2006-08-06
In Fury Born
Author: David Weber
This book is set in the mid-thirtieth century, well before the Honor Harrington series and offshoots. I'm not certain if this universe is exactly the same or not -- most of the physics is consistent except that everyone has FTL communication. I'd have to re-read the mini-history/tech bible to see if that fits with the lack of such capability in Honor's time. Also, there are aliens in this universe, the lack of which has always been rather disturbing in the farther future books. If this isn't meant to be consistent then I honestly applaud Weber for not falling victim to the disease of old science-fiction writers: the need to tie everything they write together into one coherent universe. At least it hasn't happened yet. He's still young.
The first half of the story traces Alicia DeVries's military career from the time she enters the Marines through her rise to the ultra-exclusive Imperial Cadre, the Terran Emporer's elite, personal force. Just a couple battles are given 100 pages each, and the description of the hardware is complete to the level of absurdity that Weber's fans expect. At the close of the first half there are twin climaxes, which tear Alicia away from the path her career was taking and set up the intense second half of the novel.
Without giving too much away I can say that the novel is about vengeance and justice. It also adds a supernatural element to pure science fiction. This isn't terrible, although it is unexpected. This element is handled in an incredulous fashion, and I feel the overall story remains science fiction despite introducing something that is unexplained. I can't discuss the ending, because my biases are probably clear, so to say I like or don't like it would give away the game either way.
Overall I recommend this book to existing fans of the author, but not as an introduction to his work. (Try On Basilisk Station or Mutineer's Moon, both downloadable from baen.com.)
Update: I just learned that this new book is a prequel to a novel Weber first published long ago, Path of the Fury. Maybe it explains some things left unsaid in that early work. Perhaps I'll have to try getting that one too.
Knowing that, it sort of gives away the ending to In Fury Born, so I'll come out and say it: the heroes live, and I didn't like it. I thought this book would have been a great standalone work, with closure, if they had died at the end, and that the last-second twist to avoid that fate was a cheap cop out. Obviously they had to live, because the sequel was published fourteen years ago, but the ending still detracts from IFB itself.
This book is set in the mid-thirtieth century, well before the Honor Harrington series and offshoots. I'm not certain if this universe is exactly the same or not -- most of the physics is consistent except that everyone has FTL communication. I'd have to re-read the mini-history/tech bible to see if that fits with the lack of such capability in Honor's time. Also, there are aliens in this universe, the lack of which has always been rather disturbing in the farther future books. If this isn't meant to be consistent then I honestly applaud Weber for not falling victim to the disease of old science-fiction writers: the need to tie everything they write together into one coherent universe. At least it hasn't happened yet. He's still young.
The first half of the story traces Alicia DeVries's military career from the time she enters the Marines through her rise to the ultra-exclusive Imperial Cadre, the Terran Emporer's elite, personal force. Just a couple battles are given 100 pages each, and the description of the hardware is complete to the level of absurdity that Weber's fans expect. At the close of the first half there are twin climaxes, which tear Alicia away from the path her career was taking and set up the intense second half of the novel.
Without giving too much away I can say that the novel is about vengeance and justice. It also adds a supernatural element to pure science fiction. This isn't terrible, although it is unexpected. This element is handled in an incredulous fashion, and I feel the overall story remains science fiction despite introducing something that is unexplained. I can't discuss the ending, because my biases are probably clear, so to say I like or don't like it would give away the game either way.
Overall I recommend this book to existing fans of the author, but not as an introduction to his work. (Try On Basilisk Station or Mutineer's Moon, both downloadable from baen.com.)
Update: I just learned that this new book is a prequel to a novel Weber first published long ago, Path of the Fury. Maybe it explains some things left unsaid in that early work. Perhaps I'll have to try getting that one too.
Knowing that, it sort of gives away the ending to In Fury Born, so I'll come out and say it: the heroes live, and I didn't like it. I thought this book would have been a great standalone work, with closure, if they had died at the end, and that the last-second twist to avoid that fate was a cheap cop out. Obviously they had to live, because the sequel was published fourteen years ago, but the ending still detracts from IFB itself.
