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Concordat #2
Not in Our Stars
Not In Our Stars Book
- GenresScience Fiction
222 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 1, 1984
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 14, 2013
The military SF elements of this book are not bad, but the problem is that the author tries to set up a Shakespearian tragedy, and his writing is simply not up to the challenge. Instead he ends up with unrealistic characters responding to unrealistic events.
October 28, 2020
This book is a mess.
According to the afterward, this book is a response to the idea of the resolute hero who always guesses correctly and is redeemed in the end. So, the author has created a resolute character that guesses wrong, and ends up causing disaster. That's fine. I can get behind this idea in theory. The problem isn't so much in the flawed resolute 'hero' as it is in the people surrounding him and their reactions to his actions.
Early on we are introduced to four characters that have reasons to dislike the admiral that is our resolute character in question. From the beginning he makes poor tactical and strategic choices that he fails to adequately justify. Part of the problem is that I think the author thinks the character has justified them, but I disagree. The four characters, instead of coming to distrust him more, often seem to be coming around to his point of view.
Also, the author seems to have a problem writing female characters. It's true that one of the female characters is the only one who dares to sabotage the admiral's plans, but she does so only after admitting to herself that she loves him, for no damn reason! I guess because he's strong and resolute? (This echoes one of the problems I had with his previous book). Undermining this one character's decision to oppose the madman, it's another female character, that when ordered to arrest him, he intimidates her into assisting him instead.
Basically, the admiral is portrayed as a misogynistic bully from the beginning. The author seems to think that this equals charisma, and I suppose there are current real world events that prove him correct in some cases, but I just didn't buy it in this one.
I persisted to the end of the book to see if the mess could at all be redeemed. It wasn't. The man did the wrong thing over and over throughout the book, caused thousands of deaths (the exact numbers are never clear), all but destroyed three fleets of friendly ships, but everyone involved who expresses an opinion is sympathetic to him, and merely thinks he is a tragic figure. No, he was a madman who caused the deaths of thousands.
According to the afterward, this book is a response to the idea of the resolute hero who always guesses correctly and is redeemed in the end. So, the author has created a resolute character that guesses wrong, and ends up causing disaster. That's fine. I can get behind this idea in theory. The problem isn't so much in the flawed resolute 'hero' as it is in the people surrounding him and their reactions to his actions.
Early on we are introduced to four characters that have reasons to dislike the admiral that is our resolute character in question. From the beginning he makes poor tactical and strategic choices that he fails to adequately justify. Part of the problem is that I think the author thinks the character has justified them, but I disagree. The four characters, instead of coming to distrust him more, often seem to be coming around to his point of view.
Also, the author seems to have a problem writing female characters. It's true that one of the female characters is the only one who dares to sabotage the admiral's plans, but she does so only after admitting to herself that she loves him, for no damn reason! I guess because he's strong and resolute? (This echoes one of the problems I had with his previous book). Undermining this one character's decision to oppose the madman, it's another female character, that when ordered to arrest him, he intimidates her into assisting him instead.
Basically, the admiral is portrayed as a misogynistic bully from the beginning. The author seems to think that this equals charisma, and I suppose there are current real world events that prove him correct in some cases, but I just didn't buy it in this one.
I persisted to the end of the book to see if the mess could at all be redeemed. It wasn't. The man did the wrong thing over and over throughout the book, caused thousands of deaths (the exact numbers are never clear), all but destroyed three fleets of friendly ships, but everyone involved who expresses an opinion is sympathetic to him, and merely thinks he is a tragic figure. No, he was a madman who caused the deaths of thousands.
March 23, 2021
A Novel of the Concordat. We are introduced to Athalos Steldan and Admiral De La Noue. A story about a space battle between the Concordat and Rebels. It also is steeped in military politics and political necessity.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews