With the lightnings

by David Drake

Paper Book, 1998

Status

Available

Call number

813/.54

Series

RCN (1)

Genres

Science Fiction

All Topics

Fiction

Publication

Riverdale, NY : Baen Books, c1998.

Description

Fiction. Science Fiction. HTML: Now with a new Afterword by David Drake A Friendship Forged in Hell! Daniel Leary is a lieutenant in the Republic of Cinnabar Navy with no money and no prospects since he quarreled with his ruthless, politically powerful father. Adele Mundy is a scholar with no money and no prospects since her family was massacred for conspiring against the Government of Cinnabar. Kostroma is a wealthy planet which depends on diplomacy to stay independent in a galaxy whose two great powers, Cinnabar and the Alliance, battle for supremacy. In a few hours, diplomacy is going to fail Kostroma. Daniel, Adele, and the scratch crew they gather aren't much to stand in the way of a powerful invasion fleet, but just possibly they're enough. Men and women who hold courage cheap and honor more dear than life itself face impossible odds in a novel of color, intrigue and slashing action. From the corridors of a treason-ridden palace through the perils of unknown seas and hellish jungles to a final blazlng climax in space, the heroes never bow and the action never flags. They have nothing on their side but each other�??and heaven help whatever tries to stand in their way! At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member ridouan

Neither fish nor fowl. Spaceships in harbors, having masts, traveling in sponge-space. Slow, slow book and after 120 pages I decided to give up. I'm sure there's something better out there to waste my time on.

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LibraryThing member SimonW11

I enjoyed this little space opera. A space navy lueitenant luietentent luie... officer and a librarian find themselves on a suddenly hostile world after a coupe orchestrated by a hostile foreign power. Can they lead an escape or oppose the forces.
Hell this a space opera of course they can. A nice

little action adventure with only minor quibbles. People are tightly bound for far to long without screaming or serious after effects. and the moons seem to cause more far noticable tides than suspect they should. (dont hold me to that though)

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LibraryThing member joeldinda

To my mind, David Drake's Republic of Cinnabar Navy series is the best of the SF sets based on the Royal Navy's war with Napoleon. Lt. Daniel Leary's no superman--but he's a very good officer and tactician. His friend and Comm Officer Adele Mundy is the tech wiz all these series seem to need, but

she's flawed in interesting ways.

And the starships in this series have masts, and sails, and riggers. I've always liked that touch.

Never really understood this book's title, though....

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LibraryThing member euang

As Exciting as Later Stories: I had read other volumes in this series and wanted to see "how it all started." Sometimes a series will start slow and build up as other books appear but the first story was just as exciting as all the rest. Now, I'm looking for more!

LibraryThing member SunnySD

Daniel Leary isn't your typical space hero, which is okay, because Adele Mundy isn't your typical space heroine. He's a shortish, kind of pudgy, officer in the Royal Cinnabar Navy. Not long on heroics thus far, inface he'd prefer never to carry a weapon, but well-liked and good with people. She's a

tallish, leanish, librarian; an expert with computers, and dead shot with pretty much any type of projectile weapon, she's not good with people and has very few qualms about shooting them. On the surface they have nothing in common. Under the surface? Well, it's worth the read to find out.

After a somewhat rocky start (to both the book and the relationship), this odd couple grew on me. Haven't read much of Drake's other work, but once I flipped the last page I found myself curious to see where he'd send Leary and Mundy off to next.

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LibraryThing member JohnFair

This book introduces us to one of the more intriguing pairings of science fictional couples introduces us to Daniel Leary and Adele Mundy, both scions of Great Houses of Cinnabar - one of the pre-eminent Great Powers in the rebuilding galaxy after the destruction of Earth and her Empire. Daniel is

a lieutenant in Cinnabar's navy and Adele is an information specialist working as a librarian on one of the more backward worlds. Daniel is sent to Kostroma as part of a delegation sent to remind the current ruler why its a good idea to stay on Cinnabar's good side but events have spiralled to far out of control as the former rulers of Kostroma plot with the Alliance to get themselves back into power. This is full-blooded space-opera written with its own reasonably consistant internal consistancy while it harks back to the time of wind powered ships back on Earth. Rather surprisingly, the technology doesn't actually feel that out dated.

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LibraryThing member dmmjlllt

This is a pretty dumb book, but I nevertheless really enjoyed it. Read it in Deep Creek on vacation (mainly) - had seen the series recommended a few years ago and I remember starting it and then quickly bailing out.

Then Jody Bottum wrote about the series a few months ago, inspiring me to revisit.

Jody said it was "better than it needs to be" and I think I can agree with that.

It's funny how much I still just want to enjoy my reading. I should learn to be a little easier on myself.

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LibraryThing member kmartin802

WITH THE LIGHTNINGS begins a space opera series. Lieutenant Daniel Leary of the Republic of Cinnabar Navy has been posted to Kostroma. He has quarreled with his politically powerful father which means that he has no money and no influence. But he has more than his share of dreams and ambitions.

Adele Mundy is a librarian and about the only survivor of the Mundys of Chatsworth who ran afoul of those in political power on Cinnabar and were murdered. Daniel Leary's father was one of those in power when the purge happened. Adele was off planet in school when the purge happened leaving her broke and subject to the kindness of strangers. She has recently taken a job on Kostroma to organize the head of government's library.

Kostroma is in a difficult position as it tries to remain independent from both the Republic of Cinnabar and the Alliance of Free Stars. The internal politics on Kostroma is also in flux with frequent political coups changing who's in charge frequently.

Daniel and Adele find themselves in the middle of one of those coups, this one engineered by the Alliance. They team up to survive and defeat the Alliance's plans.

This was excellent space opera. The worldbuilding was well done with interesting politics adding frequent twists to the plot. The characters were well-developed people. The action was fast-paced and frequent ranging from being shipwrecked on a deserted island to rescuing other RCN people from the palace to pitched space battles.

I really enjoyed the characters and the world that was created in this story and look forward to reading more episodes.

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