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Out of the Dark #1
Z mroku
OBCY PODBILI ZIEMIĘ... I TO BYŁ POCZĄTEK ICH KŁOPOTÓW.
Kosmiczna Hegemonia istnieje od wieków świetlnych. Wartości, jakim hołduje, to pokój i wegetarianizm. Niechlubny wyjątek stanowią mięsożerni i wojowniczy Shongairi, którzy dla własnych mrocznych celów postanawiają skolonizować Ziemię. Poprzez precyzyjne uderzenia kinetyczne niszczą wszystkie światowe stolice i większe miasta. Ginie połowa ludzkości. Wśród tych, którzy przeżyli, jest sierżant Stephen Buchevsky odbywający służbę w Afganistanie i były marine Dave Dvorak wraz z rodziną. Obcy nie wiedzą, z kim zadarli...
Kosmiczna Hegemonia istnieje od wieków świetlnych. Wartości, jakim hołduje, to pokój i wegetarianizm. Niechlubny wyjątek stanowią mięsożerni i wojowniczy Shongairi, którzy dla własnych mrocznych celów postanawiają skolonizować Ziemię. Poprzez precyzyjne uderzenia kinetyczne niszczą wszystkie światowe stolice i większe miasta. Ginie połowa ludzkości. Wśród tych, którzy przeżyli, jest sierżant Stephen Buchevsky odbywający służbę w Afganistanie i były marine Dave Dvorak wraz z rodziną. Obcy nie wiedzą, z kim zadarli...
480 pages, Paperback
First published September 28, 2010
999 people are currently reading
2780 people want to read
About the author
David Weber
322 books4,548 followersDavid Mark Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1952.
Many of his stories have military, particularly naval, themes, and fit into the military science fiction genre. He frequently places female leading characters in what have been traditionally male roles.
One of his most popular and enduring characters is Honor Harrington whose alliterated name is an homage to C.S. Forester's character Horatio Hornblower and her last name from a fleet doctor in Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander . Her story, together with the "Honorverse" she inhabits, has been developed through 16 novels and six shared-universe anthologies, as of spring 2013 (other works are in production). In 2008, he donated his archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.
Many of his books are available online, either in their entirety as part of the Baen Free Library or, in the case of more recent books, in the form of sample chapters (typically the first 25-33% of the work).
http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidw...
Many of his stories have military, particularly naval, themes, and fit into the military science fiction genre. He frequently places female leading characters in what have been traditionally male roles.
One of his most popular and enduring characters is Honor Harrington whose alliterated name is an homage to C.S. Forester's character Horatio Hornblower and her last name from a fleet doctor in Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander . Her story, together with the "Honorverse" she inhabits, has been developed through 16 novels and six shared-universe anthologies, as of spring 2013 (other works are in production). In 2008, he donated his archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.
Many of his books are available online, either in their entirety as part of the Baen Free Library or, in the case of more recent books, in the form of sample chapters (typically the first 25-33% of the work).
http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidw...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 741 reviews
December 4, 2013
If you have this book, and especially if you haven't read it yet, just burn it now and save yourself the anger and annoyance you will experience if you insist on reading it.
The first half is actually ok, or even better than that. It's a pretty typical military action novel, with aliens thrown in so you don't have to identify with all those people you're trying to kill too closely. And hey, half the human population has already been killed off, so it makes fighting back all that more heroic right? If reviewing battle plans and ammunition calibre then boldly overcoming all the odds to pull out a win against a horrible enemy sounds like a fun formula, then this delivers in spades, for quite a while.
Then it follows up with the worst, most horrible, stupidest possible formula crud ending you can imagine.
Seriously, read the first half and stop, then think to yourself - "How could the authour sell out and end this in such I way I would consider throwing up in a pail when I'm done?" Write that down and see how close you come to the truth.
Or just skip it altogether.
You have been warned.
The first half is actually ok, or even better than that. It's a pretty typical military action novel, with aliens thrown in so you don't have to identify with all those people you're trying to kill too closely. And hey, half the human population has already been killed off, so it makes fighting back all that more heroic right? If reviewing battle plans and ammunition calibre then boldly overcoming all the odds to pull out a win against a horrible enemy sounds like a fun formula, then this delivers in spades, for quite a while.
Then it follows up with the worst, most horrible, stupidest possible formula crud ending you can imagine.
Seriously, read the first half and stop, then think to yourself - "How could the authour sell out and end this in such I way I would consider throwing up in a pail when I'm done?" Write that down and see how close you come to the truth.
Or just skip it altogether.
You have been warned.
November 28, 2010
I read David Weber’s On Basilisk Station a couple years back an enjoyed it. The first of many books featuring Honor Harington, it’s Weber’s most popular series. My enjoyment of the books went down as they went up in number, but on the whole I appreciated Weber’s straightforward military science fiction.
Out of the Dark came to me, like so many books do, from the new fiction shelf at my local library. Weber’s name got me to pick it up, and the flyleaf description made the story sound interesting: a very near future military sci-fi novel of first contact. Cool.
The novel starts with a long prologue, which is already a strike against it. Not every prologue is bad, but most of them are, and of the ones that aren’t nearly all are unnecessary. A group of aliens are observing the human race. Specifically, they’re observing a bloody medieval battle. The aliens are horrified at humanity’s violence, and appalled that the vastly outnumbered English manage to defeat the French. Now you know the whole story. It’s an interesting idea, to me anyways, but Weber gives the whole thing away before he’s even begun his novel.
It’s an interesting premise, which is the only thing that kept me reading it. What if the universe is governed by a huge consortium of races that are far more peaceful than we are? What if the aliens arrive at earth and we manage to kick their asses on the ground? It’s an odd angle, to imagine that a race of aliens might have the technology to travel the stars but might arrive at earth with only a marginal advantage, not an overwhelming one. Weber explains this in what I felt were reasonable terms given his premise. We’d end up being the terrorists, fighting an asymmetrical war with the occupying alien forces.
As I said, this premise kept me turning pages even through the plentiful scenes of exposition. It felt to me like a good 80% of the novel was either the good guys being one-dimensionally jocular with each other (including the women) or the bad guys explaining to each other in excruciating detail what they were going to do next. The other 20% was really high quality action sequences, which Weber does very well; a little heavy on tech description and jargon, but par for the course with military sci-fi. These action scenes were thoroughly enjoyable, to the point where I was tempted to skip paragraphs and pages looking for the next one.
Up to this point I’d give the novel two out of five stars, maybe two and a half if you like David Weber or military sci-fi. On page 330 a crime is committed against narrative justice and the book drops to below one star. I would break out negative stars for this thing if I could. What is this crime, you ask? Well, on page 330 of a 380 page novel, vampires arrive and kill all the aliens.
No, I am not kidding.
Nothing sets this up. There is no hint in the first 329 pages of the novel that this is a paranormal thriller. It is straight ahead, solid, predictable military sci-fi. Then, when humanity has successfully driven the aliens to the point of despair, and the aliens have decided to cut their losses and sterilize the earth from orbit, and I’m actually interested in finding out how this is going to end, vampires show up. And not just any vampires either; it’s Dracula. It’s a deus ex machina of the worst possible kind.
And this is from a reader who would probably pick up a book that sold itself honestly as vampires vs. aliens.
Out of the Dark came to me, like so many books do, from the new fiction shelf at my local library. Weber’s name got me to pick it up, and the flyleaf description made the story sound interesting: a very near future military sci-fi novel of first contact. Cool.
The novel starts with a long prologue, which is already a strike against it. Not every prologue is bad, but most of them are, and of the ones that aren’t nearly all are unnecessary. A group of aliens are observing the human race. Specifically, they’re observing a bloody medieval battle. The aliens are horrified at humanity’s violence, and appalled that the vastly outnumbered English manage to defeat the French. Now you know the whole story. It’s an interesting idea, to me anyways, but Weber gives the whole thing away before he’s even begun his novel.
It’s an interesting premise, which is the only thing that kept me reading it. What if the universe is governed by a huge consortium of races that are far more peaceful than we are? What if the aliens arrive at earth and we manage to kick their asses on the ground? It’s an odd angle, to imagine that a race of aliens might have the technology to travel the stars but might arrive at earth with only a marginal advantage, not an overwhelming one. Weber explains this in what I felt were reasonable terms given his premise. We’d end up being the terrorists, fighting an asymmetrical war with the occupying alien forces.
As I said, this premise kept me turning pages even through the plentiful scenes of exposition. It felt to me like a good 80% of the novel was either the good guys being one-dimensionally jocular with each other (including the women) or the bad guys explaining to each other in excruciating detail what they were going to do next. The other 20% was really high quality action sequences, which Weber does very well; a little heavy on tech description and jargon, but par for the course with military sci-fi. These action scenes were thoroughly enjoyable, to the point where I was tempted to skip paragraphs and pages looking for the next one.
Up to this point I’d give the novel two out of five stars, maybe two and a half if you like David Weber or military sci-fi. On page 330 a crime is committed against narrative justice and the book drops to below one star. I would break out negative stars for this thing if I could. What is this crime, you ask? Well, on page 330 of a 380 page novel, vampires arrive and kill all the aliens.
No, I am not kidding.
Nothing sets this up. There is no hint in the first 329 pages of the novel that this is a paranormal thriller. It is straight ahead, solid, predictable military sci-fi. Then, when humanity has successfully driven the aliens to the point of despair, and the aliens have decided to cut their losses and sterilize the earth from orbit, and I’m actually interested in finding out how this is going to end, vampires show up. And not just any vampires either; it’s Dracula. It’s a deus ex machina of the worst possible kind.
And this is from a reader who would probably pick up a book that sold itself honestly as vampires vs. aliens.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 15, 2023
Too long. Drags.
David Weber is one of my favorite authors but while I liked the premise of this book, I did not care for the execution. It is overly long and sometimes redundant. Many of the scenes are lengthy accounts of talking, thinking or details of meetings which go on and on. I have attended enough meetings in my life that I really don't want to read descriptions of such in which subjects are talked to death. There is a kicker which I will not reveal. There are some places on Earth which the aliens should have avoided.
As I read, many things seemed familiar but not as familiar as they would be in a book which I had read. However when I got to the end it was obvious that I had read it or parts of it. It turns out that this novel is based on a novella which appeared in the WARRIORS anthology. I did read that some years ago and found it a tighter story and simply more fun. The anthology is available from Amazon. I recommend it.
David Weber is one of my favorite authors but while I liked the premise of this book, I did not care for the execution. It is overly long and sometimes redundant. Many of the scenes are lengthy accounts of talking, thinking or details of meetings which go on and on. I have attended enough meetings in my life that I really don't want to read descriptions of such in which subjects are talked to death. There is a kicker which I will not reveal. There are some places on Earth which the aliens should have avoided.
As I read, many things seemed familiar but not as familiar as they would be in a book which I had read. However when I got to the end it was obvious that I had read it or parts of it. It turns out that this novel is based on a novella which appeared in the WARRIORS anthology. I did read that some years ago and found it a tighter story and simply more fun. The anthology is available from Amazon. I recommend it.
April 21, 2024
3.5 Stars
Video Review: https://youtu.be/Oh17of8BO7g
This is a strange one to review because I read book three before book one. I loved where the series goes so I was interested to see how the series got there. I enjoy the narrative although I would describe it as a dryer storytelling style.
This one is set closer to our present day and feels more reminiscent of the sci-fi movies like Independence Day. It focuses on the interplay between the countries. I prefer more large scale space based military stories so this one worked less for me.
However I loved some of the ending reveals of this book which lead into the narrative I loved in book three. I look forward reading book two to see how it bridges together.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
Video Review: https://youtu.be/Oh17of8BO7g
This is a strange one to review because I read book three before book one. I loved where the series goes so I was interested to see how the series got there. I enjoy the narrative although I would describe it as a dryer storytelling style.
This one is set closer to our present day and feels more reminiscent of the sci-fi movies like Independence Day. It focuses on the interplay between the countries. I prefer more large scale space based military stories so this one worked less for me.
However I loved some of the ending reveals of this book which lead into the narrative I loved in book three. I look forward reading book two to see how it bridges together.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
September 7, 2023
A well written and detailed alien invasion sci-fi thriller with a twist.
August 24, 2015
I admit it. I love military sci-fi. I especially love alien invasion stories. Out of the Dark is just that, a sci-fi earth invasion story seen primarily through military eyes. Not only that, but the dust jacket promises that earth receives some surprise help. I fell for it. I had a coupon and bought the book sort of thinking that I would likely be disappointed. But I had hope!
There's a reason people become cynical and it's based on disappointments like this book. Don't get me wrong, the writing (well, most of it) is decent, the action is good, the background explained just-enough, the weaponry and tactics used by both sides believable in the context presented. I admit I liked it better than John Ringo's series. And then it was spoiled. I should have seen it coming but I kept saying to myself, "nah, this is just a red herring" or "he's just throwing that in there for atmosphere". But alas, it wasn't. David Weber decided to end his book in a soul-crushing and intellectually vindictive way. I won't include spoilers. I'd hate to be the only one who suffered. My theory is that about three quarters of the way through the book somebody knocked David Weber out, stole his manuscript, and gave it to a local 15 year old goth chick to finish.
Of course, during the "good part" of the book you'll have to listen to him time and again mention how it sucks to be on the technologically disadvantaged side in a military conflict and blah blah blah. I can forgive him for succumbing to the temptation to be preachy though.
I gave it three stars because at least he avoided adding Batman or Godzilla into the story. Although I bet it was hard for him not to.
The most pathetic part of all this is... I'll likely buy the sequel to see what happens. You get the last laugh David Weber.
There's a reason people become cynical and it's based on disappointments like this book. Don't get me wrong, the writing (well, most of it) is decent, the action is good, the background explained just-enough, the weaponry and tactics used by both sides believable in the context presented. I admit I liked it better than John Ringo's series. And then it was spoiled. I should have seen it coming but I kept saying to myself, "nah, this is just a red herring" or "he's just throwing that in there for atmosphere". But alas, it wasn't. David Weber decided to end his book in a soul-crushing and intellectually vindictive way. I won't include spoilers. I'd hate to be the only one who suffered. My theory is that about three quarters of the way through the book somebody knocked David Weber out, stole his manuscript, and gave it to a local 15 year old goth chick to finish.
Of course, during the "good part" of the book you'll have to listen to him time and again mention how it sucks to be on the technologically disadvantaged side in a military conflict and blah blah blah. I can forgive him for succumbing to the temptation to be preachy though.
I gave it three stars because at least he avoided adding Batman or Godzilla into the story. Although I bet it was hard for him not to.
The most pathetic part of all this is... I'll likely buy the sequel to see what happens. You get the last laugh David Weber.
May 17, 2011
This was going to be a three or possibly a four star book. Quite a good story line although nothing original until near the end when strange things begin to happen to the aliens (This is when, in my opinion, it dropped to a two star book). ***SPOILER ALERT*** The strange happenings turn out to be another alien race that have been living with us for thousands of years, much more advanced than the invaders with some special abilities. Namely, being fast, strong, can turn into smoke and has quite a liking for necks... Can you guess what it is yet???
In my opinion this really spoiled a decent story. I don't mind all the Vampire stories that are out at the moment, but I never expected them to move into a Sci-fi story. Although I do accept alot of people are going to probably five star book. Hay-ho, each to their own.
In my opinion this really spoiled a decent story. I don't mind all the Vampire stories that are out at the moment, but I never expected them to move into a Sci-fi story. Although I do accept alot of people are going to probably five star book. Hay-ho, each to their own.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 15, 2015
I am a sucker for Alien invasion. I just love them. Ok, I might not like one if it really happened, but I love reading them. I sat on the edge of my seat for this one. Well...I waited for what seemed like forever to get to the good stuff, you know when the Aliens say "Hello we are here". And then I sat on the edge of my seat. while I appreciate the thoroughness of the author giving us this large back story, humans AND Aliens, it just took longer that I needed. But I gather a great many people might appreciate that more than I did. But that is me and not the book.
I enjoyed this very much. Even as we reached the end and things kinda lost some steam. I really don't want to say more. I am all about suspending belief and going with the story. I said ok...fine. I will roll with it. It could have had real impact. If it had been...more...less cheesy.
I would have been fine had I not read the last chapter. I think it took away from the seriousness of the story.
So 5 stars for an awesome Alien invasion. LOVED IT. Less a star for the cheesy last chapter.
I enjoyed this very much. Even as we reached the end and things kinda lost some steam. I really don't want to say more. I am all about suspending belief and going with the story. I said ok...fine. I will roll with it. It could have had real impact. If it had been...more...less cheesy.
I would have been fine had I not read the last chapter. I think it took away from the seriousness of the story.
So 5 stars for an awesome Alien invasion. LOVED IT. Less a star for the cheesy last chapter.
March 14, 2011
I didn't really enjoy this book.
I've loved all of David Weber's books, and I really like apocalyptic novels. But this book didn't feel like Weber. The characters were flat and he spent so much time jumping back and forth between the different locales that I had a hard time remembering who was who and what was going on. After I finished it, I found out that it was an expansion of a short story he'd written. - I've not read that short, but I could see how he cut back and forth between his new material and the old, it was a bit jarring.
He spends a lot of time describing the guns and armament that people are using, and rather than giving it a technical feel, like a Clancy novel, it comes across as irritating and distracting from the action.
Even with all that, it could have been a mindless alien invasion novel. And I would probably have given it a 3 star rating and said: it's good for a rainy afternoon, when you don't have anything else to read.
Then Count Dracula shows up. -- I don't even know how to articulate how bad that was. It's like, he got near the end of writing this book, and said: Oh, crap the aliens are going to wipe out the humans, and I have no idea how to save them. I can't write a book where all the humans die (even though that would have been better.)and so he pulled out a vampire to save the day.
Seriously.
Ugh.
I'm going to just pretend the aliens did wipe everyone out, and the vampire bit was just a hallucination by a wounded and dying Stephen Buchevsky.
I've loved all of David Weber's books, and I really like apocalyptic novels. But this book didn't feel like Weber. The characters were flat and he spent so much time jumping back and forth between the different locales that I had a hard time remembering who was who and what was going on. After I finished it, I found out that it was an expansion of a short story he'd written. - I've not read that short, but I could see how he cut back and forth between his new material and the old, it was a bit jarring.
He spends a lot of time describing the guns and armament that people are using, and rather than giving it a technical feel, like a Clancy novel, it comes across as irritating and distracting from the action.
Even with all that, it could have been a mindless alien invasion novel. And I would probably have given it a 3 star rating and said: it's good for a rainy afternoon, when you don't have anything else to read.
Then Count Dracula shows up. -- I don't even know how to articulate how bad that was. It's like, he got near the end of writing this book, and said: Oh, crap the aliens are going to wipe out the humans, and I have no idea how to save them. I can't write a book where all the humans die (even though that would have been better.)and so he pulled out a vampire to save the day.
Seriously.
Ugh.
I'm going to just pretend the aliens did wipe everyone out, and the vampire bit was just a hallucination by a wounded and dying Stephen Buchevsky.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 6, 2011
It's been over a hundred years since H.G. Wells first wrote The War of the Worlds and yet, for some reason, writers are still employing the device of using a virus to defeat alien overlords. It crops in novels, movies and should the series survive to finish it's story I wouldn't be shocked to see it used as the conclusion of V.
For some reason, we just can't come up with a new or different want to fend off an alien invasion.
David Weber's latest novel Out of the Dark is just another example of it. It's been a few days since I finished the book and I still can't help thinking about it. In most cases, this would be a good thing. But in the case of this book, it's not so much. I'm not quite as irritated as I was upon reaching the later sections of Weber's latest novel. Instead, I'm more disappointed in Weber for the ending of the book and myself for actually hoping he might come up with something interesting, new or even different to end the story.
Out of the Dark starts off well. While observing the Battle of Agincourt, a group of aliens who are vegetarians are disturbed and horrified by the brutality of human beings. They decide that they'll leave the colonization of Earth to a group of fellow carnivores from their galactic alliance. Fast forward a couple of hundred years and the alien fleet is on its way. Only problem is humanity has grown up a bit technologically and socially. We're no longer quite the group we were when England was battling France. Not that this bothers said alien fleet since we're advancing more rapidly than expected or any other alien world has, so we must be put down.
And so the invasion begins with the aliens invading our computer systems via a virus and hurtling large asteroids at the planet. Instead of cowering in fear, humanity fights back.
With a large cast of characters, Out of the Dark works fairly well for the first half of the book. Weber does err a bit on the side of going into Tom Clancy like detail about the weaponry being used to battle said aliens, but this can easily be forgiven.
What can't be is the ending of the novel.
I'll give Weber some credit--at least he introduced the plot thread that will lead to the overthrow of our alien overlords early in the book. It doesn't come entirely out of left field, but to quote characters from Star Wars the minute I saw it, I said," I've got a bad feeling about this."
Not that I'm eager to see more of this, mind you. I've been so burned by this one that I have little desire to see how things come out in future installments. Weber could pull the greatest turnaround of a series in history, but based on the opening installment, I don't think I'm going to be putting it on the reserve list any time soon.
For some reason, we just can't come up with a new or different want to fend off an alien invasion.
David Weber's latest novel Out of the Dark is just another example of it. It's been a few days since I finished the book and I still can't help thinking about it. In most cases, this would be a good thing. But in the case of this book, it's not so much. I'm not quite as irritated as I was upon reaching the later sections of Weber's latest novel. Instead, I'm more disappointed in Weber for the ending of the book and myself for actually hoping he might come up with something interesting, new or even different to end the story.
Out of the Dark starts off well. While observing the Battle of Agincourt, a group of aliens who are vegetarians are disturbed and horrified by the brutality of human beings. They decide that they'll leave the colonization of Earth to a group of fellow carnivores from their galactic alliance. Fast forward a couple of hundred years and the alien fleet is on its way. Only problem is humanity has grown up a bit technologically and socially. We're no longer quite the group we were when England was battling France. Not that this bothers said alien fleet since we're advancing more rapidly than expected or any other alien world has, so we must be put down.
And so the invasion begins with the aliens invading our computer systems via a virus and hurtling large asteroids at the planet. Instead of cowering in fear, humanity fights back.
With a large cast of characters, Out of the Dark works fairly well for the first half of the book. Weber does err a bit on the side of going into Tom Clancy like detail about the weaponry being used to battle said aliens, but this can easily be forgiven.
What can't be is the ending of the novel.
I'll give Weber some credit--at least he introduced the plot thread that will lead to the overthrow of our alien overlords early in the book. It doesn't come entirely out of left field, but to quote characters from Star Wars the minute I saw it, I said," I've got a bad feeling about this."
Not that I'm eager to see more of this, mind you. I've been so burned by this one that I have little desire to see how things come out in future installments. Weber could pull the greatest turnaround of a series in history, but based on the opening installment, I don't think I'm going to be putting it on the reserve list any time soon.
December 12, 2018
(reread 2018)
As the sequel of this was just announced (Into the Light, probably 2020, with late 2019 unlikely) and the author posted some snippets from it, I decided to revisit Out of the Dark which was my least favorite Weber book to date, hoping that it would read better; sadly, I still disliked it - it had some moments I appreciated better (mostly the genocidal alien commander musings) but otherwise just a banal alien invasion novel with a twist that left me cold; will take a look at the sequel as it may get better now that action is moving in space, but this one was and remained a huge dud
As the sequel of this was just announced (Into the Light, probably 2020, with late 2019 unlikely) and the author posted some snippets from it, I decided to revisit Out of the Dark which was my least favorite Weber book to date, hoping that it would read better; sadly, I still disliked it - it had some moments I appreciated better (mostly the genocidal alien commander musings) but otherwise just a banal alien invasion novel with a twist that left me cold; will take a look at the sequel as it may get better now that action is moving in space, but this one was and remained a huge dud
April 5, 2018
David Weber is well-known for "military SF." And I thought it was going to be that. It starts well--aliens launch an invasion of Earth. Valiant Earthers fight back...But how do you defeat forces using superior technology and weaponry? Well, Weber gives us the biggest cheat I've read in quite a while. I don't want to give any SPOILERS--but I will say that if you like vampires, you'll like this one!
March 30, 2021
All-Out Attack Alien Invasion with warfare, military personnel, and the civilians who get caught up in it. Includes an incongruous supernatural plot point.
Not a Shongari
My dead pixels copy was 500 pages. A dead tree copy is 381 pages. The original US copyright was 2010.
David Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He has more than 50-books published, in series and standalone and many shorter works. He has also collaborated on more than 30-books. This is the first, book in his Shongairi series. I’ve read several books by the author. The last book I read by the author was Insurrection (my review).
TL;DR Synopsis
Weber’s stories always have complex narratives. This wasn’t a bad MIL-SF story, with an alien invasion theme. It strongly reminds me of a cross-over between realistic World War III stories like Team Yankee and Bastard Alien Invasion stories like Footfall . However, the execution was very flawed. It was over-laden with info-dumps, and simple, conservative themes. In addition, the many POVs did not enhance the overall narrative. Finally, the late introduction of the supernatural plot thread to reach the story’s crash-dive into resolution was completely out-of-character with the plodding, hyper-realism of its narrative.
The Review
The writing was characteristic of the author. He has a C. S. Forester crossed with Robert Heinlein-esque style. Both, were rather conservative authors. Note, Weber’s action scenes were very good. However, a story can’t be all action scenes. The non-action, prose was a bit too melodramatic in places for my taste. There was also some lugubrious dialog. There were numerous, info-dumps on technology, in this case military and self-sufficiency in a rural lifestyle (survivalism). I noted that the technical writing of these info-dumps was very terse and well-crafted. If you’re interesting in firearms pr0n, you’ll be in heaven. I would have greatly appreciated him using the same sparse narrative technique to the squishier parts of the story.
This story had a cast of thousands. Many POVs are a characteristic of the author's writing. There were almost 10 POVs in this story. I’ve never thought he could handle more than three (3). I took issue that they were all vital to the storyline? They did not all offer different story elements. Their contribution of: new information, opinions, backstory, and story hints could easily been accomplished with fewer POVs. I never could figure out who was the real protagonist: Buckevsky, Dvorak, Torino, or the Romanian Basarab? The alien (Shongari) antagonist was easier (Thikair). Unfortunately, I felt the humanoid Shongari to be too much of the Intelligent Gerbil type. In this case anthropomorphic dogs, that were too human. (The human’s called the Shongari puppies.) This negative opinion was despite a good development of the plot threads comparing and contrasting the underlying species’ psychologies and how it drove the story forward.
In addition, there were many minor characters, a great many being Red Shirts. Women, even alien females and human, female warfighters generally had a subordinate role. This was despite the US President being a woman. The human characters were however, ethnically diverse.
The story includes no: sex, drugs or musical references. Nobody had any sex for the months of the alien invasion; human or alien. The exception being, one character’s guard dog had puppies. Alcohol was consumed. Although, it was beer or lager and consumed with food. There was no consumption of hard or soft-core drugs. There was no tobacco consumption. Folks didn’t listen to any music. Frankly, I take a dim view of stories where nobody has any vices?
There was a near-genocidal amount of physical violence. It was well done. Body count was high, being a result of planetary bombardment from orbit, and both operational-level and tactical combat. Violence was somewhat graphic. It was consistent with the use of modern, military-grade, heavy and light weapons against living creatures. I note that the main characters never suffer from more than flesh wounds. Also, the loss of two-thirds of humanity was regarded rather antiseptically by both aliens and survivalist-oriented humans. Torture by aliens to humans and humans to aliens was mentioned.
World building was realistic. Weber’s mastery of details can rarely be faulted. The End of the World as We Know It due to Alien Invasion was credible in terms of societal disruption and near-collapse. The threat of human species extinction was also credible. The human MIL-tech and survivalist info-dumps appeared to be technically correct. I did note that a human, main character’s survivalist bunker used fluorescent lighting vs. LEDs. This was an artifact of the story’s 14-year age. However, AR-16 and handgun tech has not changed as much as overhead lighting tech? The alien technology was slightly futuristic ‘planet-side’. I thought it was a little too human? The Standard Sci-Fi Fleet trope was used for the invasion fleet. My largest complaint was there was that the details were unevenly and inappropriately distributed. For example, the details of the 7.62 rifle cartridge consumed almost as prose as the alien penetration of the Internet. Fortunately for Weber, I was geeky enough to retain interest in where he was going.
My largest problem with this story came with the introduction of the supernatural element near the end of the story. The story adopted a frenetic pace to wrap-up that was not present for the first 80-percent of its POV-flipping narrative. The story’s bums rush to the end didn’t help my shock at this final, supernatural twist.
This is a story only a Weber fanboi or fangrrl can love. It was a competent alien invasion and resistance novel for most of its length. However, I had several issues with it, but I didn’t put the book down. Then itfell off a cliff with the introduction of the supernatural element saving the human race. This ending left me thinking, WTF? The contrast between the steady pacing and hyperrealism of the story before that point and the appearance of a supernatural solution and rushing to the end left me in shock. It came to remind me more of a Psychotronic Film than an apocalyptic, alien space invasion story with lots of MIL-Pr0n. Between that, the POV-flipping and the heavy, burden of info-dumps, this book was a hot mess.
Not a Shongari
My dead pixels copy was 500 pages. A dead tree copy is 381 pages. The original US copyright was 2010.
David Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He has more than 50-books published, in series and standalone and many shorter works. He has also collaborated on more than 30-books. This is the first, book in his Shongairi series. I’ve read several books by the author. The last book I read by the author was Insurrection (my review).
TL;DR Synopsis
Weber’s stories always have complex narratives. This wasn’t a bad MIL-SF story, with an alien invasion theme. It strongly reminds me of a cross-over between realistic World War III stories like Team Yankee and Bastard Alien Invasion stories like Footfall . However, the execution was very flawed. It was over-laden with info-dumps, and simple, conservative themes. In addition, the many POVs did not enhance the overall narrative. Finally, the late introduction of the supernatural plot thread to reach the story’s crash-dive into resolution was completely out-of-character with the plodding, hyper-realism of its narrative.
The Review
The writing was characteristic of the author. He has a C. S. Forester crossed with Robert Heinlein-esque style. Both, were rather conservative authors. Note, Weber’s action scenes were very good. However, a story can’t be all action scenes. The non-action, prose was a bit too melodramatic in places for my taste. There was also some lugubrious dialog. There were numerous, info-dumps on technology, in this case military and self-sufficiency in a rural lifestyle (survivalism). I noted that the technical writing of these info-dumps was very terse and well-crafted. If you’re interesting in firearms pr0n, you’ll be in heaven. I would have greatly appreciated him using the same sparse narrative technique to the squishier parts of the story.
This story had a cast of thousands. Many POVs are a characteristic of the author's writing. There were almost 10 POVs in this story. I’ve never thought he could handle more than three (3). I took issue that they were all vital to the storyline? They did not all offer different story elements. Their contribution of: new information, opinions, backstory, and story hints could easily been accomplished with fewer POVs. I never could figure out who was the real protagonist: Buckevsky, Dvorak, Torino, or the Romanian Basarab? The alien (Shongari) antagonist was easier (Thikair). Unfortunately, I felt the humanoid Shongari to be too much of the Intelligent Gerbil type. In this case anthropomorphic dogs, that were too human. (The human’s called the Shongari puppies.) This negative opinion was despite a good development of the plot threads comparing and contrasting the underlying species’ psychologies and how it drove the story forward.
In addition, there were many minor characters, a great many being Red Shirts. Women, even alien females and human, female warfighters generally had a subordinate role. This was despite the US President being a woman. The human characters were however, ethnically diverse.
The story includes no: sex, drugs or musical references. Nobody had any sex for the months of the alien invasion; human or alien. The exception being, one character’s guard dog had puppies. Alcohol was consumed. Although, it was beer or lager and consumed with food. There was no consumption of hard or soft-core drugs. There was no tobacco consumption. Folks didn’t listen to any music. Frankly, I take a dim view of stories where nobody has any vices?
There was a near-genocidal amount of physical violence. It was well done. Body count was high, being a result of planetary bombardment from orbit, and both operational-level and tactical combat. Violence was somewhat graphic. It was consistent with the use of modern, military-grade, heavy and light weapons against living creatures. I note that the main characters never suffer from more than flesh wounds. Also, the loss of two-thirds of humanity was regarded rather antiseptically by both aliens and survivalist-oriented humans. Torture by aliens to humans and humans to aliens was mentioned.
World building was realistic. Weber’s mastery of details can rarely be faulted. The End of the World as We Know It due to Alien Invasion was credible in terms of societal disruption and near-collapse. The threat of human species extinction was also credible. The human MIL-tech and survivalist info-dumps appeared to be technically correct. I did note that a human, main character’s survivalist bunker used fluorescent lighting vs. LEDs. This was an artifact of the story’s 14-year age. However, AR-16 and handgun tech has not changed as much as overhead lighting tech? The alien technology was slightly futuristic ‘planet-side’. I thought it was a little too human? The Standard Sci-Fi Fleet trope was used for the invasion fleet. My largest complaint was there was that the details were unevenly and inappropriately distributed. For example, the details of the 7.62 rifle cartridge consumed almost as prose as the alien penetration of the Internet. Fortunately for Weber, I was geeky enough to retain interest in where he was going.
My largest problem with this story came with the introduction of the supernatural element near the end of the story. The story adopted a frenetic pace to wrap-up that was not present for the first 80-percent of its POV-flipping narrative. The story’s bums rush to the end didn’t help my shock at this final, supernatural twist.
This is a story only a Weber fanboi or fangrrl can love. It was a competent alien invasion and resistance novel for most of its length. However, I had several issues with it, but I didn’t put the book down. Then itfell off a cliff with the introduction of the supernatural element saving the human race. This ending left me thinking, WTF? The contrast between the steady pacing and hyperrealism of the story before that point and the appearance of a supernatural solution and rushing to the end left me in shock. It came to remind me more of a Psychotronic Film than an apocalyptic, alien space invasion story with lots of MIL-Pr0n. Between that, the POV-flipping and the heavy, burden of info-dumps, this book was a hot mess.
January 30, 2011
No offense meant to my brother, who got this for me, this was probably the worst book I've read in a long time. I really wanted to like this book, the premise was great and I enjoyed it in the beginning, but the redundancy was starting to be too much. I'm not too much into military fiction, so the frequent and overly-detailed descriptions of the weaponry were difficult for me to slog through. The writing quickly became redundant with the use of the same plot device when describing the attacks on the aliens over and over and over. Then came the plot twist at the end, and that was enough for me. I think my mouth literally dropped. I could barely bring myself to finish the book with such an absolutely incongruous and ridiculous ending. I will chalk some of my dislike for the book to the fact that I've been working my way through the Hugo and Nebula winners, and this just isn't par with those. But with an ending like that, I think I can safely say I would have hated this book no matter what quality book I'd been reading previously.
September 30, 2010
I generally really like David Weber and this one did not disappoint. There were a lot of characters to follow as usual in his stories but it was relatively easy to do. The aliens seemed fairly alien. Not necessarily as alien as others I've read but a pretty solid effort in making them "not like us psychologically". The sci fi element was well done but not a huge element in the story. Most of the action took place on Earth just a few years in the future and so most of the action revolved around fighting back against the aliens with human weapons. DW sure loves him some bullets. I read all those words about gun types and bullet calibers etc., but I didn't put much effort into really grasping them as long as the humans were blowing alien butts up. This was good military type adventure with plenty of characters to root for. And realistically, some lived and some died. Characterization was not incredibly in depth since there were so many characters and so much happening but there was sufficient that you cared whether someone lived or died.
MINOR SPOILERS
There was a rather surprising twist at the end that becomes obvious the minute odd things start happening. Thinking back, I realized that I had an inkling somewhere near the beginning of the book that this might play into the story when I realized where parts of the story were playing out. But I didn't give it much creedance considering what I was reading. But sure enough there it was. It was fairly well done and after a few minutes I totally bought into it.
MINOR SPOILERS
There was a rather surprising twist at the end that becomes obvious the minute odd things start happening. Thinking back, I realized that I had an inkling somewhere near the beginning of the book that this might play into the story when I realized where parts of the story were playing out. But I didn't give it much creedance considering what I was reading. But sure enough there it was. It was fairly well done and after a few minutes I totally bought into it.
May 21, 2012
As stated by some other reviewers, I have read everything Weber has ever done, and come into each book with some expectations. At first my expectations were met. The aliens and the battles kind of reminded me of Turtledove's Balance Series. I thought the aliens were just a little to0 inept in the land battles, and a little too omnipotent when it came to their control of the planet from space. I really thought it was off the mark when he talked about the aliens having the power to turn Earth into an asteroid field. Weber is usually on the mark with his science enough to not get into impossibilities. We're not talking the Death Star here, and even it was a fantasy. However, I like Weber's style and he does a good job on his exposition and description, and the action was tight. What really caused a four star review was the introduction of Vampires into the storyline, as mentioned before much like God in the Machine of the Greek plays. Not that I have anything against vampires, I read and write about them myself. Just seemed like a cop out way to get the human race out of a tight situation. Would have enjoyed it more if it had been a straight Scifi tale and the author had figured a way out of the mess in a tight scifi way. Still a good read and I think Weber fans will enjoy it.
January 5, 2011
First review on goodread...sadly its a bash :)
Not a diehard fan of military Sci Fi here ( mostly because i hardly found any good "realistic" book on the matter )but i gave Weber a shot.
First 3/4 of the book are a pretty abused " arrogant snotty aliens too narrowminded to deal with fierce, cunning, brave humane resistance" flick. Pretty similar to the Turtledove WorldWar , altough the Race is much more sympathetic then these pesky canine genocidal aliens.
As said pretty common but entertaining nonetheless . Plenty of top notch military gears and guerrilla actions. Obviously you cheer up and side with the humans fighting so defiantly against this unrelentless enemy.
As the resistance movement achieve more success, the invading aliens reach the conclusion that the humans are too dangerous ( even to them, the only warrior-based culture among a federation of peaceloving aliens)and decide to put them out of their misery, annihalating the whole humar race.
Then, suddenly, on the verge of extinction, the humies got un unexpected and decisive helping hand...Vlad the Impaler.
The now-finally-peace-minded Valachian prince and his cronies deliberate that humans have to survive and begin to slaughter the shocked aliens ( i reckon you can see the alien reaction as the same most reader had..)
Wait...WHAT?
Really?
Bloody Vampires vs. Aliens?
SERIOUSLY?
I had to read 2 or 3 times the climax when the plot unfurl...the twist was so sudden and childish that numbed me ( thruth to be told some hint was leaked in the previous pages but i dismissed those as a divertissement of the author...).
Now , i dont want to meddle with metaphorical interpretation of what Weber wrote. The book , until his final and tragic demise , was a solid airport paperback to read while you fly across the Pond. The ending suddenly turned in some " omg i want my memory erased so i cant even remember to have touched that book."
Harsh but still my humble opinion :)
Prima review su goodread...purtroppo è una bastonata :)
Non sono un fan accorato della Sci-fi militare ( anche perchè finora ho trovato ben pochi romanzi"realistici" sull'argomento) , ma ho comunque deciso di dare una chance al libro di Weber.
I primi 3/4 di libro sono il solito abusato " alieni cattivissimi che non riescono ad adattarsi ad esseri umani astuti, coraggiosi e brutali". Ricorda molto la serie WorlWar di Turtledove, anche se va detto che per la Razza si trova maggior affinità che con questi pestilenziali alieni canini.
Come detto è una trama piuttosto comune , ma ciò nonostante si lascia leggere. Tanti aggeggi militari all'ultimo grido e azioni di guerriglia. Ovviamente è naturale schierarsi con gli umani e participare simpateticamente ai loro sforzi.
Man mano che la Resistenza sforna successi uno dietor l'altro, gli alieni decidono che gli esseri umani sono stroppo pericolosi per la Galassia e soprattutto per loro ( la loro cultura è l'unica basata sulla figura del guerriero , in federazione gaalttica governata da alieni erbivori e pacifisti).Decidono quindi di sterminarli completamente.
A questo punto, improvvisamente, un insperato aiuto per gli umani, sull'orlo dell'estizione, si manifesta sotto forma di Vlad l'Impalatore.
Il Principe di Valacchia, finalmente in pace con i suoi dmeoni interiori, insieme ai suoi "figli" inizia a massacrare gli alieni in completo stato di shock ( se vogliamo l'immagine dell'alieno che si fa squartare restando inane di fronte a tanta sorpresa è parafrasi dello stupro che subisce il lettore per questo improvviso complo di scena ;)).
Un secondo...COSA?
Veramente?
Maledetti vampiri contro Alieni?
SERIAMENTE?
Ho dovuto rileggere due o tre volte la parte in cui c'è il colpo di scena...era talmente improvviso e bambinesco che mi ha instupidito. Non potevo credere a quello che stavo leggendo. ( per amor di verità Weber aveva buttato qua e là qualche indizio che potesse portare ad identificare certi personaggi con i vampiri...ma pensavo e speravo fosse solo un divertissement dell'autore).
Non voglio neppure cominciare a pensare di dover interpretare questo libro come chissò quale metafora. Fino agli ultimi capitoli era un banale, solido, divertente paperback da aereoporto, da leggere mentre attraversi l'Atlantico.
Il finale lo ha reso simile a qualcosa che ti faccia venire voglia di subire una lobotomia per dimenticarti anche solo di averlo adocchiato in libreria.
Dura ma la mia umile opinione ;)
Not a diehard fan of military Sci Fi here ( mostly because i hardly found any good "realistic" book on the matter )but i gave Weber a shot.
First 3/4 of the book are a pretty abused " arrogant snotty aliens too narrowminded to deal with fierce, cunning, brave humane resistance" flick. Pretty similar to the Turtledove WorldWar , altough the Race is much more sympathetic then these pesky canine genocidal aliens.
As said pretty common but entertaining nonetheless . Plenty of top notch military gears and guerrilla actions. Obviously you cheer up and side with the humans fighting so defiantly against this unrelentless enemy.
As the resistance movement achieve more success, the invading aliens reach the conclusion that the humans are too dangerous ( even to them, the only warrior-based culture among a federation of peaceloving aliens)and decide to put them out of their misery, annihalating the whole humar race.
Then, suddenly, on the verge of extinction, the humies got un unexpected and decisive helping hand...Vlad the Impaler.
The now-finally-peace-minded Valachian prince and his cronies deliberate that humans have to survive and begin to slaughter the shocked aliens ( i reckon you can see the alien reaction as the same most reader had..)
Wait...WHAT?
Really?
Bloody Vampires vs. Aliens?
SERIOUSLY?
I had to read 2 or 3 times the climax when the plot unfurl...the twist was so sudden and childish that numbed me ( thruth to be told some hint was leaked in the previous pages but i dismissed those as a divertissement of the author...).
Now , i dont want to meddle with metaphorical interpretation of what Weber wrote. The book , until his final and tragic demise , was a solid airport paperback to read while you fly across the Pond. The ending suddenly turned in some " omg i want my memory erased so i cant even remember to have touched that book."
Harsh but still my humble opinion :)
Prima review su goodread...purtroppo è una bastonata :)
Non sono un fan accorato della Sci-fi militare ( anche perchè finora ho trovato ben pochi romanzi"realistici" sull'argomento) , ma ho comunque deciso di dare una chance al libro di Weber.
I primi 3/4 di libro sono il solito abusato " alieni cattivissimi che non riescono ad adattarsi ad esseri umani astuti, coraggiosi e brutali". Ricorda molto la serie WorlWar di Turtledove, anche se va detto che per la Razza si trova maggior affinità che con questi pestilenziali alieni canini.
Come detto è una trama piuttosto comune , ma ciò nonostante si lascia leggere. Tanti aggeggi militari all'ultimo grido e azioni di guerriglia. Ovviamente è naturale schierarsi con gli umani e participare simpateticamente ai loro sforzi.
Man mano che la Resistenza sforna successi uno dietor l'altro, gli alieni decidono che gli esseri umani sono stroppo pericolosi per la Galassia e soprattutto per loro ( la loro cultura è l'unica basata sulla figura del guerriero , in federazione gaalttica governata da alieni erbivori e pacifisti).Decidono quindi di sterminarli completamente.
A questo punto, improvvisamente, un insperato aiuto per gli umani, sull'orlo dell'estizione, si manifesta sotto forma di Vlad l'Impalatore.
Il Principe di Valacchia, finalmente in pace con i suoi dmeoni interiori, insieme ai suoi "figli" inizia a massacrare gli alieni in completo stato di shock ( se vogliamo l'immagine dell'alieno che si fa squartare restando inane di fronte a tanta sorpresa è parafrasi dello stupro che subisce il lettore per questo improvviso complo di scena ;)).
Un secondo...COSA?
Veramente?
Maledetti vampiri contro Alieni?
SERIAMENTE?
Ho dovuto rileggere due o tre volte la parte in cui c'è il colpo di scena...era talmente improvviso e bambinesco che mi ha instupidito. Non potevo credere a quello che stavo leggendo. ( per amor di verità Weber aveva buttato qua e là qualche indizio che potesse portare ad identificare certi personaggi con i vampiri...ma pensavo e speravo fosse solo un divertissement dell'autore).
Non voglio neppure cominciare a pensare di dover interpretare questo libro come chissò quale metafora. Fino agli ultimi capitoli era un banale, solido, divertente paperback da aereoporto, da leggere mentre attraversi l'Atlantico.
Il finale lo ha reso simile a qualcosa che ti faccia venire voglia di subire una lobotomia per dimenticarti anche solo di averlo adocchiato in libreria.
Dura ma la mia umile opinione ;)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 26, 2013
There's a big part of me that wants to give it one star, but that wouldn't be quite fair: the first 200 pages of the book were actually quite enjoyable. The ending was probably the worst cop-out I've ever seen. It was terrible. Honestly, I can't put into words how horrible the ending was.
First of all, I'm inclined to like David Weber--I like his Honor Harrington series--it's not the type of series that is going to expand your horizons or revolutionize your world-view, and the writing is merely "ok," but the series is enjoyable, and it's so nice to have a good female protagonist in science fiction.
So, I picked up this book for $1 at a used book store, and thank goodness I didn't pay more for it, or I would have been seriously annoyed. This is a classic example of one of those books where the author has a great premise: the premise carries the momentum through the first half of the book--but sooner or later it collapses into a fiery pit of horrid.
[The major spoilers are behind cuts, but this review is a bit more spoiler-y than most of my reviews, but that's only because you really shouldn't read the book. You should read the review then NOT read the book, and pick up an Honor Harrington book instead.]
Earth is invaded by aliens and half of humanity is wiped out instantly. But, the aliens are very alien, and humans' behavior and customs are so foreign to them that they don't really know how to handle us. They have the technological advantage, but do a lot of things that seem incredibly stupid (at least to us). For example, it takes them several weeks after the initial invasion to realize that wiping out the internet hinders the humans' abilities to coordinate a resistance. And this is where Weber excels: the aliens are fun--the viewpoints in the book bounce between the aliens (mostly the commander of the invasion) and a number of humans on the ground. The aliens have such a different code of honor and customs than humans do that they're really rather terrible at invading earth. There's a certain amount of "us versus them" satisfaction that comes when the humans again and again kick the butts of the evil invading aliens, in spite of having the odds stacked against them.
Around the mid-way point it starts getting pretty redundant. The first 5 times the outnumbered humans wipe out a group of aliens is fun--the next 5 times, not so much. Weber then seems to just start describing the weapons and tactics in more and more detail...yawn. I started losing interest a bit toward the mid-way point of the book, but this is a fairly minor criticism compared to what happened next.
The aliens eventually decide that it's not worth it to try to keep any humans alive: they're just going to create and unleash a super-virus that will wipe out the planet, and the aliens will just take the planet and forgo the slaves. Ok, fine, that puts an interesting time-clock on the situation. Humans have been slowly depleting the aliens' resources, but now they have to act really quickly in order to survive.
The problem was that Weber's solution was probably the worst thing I've ever seen. You really shouldn't read the book (did I already say that?), and should really read what is under the next spoiler cut, just for the laugh. About 15 pages from the end of the book, it is revealed that the aliens are getting killed by... The solution was so out of the blue, and SO inconsistent with the universe that Weber created, that, my personal feelings about above solution aside (and I'm very inclined to dislike it on principle), it just invalidated the entire book. Not that the book was a work of art or anything, but it was fun enough. And then it ventured into irredeemable horribleness. Ugh.
First of all, I'm inclined to like David Weber--I like his Honor Harrington series--it's not the type of series that is going to expand your horizons or revolutionize your world-view, and the writing is merely "ok," but the series is enjoyable, and it's so nice to have a good female protagonist in science fiction.
So, I picked up this book for $1 at a used book store, and thank goodness I didn't pay more for it, or I would have been seriously annoyed. This is a classic example of one of those books where the author has a great premise: the premise carries the momentum through the first half of the book--but sooner or later it collapses into a fiery pit of horrid.
[The major spoilers are behind cuts, but this review is a bit more spoiler-y than most of my reviews, but that's only because you really shouldn't read the book. You should read the review then NOT read the book, and pick up an Honor Harrington book instead.]
Earth is invaded by aliens and half of humanity is wiped out instantly. But, the aliens are very alien, and humans' behavior and customs are so foreign to them that they don't really know how to handle us. They have the technological advantage, but do a lot of things that seem incredibly stupid (at least to us). For example, it takes them several weeks after the initial invasion to realize that wiping out the internet hinders the humans' abilities to coordinate a resistance. And this is where Weber excels: the aliens are fun--the viewpoints in the book bounce between the aliens (mostly the commander of the invasion) and a number of humans on the ground. The aliens have such a different code of honor and customs than humans do that they're really rather terrible at invading earth. There's a certain amount of "us versus them" satisfaction that comes when the humans again and again kick the butts of the evil invading aliens, in spite of having the odds stacked against them.
Around the mid-way point it starts getting pretty redundant. The first 5 times the outnumbered humans wipe out a group of aliens is fun--the next 5 times, not so much. Weber then seems to just start describing the weapons and tactics in more and more detail...yawn. I started losing interest a bit toward the mid-way point of the book, but this is a fairly minor criticism compared to what happened next.
The aliens eventually decide that it's not worth it to try to keep any humans alive: they're just going to create and unleash a super-virus that will wipe out the planet, and the aliens will just take the planet and forgo the slaves. Ok, fine, that puts an interesting time-clock on the situation. Humans have been slowly depleting the aliens' resources, but now they have to act really quickly in order to survive.
The problem was that Weber's solution was probably the worst thing I've ever seen. You really shouldn't read the book (did I already say that?), and should really read what is under the next spoiler cut, just for the laugh. About 15 pages from the end of the book, it is revealed that the aliens are getting killed by... The solution was so out of the blue, and SO inconsistent with the universe that Weber created, that, my personal feelings about above solution aside (and I'm very inclined to dislike it on principle), it just invalidated the entire book. Not that the book was a work of art or anything, but it was fun enough. And then it ventured into irredeemable horribleness. Ugh.
August 5, 2011
So I really liked this book for the first 3/4. I like David Weber in general, his Safehold series as a retelling of the Protestant Reformation is very interesting. This book likewise has much to commend it. It is the story of an alien invasion. The producers of Battle: Los Angeles, said the trick of any alien invasion story is that it not be over in 10 minutes. Weber solves this problem with interesting reflections on the different kinds of military hardware a space faring race might have as opposed to a terrestrial race.
And when it comes to military hardware, Weber "loves him some guns." The guy waxes poetic in detail about the firing power of RPGs, rifles, mortars, handguns, etc. Seems like I read he was actually a military historian when I was reading Safehold and it comes through in this as well. Some of that stuff made my eyes glaze over, but the battle scenes are actually quite compelling.
But the thing I liked most about this book is it made me think a lot about asymmetrical warfare. There's a lot that's all focusing on that right now. Speilberg's "Falling Skies" series, the U.S. withdrawl from Afghanistan and Iraq and the aforementioned Battle: LA, all has kind of coalesced in a cultural moment to make the merits and disadvantages of asymmetrical warfare a timely topic. If this book offers anything it offers an interesting reflection on the psychology, the problems and the tactics of this kind of warfare.
Until we get to the end. I will not spoil the ending except to say that even for science fiction it goes in a direction that is completely unbelievable so that I was left saying "_________? Really? That's how your going to solve this with ________?" Which may in and of itself point to the problem with asymmetrical warfare. It only functions when the stronger side in some way is limited either through moral conviction, fear of losing popular support or external threat. If the stronger power can completely and effectively eliminate the weaker population then there is no path to victory. In the mosquito v. the elephant, it the elephant suddenly blankets the area with anti-mosquito fog, the battle ends.
So I think this book is worth reading, but its ending is lame. But perhaps there is a lesson in that as well. I gave it 4 stars, but only because I couldn't give it 3 1/2. That's really what it deserves.
And when it comes to military hardware, Weber "loves him some guns." The guy waxes poetic in detail about the firing power of RPGs, rifles, mortars, handguns, etc. Seems like I read he was actually a military historian when I was reading Safehold and it comes through in this as well. Some of that stuff made my eyes glaze over, but the battle scenes are actually quite compelling.
But the thing I liked most about this book is it made me think a lot about asymmetrical warfare. There's a lot that's all focusing on that right now. Speilberg's "Falling Skies" series, the U.S. withdrawl from Afghanistan and Iraq and the aforementioned Battle: LA, all has kind of coalesced in a cultural moment to make the merits and disadvantages of asymmetrical warfare a timely topic. If this book offers anything it offers an interesting reflection on the psychology, the problems and the tactics of this kind of warfare.
Until we get to the end. I will not spoil the ending except to say that even for science fiction it goes in a direction that is completely unbelievable so that I was left saying "_________? Really? That's how your going to solve this with ________?" Which may in and of itself point to the problem with asymmetrical warfare. It only functions when the stronger side in some way is limited either through moral conviction, fear of losing popular support or external threat. If the stronger power can completely and effectively eliminate the weaker population then there is no path to victory. In the mosquito v. the elephant, it the elephant suddenly blankets the area with anti-mosquito fog, the battle ends.
So I think this book is worth reading, but its ending is lame. But perhaps there is a lesson in that as well. I gave it 4 stars, but only because I couldn't give it 3 1/2. That's really what it deserves.
November 3, 2016
I don’t usually spoiler books in my reviews, but this was published way back in 2010, and it is pretty much impossible to express myself on the subject of this book without talking about the surprise ending. You have been warned.
Near-future alien invasions have been done before, and this one even includes a reference to Independence Day‘s use of over-used SF tropes. It does not, however, mention the common trope of the special-snowflake status of the USA being extended (with a prominent US role, of course) to the whole human race – that would be the narrative undermining itself. These types of books pretty much all do that, though I think if I tried I could probably find examples that buck the trend.
But that’s not really what I wanted to talk about. It isn’t the lengthy, loving descriptions of arms and armament that I want to talk about either, although the book probably would’ve been 30 pages shorter if those have been trimmed. Weber’s tendency to include long disquisitions about politics is also on display from time to time, as well.
But no, what I wanted to talk about is vampires.
See, in the last few chapters it turns out that a vampire is unalive and well and still living in the mountains of Romania. Yes, that vampire. And he’s not happy about aliens destroying most of the major cities on the planet (and a lot of the minor ones) through kinetic bombardment. He’s even less happy when the aliens (they’re called Shongairi, by the way) unwittingly decide to pick the wrong villages to collect experimental subjects from – villages he’s taken up the burden of protecting.
Yeah, so. Vampires save the human race from alien invasion. I suppose you could say this undermines the typical special-human-snowflwake alien invasion story trope, but then you probably haven’t actually read the book. I have, and it doesn’t. The epilogue is titled “Year 1 of the Terran Empire.”
In an era of Jane Austen and zombies and Abraham Lincoln as a vampire-hunter, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. But I still think Weber wrote up the proposal on a bet, and then got stuck with writing it when it actually sold. I mean, he’s got to make a living, even with the Honor Harrington series still doing so well.
But. Still. Umm. I mean, really???
Near-future alien invasions have been done before, and this one even includes a reference to Independence Day‘s use of over-used SF tropes. It does not, however, mention the common trope of the special-snowflake status of the USA being extended (with a prominent US role, of course) to the whole human race – that would be the narrative undermining itself. These types of books pretty much all do that, though I think if I tried I could probably find examples that buck the trend.
But that’s not really what I wanted to talk about. It isn’t the lengthy, loving descriptions of arms and armament that I want to talk about either, although the book probably would’ve been 30 pages shorter if those have been trimmed. Weber’s tendency to include long disquisitions about politics is also on display from time to time, as well.
But no, what I wanted to talk about is vampires.
See, in the last few chapters it turns out that a vampire is unalive and well and still living in the mountains of Romania. Yes, that vampire. And he’s not happy about aliens destroying most of the major cities on the planet (and a lot of the minor ones) through kinetic bombardment. He’s even less happy when the aliens (they’re called Shongairi, by the way) unwittingly decide to pick the wrong villages to collect experimental subjects from – villages he’s taken up the burden of protecting.
Yeah, so. Vampires save the human race from alien invasion. I suppose you could say this undermines the typical special-human-snowflwake alien invasion story trope, but then you probably haven’t actually read the book. I have, and it doesn’t. The epilogue is titled “Year 1 of the Terran Empire.”
In an era of Jane Austen and zombies and Abraham Lincoln as a vampire-hunter, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. But I still think Weber wrote up the proposal on a bet, and then got stuck with writing it when it actually sold. I mean, he’s got to make a living, even with the Honor Harrington series still doing so well.
But. Still. Umm. I mean, really???
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 26, 2010
I really should have known better.
I've read several of David Weber's Safehold series of books and they all suffer from the same problems. They're wordy and heavy on conversations and light on progressing the story. Worse, the conversations can pretty much all be grouped into two formulas: The bad guys scheming and arguing with each other, and the good guys expressing feelings of comraderie and deep friendship and affection for each other. It gets a bit nauseating and unfortunately this book suffers just as much as the Safehold books.
In "Out of the Dark", modern day Earth is brutally attacked and invaded a by an alien species called the Shongairi. The Shongairi look and act very much like terestrial dogs and can't understand why the humans don't submit to an obviously superior force. But, typical of Weber books, the bad guys aren't really superior at all. In fact, the aliens who are sophisticated enough to travel millions of lightyears across space, lose every single battle with the humans and primitive weapons.
The aliens maintain one overwhelming weapon, however, and that is the ability to sling asteroids at the earth, annihilating it from space. That is until Weber unleashes on the unsuspecting reader, the single stupidest and annoying deus ex machina solutions I've ever had the misfortune of encountering.
Warning: I'm going to go ahead and spoil the ending here, so don't read on if you still think you might want to read this dreck.
Something is able to sneak unseen into the alien bases on earth and wipe out the alien-dogs. It turns out that one of the characters all along was a vampire.
Yes, a vampire. Out of nowhere, Weber just hits you with this twist. So lame, so stupid, such a waste of time to have read this book.
I've read several of David Weber's Safehold series of books and they all suffer from the same problems. They're wordy and heavy on conversations and light on progressing the story. Worse, the conversations can pretty much all be grouped into two formulas: The bad guys scheming and arguing with each other, and the good guys expressing feelings of comraderie and deep friendship and affection for each other. It gets a bit nauseating and unfortunately this book suffers just as much as the Safehold books.
In "Out of the Dark", modern day Earth is brutally attacked and invaded a by an alien species called the Shongairi. The Shongairi look and act very much like terestrial dogs and can't understand why the humans don't submit to an obviously superior force. But, typical of Weber books, the bad guys aren't really superior at all. In fact, the aliens who are sophisticated enough to travel millions of lightyears across space, lose every single battle with the humans and primitive weapons.
The aliens maintain one overwhelming weapon, however, and that is the ability to sling asteroids at the earth, annihilating it from space. That is until Weber unleashes on the unsuspecting reader, the single stupidest and annoying deus ex machina solutions I've ever had the misfortune of encountering.
Warning: I'm going to go ahead and spoil the ending here, so don't read on if you still think you might want to read this dreck.
Something is able to sneak unseen into the alien bases on earth and wipe out the alien-dogs. It turns out that one of the characters all along was a vampire.
Yes, a vampire. Out of nowhere, Weber just hits you with this twist. So lame, so stupid, such a waste of time to have read this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 9, 2012
I typically don't venture into such hard science-fiction. However, the beginning of this book quickly drew me in. I was willing to put up with the *literally* pages long descriptions of weaponry because the story of human resistance was very inspiring and well-written. I liked the characters. The idea of a Galactic Hegemony and the "dogs" that carried out their dirty work was intriguing.
I spent the whole time reading this book telling my husband, "Oh, you're going to have to read this one!" Things were getting serious and I was really wondering HOW the human race was going to get out of this situation. I was on the edge of my seat. And then what happens?
Who comes to save the day?
VAMPIRES. Freakin' vampires. Dracula and his cronies, as a matter of fact.
I have never been so frustrated by the end of a book. It's not that it was vampires, per se, but the fact that for me, it was totally out of left field. Looking back, maybe I missed some subtle cues, but I didn't see it coming.
I just feel maybe he got to the end of writing this book and couldn't think of a single Hail-Mary play that the humans could win with and turned to vampires for redemption. Who knows.
Would I recommend this book? Probably not. It just frustrated me too entirely for words. But... I am interested in reading more by David Weber because I enjoyed the level of suspense he managed to build.
I spent the whole time reading this book telling my husband, "Oh, you're going to have to read this one!" Things were getting serious and I was really wondering HOW the human race was going to get out of this situation. I was on the edge of my seat. And then what happens?
Who comes to save the day?
VAMPIRES. Freakin' vampires. Dracula and his cronies, as a matter of fact.
I have never been so frustrated by the end of a book. It's not that it was vampires, per se, but the fact that for me, it was totally out of left field. Looking back, maybe I missed some subtle cues, but I didn't see it coming.
I just feel maybe he got to the end of writing this book and couldn't think of a single Hail-Mary play that the humans could win with and turned to vampires for redemption. Who knows.
Would I recommend this book? Probably not. It just frustrated me too entirely for words. But... I am interested in reading more by David Weber because I enjoyed the level of suspense he managed to build.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 4, 2013
I would have put 0 stars if that were possible.
Most of the book was tolerable. Courageous humans shooting unbelievably stupid aliens is an ok story, although it got quite tedious when the bulk of every fight scene was spent explaining in great detail why every single combatant chose the gun they were using. I don't know about guns, and I don't car about guns. However I managed to slog through the book, because I wanted to see how the humans won. Only they didn't. The vampires did. A few chapters from the end weird unexplainable alien deaths started happening. This was intriguing until, in the final chapter it was revealed that they were all killed by vampires. There was no prior foundation for vampires in the whole book. They just weren't part of the logic of that sci-fi universe, and going against internal logic is a sure way to throw that disbelief you're trying to suspend right back into the reader's face. Also, the writing was terrible. Has he never heard of show don't tell?
This book is a perfect example of what NOT to do in a speculative fiction novel. i do not understand how it was ever even published.
Most of the book was tolerable. Courageous humans shooting unbelievably stupid aliens is an ok story, although it got quite tedious when the bulk of every fight scene was spent explaining in great detail why every single combatant chose the gun they were using. I don't know about guns, and I don't car about guns. However I managed to slog through the book, because I wanted to see how the humans won. Only they didn't. The vampires did. A few chapters from the end weird unexplainable alien deaths started happening. This was intriguing until, in the final chapter it was revealed that they were all killed by vampires. There was no prior foundation for vampires in the whole book. They just weren't part of the logic of that sci-fi universe, and going against internal logic is a sure way to throw that disbelief you're trying to suspend right back into the reader's face. Also, the writing was terrible. Has he never heard of show don't tell?
This book is a perfect example of what NOT to do in a speculative fiction novel. i do not understand how it was ever even published.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 26, 2012
I'm having a difficult time deciding if this was a brilliant sci-fi novel, or a ridiculous one. Its certainly a flawed novel, and it would be fair to characterize most of the action sequences as "redundant and overburdened with long lists of munitions model numbers," and I definitely had a difficult time distinguishing each of the various characters (which while annoying, made me sympathize with the author - whom I've never read previously - because that's what happens when I try my hand at fiction ie., all the characters wind up seeming like the same guy), but despite all the myriad problems this odd, somewhat silly little novel has, I never-the-less enjoyed it a great deal, and am glad (if a trifle embarrassed, LOL) that I read it.
January 15, 2025
Ok this is admittedly a bit of a silly book, in the same way that The Meg, or pretty much any movie with Jason Statham, is silly. That said, if you know what you are signing up for, the silliness doesn’t really matter and the material ends up being a decent time.
There’s too much description about weapons, and those parts dragged a bit. The main characters are ridiculously uber competent, but OK, that’s why they survive an alien invasion in the first place. But what most of the reviewers complain about is the twist ending. For me, this was instead the best part and the reason I started the sequel right after. Also, unlike some, I actually had a fleeting suspicion about what was going to happen, probably because of the range of speculative fiction I read.
So yeah, I’m now reading the sequel, Into the Light.
There’s too much description about weapons, and those parts dragged a bit. The main characters are ridiculously uber competent, but OK, that’s why they survive an alien invasion in the first place. But what most of the reviewers complain about is the twist ending. For me, this was instead the best part and the reason I started the sequel right after. Also, unlike some, I actually had a fleeting suspicion about what was going to happen, probably because of the range of speculative fiction I read.
So yeah, I’m now reading the sequel, Into the Light.
September 23, 2012
This book was OK, but there were parts that I really struggled with and then the ending completely ruined the story. The first disappointment was the profanity throughout the book. I know the story is a war story as humanity faces off against the alien invaders, but it really didn't add anything to the story - no matter how "real" the author was trying to keep it. I once heard that the use of profanity is the sign of a weak mind and I think that counts double for authors. The second disappointment was the excessive description of every weapon and military vehicle and ammo used throughout the entire story. The author is obviously a major gun nut and liked to show off his knowledge through the story. If you cut out the descriptions it would probably shave off a full third of the printed pages. My final gripe is that this was a pretty good science fiction story in general that was completely ruined when the human race is bailed out by the supernatural. I know you want to keep the readers in suspense and keep them guessing as to how it is all going to turn out, but this book was so heavily "real" that to introduce that element at the last minute was a lousy turn of events. There was very little mention (in fact, almost none) of the supernatural throughout the entire story and it completely blindsides the reader and ties everything up too neatly too quickly. It seems like a cop-out making it look like the author couldn't figure out a good way to save the human race. It is like how they tell writers that if they get writer's block, introduce a gun into the story or kill someone only this time it was ... well, I won't even tell you what it was in case you go ahead and read this story anyways. Just be prepared to be disappointed.
August 7, 2011
David Weber has surpassed himself (if possible) with his novel 'Out of the Dark'.
A gripping science fiction, end of the world, alien invasion story that grabs readers and leaves them stunned and wrung out.
As usual for Weber, he takes us deep into the lives of the characters, making us familiar, even intimate, with them, their lives and their tools. Technical descriptions abound and the fans of of hard science fiction should love it.
The premise of cooperation and the psychology of humanity when threatened is the heart and soul of this novel. That and what can happen when assumptions are made.
The ending sequence may cause the hard sci-fi geeks to scream and throw the book across the room, but after thinking on it, I see that it is a stroke of genius.
A mix of genres one would never expect in any way and it works. It works very well in my opinion and I would dearly like to see more stories set in this world.
I want to see what happens when humanity shows up at the Shongairi home-world and the reaction of the Galactic Hegemony that thinks it can make decisions on what races may live or die.
I think fear will be the overwhelming reaction.
A gripping science fiction, end of the world, alien invasion story that grabs readers and leaves them stunned and wrung out.
As usual for Weber, he takes us deep into the lives of the characters, making us familiar, even intimate, with them, their lives and their tools. Technical descriptions abound and the fans of of hard science fiction should love it.
The premise of cooperation and the psychology of humanity when threatened is the heart and soul of this novel. That and what can happen when assumptions are made.
The ending sequence may cause the hard sci-fi geeks to scream and throw the book across the room, but after thinking on it, I see that it is a stroke of genius.
A mix of genres one would never expect in any way and it works. It works very well in my opinion and I would dearly like to see more stories set in this world.
I want to see what happens when humanity shows up at the Shongairi home-world and the reaction of the Galactic Hegemony that thinks it can make decisions on what races may live or die.
I think fear will be the overwhelming reaction.
October 17, 2010
Oh what an absolute hoot! Very enjoyable bit of SF. How can you not enjoy plucky humans fighting off over-extended alien invaders. Add in a little help from legendary Romanians and you almost start feeling sorry for the aliens.
Weber drops military acronyms with the best of them (eat your heart out Tom Clancy) and shows he can rattle off details of modern weapons' capabilities just as easily as he can for those of his Honorverse. For those of us who don't really care for all those kinda of details, skimming those bits works just fine and the 'boom' is just as satisfying.
The book borders on Gary Stu-ness (male version of Mary Sue): one of the main characters and his wife have the same first names as Weber and his wife--but Weber keeps it pretty much in check (i.e. the David Dvorak character, while fairly competent, does not save the world single handed). I found it amusing--YMMV.
And it is short--see, Weber can write something under 500 pages!
Weber drops military acronyms with the best of them (eat your heart out Tom Clancy) and shows he can rattle off details of modern weapons' capabilities just as easily as he can for those of his Honorverse. For those of us who don't really care for all those kinda of details, skimming those bits works just fine and the 'boom' is just as satisfying.
The book borders on Gary Stu-ness (male version of Mary Sue): one of the main characters and his wife have the same first names as Weber and his wife--but Weber keeps it pretty much in check (i.e. the David Dvorak character, while fairly competent, does not save the world single handed). I found it amusing--YMMV.
And it is short--see, Weber can write something under 500 pages!
December 29, 2013
On the recommendation of a friend, I decided to check out this book. David Weber is one of my favorite authors.
I went and checked out the reviews on Amazon.com. It apparently has a bad rep for having a surprise ending. Some complained of Deux ex machina.
I wouldn't say it was deux ex machina as he planted clues throughout the book. The hard part of putting in enough clues is to not telegraph your ending. I think the clues were barely sufficient for this task though. If you didn't know that there was something about the ending you might not look for these clues.
Enough of that.
I liked the book. It entertained me. The character development was alright. The descriptions of technologies, ideas and stuff is what I like most about David Weber's writing.
I went and checked out the reviews on Amazon.com. It apparently has a bad rep for having a surprise ending. Some complained of Deux ex machina.
I wouldn't say it was deux ex machina as he planted clues throughout the book. The hard part of putting in enough clues is to not telegraph your ending. I think the clues were barely sufficient for this task though. If you didn't know that there was something about the ending you might not look for these clues.
Enough of that.
I liked the book. It entertained me. The character development was alright. The descriptions of technologies, ideas and stuff is what I like most about David Weber's writing.
October 7, 2012
I'm a long time Weber fan, though I haven't liked all of his books equally. My favorites, the ones I keep to re-read, are his earlier Honor Harrington books and this one is on my keep to re-read shelf as well.
It has all of the elements I like in a Weber military sci-fi book, good characterization, good alien development, brilliant military action scenes and fast action.
With an apology to all of those who hated the wrap up and ending, sorry, but I loved it and if he ever writes a sequel I'll have it downloaded as soon as it's available.
It has all of the elements I like in a Weber military sci-fi book, good characterization, good alien development, brilliant military action scenes and fast action.
With an apology to all of those who hated the wrap up and ending, sorry, but I loved it and if he ever writes a sequel I'll have it downloaded as soon as it's available.
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