How do you rate TFT?

I've been reading the Safehold stories since the old Science Fiction Book Club first carried Off Armageddon Reef.
I rate the first 9 books above 8 on the 10 scale.
But I rate TFT a 5.
However, I did like the last chapter!
I look forward to book 11.

sonex wrote:I've been reading the Safehold stories since the old Science Fiction Book Club first carried Off Armageddon Reef.
I rate the first 9 books above 8 on the 10 scale.
But I rate TFT a 5.
However, I did like the last chapter!
I look forward to book 11.

You can't just give it a five - give us some reasons

I thought TFT the best book in the series since BSRA (which is still #1 and OAR #2 for me) and #3 overall after the first 2 and an unqualified 10/10.

It brought back suspense and intrigue rather than the grim war of volumes 4-9 which read many times like a mixture of chronicles of WW1/2 and the 30 Years War, though they had enough cool stuff to keep enjoying them.

And the ending was the best ever in a DW novel (and I read pretty much all of them, collaborations included) - only the ending of Safehold #7 comes close there with another bombshell, but the one here is more intriguing.

I give it an overall 8 it varies from 6 to 10.
Parts of it dragged other parts sang.
The ending was hugely frustrating and interesting.

fallsfromtrees wrote:

sonex wrote:I've been reading the Safehold stories since the old Science Fiction Book Club first carried Off Armageddon Reef.
I rate the first 9 books above 8 on the 10 scale.
But I rate TFT a 5.
However, I did like the last chapter!
I look forward to book 11.

You can't just give it a five - give us some reasons

1. Too much dialog.
2. not enough action.
3. I'm in my 80's, 82 on Jan.20th.
4. I have dementia, probably Alzeimers.
5. I only read now with my Kindles, which makes it difficult to follow the maps.

I would like to go back and read books 1-9, but I don't want to buy more eBooks, and my hardcover ones are too difficult for me to read now.

I still love the series, but not as much as the Honorverse series, of which I have most eBooks, and have read three times!!
Cheers, Bruce Harrington

sonex wrote:I've been reading the Safehold stories since the old Science Fiction Book Club first carried Off Armageddon Reef.
I rate the first 9 books above 8 on the 10 scale.
But I rate TFT a 5.
However, I did like the last chapter!
I look forward to book 11.

fallsfromtrees wrote:You can't just give it a five - give us some reasons

sonex wrote:1. Too much dialog.
2. not enough action.
3. I'm in my 80's, 82 on Jan.20th.
4. I have dementia, probably Alzeimers.
5. I only read now with my Kindles, which makes it difficult to follow the maps.

I would like to go back and read books 1-9, but I don't want to buy more eBooks, and my hardcover ones are too difficult for me to read now.

I still love the series, but not as much as the Honorverse series, of which I have most eBooks, and have read three times!!
Cheers, Bruce Harrington

Ok. WRT to 1 and 2, my understanding that originally this book was going to open up with the last scene, and use flashback to fill in the background. 60K words in, David decided that wasn't working, and so we got this book, which is basically setting the scene for the next arc. So, yes, there is going to be a lot of dialogue and not a lot of action, while the major players set up for round 2.

5 has always been a problem with the Kindle/Nook/Kobo e-books - reading the maps is a major PITA.

Not sure how 3 and 4 affect the rating.

Going to have to agree unfortunately. There was a LOT of dragging on through political and economic and social discussions while waiting to find out who was going to die of old age/heart attack next.

And to punctuate it we got one sorta moderate fight and one episode of Merlin kicking some backside PICA style... and then finally a teaser of something large scale and exciting happening only to be left on a cliffhanger. Not nearly a balanced enough mix.

I don't object to getting into the weeds on the politics and economics but for the love of all that is holy mix in a Lot More Action in between those expositions. For everything that actually happened in this book to move the story along it feels like it should have been condensed into maybe the first third of a book as the setup for the next big developments in the story which the last 2/3rds should have been letting us see. Instead we got an entire book that was *all* stage setting for the next book we'll now wait for.

Not cool.

fallsfromtrees wrote:

sonex wrote:I've been reading the Safehold stories since the old Science Fiction Book Club first carried Off Armageddon Reef.
I rate the first 9 books above 8 on the 10 scale.
But I rate TFT a 5.
However, I did like the last chapter!
I look forward to book 11.

fallsfromtrees wrote:You can't just give it a five - give us some reasons

sonex wrote:1. Too much dialog.
2. not enough action.
3. I'm in my 80's, 82 on Jan.20th.
4. I have dementia, probably Alzeimers.
5. I only read now with my Kindles, which makes it difficult to follow the maps.

I would like to go back and read books 1-9, but I don't want to buy more eBooks, and my hardcover ones are too difficult for me to read now.

I still love the series, but not as much as the Honorverse series, of which I have most eBooks, and have read three times!!
Cheers, Bruce Harrington

Ok. WRT to 1 and 2, my understanding that originally this book was going to open up with the last scene, and use flashback to fill in the background. 60K words in, David decided that wasn't working, and so we got this book, which is basically setting the scene for the next arc. So, yes, there is going to be a lot of dialogue and not a lot of action, while the major players set up for round 2.

5 has always been a problem with the Kindle/Nook/Kobo e-books - reading the maps is a major PITA.

Not sure how 3 and 4 affect the rating.

For 3 & 4, ask my neurologist!

I thought I posted my thots a day or two ago but cannot see them.

1. I read the book and will likely reread it at some point. And I will certainly read any other Safehold book that comes out before either DW or I die!

2. That said, this was a filler book along the lines of SoV in the Honorverse that moves the plot along very little. I see it as more placeholder/filler than serious plot development. This is ESPECIALLY true because of the--quite literally--deus ex machina-type ending which has precisely zero to do with the rest of the book (though I assume that DW plans to unite some of the strings put forward in the rest of this book in the next installment).

3. I'd rate it low in the series for that reason.

gcomeau wrote:Going to have to agree unfortunately. There was a LOT of dragging on through political and economic and social discussions while waiting to find out who was going to die of old age/heart attack next.

And to punctuate it we got one sorta moderate fight and one episode of Merlin kicking some backside PICA style... and then finally a teaser of something large scale and exciting happening only to be left on a cliffhanger. Not nearly a balanced enough mix.

I don't object to getting into the weeds on the politics and economics but for the love of all that is holy mix in a Lot More Action in between those expositions. For everything that actually happened in this book to move the story along it feels like it should have been condensed into maybe the first third of a book as the setup for the next big developments in the story which the last 2/3rds should have been letting us see. Instead we got an entire book that was *all* stage setting for the next book we'll now wait for.

Not cool.

Some of us like political, economic and religious discussions. To be honest, I didn't really miss the big set piece battles or the lack of derring do because this particular book is about the twenty five or so years between wars. The only war is the Civil War in Harchong, and Charis is largely a bystander.

Himself has already said that he tried to jump straight to the exciting bits - and found three quarters of the story was flashbacks. Fair enough. I can understand that it was just easier to write the 'bridging' book.