.

In this case, the use of the term "could care less". This term is a corruption (made by the increasingly illiterate society we live in)of the actual "could'nt care less". Think about the difference between these two phrases - they have totally different meanings. If you want to persist in using it, then please explain how much more the subject "could" care.

Please, Mr. Weber, do your bit to maintain some standard of literacy.

Oh, and I certainly have enjoyed reading many of your books.

Just in case he does return.

Shouldn't that have been couldn't.

It is an obvious typo resulting from response times of the fingers not being consistant. I have the same problem and it drives everyone on this forum nuts.

As to this who thread, everyone is entitled to their opinion. I read and enjoyed Weber's Dyak series, but I didn't become a fan. I perused and rejected books in the Starfire series, a decision that I'm rethinking. I'm a great fan of Larry Niven, but his most recent stuff seems to be rather lame. The man is actually getting old, although not as old as Pournell. RINGWORLD's children is a welcome exception. The Puppeter Worlds series is fun because it has Niven's ideas combined with a younger, author.

I think I would have enjoyed OUT OF THE DARK more if I were a fan fo the Draculae Genere and had enough knowledge to recognize all of the hints that Weber was dropping throught the book. The name of the puppy flew right over my head, but since Weber made such a big deal of it I checked Wikipedia and understood. It was a great joke that salvaged the book for me.

I'm thinking of rereading OUT OF THE DARK after doing more research. I'll actually do so if Weber gives his wife the PS-90 that she wants for Christmas.

Thirdbase wrote:

sir_lancelot wrote:Hello: This is my first and probably the only post I will ever put on this forum.

No noeed to reply to it, anyone, as I will not see whatever it is that you say - as I will not be back.

I am one of those obsessive compulsive people with an expectatation that authors, when they are not writing in the vernacular, will do their best to use proper English.

In this case, the use of the term "could care less". This term is a corruption (made by the increasingly illiterate society we live in)of the actual "could'nt care less". Think about the difference between these two phrases - they have totally different meanings. If you want to persist in using it, then please explain how much more the subject "could" care.

Please, Mr. Weber, do your bit to maintain some standard of literacy.

Oh, and I certainly have enjoyed reading many of your books.

Just in case he does return.

Shouldn't that have been couldn't.

If you do reread it, I recommend some time on Wikipedia first. I did that and it improved the book for me. Also with the exception of the Draculain stuff it's a well written and enjoyable novel when you don't know much about Draculain stuff.

namelessfly wrote:It is an obvious typo resulting from response times of the fingers not being consistant. I have the same problem and it drives everyone on this forum nuts.

As to this who thread, everyone is entitled to their opinion. I read and enjoyed Weber's Dyak series, but I didn't become a fan. I perused and rejected books in the Starfire series, a decision that I'm rethinking. I'm a great fan of Larry Niven, but his most recent stuff seems to be rather lame. The man is actually getting old, although not as old as Pournell. RINGWORLD's children is a welcome exception. The Puppeter Worlds series is fun because it has Niven's ideas combined with a younger, author.

I think I would have enjoyed OUT OF THE DARK more if I were a fan fo the Draculae Genere and had enough knowledge to recognize all of the hints that Weber was dropping throught the book. The name of the puppy flew right over my head, but since Weber made such a big deal of it I checked Wikipedia and understood. It was a great joke that salvaged the book for me.

I'm thinking of rereading OUT OF THE DARK after doing more research. I'll actually do so if Weber gives his wife the PS-90 that she wants for Christmas.

I liked the book. I was catching some of the hints late into the book, but was still caught off guard when I figured out where the end of the book was heading.

I was very disapointed with the book

but as far as I am concerned the rest of his books are good value very good value so "all is forgiven"

As the man once said, "Opinions are like a*sholes: everybody has one." I can't say I have all Weber's books: only all the Honor Harrington, all the Safehold - and this. I just wish I could get them for $15... Yes, this story ended with a huge deus ex machina, but it was one I'll bet NO one saw coming! Until the end, I was convinced that the Shongairi would be stopped by a super-race that was keeping watch over the Hegemony. Y'know, "bigger fleas"... But I did NOT, repeat, NOT, feel cheated about the way it did end. As a matter of fact, I was quite delighted. What a wonderful cross of genres! The plot owed a major homage to Harry Turtledove's "Invasion Earth" series, and even the surprise ending owed much to the way Harry ended his saga. The bottom line for the universe to learn is, don't screw with the Earthlings.

Weber isn't (yet) a Master Storyteller of the caliber of Heinlein, Asimov or Anderson. He turns me off sometimes in getting hung-up with long, laborous descriptions of technical details (especially weapons systems), and although I've read each of the "Safehold" books more than 20 times, I gave up quite early on making a list of the holes in his plots. But Weber writes nice stories I enjoy reading over and over and over. I enjoy them so much that on more than one occasion I've read the same novel twice in the same WEEK! I wish he wrote them faster, but the quality might suffer. (Bad example of this: James Patterson.) But I still wait with bated breath for the next installment.