What do you think?
Rate this book
Reaches #2
Through the Breach
The Venus Asteroid Expedition is en route to the "Mirror," an impenetrable membrane to another universe that holds all the riches of the Federation, but the only point of entry is the point through which Landolph and his men traveled long ago--with most of the men never returning.
336 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 1995
1 person is currently reading
103 people want to read
About the author
David Drake
306 books886 followersDavid Drake is an American author of science fiction and fantasy literature. A Vietnam War veteran who has worked as a lawyer, he is now one of the major authors of the military science fiction genre.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 24, 2021
Who uses kph? David Drake does. It’s km/h. Dude. Read one style guide. He also uses the execrable kph, on page 223 of this edition, to refer to 20 kph, the average speed of a human jogging. Which in reality is only half that: 10 km/h. But in the future, who knows but we’ll all jog like elite runners?
At times this was fairly insipid sci-fi, to my taste, but it does have redeeming moments and ideas. This is probably more aimed at the adolescent reader or the person who has not yet encountered something the scale and depth of, say, Dune. It’s about on par with some of the middling Star Wars Expanded Universe novels I read decades ago, even though I liked those better—but David Drake did have to create his own universe, so let’s call it a draw. It’s pretty good pulp—won’t blow your socks off but it’ll do.
A good post-implosion spacefaring human society is always good for science fiction speculation, and this book does admirably at exploring that aspect. Ships are heavily crewed, cannon are a bit like they were during the age of sail, computers are not all-encompassing, and when you touch down on a planet you may bring a shotgun or rifle or future sawzall, and the toughest guy gets a laser gun. Since the post-implosion human diaspora was decimated, there’s just not a lot of people or wealth, but there’s hints of what might have pre-existed.
So some aristocrats and sailors from Venus go pirating through… another universe? A distant part of Earth’s universe? There’s not much talk about how things work, but the ships transit through alternate dimensions or universes through some obscure means and emerge elsewhere to discover the semi-abandoned relics of whatever Old Empire type of society used to exist there.
The Venerians (I would’ve called ‘em Venusians but I guess that’s my problem) hate the Federation, the tyrannical North American faction that dominates everything beyond Pluto, including I guess other universes? This book is not one that demands you should think too deeply about anything.
These Venerian Pirates, accompanied by the protagonist (a dissipated gentleman with a need to prove himself), set off into the alter-universe to raid Federation space to enrich themselves and Venus. They’re all good Christians in the way 16th century sailors were, but they’re protestant. They land on several planets and generally raise hell or get their own hell raised. It’s an adventure by principled men who are actually lawless and savage, but held together by avarice, nationalism, religion, and fear of everyone else. I suppose it’s meant to evoke the old days. Oh yeah, and there are alien slaves. So I guess it's really meant to evoke the old days.
There’s lots of gratuitous violence, sailing in space, and hasty moving around during action scenes. The final ship battle is quite a blurry spectacle, and ultimately the conceit of a fallen interstellar society does play well. That’s why the cannon all have to be handled like it's the age of sail, by real gunnery crews, even if they are flinging bolts of plasma. It’s why the crew numbers are high, and it’s why there’s no cluster missiles, doomsday lasers, or robots to do the lifting.
The conclusion is extremely spare and doesn’t make the most sense, but I discovered in the advertisements in the back pages that this is book 2 of a trilogy. Well… we’ll see if I ever get around to those, I guess they’d make this either better or worse. Pretty good I guess; liked it more than I thought I would, even though the writing got pretty flimsy throughout.
At times this was fairly insipid sci-fi, to my taste, but it does have redeeming moments and ideas. This is probably more aimed at the adolescent reader or the person who has not yet encountered something the scale and depth of, say, Dune. It’s about on par with some of the middling Star Wars Expanded Universe novels I read decades ago, even though I liked those better—but David Drake did have to create his own universe, so let’s call it a draw. It’s pretty good pulp—won’t blow your socks off but it’ll do.
A good post-implosion spacefaring human society is always good for science fiction speculation, and this book does admirably at exploring that aspect. Ships are heavily crewed, cannon are a bit like they were during the age of sail, computers are not all-encompassing, and when you touch down on a planet you may bring a shotgun or rifle or future sawzall, and the toughest guy gets a laser gun. Since the post-implosion human diaspora was decimated, there’s just not a lot of people or wealth, but there’s hints of what might have pre-existed.
So some aristocrats and sailors from Venus go pirating through… another universe? A distant part of Earth’s universe? There’s not much talk about how things work, but the ships transit through alternate dimensions or universes through some obscure means and emerge elsewhere to discover the semi-abandoned relics of whatever Old Empire type of society used to exist there.
The Venerians (I would’ve called ‘em Venusians but I guess that’s my problem) hate the Federation, the tyrannical North American faction that dominates everything beyond Pluto, including I guess other universes? This book is not one that demands you should think too deeply about anything.
These Venerian Pirates, accompanied by the protagonist (a dissipated gentleman with a need to prove himself), set off into the alter-universe to raid Federation space to enrich themselves and Venus. They’re all good Christians in the way 16th century sailors were, but they’re protestant. They land on several planets and generally raise hell or get their own hell raised. It’s an adventure by principled men who are actually lawless and savage, but held together by avarice, nationalism, religion, and fear of everyone else. I suppose it’s meant to evoke the old days. Oh yeah, and there are alien slaves. So I guess it's really meant to evoke the old days.
There’s lots of gratuitous violence, sailing in space, and hasty moving around during action scenes. The final ship battle is quite a blurry spectacle, and ultimately the conceit of a fallen interstellar society does play well. That’s why the cannon all have to be handled like it's the age of sail, by real gunnery crews, even if they are flinging bolts of plasma. It’s why the crew numbers are high, and it’s why there’s no cluster missiles, doomsday lasers, or robots to do the lifting.
The conclusion is extremely spare and doesn’t make the most sense, but I discovered in the advertisements in the back pages that this is book 2 of a trilogy. Well… we’ll see if I ever get around to those, I guess they’d make this either better or worse. Pretty good I guess; liked it more than I thought I would, even though the writing got pretty flimsy throughout.
January 8, 2018
I don't normally think of Space Opera as being character-driven, but this trilogy is in a class of its own.
It's a reimagining of the voyages of Sir Francis Drake, set in a far-future when at least one Earth-based interstellar civilization has already collapsed. The science in this Science Fiction is almost non-existent, and even the military aspect—which Drake (David, not Francis; though come to think of it, both really!) usually does very well, is rather slap-dash, which really only leaves the characters to make the story work.
Fortunately Drake (both of them!) is up to the challenge, and I loved the interactions between the officers of the Oriflamme, even though Gregg and Moore are not at all lovable themselves.
It's a reimagining of the voyages of Sir Francis Drake, set in a far-future when at least one Earth-based interstellar civilization has already collapsed. The science in this Science Fiction is almost non-existent, and even the military aspect—which Drake (David, not Francis; though come to think of it, both really!) usually does very well, is rather slap-dash, which really only leaves the characters to make the story work.
Fortunately Drake (both of them!) is up to the challenge, and I loved the interactions between the officers of the Oriflamme, even though Gregg and Moore are not at all lovable themselves.
April 29, 2016
Why? Why did David Drake write a book like this? Why did an alleged military science fiction master genius write such a horrible military sci fi book? Cause this sucks! I have given it my best shot. I have read half of it and I have given up because it is too stupid for words. How can the creator of Hammer’s Slammers write such horseshit?
The leaders of Venus want to go out to compete with the Earth’s military and colonize the universe and free what has been colonized by Earth, as well as do a little plundering. To do this, they send several small ships, only one of which makes it, through one universe to another. Captain Piet Ricimer and his men bring a “warship” to the outer edges of another universe to save it and to plunder its wealth for Venus. This warship has five, count ‘em, five cannon ports. That’s pretty awe inspiring. Great space battles. And when they land on planets, their sailors – cause they didn’t bring any Marines – take over entire planets with between 12 and 20 men. With “flashguns” and cutting blades. Cutting blades. Yeah. A dozen men with cutting blades take over a planet with their warship with five cannon. That’s so fucking cutting edge military sci fi, I’m in fucking awe, Drake! Clearly, you’re a fucking genius! Cause any other military sci fi writer would pretty much blow your ship out of orbit with any pinnace, let alone cruiser or dreadnaught they’d have, and their 1,800 man Marine battalion would take care of your dozen sailors in about one second flat.
What a stupid, idiotic attempt at, quote, military sci fi! This is literally the most putrid attempt at military sci fi I have ever seen, the laziest, dumbest, most pathetic, and this from a guy with a great reputation! What the hell??? Needless to say, I might read another Drake novel one day, although not anytime soon, but I’m not sitting on pins and needles to do so. I have a feeling David Weber could kick his ass any day of the week. Suffice it to say this is one of the most stupid sci fi, and the WORST excuse for a military sci fi book, I have ever read. One star and most definitely not recommended!
The leaders of Venus want to go out to compete with the Earth’s military and colonize the universe and free what has been colonized by Earth, as well as do a little plundering. To do this, they send several small ships, only one of which makes it, through one universe to another. Captain Piet Ricimer and his men bring a “warship” to the outer edges of another universe to save it and to plunder its wealth for Venus. This warship has five, count ‘em, five cannon ports. That’s pretty awe inspiring. Great space battles. And when they land on planets, their sailors – cause they didn’t bring any Marines – take over entire planets with between 12 and 20 men. With “flashguns” and cutting blades. Cutting blades. Yeah. A dozen men with cutting blades take over a planet with their warship with five cannon. That’s so fucking cutting edge military sci fi, I’m in fucking awe, Drake! Clearly, you’re a fucking genius! Cause any other military sci fi writer would pretty much blow your ship out of orbit with any pinnace, let alone cruiser or dreadnaught they’d have, and their 1,800 man Marine battalion would take care of your dozen sailors in about one second flat.
What a stupid, idiotic attempt at, quote, military sci fi! This is literally the most putrid attempt at military sci fi I have ever seen, the laziest, dumbest, most pathetic, and this from a guy with a great reputation! What the hell??? Needless to say, I might read another Drake novel one day, although not anytime soon, but I’m not sitting on pins and needles to do so. I have a feeling David Weber could kick his ass any day of the week. Suffice it to say this is one of the most stupid sci fi, and the WORST excuse for a military sci fi book, I have ever read. One star and most definitely not recommended!
April 14, 2016
Drake has been one of my favorite writers for a long time, and the Reaches trilogy is my favorite of his works. The books are not as well known or as highly regarded as many of his other titles like the Hammer series or the Leary books or the Isles novels, but I thought he hit the perfect blend of historical influence, space opera adventure with pirates and privateers, and an entertaining and intelligent examination of politics, economics, and sociology. The books are well paced and plotted and I enjoyed the characters.
Read
April 14, 2008Science Fiction
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews