Vessel based "military" sci-fi

neopeius said:
Try Feintuch's "Hope" series. It is Napoleonic ship life in space. Very military, very proper. Actually quite good, too.
Click to expand...

Agree. I really enjoyed those sci fi naval books when I read most of them in the late '90s. Modeled on C. S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower novels (also lots of fun).

I would recommend the TV adaptions of 8 of Forester's novels, each a movie length episode with extremely good production, titled 'Hornblower'. I probably enjoyed them as much, or even more, than Forester's novels and was disappointed when they stopped with the 8th episode/movie.
 
ralphkern said:
Sorry Parson I do not intend to turn this into a debate about the virtues of OBS and maybe to prevent the thread being distracted we should head on over to the author section? We both agree its a good series and I want to spread the good word. As such when the original poster said that he didnt get on with it i was suggesting Honour of the queen as a starting point of the main story, which it is. Much like the precredit bit of a James bond movie you lose some context and good stuff but you can still watch the movie and get a lot out of it.
The Peeps have always been accessible. In many ways I found Theisman,Tourville and Cachet to be the most interesting characters in the series. Theyre honourable, cool, decent people, face impossible odds. Whats more they pose a genuine, real and creadible threat to the Heroine of the piece. When Theisman or Tourville rock up the salamanders going to have a hard time of it :) Thats why I like the books, the amount of time and effort that is spent on developing the antagonists
Click to expand...

:D Agree totally! Any time you want to talk Weber, come over to his sub forum and start a thread!

Feintuch's "Hope" series is good stuff. However I was always a little frustrated by the lack of allies for such an honorable hero.
 
Sounds good dude. Always nice to see a passionate champion of the good stuff (as long as it doesn't involve space vampires.... Shudder)
 
I quite enjoyed Walter Jon Williams' Dread Empire Fall series. (The Praxis, the Sundering and The Conventions of War).
 
neopeius said:
Try Feintuch's "Hope" series. It is Napoleonic ship life in space. Very military, very proper. Actually quite good, too.
Click to expand...

Oooh, sounds fun. I do like me some SF navy readin'. Colour me off to download a sample on my Kindle.
 
Elizabeth Moon - I've dipped into both of her militaristic sf series (can't bring title to mind right now) both were entirely readable - but maybe focus too much on one character for you. Writes well.
 
ralphkern said:
I think David Webers 'Honor Harrington' series sounds exactly what you are looking for. The first book is a bit of a departure from the rest. I urge you to give For the Honor of the Queen a try. It can be used as a starting point and is excellent.

Expanse isnt really a military sci fi. its ok, especially the first one. The Lost Fleet is ok as well but the captain is FAR to competant in it. Id just surrender if i saw him coming over the horizon, hes indesrucible which ruins the drama for me
Click to expand...

I always assumed the Honor Harrington series was YA fiction - not to be taken seriously by adults!
 
Even if it was YA fiction, it could still be taken seriously by adults. A lot of YA crosses over, and the quality of writing is as good as adult fiction.

I got On Basilisk Station and it's an enjoyable read.
 
I know they've wandered off to the authors section to avoid distracting with more Honor Harrington, but I just wanted to add that it's perfectly ok (and common) to just skip the technobabble parts -- that's what I do! :D

Weber is entirely too enamored of his spaceship-building for my taste, but I would hate for that to turn you off from what is also fantastic storytelling and deep characterization in a rich political universe.
 
In relation to the Harrington YA comments I'll defer to parsons here but my view is the core Harrington series is adult. Sometimes very so and can get quite dark. There is a second series that is set in the same universe which whilst I certainly wouldn't call it YA the characters are a lot younger and I suppose it could be considered as such.
 
I read lots of YA, in addition to lots of everything else, and I would never consider the Harrington books to be YA. Maybe some of the treecat stories in the side books, but not the main series. With all the politics, the themes are very much adult-based, and in fact there is a fair amount of subtle humor that would totally escape the young.
 
ralphkern said:
In relation to the Harrington YA comments I'll defer to parsons here but my view is the core Harrington series is adult. Sometimes very so and can get quite dark. There is a second series that is set in the same universe which whilst I certainly wouldn't call it YA the characters are a lot younger and I suppose it could be considered as such.
Click to expand...

Exactly right. That is the way Weber intends them. Of his series, the only one that he considers YA is the "Star Kingdom Series" or what we call and he likely should have/ the treecat series. In truth the series is supposed to be about Stephanie Harrington, a several great, grandparent of Honor as a young girl. She's about 15 in the latest book.

But YA is a bit fuzzy nowadays. "Hunger Games" is considered YA, and it is hard to get much darker and serious than that. I'm under the opinion that YA more refers to the age of the main character than the age of the people for whom the book is appropriate.
 
Seeing J-Sun bump the thread has reminded me of Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet.
 
I was excited to read Campbell's Lost Fleet books. I ended up putting the first one down after a hundred or so pages. The writing was very poor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
The Bluestocking Killjoys 1.04: Vessel Killjoys 5
Magnus85 The Vessel of Terror - horror graphic novel Promotions 1
C The Vessel Critiques 1
C reworked The Vessel c 1 Critiques 4
C The Vessel pt 1 chapter 1 Critiques 2

Similar threads


Back
Top