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beagley 's review for:
On Basilisk Station
by David Weber
This is not my kind of book, but it was pretty well done.
The beginning quarter of the book is rather empty and doesn't give you enough purpose to nail down who people are and why they matter. I know I'm supposed to like the main character and her cat, but I don't. I want her to be a strong, independent heroine, but instead I feel the author fell back on a few stereotypical tropes of concerns about personal appearance and the hidden feelings of incompetence. And the cat is just for color, he doesn't affect the story.
Once the crew of the Fearless get underway and arrive at Basilisk Station, a nice steady military science fiction story arrives. The main character becomes the heroine we want, and we get to see her work with her crew to unravel a mystery, be clever, be heroic, and rise above impossible odds. Lots of back room discussions and arguments in husky voices. Good times.
The author tries very hard to firmly establish the cast and crew of the story. I appreciate the effort, and I enjoyed picturing the harried wise woman running the outpost on the remote planet, the scarred, gruff petty officer, the first mate who must overcome his bitterness at being passed over, etc... but at the end of the story I still often couldn't quite remember the second-rank characters. I could identify the captain, first mate, etc... but there's a string of others that I simply couldn't identify, which weakened the action and the impact of what happened.
The other things readers might take issue with in this book are just things about Military SF that you either love or hate. "Our team" morality, comfort with the death of one's enemies as a righteous good, splashes of gore in the midst of battle, cartoonish villains, long descriptions of battle technologies and battle maneuvers. Oh, and the dramatic head hopping, as we shift into the enemy ship and hear his thoughts as he faces the "die-hard" heroine. I actually really enjoy 3 out of 6 of those things, so I finished the book! Can you guess which 3? (long descriptions, head hopping, and the occasional cartoonish villain)
The book also has Military Science Fiction's usual conservative political bias-- but it's not too heavy. Pro-military, obviously; belief in the necessity of military action and the slaughter of your enemy; occasional derisive comments about "dole-sits"; derisive comments about the "Liberals" who won't let the wise military set up a real military presence on the planet filled with savages... it's all pretty subtle, but it's there. However, I think it's important that liberals read books like this. The book makes arguments and depicts viewpoints that I would not otherwise encounter.
The beginning quarter of the book is rather empty and doesn't give you enough purpose to nail down who people are and why they matter. I know I'm supposed to like the main character and her cat, but I don't. I want her to be a strong, independent heroine, but instead I feel the author fell back on a few stereotypical tropes of concerns about personal appearance and the hidden feelings of incompetence. And the cat is just for color, he doesn't affect the story.
Once the crew of the Fearless get underway and arrive at Basilisk Station, a nice steady military science fiction story arrives. The main character becomes the heroine we want, and we get to see her work with her crew to unravel a mystery, be clever, be heroic, and rise above impossible odds. Lots of back room discussions and arguments in husky voices. Good times.
The author tries very hard to firmly establish the cast and crew of the story. I appreciate the effort, and I enjoyed picturing the harried wise woman running the outpost on the remote planet, the scarred, gruff petty officer, the first mate who must overcome his bitterness at being passed over, etc... but at the end of the story I still often couldn't quite remember the second-rank characters. I could identify the captain, first mate, etc... but there's a string of others that I simply couldn't identify, which weakened the action and the impact of what happened.
The other things readers might take issue with in this book are just things about Military SF that you either love or hate. "Our team" morality, comfort with the death of one's enemies as a righteous good, splashes of gore in the midst of battle, cartoonish villains, long descriptions of battle technologies and battle maneuvers. Oh, and the dramatic head hopping, as we shift into the enemy ship and hear his thoughts as he faces the "die-hard" heroine. I actually really enjoy 3 out of 6 of those things, so I finished the book! Can you guess which 3? (long descriptions, head hopping, and the occasional cartoonish villain)
The book also has Military Science Fiction's usual conservative political bias-- but it's not too heavy. Pro-military, obviously; belief in the necessity of military action and the slaughter of your enemy; occasional derisive comments about "dole-sits"; derisive comments about the "Liberals" who won't let the wise military set up a real military presence on the planet filled with savages... it's all pretty subtle, but it's there. However, I think it's important that liberals read books like this. The book makes arguments and depicts viewpoints that I would not otherwise encounter.