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Book review: The Shadow of Saganami
Jun. 23rd, 2009 06:32 pmToday's book review is The Shadow of Saganami by David Weber.
This book takes place in the "Honorverse", the world of Honor Harrington, but Lady Harrington only has a cameo appearance. The story itself stands alone fairly well, and the universe would probably make sense without already being familiar.
This book has so much wrong with it that I'd have plenty of meat for a very detailed pan. It's 745 pages, which is certainly a couple hundred too many. A lot of what happens is political, and it's convoluted and contrived. A lot of it is military, and those parts include many passages of excruciating description, explicitly listing details. A number of details at many levels seem to be a bit off. Mostly, the first several chapters just dragged to the point where I remembered that when this book had first come in, I'd set it aside unread, and I was thinking that I should have stuck with my decision at the time.
But somewhere, maybe a third of the way in, Weber's magic kicked in, and I became deeply engrossed in spite of all the flaws. I complained a lot more than in the early Honor books, but I definitely had that feeling of addiction.
If you've never tried Weber, this isn't the best book to start with. (Go find a copy of On Basilisk Station.) If space navy battles aren't your thing, don't bother. But if you're hooked on Honor Harrington and haven't been able to get your fix, this does have the same feel. 7 out of 10.
( plot summary )
This book takes place in the "Honorverse", the world of Honor Harrington, but Lady Harrington only has a cameo appearance. The story itself stands alone fairly well, and the universe would probably make sense without already being familiar.
This book has so much wrong with it that I'd have plenty of meat for a very detailed pan. It's 745 pages, which is certainly a couple hundred too many. A lot of what happens is political, and it's convoluted and contrived. A lot of it is military, and those parts include many passages of excruciating description, explicitly listing details. A number of details at many levels seem to be a bit off. Mostly, the first several chapters just dragged to the point where I remembered that when this book had first come in, I'd set it aside unread, and I was thinking that I should have stuck with my decision at the time.
But somewhere, maybe a third of the way in, Weber's magic kicked in, and I became deeply engrossed in spite of all the flaws. I complained a lot more than in the early Honor books, but I definitely had that feeling of addiction.
If you've never tried Weber, this isn't the best book to start with. (Go find a copy of On Basilisk Station.) If space navy battles aren't your thing, don't bother. But if you're hooked on Honor Harrington and haven't been able to get your fix, this does have the same feel. 7 out of 10.
( plot summary )