Helpful Score: 4
Pretty decent book (a little on the formula side, but that ok for light reading) until the last 100 or so pages...one of the strangest endings I have ever read...complete turnaround in genre...
Helpful Score: 2
If you REALLY enjoy detailed descriptions of military hardware, then you will probably like this book. Every weapon AND its amunition powers are a majority of the book. So just not my cup of tea. Also the Aliens were just not very alien. Just so im not giving anything away.
Steven C. (SteveTheDM) -
Helpful Score: 2
So let me start off by telling you not to worry about reviews of this book that include spoilers. I won't spoil here, but I will say that Weber ended this book with one of the most blatant deus ex machina ploys I've ever read. And --- because I knew it was coming --- it really didn't bother me.
So, read the other reviews here that contain spoilers. Those spoilers don't detract from the story at all, and instead actually provide a kind of incentive to *keep* reading, as you wonder when this thing that everyone complains about is going to happen.
But to the book. This one is another of Weber's military science fiction novels, this time with aliens coming to devastate the earth, and human beings essentially becoming guerrilla fighters to drive them away. I *love* Weber's military books, and this one gives him a setting that's truly different than the other books he's written so it really feels fresh.
His aliens are plausible---powerful, but not so much that any fighting is unlikely, and he portrays them with a mind-set distinctly non-human. (And part of the fun of this book is how much humans are non-alien.)
I really enjoyed this one, even though the ending was such an unfair twist.
4 of 5 stars.
So, read the other reviews here that contain spoilers. Those spoilers don't detract from the story at all, and instead actually provide a kind of incentive to *keep* reading, as you wonder when this thing that everyone complains about is going to happen.
But to the book. This one is another of Weber's military science fiction novels, this time with aliens coming to devastate the earth, and human beings essentially becoming guerrilla fighters to drive them away. I *love* Weber's military books, and this one gives him a setting that's truly different than the other books he's written so it really feels fresh.
His aliens are plausible---powerful, but not so much that any fighting is unlikely, and he portrays them with a mind-set distinctly non-human. (And part of the fun of this book is how much humans are non-alien.)
I really enjoyed this one, even though the ending was such an unfair twist.
4 of 5 stars.
Helpful Score: 2
I really enjoyed 90% of this book very much. I was, however very disappointed in the ending. Since I don't want to give it away for those who may read be book in the future, just suffice it to say that the story went from a rollicking good tale to a silly and sadly unsatisfying ending. If you have enjoyed Weber's previous books then I would still recommend this one, but don't expect to be satisfied with the ending - unless you are in the 8th grade.
