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Dread Empire's Fall #3
Conventions of War
“Space opera the way it ought to be [...] Bujold and Weber, bend the knee; interstellar adventure has a new king, and his name is Walter Jon Williams.” -- George R.R. Martin
Now in trade paperback, the climactic final episode of the Dread Empire’s Fall trilogy--what started with The Praxis and The Sundering comes to the brilliant conclusion in Walter Jon William's epic space adventure.
Working on opposite sides of the galaxy--one in deep space, the other undercover on an occupied planet--and haunted by personal ghosts, Captain Gareth Martinez and Lieutenant Lady Caroline Sula fight to save the Empire from the vicious, alien Naxid. In a desperate, audacious bid to stop the Naxid fleet, Martinez makes a move that could win the war...and lose his career. Meanwhile, Sula’s guerilla tactics may not be enough to stop the Naxid, until she tries one deadly, final gambit.
And make sure to see what happens after, in the first new Praxis novel in ten years, The Accidental War, available Fall 2018!
Now in trade paperback, the climactic final episode of the Dread Empire’s Fall trilogy--what started with The Praxis and The Sundering comes to the brilliant conclusion in Walter Jon William's epic space adventure.
Working on opposite sides of the galaxy--one in deep space, the other undercover on an occupied planet--and haunted by personal ghosts, Captain Gareth Martinez and Lieutenant Lady Caroline Sula fight to save the Empire from the vicious, alien Naxid. In a desperate, audacious bid to stop the Naxid fleet, Martinez makes a move that could win the war...and lose his career. Meanwhile, Sula’s guerilla tactics may not be enough to stop the Naxid, until she tries one deadly, final gambit.
And make sure to see what happens after, in the first new Praxis novel in ten years, The Accidental War, available Fall 2018!
656 pages, Paperback
First published September 27, 2005
120 people are currently reading
834 people want to read
About the author
Walter Jon Williams
238 books894 followersWalter Jon Williams has published twenty novels and short fiction collections. Most are science fiction or fantasy -Hardwired, Voice of the Whirlwind, Aristoi, Metropolitan, City on Fire to name just a few - a few are historical adventures, and the most recent, The Rift, is a disaster novel in which "I just basically pound a part of the planet down to bedrock." And that's just the opening chapters. Walter holds a fourth-degree black belt in Kenpo Karate, and also enjoys sailing and scuba diving. He lives in New Mexico with his wife, Kathy Hedges.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 132 reviews
February 26, 2020
This third book, originally conceived as a trilogy, is easily the best. (So far)
Everything about it is extremely satisfying even if it is very frustrating for the two main characters.
The battle on the homeworld, overthrowing the invaders, feels just like a more fantastic, more glorious version of the French Resistance during the WWII occupation, but thanks to the full weight thrown into the economics, the intrigue, great hacking, and the rising up of the population, it happens to work BETTER, IMHO. At least for a coherent story. And I rather cheered throughout it. :)
The battle out in space was no less fun, but I tended to get a bit more frustrated with the Old Praxis way of doing things. Stupidity and tradition do seem to go hand-in-hand, no? So my frustration was always on the side of our dear hero who always had a trick up his sleeve. Gotta love this kind of story. :)
All told, the entire novel is pretty freaking fantastic. My original reservations during the first novel were washed away in the steamroller of the story that came after. :) This is one of the best Space Operas I've read.
I totally recommend THE SERIES. By no means do yourself the disservice of merely reading the first book. :)
Everything about it is extremely satisfying even if it is very frustrating for the two main characters.
The battle on the homeworld, overthrowing the invaders, feels just like a more fantastic, more glorious version of the French Resistance during the WWII occupation, but thanks to the full weight thrown into the economics, the intrigue, great hacking, and the rising up of the population, it happens to work BETTER, IMHO. At least for a coherent story. And I rather cheered throughout it. :)
The battle out in space was no less fun, but I tended to get a bit more frustrated with the Old Praxis way of doing things. Stupidity and tradition do seem to go hand-in-hand, no? So my frustration was always on the side of our dear hero who always had a trick up his sleeve. Gotta love this kind of story. :)
All told, the entire novel is pretty freaking fantastic. My original reservations during the first novel were washed away in the steamroller of the story that came after. :) This is one of the best Space Operas I've read.
I totally recommend THE SERIES. By no means do yourself the disservice of merely reading the first book. :)
August 14, 2021
Unterhaltsamer letzter Teil der Space-Opera-Trilogie. Die Protagonisten Sula und Martinez sind mir inzwischen richtig ans Herz gewachsen. Ich werde sicherlich nochmals in das Praxis-Universum rein schauen, auch wenn sich während der letzten Raumschlacht doch erste Ermüdungserscheinungen bei mir gezeigt haben.
January 19, 2023
Superb. Highly recommended.
June 13, 2011
While it will not stick in the memory as a major classic, I have enjoyed this series. Conventions of War concludes the sequence and provides a satisfying finale. The characters (Sula and Martinez in particular) are interesting and engaging. The themes of class and difference are important to the story but do not take it over.
The space travel narratives are interesting for the wormholes and the gravities experienced during accelerations. Williams fills in the time gaps here with a murder mystery that is not crucial to the whole story but provides a glimpse into the future universe where creativity and the spiritual have been diminished and are illegal or at best unwelcome in the worldview of the powerful.
The battle scenes are exciting and the detail is not at all tedious. Sula's leading of the armed rebellion on Zanshaa is exciting combat action story telling very well done. She is a very cool (and flawed...like the best heroines) chick!
This book was my favourite in the series.
The space travel narratives are interesting for the wormholes and the gravities experienced during accelerations. Williams fills in the time gaps here with a murder mystery that is not crucial to the whole story but provides a glimpse into the future universe where creativity and the spiritual have been diminished and are illegal or at best unwelcome in the worldview of the powerful.
The battle scenes are exciting and the detail is not at all tedious. Sula's leading of the armed rebellion on Zanshaa is exciting combat action story telling very well done. She is a very cool (and flawed...like the best heroines) chick!
This book was my favourite in the series.
September 29, 2020
3.5 stars, this is solidly entertaining space opera. This feels like the ending of a trilogy, although it’s left open for sequels and the author produced them only a few years later. I look forward to reading them.
About half of this quite long book centers on Martinez, who is captain of a warship in the fleet which has been sent to fight the rebel Naxid. He’s becoming a little more successful in convincing the fleet to try some new tactics. Meanwhile Sula has been left planet-side, leading the efforts to resist the enemy occupation of the empire’s capital city. She’s blowing things up and printing subversive pamphlets and making useful friends in the city’s underworld.
It remains fascinating that the characters never once bemoan the fact that their government is brutal (many crimes are punished with death-by-public-torture) or that their society embraces patronage and nepotism to the point of being feudal. The “rebels” in this story are fighting to put themselves in charge of this system, not to change it.
About half of this quite long book centers on Martinez, who is captain of a warship in the fleet which has been sent to fight the rebel Naxid. He’s becoming a little more successful in convincing the fleet to try some new tactics. Meanwhile Sula has been left planet-side, leading the efforts to resist the enemy occupation of the empire’s capital city. She’s blowing things up and printing subversive pamphlets and making useful friends in the city’s underworld.
It remains fascinating that the characters never once bemoan the fact that their government is brutal (many crimes are punished with death-by-public-torture) or that their society embraces patronage and nepotism to the point of being feudal. The “rebels” in this story are fighting to put themselves in charge of this system, not to change it.
March 1, 2020
Quite a nice trilogy by Williams. I think this was the first of his work I read some decade or so ago. Difficult to categorize, but a largely feudal society consisting of five races the Shaa had subjugated thousands of years ago, and with the death of the last Shaa, civil war breaks out. On one side are the Naxods, an insectile species, and the other are the Fleet with the rest of the population. Our heroine Caro leads a bloody insurrection within the formal capitol, while our other hero dukes it out with the fleet, pursuing the rebels. Lots of politics, vivid imagery, and even some romance. Nice ending.
September 2, 2021
As expected, the third volume of the first Praxis trilogy picks up speed again. The book is around 650 pages, and it's packed with action. Conventions of War is a mixture of a restoration comedy of manners and a naval action novel, with even a bit of whodunnit thrown in, all translated into the future and moved into space. As with much military SF, a lot of the time Hornblower shines through the cracks, sometimes quite brightly.
If anything, the book is too long and too full. Some of the twists seem unnecessary, and the computer science of the former Shaa empire is distressingly old-fashioned. But the book is so smoothly written and entertaining that I really cannot complain much. Recommended for everyone who read the first two volumes - it's a decent and satisfying conclusion to the story arc, but leaves enough leads for further development.
My edition has a free sample chapter for the first book of the second praxis trilogy at the end. It's set 7 years later, and features the same characters. Don't read that, unless you plan to go on and read the new series anyways. It's too compelling ;-).
If anything, the book is too long and too full. Some of the twists seem unnecessary, and the computer science of the former Shaa empire is distressingly old-fashioned. But the book is so smoothly written and entertaining that I really cannot complain much. Recommended for everyone who read the first two volumes - it's a decent and satisfying conclusion to the story arc, but leaves enough leads for further development.
My edition has a free sample chapter for the first book of the second praxis trilogy at the end. It's set 7 years later, and features the same characters. Don't read that, unless you plan to go on and read the new series anyways. It's too compelling ;-).
April 10, 2021
A great military epic space battle story. Although this is book 3 in the series it stands on it's own. I was immediately attached to the characters and knew what was going on.
Epic battles on land and in space. Good antagonist is an alien species and great heroes.
All around a GREAT READ
Epic battles on land and in space. Good antagonist is an alien species and great heroes.
All around a GREAT READ
May 25, 2010
Conventions of War
is the third and final novel in Williams' Dread Empire's Fall series. Lady Caroline Sula leads the guerrilla war against the rebellious Naxids on the Empire's occupied capital world of Zanshaa, while Lord Gareth Martinez commands a battleship in the Fleet task force waging a war of attrition on the enemy's economic heartland a la Sherman's “March to the Sea.”
I can't say much more about the plot without giving it away, but I can say the book wraps up the series with an ending that -- while not “happily ever after” -- was appropriate to the characters considering their previous actions.
Williams did all the things in Conventions of War that entertained me in the first two books -- military space opera without the technical jargon, conflicted characters I cared about, and “realistic” spaceships and space warfare. Don't get me wrong, I love laser battles and “warp drive” ships like any good sci-fi geek, but it was interesting to read about the challenges starship crews face with high-gravity accelerations and decelerations, along with the months it takes to simply go from one end of a single solar system to another.
If I had any criticism it would be the first two-thirds of the book felt like Williams was killing time before getting to the brutal fight for Zanshaa and the ultimate space battle with the Naxids. While Sula's guerrilla exploits against the Naxids were appropriate to the story (though a tad drawn out), the murder mystery Martinez had to solve seemed thrown in just to give him something to do until the final battle.
That said, I still enjoyed the book and the series overall. While not as entertaining as book two ( The Sundering ), it was a satisfying conclusion to one of the best space opera series I've ever read.
I can't say much more about the plot without giving it away, but I can say the book wraps up the series with an ending that -- while not “happily ever after” -- was appropriate to the characters considering their previous actions.
Williams did all the things in Conventions of War that entertained me in the first two books -- military space opera without the technical jargon, conflicted characters I cared about, and “realistic” spaceships and space warfare. Don't get me wrong, I love laser battles and “warp drive” ships like any good sci-fi geek, but it was interesting to read about the challenges starship crews face with high-gravity accelerations and decelerations, along with the months it takes to simply go from one end of a single solar system to another.
If I had any criticism it would be the first two-thirds of the book felt like Williams was killing time before getting to the brutal fight for Zanshaa and the ultimate space battle with the Naxids. While Sula's guerrilla exploits against the Naxids were appropriate to the story (though a tad drawn out), the murder mystery Martinez had to solve seemed thrown in just to give him something to do until the final battle.
That said, I still enjoyed the book and the series overall. While not as entertaining as book two ( The Sundering ), it was a satisfying conclusion to one of the best space opera series I've ever read.
July 17, 2016
The civil war continues in Conventions of War, and it sure felt like it could've come to a close a lot faster. This was one of those books at I feel could've been cut down by half, ad it would've benefited enormously. The whole murder-mystery bit on Martinez's ship was a colossal waste of pages for me. I do enjoy a good mystery, I even enjoy a good genre-blending mystery (see Leviathan Wakes or Something Coming Through for good examples) but I did not like how that element came out of nowhere in this book and took so much time to slog through. Ditto with the romance element with Sula and Casimir on Zanshaa, what was that about? Williams is clearly capable of writing a strong female character at doesn't have to fall in love with a man (Michi) so why add that unnecessary element to Sula? She actually became a very interesting character until the weird romance kicked off, and as soon as it happened, Casimir's fate was sealed. Oh well. I had to skim some portions of extensive descriptions again, but I have to say that in the end, I liked the overarching plot and the setting enough at the core of this story that I mostly enjoyed this book.
Not enough to recommend it though.
Not enough to recommend it though.
July 18, 2021
Conventions of War is a very good concluding volume for Williams' Dread Empire's Fall trilogy. It's a very, very long novel, and once again alternates viewpoints between doomed star-crossed lovers Caro Sula and Gareth Martinez. She stays behind on the capitol planet and leads guerrilla activities against the evil invading Naxid conquerors while he stays with the fleet and pursues the interstellar war relentlessly. At times both have to wonder whether the bigger enemy is the Naxids or their own tradition-bound leaders who are so opposed to any change or innovation. There's one thread of shipboard murder mystery that stretches perhaps a bit too long, but other than that it's a completely engrossing technicolor space opera, but with really well developed charters. After the battles have all been fought (both on the streets and in the spaceways) and the heroes rewarded (or not) and the villains vanquished (or not), the big question is finally answered on the very last page. I enjoyed it very much.
February 8, 2012
It took me almost three years to finish this series, but i'm glad I did.
On the surface this book seems like a typical science fantasy/space opera epic. Humans have left earth and colonized space and joined an empire comprised of many other races. But when the empire falls apart, humanity goes to war with its millions strong armed forces. But this story isn't about a struggle vs good and evil, instead it focuses on the surreal lives of the people in command and the absurd social situations they are in as hundreds of thousands of lives are lost around them.
Also it's quite funny.
On the surface this book seems like a typical science fantasy/space opera epic. Humans have left earth and colonized space and joined an empire comprised of many other races. But when the empire falls apart, humanity goes to war with its millions strong armed forces. But this story isn't about a struggle vs good and evil, instead it focuses on the surreal lives of the people in command and the absurd social situations they are in as hundreds of thousands of lives are lost around them.
Also it's quite funny.
February 1, 2023
I found it hard to ever really get excited by this series, since both sides of the conflict are equally horrible and unable to change, and even the main characters lack introspection. The action sequences are decent, but there is a lot of drag in between. And it is annoying that the author tries to be “realistic” by talking about orbits and speeds, but clearly has no understanding of orbital mechanics.
Whatever GRRM says Bujold and Weber are leagues better in each their way
Whatever GRRM says Bujold and Weber are leagues better in each their way
September 24, 2020
Half the book was almost irrelevant to the larger plot. Disappointing ending to the trilogy. Also too much romance. Even the ending is about that.
June 28, 2025
2.4 Stars.
Hmm. This book did not fulfil my expectations in any way. I'll give it a slightly less than 1/2 rating total stars rating because, in fairness, it was well written.
My two biggest gripes were 1) The long bloated nothingness that took place. The book, in my opinion, could have achieved the same effect with 50% less words. 2) The characters were dull as lead. Maybe I'm just spoiled having read Abercrombie lately, but my word I found myself not giving a rat's behind for either main character.
All in all, too much boring stuff, not enough exciting stuff in this series. Meh.
Hmm. This book did not fulfil my expectations in any way. I'll give it a slightly less than 1/2 rating total stars rating because, in fairness, it was well written.
My two biggest gripes were 1) The long bloated nothingness that took place. The book, in my opinion, could have achieved the same effect with 50% less words. 2) The characters were dull as lead. Maybe I'm just spoiled having read Abercrombie lately, but my word I found myself not giving a rat's behind for either main character.
All in all, too much boring stuff, not enough exciting stuff in this series. Meh.
June 23, 2020
Love this author, especially This is Not a Game and its sequel, and I loved this book too, even though I didn't realize it was the end (instead of the start) of a trilogy. The Lady Sula character was wonderful, the people in the secret army she raised were also wonderful (Casimir, PJ Ngeni, Spence, McNamara, Sergei, etc.) I was very upset when certain ones died during the final battle against the insectoid Naxids who had rebelled and tortured to death 200 of Lady Sula's loyalist friends. Sula's comments about Capt. Martinez, aboard a spaceship chasing Naxids, were such a contrast to his own thoughts about himself. Sula thought he was a scheming self absorbed man happy to step over the corpses of anyone who stood in his way of promotion. Martinez considered himself an honorable, courageous soldier. (Naturally, they had had a sexual relationship that didn't work out.) I wasn't crazy about the ending because of the involvement of Supreme Commander Lord Tork (aka stodgey old fogey aka f__t) who despised both Sula and Martinez.
October 1, 2018
This completes my re-read of the original Dread Empire's Fall trilogy. Good story about the disintegration (at least the beginning thereof) of an empire when the despotic power that holds it together disappears.
One thing I like about this series is that Williams doesn't posit any magical advanced technology. With the possible exception of wormholes for interstellar travel, everything is an extension of known science and technology -- no FTL drive or communication, no inertial compensators, no newly discovered energy sources. That means, to get around in star systems in any reasonable time, ships (and the people in them) have to endure extended periods of high-G acceleration. That of course applies to space combat too. (Power for all this comes from antimatter, for which practical handling technology has been developed.)
I look forward to more adventures of Lady Sula and Lord Martinez.
One thing I like about this series is that Williams doesn't posit any magical advanced technology. With the possible exception of wormholes for interstellar travel, everything is an extension of known science and technology -- no FTL drive or communication, no inertial compensators, no newly discovered energy sources. That means, to get around in star systems in any reasonable time, ships (and the people in them) have to endure extended periods of high-G acceleration. That of course applies to space combat too. (Power for all this comes from antimatter, for which practical handling technology has been developed.)
I look forward to more adventures of Lady Sula and Lord Martinez.
March 13, 2024
My god what a frustrating book. WJW thoroughly hooked me in book 1 with the excellent character development of Martinez and Sula, and that carried about halfway through book 2. I got worried in the middle of book 2 when the characters went their separate ways and my fears were confirmed in the end to the trilogy.
Conventions of War is basically 3 stories jammed together. Martinez and Sula's stories have diverged so completely that they feel like separate books. They have no interaction and their stories don't connect in any way until the last quarter of the book.
The Martinez story is pointless; while he manages to not be unlikable, his entire story consists of one of the most dull murder mysteries ever penned. It's page after tedious page of "then they searched this place...and found nothing". In between, it's an endless, tedious merry-go-round of meetings, exercises, and dinners. When the mystery FINALLY ends, the outcome is somewhat satisfying, but it ultimately has no impact on anything whatsoever. If it was removed entirely it would not change the story in any way. The sexual tension between him and Prasad is super annoying and in case it wasn't abundantly clear that our hero is a supreme alpha chad, even Michi Chen makes a pass at him. Come on, so unnecessary.
While I had kind of lost interest in Martinez in book 2, Sula continued to develop and be an amazing and bad ass character. Her story here is much more interesting than Martinez, but the problem is Williams tries to cram an entire war into half of a book and there is way too much going on-- it could have been a series in itself. As a result, her story ultimately ends up reading like a bulleted list of statistics: the naxids took 50 hostages, sula sent out 50,000 copies of the resistance newspaper, the naxids killed 100 hostages, sulas group bombed this thing, the naxids killed 500 hostages, etc. In theory these events should be interesting, but there are very few "boots on the ground" moments where the main characters are actually directly engaged in doing something so none of it has any impact whatsoever. Ok the naxids killed 500 nameless/faceless people and it has no tangible effect on the world. Who cares, it doesn't come across as an event but merely a statistic in a large sea of statistics.
The other thing that really drove me crazy (and this goes for both stories) is that for some reason Williams always seems to avoid real conflict or unexpected events. Any time the main characters are actually engaged in SOMETHING (a raid, ship battle), they either accomplish it flawlessly with no challenge or the enemy decides to retreat for no reason and they don't have to engage at all. There are a few scenes, like where Sula sends in the kamikaze trucks, that are absolutely ripe for something unexpected to happen where the characters face an unforeseen challenge- one of the main characters gets trapped, hurt, etc but no, the mission always goes according to plan / is accomplished easily and everyone is fine. And then 10 pages of meetings and eating dinner. So dull.
While Sula's story could have been ok, Williams completely ruins it (and by extension her character) with the absolutely godawful romance with Casimir. Despite the fact that he has built up Sula to be this extremely smart, driven character who has worked her ass off to climb out of the slums and make something of her life, for some reason he has her do a 180 and go right back to hanging in the slums and hooking up with a crime boss. The Casimir character is dull, with absolutely no development whatsoever (other than the fact he rocks a cheesy ass pimp fit...*groan*), yet within minutes of meeting him Sula is literally throwing herself at him. This romance is given 0 development whatsoever but after a few pages Sula has decided that she loves this dude which comes to a head in the absolutely egregious line spoken while she is in bed with him that "she finally feels like she is home". WHAT? After ALL the development and struggle of this character, her being "at home" is being back to square one in the slum hooking up with some lame linkboy? I swear to god I almost threw the book out the window upon reading that nonsense. Then to add insult to injury she tells Casimir that she wants to marry him and make him Lord Sula. G T F O. Well-written, highly developed characters are SO hard to find in Sci Fi and it kills me to finally get one and have their character arc ruined with this kind of shit.
Thankfully this book redeems itself in the final quarter or so. Casimir dies in the most dull and unceremonious way imaginable (Sula goes to visit him at the hospital and the nurse literally just says "oh he died" LOL.) which is horrible writing, but extremely fitting for the character and romance. After his death Sula (finally) comes to her senses and becomes a pretty good character again. The last part of the book is an epic space battle with Michi, Martinez and Sula all commanding fleets doing their thing and synergizing without being held back by the frustrating conservatism of Tork. It reminds me of what made me like this series in the first place.
After the battle we get a fairly long closing section. Things are wrapping up really nicely, Martinez and Sula are finally talking again and it's all coming together. Sula has some awesome plans about the future and everything seems cool. Then BOOM, in the last paragraph Williams proves he is the most cruel author in existence and gives Sula probably the shittiest ending I've ever come across which can be summed up as all her work and all her plans were for absolutely fucking nothing. No wonder GRRM praised this. Anyway, on the one hand it made me absolutely have to read the new trilogy because there is no way this is how it can end for Sula. On the other hand, if I had finished this and there was no next trilogy I would have set fire to this fucking book immediately.
Overall, the first 3/4 of this book is at best dull and at worst awful and drives the characters to become unlikable. The last quarter is quite good, but I'm extremely disappointed in the lack of resolution and how crappy things end for these characters after 3 books of constant struggle and hardship, it feels unnecessarily nihilistic. It reminds me of being young and watching the Gantz anime- which remorselessly brutalizes the characters and ends on a super dour note with no resolution. It wasn't until many years later I read the manga and got the rest of the story which actually managed to cut the characters a break and give them all satisfying endings. I just hope that the next trilogy is less frustrating (unlikely) and works out is a similar manner to Gantz. These characters have so much potential and I don't want to see it squandered.
Conventions of War is basically 3 stories jammed together. Martinez and Sula's stories have diverged so completely that they feel like separate books. They have no interaction and their stories don't connect in any way until the last quarter of the book.
The Martinez story is pointless; while he manages to not be unlikable, his entire story consists of one of the most dull murder mysteries ever penned. It's page after tedious page of "then they searched this place...and found nothing". In between, it's an endless, tedious merry-go-round of meetings, exercises, and dinners. When the mystery FINALLY ends, the outcome is somewhat satisfying, but it ultimately has no impact on anything whatsoever. If it was removed entirely it would not change the story in any way. The sexual tension between him and Prasad is super annoying and in case it wasn't abundantly clear that our hero is a supreme alpha chad, even Michi Chen makes a pass at him. Come on, so unnecessary.
While I had kind of lost interest in Martinez in book 2, Sula continued to develop and be an amazing and bad ass character. Her story here is much more interesting than Martinez, but the problem is Williams tries to cram an entire war into half of a book and there is way too much going on-- it could have been a series in itself. As a result, her story ultimately ends up reading like a bulleted list of statistics: the naxids took 50 hostages, sula sent out 50,000 copies of the resistance newspaper, the naxids killed 100 hostages, sulas group bombed this thing, the naxids killed 500 hostages, etc. In theory these events should be interesting, but there are very few "boots on the ground" moments where the main characters are actually directly engaged in doing something so none of it has any impact whatsoever. Ok the naxids killed 500 nameless/faceless people and it has no tangible effect on the world. Who cares, it doesn't come across as an event but merely a statistic in a large sea of statistics.
The other thing that really drove me crazy (and this goes for both stories) is that for some reason Williams always seems to avoid real conflict or unexpected events. Any time the main characters are actually engaged in SOMETHING (a raid, ship battle), they either accomplish it flawlessly with no challenge or the enemy decides to retreat for no reason and they don't have to engage at all. There are a few scenes, like where Sula sends in the kamikaze trucks, that are absolutely ripe for something unexpected to happen where the characters face an unforeseen challenge- one of the main characters gets trapped, hurt, etc but no, the mission always goes according to plan / is accomplished easily and everyone is fine. And then 10 pages of meetings and eating dinner. So dull.
While Sula's story could have been ok, Williams completely ruins it (and by extension her character) with the absolutely godawful romance with Casimir. Despite the fact that he has built up Sula to be this extremely smart, driven character who has worked her ass off to climb out of the slums and make something of her life, for some reason he has her do a 180 and go right back to hanging in the slums and hooking up with a crime boss. The Casimir character is dull, with absolutely no development whatsoever (other than the fact he rocks a cheesy ass pimp fit...*groan*), yet within minutes of meeting him Sula is literally throwing herself at him. This romance is given 0 development whatsoever but after a few pages Sula has decided that she loves this dude which comes to a head in the absolutely egregious line spoken while she is in bed with him that "she finally feels like she is home". WHAT? After ALL the development and struggle of this character, her being "at home" is being back to square one in the slum hooking up with some lame linkboy? I swear to god I almost threw the book out the window upon reading that nonsense. Then to add insult to injury she tells Casimir that she wants to marry him and make him Lord Sula. G T F O. Well-written, highly developed characters are SO hard to find in Sci Fi and it kills me to finally get one and have their character arc ruined with this kind of shit.
Thankfully this book redeems itself in the final quarter or so. Casimir dies in the most dull and unceremonious way imaginable (Sula goes to visit him at the hospital and the nurse literally just says "oh he died" LOL.) which is horrible writing, but extremely fitting for the character and romance. After his death Sula (finally) comes to her senses and becomes a pretty good character again. The last part of the book is an epic space battle with Michi, Martinez and Sula all commanding fleets doing their thing and synergizing without being held back by the frustrating conservatism of Tork. It reminds me of what made me like this series in the first place.
After the battle we get a fairly long closing section. Things are wrapping up really nicely, Martinez and Sula are finally talking again and it's all coming together. Sula has some awesome plans about the future and everything seems cool. Then BOOM, in the last paragraph Williams proves he is the most cruel author in existence and gives Sula probably the shittiest ending I've ever come across which can be summed up as all her work and all her plans were for absolutely fucking nothing. No wonder GRRM praised this. Anyway, on the one hand it made me absolutely have to read the new trilogy because there is no way this is how it can end for Sula. On the other hand, if I had finished this and there was no next trilogy I would have set fire to this fucking book immediately.
Overall, the first 3/4 of this book is at best dull and at worst awful and drives the characters to become unlikable. The last quarter is quite good, but I'm extremely disappointed in the lack of resolution and how crappy things end for these characters after 3 books of constant struggle and hardship, it feels unnecessarily nihilistic. It reminds me of being young and watching the Gantz anime- which remorselessly brutalizes the characters and ends on a super dour note with no resolution. It wasn't until many years later I read the manga and got the rest of the story which actually managed to cut the characters a break and give them all satisfying endings. I just hope that the next trilogy is less frustrating (unlikely) and works out is a similar manner to Gantz. These characters have so much potential and I don't want to see it squandered.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 22, 2024
Conventions of War is perhaps the most bizarre third volume of a trilogy I've ever read, because for the majority of its pages it doesn't even feel like that's what it is. By the time you start this book you've read almost a thousand pages about the war between the allied forces and the alien Naxids, and so this final part is where the climactic battle between the loyalists and the rebels will occur and the fate of the universe will be decided, right? Well, yes, eventually that's what this book is about, but before you get to any of that you have to read a couple hundred pages of protagonist Martinez investigating a murder mystery on his spaceship, and a couple hundred pages of protagonist Sula engaging in urban guerrilla warfare and espionage. Are these plot threads entirely superfluous and disconnected from the overarching war with the Naxids? No, they're strongly linked both plot-wise and thematically to the central conflicts of this Dread Empire's Fall trilogy, but they are very strange things for Walter Jon Williams to have dedicate so much of Conventions of War.
Even if the murder mystery and the guerrilla warfare pieces of the book were both enjoyable it would still be very weird for them to take up so much of this final volume of the trilogy, and the fact is that the murder mystery piece just isn’t very good. There’s not even an attempt on Williams’s part to make the mystery compelling, as you don’t ever get to know suspects and the investigation depicted is so slipshod that there are no clues for a reader to pick up on. At no point was I invested in discovering the outcome, and the solution basically just pops into Martinez’s head after a while so the resolution isn’t satisfying either.
It is well past the 2/3rds mark of this book that the aforementioned final battles become the focus of this volume, and even though this is the longest volume of the trilogy this doesn’t give Williams many pages to cover the climactic battles, the resolution, and . All of these elements of the story feel rushed at best, and lacking impact at worst. The space battles probably suffered the most, not just because they were rushed, but because (a) they mirror many of the previous battles such that they felt unoriginal and repetitive, (b) the Naxids being defeated was never really in doubt since only our heroes were using the new tactics, and (c) Williams didn’t strike me as a person willing to kill off his main characters so there was no tension about their survival either. These factors all came together to make these final volumes anticlimactic, even though their position in the story meant they should be the opposite.
The resolution also suffered just because it didn’t feel like much of one. Even if I didn’t know that Williams went on to write five more books in this universe set after Conventions of War I still would have thought that this book left too many loose ends dangling, too many resolutions gestured at but not concretely depicted. Sula, the most competent character, all but says that another war in the near future is inevitable, meaning that it is sure to come to pass even as the victory over the Naxids is still being celebrated.
The most interesting element of the finale is almost certainly
Now, having finished the final volume in this trilogy, it’s possible to render judgment on various elements of the work that were still incomplete at the end of prior volumes. Mostly I find these elements wanting. As already stated, Williams’s writing doesn’t hold up for 1,600 pages, particularly his writing of actions scenes (which are usually a highlight of his shorter works). Ultimately nothing of interest is done with the tension between those who want to stick with the old ways of the universe and those that want to innovate, the conflict sure to be revisited in the later books set in this same universe. If anything this first Dread Empire’s Fall trilogy is a half-measure, engaging with the intellectual idea of stagnation, but not grappling with the emotional side of what it would be like to serve in a military that had not seen battle in thousands of years only to then be thrust into real battle. Where are the thousands of PTSD cases, of psychotic breaks, of desertion? It’s fine that Williams chose not to explore this element of warfare, but there’s no other aspect of it that he did interestingly explore.
A couple other miscellaneous thoughts: Because of this being one long book split into three parts it necessitates Williams reintroducing characters and backstory, and he doesn’t have a deft touch when it comes to reintroductions. The idea that Martinez has some preternatural luck that justifies why he’s always at the center of important events could have been mildly interesting if explored, but as it stands it’s just a lazy way to justify a trope that is so common in space operas that it would have been better for Williams to leave unremarked upon. Similarly, the theme of complacency and stagnation work to make pretty much everything in the book excusable, since characters behaving dumbly is thus justified and strains suspension of disbelief less than it would otherwise. On the whole, I think this justification is on balance more clever than it is lazy, making it more forgivable than Martinez’s luck.
A strong first volume led me to complete this space opera trilogy, and, while little of the promise of that first volume is realized, I don’t regret finishing the first Dread Empire’s Fall trilogy since it’s so interesting to analyze. Much of that interesting analysis stems from the trilogy’s failings and Willis’s bizarre choices, but it’s interesting nonetheless. However, the failings and strangeness of the books are why I’d hesitate to recommend them to anyone, even to people who usually enjoy space operas. Both this volume and this series get a 3/5 from me, but I’m not sure how many people would find the same enjoyment in them that I did.
Even if the murder mystery and the guerrilla warfare pieces of the book were both enjoyable it would still be very weird for them to take up so much of this final volume of the trilogy, and the fact is that the murder mystery piece just isn’t very good. There’s not even an attempt on Williams’s part to make the mystery compelling, as you don’t ever get to know suspects and the investigation depicted is so slipshod that there are no clues for a reader to pick up on. At no point was I invested in discovering the outcome, and the solution basically just pops into Martinez’s head after a while so the resolution isn’t satisfying either.
It is well past the 2/3rds mark of this book that the aforementioned final battles become the focus of this volume, and even though this is the longest volume of the trilogy this doesn’t give Williams many pages to cover the climactic battles, the resolution, and . All of these elements of the story feel rushed at best, and lacking impact at worst. The space battles probably suffered the most, not just because they were rushed, but because (a) they mirror many of the previous battles such that they felt unoriginal and repetitive, (b) the Naxids being defeated was never really in doubt since only our heroes were using the new tactics, and (c) Williams didn’t strike me as a person willing to kill off his main characters so there was no tension about their survival either. These factors all came together to make these final volumes anticlimactic, even though their position in the story meant they should be the opposite.
The resolution also suffered just because it didn’t feel like much of one. Even if I didn’t know that Williams went on to write five more books in this universe set after Conventions of War I still would have thought that this book left too many loose ends dangling, too many resolutions gestured at but not concretely depicted. Sula, the most competent character, all but says that another war in the near future is inevitable, meaning that it is sure to come to pass even as the victory over the Naxids is still being celebrated.
The most interesting element of the finale is almost certainly
Now, having finished the final volume in this trilogy, it’s possible to render judgment on various elements of the work that were still incomplete at the end of prior volumes. Mostly I find these elements wanting. As already stated, Williams’s writing doesn’t hold up for 1,600 pages, particularly his writing of actions scenes (which are usually a highlight of his shorter works). Ultimately nothing of interest is done with the tension between those who want to stick with the old ways of the universe and those that want to innovate, the conflict sure to be revisited in the later books set in this same universe. If anything this first Dread Empire’s Fall trilogy is a half-measure, engaging with the intellectual idea of stagnation, but not grappling with the emotional side of what it would be like to serve in a military that had not seen battle in thousands of years only to then be thrust into real battle. Where are the thousands of PTSD cases, of psychotic breaks, of desertion? It’s fine that Williams chose not to explore this element of warfare, but there’s no other aspect of it that he did interestingly explore.
A couple other miscellaneous thoughts: Because of this being one long book split into three parts it necessitates Williams reintroducing characters and backstory, and he doesn’t have a deft touch when it comes to reintroductions. The idea that Martinez has some preternatural luck that justifies why he’s always at the center of important events could have been mildly interesting if explored, but as it stands it’s just a lazy way to justify a trope that is so common in space operas that it would have been better for Williams to leave unremarked upon. Similarly, the theme of complacency and stagnation work to make pretty much everything in the book excusable, since characters behaving dumbly is thus justified and strains suspension of disbelief less than it would otherwise. On the whole, I think this justification is on balance more clever than it is lazy, making it more forgivable than Martinez’s luck.
A strong first volume led me to complete this space opera trilogy, and, while little of the promise of that first volume is realized, I don’t regret finishing the first Dread Empire’s Fall trilogy since it’s so interesting to analyze. Much of that interesting analysis stems from the trilogy’s failings and Willis’s bizarre choices, but it’s interesting nonetheless. However, the failings and strangeness of the books are why I’d hesitate to recommend them to anyone, even to people who usually enjoy space operas. Both this volume and this series get a 3/5 from me, but I’m not sure how many people would find the same enjoyment in them that I did.
August 26, 2014
The final book in the Praxis series. I call it the Praxis series because all three books wrestle with the idea of final knowledge. The Praxis teaches that everything important is known and that intelligent species can take comfort in that fact instead of believing in the unknown. This book deals with not only the spiritual side of this ideology but also the logical side of it. It explains the former without getting preachy and outright invalidates the latter.
Even though the book's ending isn't 100% happy ending it was satisfying and real.
This book in the series is the best one by far. It's like reading 4 books in one as four completely distinct narratives come to fruition throughout the pages. Not only that, but the emotions of the characters burst from the pages at every turn. There was nothing I wanted more than to just find out what happens next. Even for the two lampshaded "luckiest people in the universe" the road was harrowing and impassioned. While the first two books are excellent in their own right, this one by far surpasses them in both quality and quantity.
Even though the book's ending isn't 100% happy ending it was satisfying and real.
This book in the series is the best one by far. It's like reading 4 books in one as four completely distinct narratives come to fruition throughout the pages. Not only that, but the emotions of the characters burst from the pages at every turn. There was nothing I wanted more than to just find out what happens next. Even for the two lampshaded "luckiest people in the universe" the road was harrowing and impassioned. While the first two books are excellent in their own right, this one by far surpasses them in both quality and quantity.
June 14, 2010
I've been thinking a lot about what makes this series more successful than Implied Spaces, and eventually realized that you can tell the two heroes and one other character are smart, because nobody else in the whole 3 books ever has a bright or novel idea. I realize it's a stagnant society, but that seems extreme.
June 18, 2012
Another great book in the series. It wasn't quite as enjoyable as the first two in the series, I thought, as the relationship between Martinez and Sula has changed quite a bit, but over all a very enjoyable read. I'm hoping for more in this series!
January 13, 2013
I'm letting this stand as my review of the series: the first two were great, and the last was good, except that the characters made decisions that caused me to hate them. By the end of the book, I wanted most of the characters to be miserable because I didn't like them anymore...
September 5, 2009
Long live the Praxis! I WANT MORE!!!
October 15, 2014
No real tension. I never felt like I got to understand the Shaa or Praxis enough. I knew our "heroes" would win battles and didn't really care one way or the other.
January 22, 2015
The weakest of the trilogy and the ending just wasnt good. A disappointing end to an entertaining series.
March 14, 2021
O vibrante na space opera militarista é, como não poderia deixar de ser, a descrição das operações militares, as táticas, estratégias e momentos de combate férreo. Walter Jon Williams não desilude, e é brilhante na forma como explora as convenções do género. As batalhas espaciais deste livro (e somos mimados com três) mantém-nos agarrados páginas a fio, numa leitura imparável. Mas um livro não é feito apenas disto. Tem de haver um mundo ficcional coerente, e personagens com que o leitor se identifique.
Nisto, o autor também segue bem a cartilha, adensando cada vez mais este mundo ficcional fraturado. Boa parte do livro mergulha-nos nas tortuosas relações de poder de um império que se encontra numa curiosa guerra civil, entre conservadores e ultra-conservadores. Talvez aquilo que mais salta à minha leitura seja o estranhar de não ter sido seguido um outro caminho. Williams cria uma sociedade profundamente conservadora, clientelista, e corrupta nos seus escalões de topo. Uma corrupção que é tida como natural, como uma tradição. Seriam bons ingredientes de uma narrativa clássica em que uma sociedade corrupta se desmorona, mas não. O caminho seguido é o do reforçar do poder das elites clássicas, mesmo recorrendo a óbvios combatentes livres.
Algures durante o livro, numa parte onde somos levados à organização e condução de uma guerra terrestre contra os ocupantes da capital imperial, uma das personagens principais mostra-nos essa óbvia conclusão, ao mobilizar civis e criminosos para lutar pela restauração de uma tirania que tinha apenas a vantagem de ser um pouco mais inepta do que a tirania dos invasores. Talvez esteja aqui a chave para a continuidade da série, a óbvia derrocada de um império cujos governantes de mão de ferro se extinguiram, e o deixaram nas mãos de tradicionalistas ligados a clientelas, cujos jogos de interesse vão inevitavelmente gerar conflitos. Especialmente se for levado em conta que o império reúne diferentes espécies alienígenas, normalizadas e integradas numa sociedade comum após a sua conquista pelos fundadores do império.
No campo dos personagens, todo o livro é atravessado por uma história tortuosa de amor entre as duas principais personagens. Martinez pertence a um clã poderoso, mas de segunda linha, cujo líder se desdobra em esforços e jogadas para chegar às principais esferas de poder. Mas Martinez prefere a vida de oficial militar, e é excelente nisso, por ter a capacidade de pensar fora dos limites de um pensamento militar fossilizado nas tradições de uma frota estelar que, apesar de poderosa, foi durante séculos meramente cerimonial.
Sula é a herdeira de um clã caído em desgraça, é implacável na forma como, a pulso, constrói o seu percurso. Tão implacável que, na verdade, não é quem diz ser. Na adolescência, assassinou e roubou a identidade da legítima herdeira do clã, que dissipava a sua vida em overdoses constantes de drogas. Com isso, fugiu ao destino de ser brinquedo sexual dos pequenos criminosos de vida curta que sobrevivem nas fímbrias da sociedade imperial (uma excelente forma do autor mostrar que o mundo perfeito das esferas sociais na verdade assenta sobre opressão e pobreza). Apesar deste passado secreto, revela-se uma estratega de primeira, tão capaz de vencer esquadrões de combate inimigos em batalhas no espaço como de organizar uma insurreição que, contra todas as expectativas, derrota os invasores antes do regresso das forças imperiais.
Para além da tensão amorosa, complicada pela história de vida de Sula e os jogos políticos e económicos do clã de Martinez (sem querer muitos spoilers, digamos que pelo meio há abandonos, casamentos com outros clãs, e uma tensão amorosa que nem no final será resolvida), há outro tipo de tensões em jogo. Williams toca muito na tecla da tradição versus inovação. São os inovadores que conseguem salvar o império e derrotar os seus inimigos, e, no entanto, são sempre preteridos perante os tradicionalistas. Isto é particularmente óbvio no lado militar, onde as táticas clássicas apenas conseguem levar a pesadas derrotas e ao desperdício de homens e meios. Os que inovam salvam, literalmente, a pele aos tradicionalistas, mas são estes os que têm a primazia.
Tensões sociais e excelentes descrições de combate militar, contra um pano de fundo vasto, tornam estes livros uma excelente série de space opera militarista. Com o toque discreto mas corrosivo de todo o drama se desenrolar para manter viva uma sociedade obviamente corrupta. Vamos ver o que os próximos livros nos trarão.
Nisto, o autor também segue bem a cartilha, adensando cada vez mais este mundo ficcional fraturado. Boa parte do livro mergulha-nos nas tortuosas relações de poder de um império que se encontra numa curiosa guerra civil, entre conservadores e ultra-conservadores. Talvez aquilo que mais salta à minha leitura seja o estranhar de não ter sido seguido um outro caminho. Williams cria uma sociedade profundamente conservadora, clientelista, e corrupta nos seus escalões de topo. Uma corrupção que é tida como natural, como uma tradição. Seriam bons ingredientes de uma narrativa clássica em que uma sociedade corrupta se desmorona, mas não. O caminho seguido é o do reforçar do poder das elites clássicas, mesmo recorrendo a óbvios combatentes livres.
Algures durante o livro, numa parte onde somos levados à organização e condução de uma guerra terrestre contra os ocupantes da capital imperial, uma das personagens principais mostra-nos essa óbvia conclusão, ao mobilizar civis e criminosos para lutar pela restauração de uma tirania que tinha apenas a vantagem de ser um pouco mais inepta do que a tirania dos invasores. Talvez esteja aqui a chave para a continuidade da série, a óbvia derrocada de um império cujos governantes de mão de ferro se extinguiram, e o deixaram nas mãos de tradicionalistas ligados a clientelas, cujos jogos de interesse vão inevitavelmente gerar conflitos. Especialmente se for levado em conta que o império reúne diferentes espécies alienígenas, normalizadas e integradas numa sociedade comum após a sua conquista pelos fundadores do império.
No campo dos personagens, todo o livro é atravessado por uma história tortuosa de amor entre as duas principais personagens. Martinez pertence a um clã poderoso, mas de segunda linha, cujo líder se desdobra em esforços e jogadas para chegar às principais esferas de poder. Mas Martinez prefere a vida de oficial militar, e é excelente nisso, por ter a capacidade de pensar fora dos limites de um pensamento militar fossilizado nas tradições de uma frota estelar que, apesar de poderosa, foi durante séculos meramente cerimonial.
Sula é a herdeira de um clã caído em desgraça, é implacável na forma como, a pulso, constrói o seu percurso. Tão implacável que, na verdade, não é quem diz ser. Na adolescência, assassinou e roubou a identidade da legítima herdeira do clã, que dissipava a sua vida em overdoses constantes de drogas. Com isso, fugiu ao destino de ser brinquedo sexual dos pequenos criminosos de vida curta que sobrevivem nas fímbrias da sociedade imperial (uma excelente forma do autor mostrar que o mundo perfeito das esferas sociais na verdade assenta sobre opressão e pobreza). Apesar deste passado secreto, revela-se uma estratega de primeira, tão capaz de vencer esquadrões de combate inimigos em batalhas no espaço como de organizar uma insurreição que, contra todas as expectativas, derrota os invasores antes do regresso das forças imperiais.
Para além da tensão amorosa, complicada pela história de vida de Sula e os jogos políticos e económicos do clã de Martinez (sem querer muitos spoilers, digamos que pelo meio há abandonos, casamentos com outros clãs, e uma tensão amorosa que nem no final será resolvida), há outro tipo de tensões em jogo. Williams toca muito na tecla da tradição versus inovação. São os inovadores que conseguem salvar o império e derrotar os seus inimigos, e, no entanto, são sempre preteridos perante os tradicionalistas. Isto é particularmente óbvio no lado militar, onde as táticas clássicas apenas conseguem levar a pesadas derrotas e ao desperdício de homens e meios. Os que inovam salvam, literalmente, a pele aos tradicionalistas, mas são estes os que têm a primazia.
Tensões sociais e excelentes descrições de combate militar, contra um pano de fundo vasto, tornam estes livros uma excelente série de space opera militarista. Com o toque discreto mas corrosivo de todo o drama se desenrolar para manter viva uma sociedade obviamente corrupta. Vamos ver o que os próximos livros nos trarão.
July 14, 2019
This is the best of the first three in the series. However, once again, the melodramatic description of the book used in its marketing is not entirely accurate.
This is an Age of Sail story set in the far future of space, although there is nothing particularly innovative about the science and weapons used by the various races. While the first two books contained a great deal of social commentary and aristocratic politics, this book focuses a little more on fighting the war. I thought we would get away from the author's inclusion of romance novel material, but it started to show up again about half way through. Too bad.
Martinez is back in the fleet and is a squadron tactical officer. Later he must be reassigned to replace a murdered ship's captain. The investigation of the murder is an interesting departure from what one normally finds in age of sail type novels. The tension continues between using old tactics which rely on brute strength and attrition vs. new tactics which rely on innovative maneuvering and flexibility.
Sula volunteers to be part of the guerrilla force which will remain behind when the empire's leadrship flee for their lives. The guerrillas are so ill-prepared they are mostly killed or captured. Sula is the sole remaining officer and finds herself having to take control of the guerrillas and recruit an underground to effectively carry out her mission. She finds it necessary to consort with elements of society that the peerage would never stoop to work with. The author uses this to point out the hypocrisy of the empire and its leadership which employ the same kinds of tactics, but make them legal for themselves.
Both of the main characters continue to be rewarded for their actions, and penalized because, since they are from less desirable elements of the aristocracy, it doesn't do for them to outshine their betters. Fortunately, in the wartime conditions the empire finds itself, there are leaders who value competence. However, the supreme leadership is firmly against them.
The two main characters are emotionally immature and seem spoiled. Professionally they behave mature, but in their personal relationships they are more like 13 year-olds.
All in all a pleasant easy diversion, but not something to go out of your way to read.
This is an Age of Sail story set in the far future of space, although there is nothing particularly innovative about the science and weapons used by the various races. While the first two books contained a great deal of social commentary and aristocratic politics, this book focuses a little more on fighting the war. I thought we would get away from the author's inclusion of romance novel material, but it started to show up again about half way through. Too bad.
Martinez is back in the fleet and is a squadron tactical officer. Later he must be reassigned to replace a murdered ship's captain. The investigation of the murder is an interesting departure from what one normally finds in age of sail type novels. The tension continues between using old tactics which rely on brute strength and attrition vs. new tactics which rely on innovative maneuvering and flexibility.
Sula volunteers to be part of the guerrilla force which will remain behind when the empire's leadrship flee for their lives. The guerrillas are so ill-prepared they are mostly killed or captured. Sula is the sole remaining officer and finds herself having to take control of the guerrillas and recruit an underground to effectively carry out her mission. She finds it necessary to consort with elements of society that the peerage would never stoop to work with. The author uses this to point out the hypocrisy of the empire and its leadership which employ the same kinds of tactics, but make them legal for themselves.
Both of the main characters continue to be rewarded for their actions, and penalized because, since they are from less desirable elements of the aristocracy, it doesn't do for them to outshine their betters. Fortunately, in the wartime conditions the empire finds itself, there are leaders who value competence. However, the supreme leadership is firmly against them.
The two main characters are emotionally immature and seem spoiled. Professionally they behave mature, but in their personal relationships they are more like 13 year-olds.
All in all a pleasant easy diversion, but not something to go out of your way to read.
October 5, 2023
We have to judge this against what it's trying to be. It's stock space opera, 20xx pulp fiction. Readers have well-defined expectations.
WJW is experienced and comfortable, and the conventions are standard for space opera. Specifically, space battles that are fought as if they were all on horses except for the occasional acceleration or swing around a planet mid-battle. Huge ships go head-to-head are are regularly blown up, killing thousands and destroying a billion-dollar ship. Or maybe it isn't because it seems to take just a couple of days to make another. Every ship carries planet-buster missiles (war is hell, eh?)
This type of SF absolutely relies on a post-scarcity economy with infinite resources.
Also, in stock space opera, the Hero Captains make ALL the decisions themselves, of course, and here we have TWO hero captains, both of whom are free to have sex with anyone they like including their direct reports. But what I will remember here is the use of the Martinez Method or whatever, where Lord Tork uses Spanish Armada tactics in a world with wormholes and all, while our heroes are using the hull of a chaotic dynamic system (ooh! ahh! is that like a chronosynclastic infundibulum?). Not sure how a mathematical system can have a hull, but OK.
There are thousands of ships, all with trained captains and strategists, but they are all idiots except two who just happen to know each other. Tork has made it to Admiral level with logistics as his only skill. Yet Martinez and Sula could no doubt be galaxy-class cellists or invent a new stardrive, should they so choose. I'll bet one of them could organize a revolution from scratch. Oh, wait, one did.
Reader, you and I both know *we* are that smart too, and surrounded by idiots like M& S.
Martinez and Sula are both so caring for their crew, but each would happily have flicked away Tirza. I wouldn't trust either of them with anything I valued. Hey, it's OK for authors to create such characters. They have become jerks because of the environment they live and work in.
But I've had enough of ultra-capable heroes with dense superiors, and repetitive space dogfights.
I want new ideas, new directions, and there are LOTS of people writing them now - authors who weren't getting published in 2005.
WJW is experienced and comfortable, and the conventions are standard for space opera. Specifically, space battles that are fought as if they were all on horses except for the occasional acceleration or swing around a planet mid-battle. Huge ships go head-to-head are are regularly blown up, killing thousands and destroying a billion-dollar ship. Or maybe it isn't because it seems to take just a couple of days to make another. Every ship carries planet-buster missiles (war is hell, eh?)
This type of SF absolutely relies on a post-scarcity economy with infinite resources.
Also, in stock space opera, the Hero Captains make ALL the decisions themselves, of course, and here we have TWO hero captains, both of whom are free to have sex with anyone they like including their direct reports. But what I will remember here is the use of the Martinez Method or whatever, where Lord Tork uses Spanish Armada tactics in a world with wormholes and all, while our heroes are using the hull of a chaotic dynamic system (ooh! ahh! is that like a chronosynclastic infundibulum?). Not sure how a mathematical system can have a hull, but OK.
There are thousands of ships, all with trained captains and strategists, but they are all idiots except two who just happen to know each other. Tork has made it to Admiral level with logistics as his only skill. Yet Martinez and Sula could no doubt be galaxy-class cellists or invent a new stardrive, should they so choose. I'll bet one of them could organize a revolution from scratch. Oh, wait, one did.
Reader, you and I both know *we* are that smart too, and surrounded by idiots like M& S.
Martinez and Sula are both so caring for their crew, but each would happily have flicked away Tirza. I wouldn't trust either of them with anything I valued. Hey, it's OK for authors to create such characters. They have become jerks because of the environment they live and work in.
But I've had enough of ultra-capable heroes with dense superiors, and repetitive space dogfights.
I want new ideas, new directions, and there are LOTS of people writing them now - authors who weren't getting published in 2005.
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