Status
Available
Call number
Series
Collection
Publication
New York : Tor, 2010.
Description
Fiction. Science Fiction. HTML: The latest novel in the New York Times-bestselling series begun with Off Armageddon Reef, By Schism Rent Asunder, and By Heresies Distressed. Young Cayleb Ahrmahk has accomplished things few people could even dream of. Not yet even thirty years old, he's won the most crushing naval victories in human history. He's smashed a hostile alliance of no less than five princedoms and won the hand of the beautiful young Queen Sharleyan of Chisholm. Cayleb and Sharleyan have created the Charisian Empire, the greatest naval power in the history of Safehold, and they've turned Charis into a place of refuge for all who treasure freedom. Their success may prove short-lived. The Church of God Awaiting, which controls most of Safehold, has decreed their destruction. Mother Church's entire purpose is to prevent the very things to which Charis is committed. Since the first attempt to crush the heretics failed, the Church has no choice but to adopt some of the hated Charisian innovations for themselves. Soon a mighty fleet will sail against Cayleb, destroying everything in its path. But there are still matters about which the Church knows nothing, including Cayleb and Sharleyan's adviser, friend, and guardian- the mystic warrior-monk named Merlin Athrawes. Merlin knows all about battles against impossible odds, because he is in fact the cybernetic avatar of a young woman named Nimue Alban, who died a thousand years before. As Nimue, Merlin saw the entire Terran Federation go down in fire and slaughter at the hands of a foe it could not defeat. He knows that Safehold is the last human planet in existence, and that the stasis the Church was created to enforce will be the human race's death sentence if it is allowed to stand. The juggernaut is rumbling down on Charis, but Merlin Athrawes and a handful of extraordinary human beings stand in its path. The Church is about to discover just how potent the power of human freedom truly is, in David Weber's A Mighty Fortress. Safehold Series 1. Off Armageddon Reef 2. By Schism Rent Asunder 3. By Heresies Distressed 4. A Mighty Fortress 5. How Firm A Foundation 6. Midst Toil and Tribulation 7. Like A Mighty Army 8. Hell's Foundations Quiver 9. At the Sign of Triumph.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
Sheesh. Both the politics and the battles get more than a little complicated here - I stopped reading for a while because I couldn't keep one major battle straight. Eight ships, identified by name and captain's name - and with the weird spelling if the names, I kind of skim over them, so I couldn't
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tell them apart by captain's names - POV jumping between them every other paragraph, matters getting more and more chaotic as the battle went on...bah. I'm pretty sure that Weber lost track at one point and had a ship firing the wrong broadside - but I couldn't find the spot again to check. I know, more or less, how it ended, but it was an entire chapter with my brain glazing over. The agitators in Chisholm did much the same, though less concentrated, on the political side. And quite a few gory deaths, in various settings. The Church politics were, if anything, worse, and more gory. Some interesting new characters, but...overall, not very satisfying. I suppose I'll read the next one - I'll probably read the whole series, once. But unlike Honor, I doubt I'll reread. I had to reread the middle two because I hadn't reviewed them and I couldn't remember what had happened - I won't have to do that again, though. Show Less
LibraryThing member Janientrelac
i enjoyed the parts I read, skipped most of the battles and a lot of the technical development. The society is engrossing, the people are appealing, except the bad guys are a little to bad and the good guys are to good.
LibraryThing member sapience14
I've been putting off writing my review of David Weber's latest Safehold book, A Mighty Fortress, because while I enjoyed the book whenever I was reading it, it took me forever. When I take a long time to get through a book, it means one of two things: either there's too much for me to process to
Of the four books in the series so far, this lack of narrative drive characterizes three of them. The only book so far that really grabbed me was the second one, By Schism Rent Asunder (which I reviewed here). But where I could appreciate it in the first one because I wasn't expecting more, and I felt the action in the third book (By Heresies Distressed, reviewed here) was predictable but necessary, this book felt a bit like filler. It could have been condensed, and it wouldn't have hurt Weber to jump the action ahead a bit more than he did.*
I was disappointed that Irys (who I mentioned in my last review that I was hoping to see more of) was almost non-existant in the book. We did get a better look at another major female character, Ahnzehlyk, who is seriously kick-ass and I hope we see more of her. (Three other negative observations about characters: first, I am getting annoyed with the weird spellings of names; second, I'm disappointed that there are still only three major female characters, none of whom have much to do in this book; and third, any book that has a 22-page listing of characters really has too many of them.)
Two things I really did like about this book: First, that the aspect of Weber's writing that usually annoys me the most--his loving attention to the villains' point of view--was at a minimum. Even when we were among the Group of Four (the series' bad guys), we were in the head of the one guy who seems to have realized exactly how screwed up things are, and is working to figure out how to work against it as best he can without doing anything that will get him killed by the others. Second, Weber took on the question of the trans-gendered Merlin/Nimue a bit more directly in relationship to sexuality. Nimue was a heterosexual woman; Merlin is a heterosexual man, and there's a great section where Merlin/Nimue is trying to figure out what the significance of that means. He/She doesn't come up with any good answers, which is, intellectually, actually a lot more satisfying.
There were some other really nice subtleties in this book, but for the most part, I wasn't as impressed as by the others in the series. Not disappointed enough to stop reading--I still enjoyed it--but I'm hoping the next book in the series will be a little bit more driven.
*I wonder if this is a problem with certain types of series, especially those that imitate histories. Some sci-fi or fantasy series are built out of individual stories that build on one another: each book stands on its own so long as you have read the previous ones. Internally, these books might have little or no time between them, or they might have years between them, and it doesn't really matter because each book contains its own, full story. To stick with Weber's books, the Honor Harrington books are like this, at least at first, though less so in the latest volumes. Other series, like his March Upcountry series, are really one story broken into multiple volumes. The books in the middle tend to end on cliff-hangers, but there's a clear endpoint in sight (and even these can feel like complete stories in and of themselves). Other series, like the Safehold series, are more interested in laying out the details of what is happening, rather than in reaching the end point. Rather like histories. That's not to say the readers don't want to reach an endpoint--see, for example, the anger over George R.R. Martin's delays on the next book in his Fire and Ice series. At least we can count on Weber to turn his books out with more regularity.
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read quickly (and "too much" can either be intellectual or emotional, or both), or there just isn't enough narrative drive to the story. In the case of A Mighty Fortress, the latter was clearly the case. Sometimes that's not a bad thing, but I was hoping for more from this one.Of the four books in the series so far, this lack of narrative drive characterizes three of them. The only book so far that really grabbed me was the second one, By Schism Rent Asunder (which I reviewed here). But where I could appreciate it in the first one because I wasn't expecting more, and I felt the action in the third book (By Heresies Distressed, reviewed here) was predictable but necessary, this book felt a bit like filler. It could have been condensed, and it wouldn't have hurt Weber to jump the action ahead a bit more than he did.*
I was disappointed that Irys (who I mentioned in my last review that I was hoping to see more of) was almost non-existant in the book. We did get a better look at another major female character, Ahnzehlyk, who is seriously kick-ass and I hope we see more of her. (Three other negative observations about characters: first, I am getting annoyed with the weird spellings of names; second, I'm disappointed that there are still only three major female characters, none of whom have much to do in this book; and third, any book that has a 22-page listing of characters really has too many of them.)
Two things I really did like about this book: First, that the aspect of Weber's writing that usually annoys me the most--his loving attention to the villains' point of view--was at a minimum. Even when we were among the Group of Four (the series' bad guys), we were in the head of the one guy who seems to have realized exactly how screwed up things are, and is working to figure out how to work against it as best he can without doing anything that will get him killed by the others. Second, Weber took on the question of the trans-gendered Merlin/Nimue a bit more directly in relationship to sexuality. Nimue was a heterosexual woman; Merlin is a heterosexual man, and there's a great section where Merlin/Nimue is trying to figure out what the significance of that means. He/She doesn't come up with any good answers, which is, intellectually, actually a lot more satisfying.
There were some other really nice subtleties in this book, but for the most part, I wasn't as impressed as by the others in the series. Not disappointed enough to stop reading--I still enjoyed it--but I'm hoping the next book in the series will be a little bit more driven.
*I wonder if this is a problem with certain types of series, especially those that imitate histories. Some sci-fi or fantasy series are built out of individual stories that build on one another: each book stands on its own so long as you have read the previous ones. Internally, these books might have little or no time between them, or they might have years between them, and it doesn't really matter because each book contains its own, full story. To stick with Weber's books, the Honor Harrington books are like this, at least at first, though less so in the latest volumes. Other series, like his March Upcountry series, are really one story broken into multiple volumes. The books in the middle tend to end on cliff-hangers, but there's a clear endpoint in sight (and even these can feel like complete stories in and of themselves). Other series, like the Safehold series, are more interested in laying out the details of what is happening, rather than in reaching the end point. Rather like histories. That's not to say the readers don't want to reach an endpoint--see, for example, the anger over George R.R. Martin's delays on the next book in his Fire and Ice series. At least we can count on Weber to turn his books out with more regularity.
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LibraryThing member LJT
This was the end of the series for me. All of the books in the story of Safehold are severely in need of paring down as the verbosity gets in the way of the story but until now I was wiling to slog through them. No more. It was dreadfully boring. I started skipping, then skipped some more...and
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then just skipped to the end.... Show Less
LibraryThing member readinggeek451
Another good entry in Weber's Safehold series. The Group of Four is getting even more brutal, and cracks are starting to show. I wish I thought that meant this might actually come to a conclusion sometime, but Weber's history doesn't suggest it. The names are still annoying.
People who liked the
People who liked the
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earlier books will like this one, too. But begin at the beginning, not here. Show Less
LibraryThing member Isamoor
Aug11:
Despite being a huge book, it just didn't feel like that much truly happened. And yet, I still enjoyed reading all the pages. It's more about the journey than the specific events if that makes any sense.
I actually don't see how this is going to move beyond the middle ages much anytime soon,
Despite being a huge book, it just didn't feel like that much truly happened. And yet, I still enjoyed reading all the pages. It's more about the journey than the specific events if that makes any sense.
I actually don't see how this is going to move beyond the middle ages much anytime soon,
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but I think I'm okay with that really. Show Less
LibraryThing member seekingflight
This fourth book in the Safehold series seemed somehow less gripping to me, and overly long - more so than the previous volumes. Nevertheless, I'm still very keen to read the next book in the series ...
LibraryThing member ConalO
Political intrigue, war on a global basis, what more could you want? This was a really fun read and I can recommend this to anyone who enjoys sci-fi, fantasy or historical fiction. The first book is great and the rest in the series follow along. I am ready though to see how he will wrap up all the
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story lines. Show Less
LibraryThing member Cataloger623
718 pages Science fiction. Get this one from your library. Do not pay for it! The book is too long for the story it tells. I got bored reading endless descriptions of the motives of minor characters that contributed very little if anything to moving the plot forward . Weber rambles. He teases you ,
The dialog and action that made this series outstanding is missing from this work. Hopefully the next book in series will be better.
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with extensive dissection of religious nuance and military logistics but there is no pay off. The dialog and action that made this series outstanding is missing from this work. Hopefully the next book in series will be better.
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LibraryThing member GSB68
I really like the characters and world but it seems like we are treading water in terms of advancing the plot.
LibraryThing member scottcholstad
Oh.My.God. I can't believe I finally finished this near-1200 page monster of a book! It was brutal at times. I usually try to write complete or thorough reviews after reading a book, but I'm afraid I won't for this one. Just too damn long, too damn much. So, a short review for a long book.
This is
The Church's Group of Four (vicars), led by Grand Inquisitor Clyntahn, who is a raging insane maniac, decides to build a navy to attack Charis, so they pay the various mainland kingdoms to start building ships and armaments, as well as training seamen, for the attack. When they do attack, they will vastly outnumber Charis's fleet and it could be brutal.
Speaking of the Charisian navy, it's always been the best in the world, but the Dohlarians now have a navy of their own and they go out looking for Charisian galleons. And they kick the Charisians' asses. Of course, it was a 38-4 ship advantage, so look at it however you want to, but it was the first time Charis has ever lost a naval battle and the mystique is tarnished.
Meanwhile, the conquered princedom of Corisonde is producing rebels. One rebel priest and his goons torture and murder a popular priest and Merlin, who we don't see much of in this book, gives the authorities his location so that they can arrest he and his cronies and execute them. Of course, this infuriates the Group of Four. Additionally, there's an uprising in the making in the northern section of the country, but it's put down too.
The book drags in many places. It has slow plotting. It plods. It gets boring at times, for instance, when Coris has to go to Zion in the winter. That section could have been pared down by about 20 pages at least. There's not much action. Until you get to the very end. The Church finally has its navy and is joined by Harchong's puny navy, sailing to meet the Dohlar navy. Of course, because of Merlin and his technology, the Charisians know about this and they send most of their fleet to guard Chisholm, which they think is the intended destination. They also worry about the navies joining, because when that happens, there will be over 300 ships against Charis's 97. Not good odds. High Admiral Bryahn Lock Island takes 25 Charisian galleons, some with new weapons, to attack the Church's navy. It will be 25 Charisian ships against 130 Church ships. Terrible odds. The only thing he thinks he can do is to attack at night in a storm with driving rain, when the Church won't be expecting an attack. And he does. And he obliterates the first 14 Church ships before sailing into the teeth of the Church navy, taking heavy fire and casualties. But he gets his ships in the midst of the Church's navy and the galleons with the new weapons fire and a Church ship literally explodes! Everything they hit is blown to hell. It's not much of a fight. Most Church ships surrender. Only nine get away. Ninety three are taken by Charis, which itself has only eight ships left. And they have 60,000 Church prisoners now. It's a huge Charisian victory. Again. And that's where the book ends. And I had to know what happened after that, so I immediately started reading the next one. Which is where I am now.
Still, problems exist with the book. The names are still freaking ridiculous! First, there are too many in this book to keep track of. There's an index of them in the back of the book and I think there are close to 500 characters named in this book. That's freaking cruel. There's no way we can keep track of them all. Also, they all have titles! They're Baron this, Earl that, Prince this, Vicar that, Duke this, Bishop that. It's too much. And to make matters even worse, Weber writes the names in old English spelled phonetically so that the names are virtually unpronounceable and appear to look stupid as hell and interrupt the flow of the sentence or paragraph since you have to stop and try to figure out who or what this person is. It's damned ridiculous! It's insulting. It's stupid. I'm used to it now, since I've read four of these, but I still hate it.
Additionally, Weber likes to use certain words and phrases over and over again, beating them into your head until you want to rip your eyes out. People are constantly "baring their teeth." As I wrote in my review for the last book, Weber -- no one bares their damn teeth, moron!!! Dogs bare their teeth. Wolves bare their teeth. People don't bare their teeth. And certainly not multiple people on the same damn page. It ticks me off. He also likes to write that people "snort." Constantly. It's cute the first three dozen times he writes it, but after seeing it 100 times, you want to kill any character who freaking snorts. What are they -- horses?
The book also moves at a glacial pace. I think it covers about 11 months, give or take. At this rate, publishing one book a year, maybe the series will be finished by the time I die??? It's driving me insane. As everyone says, he needs an editor. Maybe three. Cause apparently he has none. They need to speed him up and cut down on the word count.
Weber is a talented writer. I have to be honest though, these books drive me crazy. The whole time I read them, I ask myself why I'm putting myself through this torture. But like many others, I'm addicted. It's a good story and well told. Just slow as hell and from too many points of view. I want to know what happens next and what happens ultimately. I just don't want to have to read 25 1000 page books to do it. This is a five star book in terms of quality that deserves three stars because of all of its faults and problems, so I'm giving it four stars. Cautiously recommended for those reading the series.
This is
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the fourth book in Weber's Safehold series. It's not a standalone book. You need to start with the first one and read them in order to know what's going on and who's who. In this book, the Empire of Charis is still defending itself from the Church of God Awaiting, which intends to destroy Charis. Emperor Cayleb and Empress Sharleyan are splitting their time between Charis and Chisholm, although they spend most of this book in Chisholm. They also have their first child, a girl, so they have produced an heir to the throne.The Church's Group of Four (vicars), led by Grand Inquisitor Clyntahn, who is a raging insane maniac, decides to build a navy to attack Charis, so they pay the various mainland kingdoms to start building ships and armaments, as well as training seamen, for the attack. When they do attack, they will vastly outnumber Charis's fleet and it could be brutal.
Speaking of the Charisian navy, it's always been the best in the world, but the Dohlarians now have a navy of their own and they go out looking for Charisian galleons. And they kick the Charisians' asses. Of course, it was a 38-4 ship advantage, so look at it however you want to, but it was the first time Charis has ever lost a naval battle and the mystique is tarnished.
Meanwhile, the conquered princedom of Corisonde is producing rebels. One rebel priest and his goons torture and murder a popular priest and Merlin, who we don't see much of in this book, gives the authorities his location so that they can arrest he and his cronies and execute them. Of course, this infuriates the Group of Four. Additionally, there's an uprising in the making in the northern section of the country, but it's put down too.
The book drags in many places. It has slow plotting. It plods. It gets boring at times, for instance, when Coris has to go to Zion in the winter. That section could have been pared down by about 20 pages at least. There's not much action. Until you get to the very end. The Church finally has its navy and is joined by Harchong's puny navy, sailing to meet the Dohlar navy. Of course, because of Merlin and his technology, the Charisians know about this and they send most of their fleet to guard Chisholm, which they think is the intended destination. They also worry about the navies joining, because when that happens, there will be over 300 ships against Charis's 97. Not good odds. High Admiral Bryahn Lock Island takes 25 Charisian galleons, some with new weapons, to attack the Church's navy. It will be 25 Charisian ships against 130 Church ships. Terrible odds. The only thing he thinks he can do is to attack at night in a storm with driving rain, when the Church won't be expecting an attack. And he does. And he obliterates the first 14 Church ships before sailing into the teeth of the Church navy, taking heavy fire and casualties. But he gets his ships in the midst of the Church's navy and the galleons with the new weapons fire and a Church ship literally explodes! Everything they hit is blown to hell. It's not much of a fight. Most Church ships surrender. Only nine get away. Ninety three are taken by Charis, which itself has only eight ships left. And they have 60,000 Church prisoners now. It's a huge Charisian victory. Again. And that's where the book ends. And I had to know what happened after that, so I immediately started reading the next one. Which is where I am now.
Still, problems exist with the book. The names are still freaking ridiculous! First, there are too many in this book to keep track of. There's an index of them in the back of the book and I think there are close to 500 characters named in this book. That's freaking cruel. There's no way we can keep track of them all. Also, they all have titles! They're Baron this, Earl that, Prince this, Vicar that, Duke this, Bishop that. It's too much. And to make matters even worse, Weber writes the names in old English spelled phonetically so that the names are virtually unpronounceable and appear to look stupid as hell and interrupt the flow of the sentence or paragraph since you have to stop and try to figure out who or what this person is. It's damned ridiculous! It's insulting. It's stupid. I'm used to it now, since I've read four of these, but I still hate it.
Additionally, Weber likes to use certain words and phrases over and over again, beating them into your head until you want to rip your eyes out. People are constantly "baring their teeth." As I wrote in my review for the last book, Weber -- no one bares their damn teeth, moron!!! Dogs bare their teeth. Wolves bare their teeth. People don't bare their teeth. And certainly not multiple people on the same damn page. It ticks me off. He also likes to write that people "snort." Constantly. It's cute the first three dozen times he writes it, but after seeing it 100 times, you want to kill any character who freaking snorts. What are they -- horses?
The book also moves at a glacial pace. I think it covers about 11 months, give or take. At this rate, publishing one book a year, maybe the series will be finished by the time I die??? It's driving me insane. As everyone says, he needs an editor. Maybe three. Cause apparently he has none. They need to speed him up and cut down on the word count.
Weber is a talented writer. I have to be honest though, these books drive me crazy. The whole time I read them, I ask myself why I'm putting myself through this torture. But like many others, I'm addicted. It's a good story and well told. Just slow as hell and from too many points of view. I want to know what happens next and what happens ultimately. I just don't want to have to read 25 1000 page books to do it. This is a five star book in terms of quality that deserves three stars because of all of its faults and problems, so I'm giving it four stars. Cautiously recommended for those reading the series.
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LibraryThing member DWWilkin
Having just read the first book in the Manticore Ascendant sequence, turning to Weber's sole work shows once again how clearly the writer is floundering. The other with a co-writer who obviously did the lion's share, show where Weber's faults come out.
There were perhaps two subplots in this story
Otherwise the author uses 690 pages in Hardcover to fill a Gap Book in his series. We still have the enemy never winning. Always out gunned, though here in the few sea battles, they get in some licks and some of the named characters do die. Wait, we should discuss the named characters. Their names, family and surnames, are sounded out phonetically. The place names are spelled out as we would spell them, as is all the rest of their language. Where in the use and development of language does that occur? (Nowhere Weber. You came up with a stupid device and now we keep having to live with it)
Then there is the setup of a meeting. First we have to have the POV character fill us in on the background of the secretary that shows the guests into any meeting. Then we have to serve everyone food, drink, etc, and go through the small talk. Every word of it. Every time. At every meeting. Finally after 10 wasted pages for every meeting, they have a meeting that is much shorter in length but let me tell you how Weber will list every objection to the reason why a thing can't be done by saying My first Point, and then adding the Second Point I have is... Etc. Every time. Ad Nauseam.
And many of these meeting are repetitive plays on meetings held elsewhere. Then there is time and distance where sometimes a message will race ahead of people faster than the people who are traveling when no one else has travelled ahead of them. Reports arriving well after the reporter should as well or before that you can see the holes in that. As well as the distance of the world sometimes being adhered to and more often not being adhered to. Why care after setting something up if it interferes with the story.
But then here what is the story. It is the time after the conquering of Corismonde, and leading to a naval battle campaign. But a campaign that doesn't provide a finish. It is like telling about the Wars of Napoleon and discussing the period after Corunna when the British left Portugal before coming back with Wellington. That starts this book, and then you think perhaps the next book would wrap up when there was something decisive between Wellington and the French in Spain, but this work kind of ends after nothing conclusive after a few minor engagements with the French in Spain in 1810. Nearly 700 pages and still a lot more needs to be done before this war ends (and this is only book 4)
Clearly these books could be a 1/3rd the size for the story they told. That an EDITOR going through and cutting drastically all the nonessential stuff (What do you care who makes a better whiskey and how many times you need to hear those who like it) would improve this, as well as save on the cost of making the book, and perhaps save on the price people would pay for it.
Safehold is not a series to be reread, and perhaps not even be read once.
There were perhaps two subplots in this story
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that were interesting. The pacification of Corisande and the successful fleeing from the Gang of Four of the persecuted families. (There, Spoilers for the only good and complete parts of the book)Otherwise the author uses 690 pages in Hardcover to fill a Gap Book in his series. We still have the enemy never winning. Always out gunned, though here in the few sea battles, they get in some licks and some of the named characters do die. Wait, we should discuss the named characters. Their names, family and surnames, are sounded out phonetically. The place names are spelled out as we would spell them, as is all the rest of their language. Where in the use and development of language does that occur? (Nowhere Weber. You came up with a stupid device and now we keep having to live with it)
Then there is the setup of a meeting. First we have to have the POV character fill us in on the background of the secretary that shows the guests into any meeting. Then we have to serve everyone food, drink, etc, and go through the small talk. Every word of it. Every time. At every meeting. Finally after 10 wasted pages for every meeting, they have a meeting that is much shorter in length but let me tell you how Weber will list every objection to the reason why a thing can't be done by saying My first Point, and then adding the Second Point I have is... Etc. Every time. Ad Nauseam.
And many of these meeting are repetitive plays on meetings held elsewhere. Then there is time and distance where sometimes a message will race ahead of people faster than the people who are traveling when no one else has travelled ahead of them. Reports arriving well after the reporter should as well or before that you can see the holes in that. As well as the distance of the world sometimes being adhered to and more often not being adhered to. Why care after setting something up if it interferes with the story.
But then here what is the story. It is the time after the conquering of Corismonde, and leading to a naval battle campaign. But a campaign that doesn't provide a finish. It is like telling about the Wars of Napoleon and discussing the period after Corunna when the British left Portugal before coming back with Wellington. That starts this book, and then you think perhaps the next book would wrap up when there was something decisive between Wellington and the French in Spain, but this work kind of ends after nothing conclusive after a few minor engagements with the French in Spain in 1810. Nearly 700 pages and still a lot more needs to be done before this war ends (and this is only book 4)
Clearly these books could be a 1/3rd the size for the story they told. That an EDITOR going through and cutting drastically all the nonessential stuff (What do you care who makes a better whiskey and how many times you need to hear those who like it) would improve this, as well as save on the cost of making the book, and perhaps save on the price people would pay for it.
Safehold is not a series to be reread, and perhaps not even be read once.
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LibraryThing member gregandlarry
Still enjoying the series. Still lots of characters with difficult names.
LibraryThing member Karlstar
I really enjoy military sci-fi, plus the 'world rebuilding' theme is a favorite of mine, so this series has some favorite themes. This one seemed to bog down a bit though. I realize from the scope of this series that it won't be resolved for a while, but most of this book seemed to be scene
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setting. The Charisian's advance their technology, slowly, while they consolidate their hold on Corisande and try to bring it into the Empire with a minimum of casualties. Obviously the author is drawing a lot on our recent experiences with nation building. I enjoy this series, but sometimes I wish it were a bit shorter. There are a lot of conversations with minor players that could be shorter. In general, its a fascinating 'world rebuilding' story., but moving too slowly. Show Less
LibraryThing member smbass
Not much happens. Lots of tidbits of different parts of the world, but mostly exposition.
Awards
Prometheus Award (Nominee — 2011)
Language
Original publication date
2010-04-13
Physical description
718 p.; 25 cm
ISBN
9780765315052
Local notes
Safehold, 4
DDC/MDS
| Fic SF Weber |