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Book review: The Far Side of the Stars
Jul. 10th, 2008 10:32 pmToday's book review is The Far Side of the Stars by David Drake.
But before I get to the book review, I want to put in a plug for the Baen Free Library, Baen Books' experiment in giving away books on the Internet so people will go out and buy dead tree editions. I've been reading some books online. For no reason I can really explain even to myself, though, I haven't been doing reviews of them. But anyway, David Drake is one of the authors with some books there. I started The Tank Lords (Hammer's Slammers #1) and after a few chapters with violent death on every page, I couldn't take it. But I decided to give With the Lightnings a try, and I liked it much better. And then I read Lieutenant Leary Commanding. And I enjoyed those books that I read for free enough that I bought this, the third book in the series, a few weeks ago at Borders. So, publishers, take note: because I had the chance to read for free, I bought a book by an author I don't read that I would not have bought otherwise. It works. So keep doing it, and do it more.
Anyway, that brief digression past, this is the third book in the Lieutenant Leary series, and if you're going to read them, you should start at the beginning, 'cause this book doesn't really explain who the main characters are.
This is pure space opera; in fact, it's really a naval adventure story from the days of sailing ships and cannon. That goes for the whole series, actually; this book specifically takes those characters and puts them on a gentleman-adventurer side trip. Unfortunately, there are some places where the outline says we have to go here so the characters get dragged there without taking the time to actually be in character, and there's an episode that's a little out of proportion cosmically with the rest of the book and strains suspension of disbelief and the feel of the story. I still thought it was fun, but it had some definite flaws that make it weaker than the earlier books in the series -- and are likely to be too much for more picky readers to forgive. 6 out of 10.
( plot summary )
But before I get to the book review, I want to put in a plug for the Baen Free Library, Baen Books' experiment in giving away books on the Internet so people will go out and buy dead tree editions. I've been reading some books online. For no reason I can really explain even to myself, though, I haven't been doing reviews of them. But anyway, David Drake is one of the authors with some books there. I started The Tank Lords (Hammer's Slammers #1) and after a few chapters with violent death on every page, I couldn't take it. But I decided to give With the Lightnings a try, and I liked it much better. And then I read Lieutenant Leary Commanding. And I enjoyed those books that I read for free enough that I bought this, the third book in the series, a few weeks ago at Borders. So, publishers, take note: because I had the chance to read for free, I bought a book by an author I don't read that I would not have bought otherwise. It works. So keep doing it, and do it more.
Anyway, that brief digression past, this is the third book in the Lieutenant Leary series, and if you're going to read them, you should start at the beginning, 'cause this book doesn't really explain who the main characters are.
This is pure space opera; in fact, it's really a naval adventure story from the days of sailing ships and cannon. That goes for the whole series, actually; this book specifically takes those characters and puts them on a gentleman-adventurer side trip. Unfortunately, there are some places where the outline says we have to go here so the characters get dragged there without taking the time to actually be in character, and there's an episode that's a little out of proportion cosmically with the rest of the book and strains suspension of disbelief and the feel of the story. I still thought it was fun, but it had some definite flaws that make it weaker than the earlier books in the series -- and are likely to be too much for more picky readers to forgive. 6 out of 10.
( plot summary )