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Out of the Dark #2
Into the Light
In New York Times-bestselling science fiction epic Out of the Dark, Earth beat back an alien invasion. Now we've got to make sure they don't come back, in Into the Light.
The Shongairi conquered Earth. In mere minutes, half the human race died, and our cities lay in shattered ruins.
But the Shongairi didn’t expect the survivors’ tenacity. And, crucially, they didn’t know that Earth harbored two species of intelligent, tool-using bipeds. One of them was us. The other, long-lived and lethal, was hiding in the mountains of eastern Europe, the subject of fantasy and legend. When they emerged and made alliance with humankind, the invading aliens didn’t stand a chance.
Now Earth is once again ours. Aided by the advanced tech the aliens left behind, we’re rebuilding as fast as we can.
Meanwhile, a select few of our blood-drinking immortals are on their way to the Shongairi homeworld, having commandeered one of the alien starships...the planet-busting kind.
The Shongairi conquered Earth. In mere minutes, half the human race died, and our cities lay in shattered ruins.
But the Shongairi didn’t expect the survivors’ tenacity. And, crucially, they didn’t know that Earth harbored two species of intelligent, tool-using bipeds. One of them was us. The other, long-lived and lethal, was hiding in the mountains of eastern Europe, the subject of fantasy and legend. When they emerged and made alliance with humankind, the invading aliens didn’t stand a chance.
Now Earth is once again ours. Aided by the advanced tech the aliens left behind, we’re rebuilding as fast as we can.
Meanwhile, a select few of our blood-drinking immortals are on their way to the Shongairi homeworld, having commandeered one of the alien starships...the planet-busting kind.
503 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 12, 2021
About the author
David Weber
358 books4,405 followersDavid Mark Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1952.
Many of his stories have military, particularly naval, themes, and fit into the military science fiction genre. He frequently places female leading characters in what have been traditionally male roles.
One of his most popular and enduring characters is Honor Harrington whose alliterated name is an homage to C.S. Forester's character Horatio Hornblower and her last name from a fleet doctor in Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander . Her story, together with the "Honorverse" she inhabits, has been developed through 16 novels and six shared-universe anthologies, as of spring 2013 (other works are in production). In 2008, he donated his archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.
Many of his books are available online, either in their entirety as part of the Baen Free Library or, in the case of more recent books, in the form of sample chapters (typically the first 25-33% of the work).
http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidw...
Many of his stories have military, particularly naval, themes, and fit into the military science fiction genre. He frequently places female leading characters in what have been traditionally male roles.
One of his most popular and enduring characters is Honor Harrington whose alliterated name is an homage to C.S. Forester's character Horatio Hornblower and her last name from a fleet doctor in Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander . Her story, together with the "Honorverse" she inhabits, has been developed through 16 novels and six shared-universe anthologies, as of spring 2013 (other works are in production). In 2008, he donated his archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.
Many of his books are available online, either in their entirety as part of the Baen Free Library or, in the case of more recent books, in the form of sample chapters (typically the first 25-33% of the work).
http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidw...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 161 reviews
March 24, 2024
3.5 Stars
I am enjoying this military science fiction series. At time, the story reads as very traditional military fiction which isn't necessarily my thing, but then the supernatural elements would come back and I was hooked again.
I have already read the third book but I look forward to rereading it because in my opinion the series just gets better with each book.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
I am enjoying this military science fiction series. At time, the story reads as very traditional military fiction which isn't necessarily my thing, but then the supernatural elements would come back and I was hooked again.
I have already read the third book but I look forward to rereading it because in my opinion the series just gets better with each book.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
July 28, 2021
Space opera with large First Contact component as the Terran Empire prepares for war with the Evil Galactic Empire. Second book in the Out of the Dark series.
Into the Light's Space Marines?
My dead pixels copy was a wrist straining 500 pages. A dead tree copy is 512 pages. The original US copyright was 2021.
David Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He has more than 50-books published, in series and standalone and many shorter works. He has also collaborated on more than 30-books. The book was written in collaboration with Chris Kennedy. I’ve read several books by Weber. The last book I read by the author was Out of the Dark (my review).
Chris Kennedy is an American military science fiction and fantasy writer. He is also a book publisher, although Weber’s Tor imprint is the publisher of this book. He has about 20-books published, in series and standalone and many shorter works. Many of the books are collaborations. This is the first book I’ve read by the author.
This is the second, book in Weber’s 2010 Shongairi series. Its been rebadged as the Out of the Dark series 10-years later and was written with a collaborating author. I only accidentally found out about it from a friend who read my recent review of the first book in the series. With the first book still fresh in my mind, I decided to see how things have changed in the decade between the books. In some ways this book was better, but it still has many of the flaws I found in the first book.
Reading the first book in the series is strongly recommended before reading this book. A lot of the first book’s context and characters were needed to Get It.
This wasn’t a bad MIL-SF story, with a post-alien, invasion Societal Disruption recovery in the beginning and a First Contact theme in the later half.
In the first half, human civilization survives intact, but is forever altered by the effects of the Shongairi invasion of the first book in the series. The sheer amount of environmental, infrastructure damage and loss of life caused disruption and hardship. This is somewhat mitigated by the infusion and adaption of alien technology. The One World Order trope where all the surviving groups merge together creating a US-styled, central authority to govern the human race predominates. Folks are forced to adapt to the future threat they face from the Galactic Empire of which the Shongairi invaders were part.
Time passes. Humans now have a Standard Sci Fi trope-level of technology. Some geeky-info dumps are used to get the reader there: railguns, powered armor (called “Heinlein’s”), unlimited energy, warp drive, computer mind uploads, and anti-grav included.
In the second half, the unified Earth sends a diplomatic mission to a near-by star to gain allies against the Galactic Empire. The too anthropomorphic aliens are Sufficiently Advanced. There are communication difficulties and misunderstandings which lead to an outright war in which the authors can exercise their MIL-SF literary muscles.
It many cases I find that team writers even-out each others foibles. However, I thought the execution was still flawed. Rather than one weighty tome, I thought this should have been two thinner books. The twofer organization of this book, created a peculiar pacing. Like the first book in the series it was over-laden with geeky info-dumps and Weber-esque historical analogies. Having recently read the first book, I noted an almost identical info-dump involving a weapon’s muzzle velocity from the previous book in this one. (Lazy writing, there.) However, there was a credible explanation given for the origin the series’ space vampires. This supernatural plot thread caused me consternation in the first book. There were also many conservative themes, although they were more muted than in the first book. For example, gun luv’n, family, and religion. In addition, the many POVs did not in my opinion enhance the overall narrative. The aliens felt half-baked to me, only a little better than humans in rubber masks. Finally, the ending epic Combined Arms combat felt really forced. Was it reasonable to assume that aliens would have tank-like armored fighting vehicles? Given that the humans had precision guided munitions deliverable from atmosphere and orbit, along with Robert Heinlein-esque powered armor, why would they need tanks? Was it because the authors wanted to have a tank battle at the end of the story?
This was a better book than Out of the Dark. Yet is was still a story only a Weber fanboi or fangrrl could love. It was a competent, humanity claws itself back to a One World Order story and a competent first contact story, but it was overly long as both. I had several issues with the way it was written, but I didn’t put the book down. The POV-flipping, MIL-Pr0N, and the heavy, burden of info-dumps, of this book were muted in comparison to Out of the Dark. Fortunately, it didn’t leave me gobsmacked at the end like its predecessor did with another supernatural twist. Yet, I see the development of Yet-Another-Ponderous-Weber-Series in the making, like his Safehold series. This book was not original enough for me to want to get further involved in the series.
Into the Light's Space Marines?
My dead pixels copy was a wrist straining 500 pages. A dead tree copy is 512 pages. The original US copyright was 2021.
David Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He has more than 50-books published, in series and standalone and many shorter works. He has also collaborated on more than 30-books. The book was written in collaboration with Chris Kennedy. I’ve read several books by Weber. The last book I read by the author was Out of the Dark (my review).
Chris Kennedy is an American military science fiction and fantasy writer. He is also a book publisher, although Weber’s Tor imprint is the publisher of this book. He has about 20-books published, in series and standalone and many shorter works. Many of the books are collaborations. This is the first book I’ve read by the author.
This is the second, book in Weber’s 2010 Shongairi series. Its been rebadged as the Out of the Dark series 10-years later and was written with a collaborating author. I only accidentally found out about it from a friend who read my recent review of the first book in the series. With the first book still fresh in my mind, I decided to see how things have changed in the decade between the books. In some ways this book was better, but it still has many of the flaws I found in the first book.
Reading the first book in the series is strongly recommended before reading this book. A lot of the first book’s context and characters were needed to Get It.
This wasn’t a bad MIL-SF story, with a post-alien, invasion Societal Disruption recovery in the beginning and a First Contact theme in the later half.
In the first half, human civilization survives intact, but is forever altered by the effects of the Shongairi invasion of the first book in the series. The sheer amount of environmental, infrastructure damage and loss of life caused disruption and hardship. This is somewhat mitigated by the infusion and adaption of alien technology. The One World Order trope where all the surviving groups merge together creating a US-styled, central authority to govern the human race predominates. Folks are forced to adapt to the future threat they face from the Galactic Empire of which the Shongairi invaders were part.
Time passes. Humans now have a Standard Sci Fi trope-level of technology. Some geeky-info dumps are used to get the reader there: railguns, powered armor (called “Heinlein’s”), unlimited energy, warp drive, computer mind uploads, and anti-grav included.
In the second half, the unified Earth sends a diplomatic mission to a near-by star to gain allies against the Galactic Empire. The too anthropomorphic aliens are Sufficiently Advanced. There are communication difficulties and misunderstandings which lead to an outright war in which the authors can exercise their MIL-SF literary muscles.
It many cases I find that team writers even-out each others foibles. However, I thought the execution was still flawed. Rather than one weighty tome, I thought this should have been two thinner books. The twofer organization of this book, created a peculiar pacing. Like the first book in the series it was over-laden with geeky info-dumps and Weber-esque historical analogies. Having recently read the first book, I noted an almost identical info-dump involving a weapon’s muzzle velocity from the previous book in this one. (Lazy writing, there.) However, there was a credible explanation given for the origin the series’ space vampires. This supernatural plot thread caused me consternation in the first book. There were also many conservative themes, although they were more muted than in the first book. For example, gun luv’n, family, and religion. In addition, the many POVs did not in my opinion enhance the overall narrative. The aliens felt half-baked to me, only a little better than humans in rubber masks. Finally, the ending epic Combined Arms combat felt really forced. Was it reasonable to assume that aliens would have tank-like armored fighting vehicles? Given that the humans had precision guided munitions deliverable from atmosphere and orbit, along with Robert Heinlein-esque powered armor, why would they need tanks? Was it because the authors wanted to have a tank battle at the end of the story?
This was a better book than Out of the Dark. Yet is was still a story only a Weber fanboi or fangrrl could love. It was a competent, humanity claws itself back to a One World Order story and a competent first contact story, but it was overly long as both. I had several issues with the way it was written, but I didn’t put the book down. The POV-flipping, MIL-Pr0N, and the heavy, burden of info-dumps, of this book were muted in comparison to Out of the Dark. Fortunately, it didn’t leave me gobsmacked at the end like its predecessor did with another supernatural twist. Yet, I see the development of Yet-Another-Ponderous-Weber-Series in the making, like his Safehold series. This book was not original enough for me to want to get further involved in the series.
September 12, 2023
A much better rendition than the first book although even this one drags a bit albeit much less than that if the first book.
Full review to come soon ... Hopefully.
Full review to come soon ... Hopefully.
July 11, 2023
God 2 years and worth the wait!
I been waiting for 2 years for this book and it was worth the wait....of course bad thing is I have to probably wait 3 to 5 for the next!
I been waiting for 2 years for this book and it was worth the wait....of course bad thing is I have to probably wait 3 to 5 for the next!
January 11, 2021
Into the Light by authors David Weber and Chris Kennedy is book 2 of the Out of the Dark series, apparently (? more on this later), the first of which (titled Out of the Dark) was published ten years ago. It did not take me very long to find out this book is not in my wheelhouse. I will go into detail below, but it is really important that I note this is one man’s opinion. Just because I did not particularly enjoy reading this book does not mean you will feel the same way. If the information below appeals to you, I recommend you check it out.
I want to first address the fact that this is a book 2, because I had no idea. I am not sure if this was just my not paying attention or what, but I did not know going in that Into the Light was part of a series. The story does open on an interesting note, but I thought it was one of those stories where it starts at a certain place then flashes back. That is not the case, but I will say I do not think you need to necessarily read the first book to read this one. There are some references to previous events, but for the most part it reads fine without it.
Plot-wise I was not a huge fan of Into the Light. It is heavy on military organization and description of weapons, places, people, events, etc, that it reads almost like an encyclopedia. For the first 400 pages there is almost no action at all, which was really unexpected to me based on the synopsis. I knew there would be a rebuilding portion of the story, but I expected that to be concurrent with an alien war. But that is exactly what it is not. The narrative is 90% rebuilding and planning for the next alien invasion. I was waiting for the ball to drop and for something to happen. But it never did. There is action in the last 100 pages, but it was not conducive with the rest of the story to me, and it really just left me confused.
Did I mention vampires? Because, yes, there are vampires, which feels so random I cannot even describe it (this is not spoilery, by the way, because it comes up very early on in the book). I am not sure… why they are there? This left me the most baffled of all, because I do not know why they exist in this world. Maybe the authors just like vampires, which is totally cool, but I did not get it. The other issue I had with the vampires is that they show up early on and make themselves knows as very important beings to this world, but then they are not. They do not do anything of significance throughout the rest of story. This, again, leads me to ask “what is the point”?
I had a lot of trouble keeping track of the characters, as well. There were so many, and as they story went the important figures changed constantly. There were a few staples but not enough. That combined with the fact that there are several time jumps made the whole thing feel disjointed.
So, as I talk about this being the second book in the series, it makes me wonder if these things feel random because maybe they are addressed in the first book. Out of the Dark (book 1) is about the humans fighting off the alien invasion, so maybe Into the Light is much more appealing. Maybe after all of the action and reading about the fight, the struggle, the will to keep humanity alive one is ready to slow down and read about rebuilding. I want to give the authors the benefit of the doubt in that way.
I did enjoy learning about the alien military weapons and technology. That was really cool. And there is a ton of science in the book that was incredibly well thought-out. My ears always perk up when things get science-y. And the sections that do address alien civilizations are really well-done, for the most part. It was neat to read about the different ranks, societal and cultural structures, and even units of measurement; though, I was not a fan of the alien dialogue as they were often using Earthling idioms in their conversations, which did not really make sense to me. That aside, this was a highlight of the book.
For those reasons, I cannot give this book a broad recommendation. It is possible that having read the first book might make this a little more digestible, but my task is to grade Into the Light on its own merits. It was just too dense, too word-y, too incohesive for my tastes. I just could not get into it. But, if you are into reading about rebuilding societies, governments, and militaries this book may be for you. In that case, I would definitely recommend you read Into the Light.
And if you have read Out of the Dark, I welcome your thoughts and feedback.
I want to first address the fact that this is a book 2, because I had no idea. I am not sure if this was just my not paying attention or what, but I did not know going in that Into the Light was part of a series. The story does open on an interesting note, but I thought it was one of those stories where it starts at a certain place then flashes back. That is not the case, but I will say I do not think you need to necessarily read the first book to read this one. There are some references to previous events, but for the most part it reads fine without it.
Plot-wise I was not a huge fan of Into the Light. It is heavy on military organization and description of weapons, places, people, events, etc, that it reads almost like an encyclopedia. For the first 400 pages there is almost no action at all, which was really unexpected to me based on the synopsis. I knew there would be a rebuilding portion of the story, but I expected that to be concurrent with an alien war. But that is exactly what it is not. The narrative is 90% rebuilding and planning for the next alien invasion. I was waiting for the ball to drop and for something to happen. But it never did. There is action in the last 100 pages, but it was not conducive with the rest of the story to me, and it really just left me confused.
Did I mention vampires? Because, yes, there are vampires, which feels so random I cannot even describe it (this is not spoilery, by the way, because it comes up very early on in the book). I am not sure… why they are there? This left me the most baffled of all, because I do not know why they exist in this world. Maybe the authors just like vampires, which is totally cool, but I did not get it. The other issue I had with the vampires is that they show up early on and make themselves knows as very important beings to this world, but then they are not. They do not do anything of significance throughout the rest of story. This, again, leads me to ask “what is the point”?
I had a lot of trouble keeping track of the characters, as well. There were so many, and as they story went the important figures changed constantly. There were a few staples but not enough. That combined with the fact that there are several time jumps made the whole thing feel disjointed.
So, as I talk about this being the second book in the series, it makes me wonder if these things feel random because maybe they are addressed in the first book. Out of the Dark (book 1) is about the humans fighting off the alien invasion, so maybe Into the Light is much more appealing. Maybe after all of the action and reading about the fight, the struggle, the will to keep humanity alive one is ready to slow down and read about rebuilding. I want to give the authors the benefit of the doubt in that way.
I did enjoy learning about the alien military weapons and technology. That was really cool. And there is a ton of science in the book that was incredibly well thought-out. My ears always perk up when things get science-y. And the sections that do address alien civilizations are really well-done, for the most part. It was neat to read about the different ranks, societal and cultural structures, and even units of measurement; though, I was not a fan of the alien dialogue as they were often using Earthling idioms in their conversations, which did not really make sense to me. That aside, this was a highlight of the book.
For those reasons, I cannot give this book a broad recommendation. It is possible that having read the first book might make this a little more digestible, but my task is to grade Into the Light on its own merits. It was just too dense, too word-y, too incohesive for my tastes. I just could not get into it. But, if you are into reading about rebuilding societies, governments, and militaries this book may be for you. In that case, I would definitely recommend you read Into the Light.
And if you have read Out of the Dark, I welcome your thoughts and feedback.
March 14, 2021
Feels like there are two books material into this one. But the unpopular twist in the first book is lessened and the explanation hinted at but still not fully explained. All and all miles ahead and looking forward to more ... but since the ten years passed between the first and second book I am not holding my breath like a weak breather.
January 28, 2021
This, as far as I am concerned, is a very good continuation of Out of the Dark. Out of the Dark was not great but not bad either. This one though, I enjoyed quite a lot. I was actually wondering if there would be a sequel to Out of the Dark since it seemed to have received mixed reviews with quite a few one-star ratings which I felt was unfair to say the least.
I quite like the story in this book. Humanity is rising from the ashes of the ruins of the alien invasion. Not only do they, of course have to rebuild from a material point of view but the also have to rebuild their society, their government and their political system. I, of course, especially like that in the book it’s mostly done right in the sense that they actually manage to get competent people running things. Not useless asswipes that care only about “sitting on the throne” like Macron, Senile Joe and Löfven just to mention a few of the politicians that we could be without right now.
As usual when David Weber is involved the combat action is very good although there is a bit of his talk, talk and talk some more in this book as well. A nice twist in the book is how the “Vampires” actually get a scientific explanation after a while. An explanation that ties nicely into the mysteries that will, hopefully, be explored in further books in this series.
There was a part where things got off track a bit when they went off and tried to negotiate with a bunch of backwater imbeciles that was more interested in political (and military) powerplays than anything else. I don’t understand why they even bothered since these primitives would hardly have been able to contribute to the overall effort anyway and it was pretty clear that it was a clusterfuck waiting to happen.
The ending of the book became 100% predictable after a while but it was still quite cool. I’m quite looking forward to the next book now. I certainly hope there will be a next book.
I quite like the story in this book. Humanity is rising from the ashes of the ruins of the alien invasion. Not only do they, of course have to rebuild from a material point of view but the also have to rebuild their society, their government and their political system. I, of course, especially like that in the book it’s mostly done right in the sense that they actually manage to get competent people running things. Not useless asswipes that care only about “sitting on the throne” like Macron, Senile Joe and Löfven just to mention a few of the politicians that we could be without right now.
As usual when David Weber is involved the combat action is very good although there is a bit of his talk, talk and talk some more in this book as well. A nice twist in the book is how the “Vampires” actually get a scientific explanation after a while. An explanation that ties nicely into the mysteries that will, hopefully, be explored in further books in this series.
There was a part where things got off track a bit when they went off and tried to negotiate with a bunch of backwater imbeciles that was more interested in political (and military) powerplays than anything else. I don’t understand why they even bothered since these primitives would hardly have been able to contribute to the overall effort anyway and it was pretty clear that it was a clusterfuck waiting to happen.
The ending of the book became 100% predictable after a while but it was still quite cool. I’m quite looking forward to the next book now. I certainly hope there will be a next book.
January 27, 2021
Book One Out of the Dark came out in 2010. Now, ten years later, we finally have the sequel!
Aliens showed up planning to conquer Earth. Half of the human race died in the first few minutes. Major cities all over the globe were in ruins.
The surviving humans banded together and were finally able to send the alien Shongairi packing.
The aliens left in such a hurry that humanity inherited their Galactic Hegemony technology base headsets (and some spaceships).
Shongairi had, early in their conquest, tested humans to see if we could use their education headsets to learn new information by direct transfer to our brains. Turns out that yes, we could.
So, Book Two is about humans picking themselves back up and exploiting their newfound technical wealth!
I was pleased that key characters from Book One are front-and-center in Book Two. Book Two picked up almost immediately after the end of Book One.
The Galactic Hegemony (which had sent the Shongairi) has been around for a really long, long time. The many member races still use the same tech with the attitude that since the tech still works, there is no need to upset the status quo. The Hegemony races highly value stability and actively resist change.
On the other hand, humans have never yet met tech that could not be improved upon using their penchant for both creativity and innovation!
Recommended for those who enjoy space opera, well-drawn aliens, and lots of character-driven action!
Aliens showed up planning to conquer Earth. Half of the human race died in the first few minutes. Major cities all over the globe were in ruins.
The surviving humans banded together and were finally able to send the alien Shongairi packing.
The aliens left in such a hurry that humanity inherited their Galactic Hegemony technology base headsets (and some spaceships).
Shongairi had, early in their conquest, tested humans to see if we could use their education headsets to learn new information by direct transfer to our brains. Turns out that yes, we could.
So, Book Two is about humans picking themselves back up and exploiting their newfound technical wealth!
I was pleased that key characters from Book One are front-and-center in Book Two. Book Two picked up almost immediately after the end of Book One.
The Galactic Hegemony (which had sent the Shongairi) has been around for a really long, long time. The many member races still use the same tech with the attitude that since the tech still works, there is no need to upset the status quo. The Hegemony races highly value stability and actively resist change.
On the other hand, humans have never yet met tech that could not be improved upon using their penchant for both creativity and innovation!
Recommended for those who enjoy space opera, well-drawn aliens, and lots of character-driven action!
January 28, 2021
"Into The Light" is the long-awaited sequel to "Out Of The Dark". It is by David Weber and Chris Kennedy while "Out Of The Dark" was by David Weber. This book takes up where the first book left off. The alien Shongairi have been defeated with the help of the vampires who had been hidden until now and were thought to be creatures of fantasy. Now mankind and vampire-kind must use and improve on the captured alien technology because one thing is for sure, the Shongairi will be back. This is the story of that endeavor and the search for allies from the stars. This book tends to be heavy on the technical details and world rebuilding and has too many characters that need to be followed but all in all it is a good read and a great continuation to the story started in "Out Of The Dark" I am looking forward to the next book in this series.
July 21, 2023
A little slow starting, but once you get comfortable with the alien pronouns it starts moving in the right direction.
And like book 1, the last third is great. And the ending makes you eager for the next installment.
And like book 1, the last third is great. And the ending makes you eager for the next installment.
January 13, 2021
Give me more. IE I want future volumes. Possibly the most unique take on science fiction in the last 2 decades. Vampires are not what you think they are. Personally I prefer a POV that is more limited to that of a single protagonist but I want to see what becomes of the original invaders of earth and what happens when the hegemony finally becomes aware of what has occurred.
February 10, 2024
This book was overall enjoyable but not as good as the first or third book in the series. It seemed to drag a bit in some places, then the aftermath of the climactic battle seemed a little too easy.
February 24, 2021
Not impressed
Wow! What a letdown. I could not wait to start this book after the excellent first book, but what a yawn fest. After all the action and excitement found in the first one, and the major surprise that there are vampires among us this one was lucky to get even 2 stars. The best part of the book was the ending which possibly set up the following book for hopefully an lot more aliens and action.
Wow! What a letdown. I could not wait to start this book after the excellent first book, but what a yawn fest. After all the action and excitement found in the first one, and the major surprise that there are vampires among us this one was lucky to get even 2 stars. The best part of the book was the ending which possibly set up the following book for hopefully an lot more aliens and action.
March 19, 2021
Started out as a good follow on to Out of the Dark however, the inclusion of multiple Polish words and conversations was too distracting. Weber used the same Polish language technique in one of the Saganami Island books. Fortunately it was a library book, so I just returned it without finishing. In this case, I just gave up as not worth the effort to try to guess the meaning without losing track of the story.
January 15, 2021
The audio book is well done.
I like Weber's books. He is on my always buy list. That said, I personally think he is paid by the word. He never uses one word where he can fit fifty in. The verbosity almost hides the story.
I always hesitate to say something negative about a book. Here is an author who shares his tremendous talent with all of us. I can not even imagine the planning and work that goes into making this book. That said, his word count almost covers up the story.
This is the second of a multi book series. There is a cliff hanger at the end.
I think I will wait to read the "Reader's Digest" condensed copy of the third book.
(Hmm....I wonder if those books are still published.)
I like Weber's books. He is on my always buy list. That said, I personally think he is paid by the word. He never uses one word where he can fit fifty in. The verbosity almost hides the story.
I always hesitate to say something negative about a book. Here is an author who shares his tremendous talent with all of us. I can not even imagine the planning and work that goes into making this book. That said, his word count almost covers up the story.
This is the second of a multi book series. There is a cliff hanger at the end.
I think I will wait to read the "Reader's Digest" condensed copy of the third book.
(Hmm....I wonder if those books are still published.)
April 20, 2021
Inevitable... someone has to end up as sovereign Lord or Lady, or end up as a ruling Monarch-so Weberesque... I like it!
Maybe Weber is secretly pro-monarchist, or maybe he is from Commonwealth, and not the USA...😂
Anyways first third of the book is so strenuous, so boring I barely got past it... But then suddenly- interesting. It's like from one page to another- one page boring, and the next page interesting! From one page to the other- like you started reading a completely new book. One page boring, the next page interesting and the book just flies up from there. I could feel my interest rise up with just one page and remain up til the end of the book. It is definitely better than the first part of the series, once you get past the first boring third of the book.
I like it. And Recomend it. Read it. If you like Weber, you'll like this book.
Can't wait for the third sequel!
Maybe Weber is secretly pro-monarchist, or maybe he is from Commonwealth, and not the USA...😂
Anyways first third of the book is so strenuous, so boring I barely got past it... But then suddenly- interesting. It's like from one page to another- one page boring, and the next page interesting! From one page to the other- like you started reading a completely new book. One page boring, the next page interesting and the book just flies up from there. I could feel my interest rise up with just one page and remain up til the end of the book. It is definitely better than the first part of the series, once you get past the first boring third of the book.
I like it. And Recomend it. Read it. If you like Weber, you'll like this book.
Can't wait for the third sequel!
April 16, 2021
Into the Light
authors David Weber and Chris Kennedy
narrator Ralph Lister
25hours 38minutes
Book 5*****
Narration 2**
Narration wasn't as bad as some I've listened to but I preferred the narration of first one by Charles Keating. I want to listen to this again when I have a print copy available. It can be difficult to follow who is speaking in discussions and occasionally terms were not understandable.
While it may not be necessary I think reading the first book
Out of the Dark before reading this one is helpful. Into the Light has foreshadowing of what's to come but, like with the first book, it seems readers sometimes miss it. This sequel to has 3 parts and an epilogue.
Year 1 of the Terran Empire picks up where Out of the Dark left off. Post apocalyptic SF with tech and military. Picking up the pieces and working on not only surviving but progressing toward a unified civilization that has a chance against the Galactic Hegemony when next encountered.
Renaissance, Sol System, Year 15 of the Terran Empire. Techno and military Science Fiction. Lots of tech as Earthians work to further improve the alien devices and ships. I don't think it's specifically mentioned but they follow Arthur C. Clarke's 2nd Law "The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.” or in the words of one character, I don't know whether their motto is "Hey y'all watch this!" or "Somebody hold my beer!"
Age of Exploration, Year 26 of the Terran Empire. Earth reaches out. First contact with nearest planet to Earth that the Hegemony has plans to attack. Foreshadowing:
Epilogue Year 41 of the Terran Empire. Hope this indicates there is going to be another book but it could be it is wrap up of story arc
Update:
As planned when I first listened to this I did immersive read with print as well as audio. The narration was worse than I thought when just listening. I thought it was me having problems. It's not me. It's the narration.
February 1, 2021
A good and thoughtful follow up to "Into the Dark", this book asks the logical question: what happens after Earth defeats the aliens? In this case, we use their technology and improve things from there. Can the Human race come together even when faced with a known common enemy? Can they find allies in space who were also on the Hegemony's hit list and convince everyone to work together against an upcoming threat? And can we learn the secret and surprising origins of Vlad Tepes' vampirism?
"Into the Light" had all the qualities I look for in a David Weber book: action, adventure, and thoughtful, history-driven plans for the future. I was a little disappointed the vampires didn't get more 'page time' here, but -SPOILER ALERT- it looks like there's hope for that in Book 3. I, for one, am looking forward to it.
"Into the Light" had all the qualities I look for in a David Weber book: action, adventure, and thoughtful, history-driven plans for the future. I was a little disappointed the vampires didn't get more 'page time' here, but -SPOILER ALERT- it looks like there's hope for that in Book 3. I, for one, am looking forward to it.
January 24, 2021
Poorly Written Sequel
I have immensely enjoyed David Weber’s novels. However, this collaboration is a jumble of story lines that feels as if the two authors never compared notes when they were writing. Major Disappointment.
I have immensely enjoyed David Weber’s novels. However, this collaboration is a jumble of story lines that feels as if the two authors never compared notes when they were writing. Major Disappointment.
July 25, 2021
This is just bad. The plot is thin and all over the place. There is way too much expository description and not nearly enough story. The whole vampire bit is just a bridge too far for a science fiction book. Mixing in the right-wing, gun-range-owning, southern prepper is almost parody. And King Henry? Really? I am torn between the ideas that Weber had a contract to fulfill, and didn't really care how he did it, or that he made a bet with someone about being able to sell the most absurd collection of mixed genres imaginable.
January 18, 2021
I was very excited to find out this one was coming out. I was very disappointed when I read it. The technology babble overwhelmed me. Going on to a new plant was just too much detail. I read the last two chapters and was caught up. I hope the next won't be as overwhelming.
Mr. Weber & Mr. Kennedy could have done a much better job.
Mr. Weber & Mr. Kennedy could have done a much better job.
January 24, 2022
I liked the first book in the series and this did not disappoint. I like a fast fast pace in a book and this was a little slow (but 99% of books I read are slow) and as with most books now there were to many main characters. Over all I liked it for the originality of subject matter (vampires and space together) and the bit of little action it had. I look forward to the next in the series.
January 16, 2024
Ok, after reading the end of the first book, I almost gave up on this series. I liked the initial 90% of that book, but the last 10% was a little…I guess “dumb” is the best way to characterize it. However, since I read many of Weber’s other books, I decided to keep going and I’m really happy I did. Couldn’t put this one down at the end. I’m looking forward to the next one in this series.
May 25, 2021
This might be the "most improved sequel" I've ever read, personally. It avoids, and even directly addresses, many of the shortcomings of the first installment.
First, the portrayal of the Hegemony seems more consistent. "Out of the Dark" opened with a Hegemony survey of Earth that had a coy portrayal of the aliens completely failing to understand human conflict and warfare. This would not be out of place in a lot of optimistic science fiction, where the purpose is to paint our tendencies as irrational and immature. Since the Hegemony was not fleshed out much beyond this prologue, I naturally interpreted their attitude as if I was reading one of those optimistic works, and was left feeling mixed by humanity practically declaring war on them by the end.
In the sequel, the Hegemony are better contextualized, enough so that my brain doesn't fall back on tropes that don't fit the setting. From humanity's point of view, the Hegemony embrace stagnation, lack curiosity, and are willing to deal with emerging problems (such as humans) by allowing species like the Shongairi to subjugate or exterminate them. And this is only the majority opinion, there are dissenters that believe the Hegemony isn't that bad, and that humans are traumatized by the Shongairi invasion. In any case, the Hegemony is developed well and now believably functions as a looming threat, helping to motivate humanity.
Second, there are fewer stylistic quirks that bored me, such as the extensive litanies describing things like munitions and dimensions, than the previous installment was plagued with. Perhaps the second author had something to do with that?
Finally, the vampires are incorporated into the story in a way that feels natural, in sharp contrast to the deus ex machina they were in the last. There are problems humanity has to solve that believably can't be solved by the seemingly-invincible vampires. And when it is time to "send in the vampires" (something they really say in the book, to my delight), the results are badass. Their origins and capabilities are explored in a way that is interesting. As someone who discovered the series by being spoiled about the vampires in it, I'm happy with the "screentime" they got.
As a story, "Into the Light" is also quite engaging. From making it through the deadly first winter, to building the Planetary Union nation by nation, the early stages are gripping and don't overstay their welcome. Generally, the time skips are well placed in this book, happening just when I found myself thinking "okay I get it, what's next?" Despite happening in what I consider to be a "bad" book, the massacre of humanity is still a compelling motivator and I was even personally moved by the determination of the characters to come out stronger. The climax on planet Sarth is very interesting, and when combat finally breaks out in the last few chapters it is very cathartic.
I honestly considered giving this five stars, but realistically my impression was colored more by how much better "Into the Light" is than "Out of the Dark" than by the sequel's own merits.
First, the portrayal of the Hegemony seems more consistent. "Out of the Dark" opened with a Hegemony survey of Earth that had a coy portrayal of the aliens completely failing to understand human conflict and warfare. This would not be out of place in a lot of optimistic science fiction, where the purpose is to paint our tendencies as irrational and immature. Since the Hegemony was not fleshed out much beyond this prologue, I naturally interpreted their attitude as if I was reading one of those optimistic works, and was left feeling mixed by humanity practically declaring war on them by the end.
In the sequel, the Hegemony are better contextualized, enough so that my brain doesn't fall back on tropes that don't fit the setting. From humanity's point of view, the Hegemony embrace stagnation, lack curiosity, and are willing to deal with emerging problems (such as humans) by allowing species like the Shongairi to subjugate or exterminate them. And this is only the majority opinion, there are dissenters that believe the Hegemony isn't that bad, and that humans are traumatized by the Shongairi invasion. In any case, the Hegemony is developed well and now believably functions as a looming threat, helping to motivate humanity.
Second, there are fewer stylistic quirks that bored me, such as the extensive litanies describing things like munitions and dimensions, than the previous installment was plagued with. Perhaps the second author had something to do with that?
Finally, the vampires are incorporated into the story in a way that feels natural, in sharp contrast to the deus ex machina they were in the last. There are problems humanity has to solve that believably can't be solved by the seemingly-invincible vampires. And when it is time to "send in the vampires" (something they really say in the book, to my delight), the results are badass. Their origins and capabilities are explored in a way that is interesting. As someone who discovered the series by being spoiled about the vampires in it, I'm happy with the "screentime" they got.
As a story, "Into the Light" is also quite engaging. From making it through the deadly first winter, to building the Planetary Union nation by nation, the early stages are gripping and don't overstay their welcome. Generally, the time skips are well placed in this book, happening just when I found myself thinking "okay I get it, what's next?" Despite happening in what I consider to be a "bad" book, the massacre of humanity is still a compelling motivator and I was even personally moved by the determination of the characters to come out stronger. The climax on planet Sarth is very interesting, and when combat finally breaks out in the last few chapters it is very cathartic.
I honestly considered giving this five stars, but realistically my impression was colored more by how much better "Into the Light" is than "Out of the Dark" than by the sequel's own merits.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 21, 2024
Hegemony
It's pronounced hegemony
Well, OK, I googled it and they said while that is the standard pronunciation, about 1-2% Do pronounce it with a hard G. Part way through the reading, someone must have whispered in the narrator's ear, because he started using the standard pronunciation about half the time before he'd forget and fall back.
He used two tones of voice. His normal voice, which was pleasant to listen to. And then he had a nasal voice that was pitched about a half an octave higher than normal. That was his southern dialect, his alien dialect, and his angry dialect.
Now to the book itself.
Usually when a book is so poorly written that I give it a 2 star rating, I just dump it and don't finish reading. But this book plot had so much potential that I read clear to the end, and kept waiting for that diamond in the rough.
Spoiler Alert: It didn't happen.
Low Points -
> Before humanity left earth, they worked to consolidate all races and cultures. There was one holdout. It was a Very Sensitive situation. So what did our intelligent leadership do? They sent the most volatile member of the vampire race as their representative. One with a known track record of killing humans. Oh, wow! She killed humans and wrecked the situation. What a surprise. Really. Everyone was surprised???
> So when you deal with a legacy real world historical event you have to play the hand that is given to you. But methinks our author tried a little too hard to whitewash Vlad's early history.
> Lot's of dinner table talk as a way to give the plot background information. Filled with stereotypical clichés .
> We are meeting a new race on their homeworld. One of the earth representatives was a freedom fighter from earth. A great warrior. A counter terrorist. Oops! He was blithely ignorant of the glaring red flags of counter insurgency. And then shocked, SHOCKED when the aliens did to him what he'd been doing to the aliens for the past umteen years. Yeah, I believe that.
High Point -
> A very nice, very nice tie-in to how the vampires first acquired their skills. It makes a good hook to the sci-fi genre. I won't give any spoilers here, but after finding out the cause of vampirism, I want to be a vampire too!!!
It's pronounced hegemony
Well, OK, I googled it and they said while that is the standard pronunciation, about 1-2% Do pronounce it with a hard G. Part way through the reading, someone must have whispered in the narrator's ear, because he started using the standard pronunciation about half the time before he'd forget and fall back.
He used two tones of voice. His normal voice, which was pleasant to listen to. And then he had a nasal voice that was pitched about a half an octave higher than normal. That was his southern dialect, his alien dialect, and his angry dialect.
Now to the book itself.
Usually when a book is so poorly written that I give it a 2 star rating, I just dump it and don't finish reading. But this book plot had so much potential that I read clear to the end, and kept waiting for that diamond in the rough.
Spoiler Alert: It didn't happen.
Low Points -
> Before humanity left earth, they worked to consolidate all races and cultures. There was one holdout. It was a Very Sensitive situation. So what did our intelligent leadership do? They sent the most volatile member of the vampire race as their representative. One with a known track record of killing humans. Oh, wow! She killed humans and wrecked the situation. What a surprise. Really. Everyone was surprised???
> So when you deal with a legacy real world historical event you have to play the hand that is given to you. But methinks our author tried a little too hard to whitewash Vlad's early history.
> Lot's of dinner table talk as a way to give the plot background information. Filled with stereotypical clichés .
> We are meeting a new race on their homeworld. One of the earth representatives was a freedom fighter from earth. A great warrior. A counter terrorist. Oops! He was blithely ignorant of the glaring red flags of counter insurgency. And then shocked, SHOCKED when the aliens did to him what he'd been doing to the aliens for the past umteen years. Yeah, I believe that.
High Point -
> A very nice, very nice tie-in to how the vampires first acquired their skills. It makes a good hook to the sci-fi genre. I won't give any spoilers here, but after finding out the cause of vampirism, I want to be a vampire too!!!
January 16, 2021
The book in general is decent, but still suffers from the major flaw that was apparent in the first the book. That is that the author seems to paint himself into a corner with no way out and so has to rely on a world breaking mechanism to get himself out of it which just destroys the immersion in a very jarring fashion.
For example, in the first book (out of the dark) Humans were defeated, reduced to guerilla tactics which made the aliens come to the conclusion that Humans were impossible to conquer, and so decided to wipe out humanity. So get get out of that trap, vampires suddenly exist and destroy ALL the aliens in just a few weeks.
In this book, humans have rebuilt with the aid of captured alien technology, and in just 20 years humans have gone from losing 3/4's of the human population to building interstellar craft, and making first contact with a new set of aliens who are just behind us technologically (their tech base seems to be around WW2 level). Humans come, announce themselves, and tell the alien world that they will not aid one side over any other, but that the technology that the humans have to share will be available to all countries once all countries have agreed to join an earth alliance.
This harkens back to earth uniting under a single government, and a couple of countries holding out for a while before they two finally decide to join with no force from the rest of the planet. So far so good.
But what happens when a single country refuses to join on this new alien world, and instead tries to kidnap the humans? Humanity responds with overwhelming force against this alien country, and removes and replaces the alien countries leader with a human...
And it is OK because of the alien countries concept of "if you defeat the leader then you become the leader by right of force and everyone else will be OK with the changing status quo and will go on as if the old leader never existed."
For example, in the first book (out of the dark) Humans were defeated, reduced to guerilla tactics which made the aliens come to the conclusion that Humans were impossible to conquer, and so decided to wipe out humanity. So get get out of that trap, vampires suddenly exist and destroy ALL the aliens in just a few weeks.
In this book, humans have rebuilt with the aid of captured alien technology, and in just 20 years humans have gone from losing 3/4's of the human population to building interstellar craft, and making first contact with a new set of aliens who are just behind us technologically (their tech base seems to be around WW2 level). Humans come, announce themselves, and tell the alien world that they will not aid one side over any other, but that the technology that the humans have to share will be available to all countries once all countries have agreed to join an earth alliance.
This harkens back to earth uniting under a single government, and a couple of countries holding out for a while before they two finally decide to join with no force from the rest of the planet. So far so good.
But what happens when a single country refuses to join on this new alien world, and instead tries to kidnap the humans? Humanity responds with overwhelming force against this alien country, and removes and replaces the alien countries leader with a human...
And it is OK because of the alien countries concept of "if you defeat the leader then you become the leader by right of force and everyone else will be OK with the changing status quo and will go on as if the old leader never existed."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 1, 2022
So I originally rated the first book in this series a 3. I did that because while I enjoyed the premise, and concept, I thought the overall execution could have been better, and the way the narrative solution was handled sold short the rest of the book.
I'm glad to find that Into the Light addresses a lot of these problems retroactively, with the 'light' onto the dark, things now are actually done justice. If they ever retold the last part of out of dark, I'd rate that 4 starts too. But that's enough of that, let's talk about light.
Light is divided into two parts, a part which is about what humans immediately do with the new technology and how they better their society and the sociopolitical problems that come from this.
This first section is very loosely a story, and is also somewhat hamhanded at showing utopian tech in different areas. I like the content, not a fan of the execution. The central conflict of this story feels like an afterthought, and if anything I found the resolution disappointing and anticlimactic.
The second half is good with some caveats. The alien terminology feels very difficult to read, I really feel like better editing choices could have been made to preserve the uniqueness without it being at the expense of reading comprehension. Apart from that, I enjoyed the story while the ending seemed to be a forgone conclusion, without a lot of mystery or indeed any great effort on anyone's part. It's like opening a Sherlock Holmes bok to the first page and Sherlock saying "by Joe, Dr Smith is the murderer, let's beat him up" , and so they did'.
It would have been nice for the story pieces to feel less like window dressing and more like an actual story.
I'm still going to rate it four stars because I enjoyed it, I enjoyed the world, I'd like to find out what happens next.
I'm glad to find that Into the Light addresses a lot of these problems retroactively, with the 'light' onto the dark, things now are actually done justice. If they ever retold the last part of out of dark, I'd rate that 4 starts too. But that's enough of that, let's talk about light.
Light is divided into two parts, a part which is about what humans immediately do with the new technology and how they better their society and the sociopolitical problems that come from this.
This first section is very loosely a story, and is also somewhat hamhanded at showing utopian tech in different areas. I like the content, not a fan of the execution. The central conflict of this story feels like an afterthought, and if anything I found the resolution disappointing and anticlimactic.
The second half is good with some caveats. The alien terminology feels very difficult to read, I really feel like better editing choices could have been made to preserve the uniqueness without it being at the expense of reading comprehension. Apart from that, I enjoyed the story while the ending seemed to be a forgone conclusion, without a lot of mystery or indeed any great effort on anyone's part. It's like opening a Sherlock Holmes bok to the first page and Sherlock saying "by Joe, Dr Smith is the murderer, let's beat him up" , and so they did'.
It would have been nice for the story pieces to feel less like window dressing and more like an actual story.
I'm still going to rate it four stars because I enjoyed it, I enjoyed the world, I'd like to find out what happens next.
May 31, 2022
Ouf ! L'humanité a échappé de peu à l'extinction de la part de la flotte extraterrestre des Shongairi, mais surtout grâce à l'aide providentielle de...Dracula et ses vampires. Mais quel désastre quand même ! Des milliards de mort, les 3/4 des humains, la majorité des villes détruites ainsi que les capacités industrielles. le bon côté, c'est que l'humanité a récupéré les vaisseaux spatiaux usines des Shongairi, leurs appareils d'apprentissage en direct ordinateur à cerveau et toute leur technologie. Pendant que quelques vampires, sur les vaisseaux de guerre capturés, partent faire savoir aux Shongairi que les humains connaissent la signification du mot vengeance, les humains se préparent à l'affrontement probable avec l'Hégémonie, cette fédération de milliers de planètes et de races d'extraterrestres, dont les Shongairi, qui est prête à tout pour garder le statu-quo.
Donc, la priorité, pour les humains, est d'organiser un gouvernement planétaire malgré les embuches des fanatiques religieux, de la mafia, des magnats de la drogue. En même temps, si l'humanité veut avoir une chance, elle doit capitaliser sur sa créativité pour améliorer la technologie actuelle de l'Hégémonie.
Ensuite, il faut se trouver des alliés. Pourquoi pas une des planètes visées par les Shongairi, justement il y a Sarth habitée par une race tri-sexuée ressemblant un peu aux vélociraptors.
De la politique, de la science, une race extraterrestre avec ses différents territoires et gouvernements.
Le livre est intéressant, mais avec moins d'action et on oublie un peu de raconter une histoire. On dirait un livre de transition pour nous préparer aux conflits avec l'hégémonie.
J'ai tout de même aimé, même si je n'aime pas le mélange des genres avec des vampires qui ressemblent plus à des super héros.
Donc, la priorité, pour les humains, est d'organiser un gouvernement planétaire malgré les embuches des fanatiques religieux, de la mafia, des magnats de la drogue. En même temps, si l'humanité veut avoir une chance, elle doit capitaliser sur sa créativité pour améliorer la technologie actuelle de l'Hégémonie.
Ensuite, il faut se trouver des alliés. Pourquoi pas une des planètes visées par les Shongairi, justement il y a Sarth habitée par une race tri-sexuée ressemblant un peu aux vélociraptors.
De la politique, de la science, une race extraterrestre avec ses différents territoires et gouvernements.
Le livre est intéressant, mais avec moins d'action et on oublie un peu de raconter une histoire. On dirait un livre de transition pour nous préparer aux conflits avec l'hégémonie.
J'ai tout de même aimé, même si je n'aime pas le mélange des genres avec des vampires qui ressemblent plus à des super héros.
February 26, 2023
I listened to this book as a audiobook, so some of my critiques are related to the fact that I was listening to someone else read this book.
First of all, this book used the same narrator as the prequel, but the narrator used completely different voices for the characters. In the first book his accents were suitable, but in this book, they were almost annoyingly stereotyped.
Secondly, just as in the first book in this series, the vampires appear to be thrown in at the spur of the moment. There is one small section where the theory is created that the vampires might have arisen as a result of a former alien attack, but this theory is only mentioned. This would have been an excellent storyline to follow, but instead, the pages were filled with endless board meeting and field report conversations, that were often one person talking for excessively long periods of time. It almost made for this bored reader sending this title my DNF list.
When the story finally did progress, the author brought in a completely new species of alien. Instead of furthering the original plot, to retaliate against the invading aliens, the Earthians go to the new planet and meet a new species. While the author does explain the new alien species’ physical characteristics and gender differences well, it gets confusing when he starts to introduce the pronouns for a third gender. It took me a while to realize that he was using a different pronoun to describe the third gender, and wasn’t actually using proper names.
Thirdly, there is very little description of the alien world. This might not have been a big deal if the scenes had taken place indoors or on the spaceship, but it got very confusing when the humans started driving around in Earth-style cars on the alien world. 🤷🏼♀️🤷🤷🏽♂️
Really, did I pick the wrong series to start reading David Weber?
First of all, this book used the same narrator as the prequel, but the narrator used completely different voices for the characters. In the first book his accents were suitable, but in this book, they were almost annoyingly stereotyped.
Secondly, just as in the first book in this series, the vampires appear to be thrown in at the spur of the moment. There is one small section where the theory is created that the vampires might have arisen as a result of a former alien attack, but this theory is only mentioned. This would have been an excellent storyline to follow, but instead, the pages were filled with endless board meeting and field report conversations, that were often one person talking for excessively long periods of time. It almost made for this bored reader sending this title my DNF list.
When the story finally did progress, the author brought in a completely new species of alien. Instead of furthering the original plot, to retaliate against the invading aliens, the Earthians go to the new planet and meet a new species. While the author does explain the new alien species’ physical characteristics and gender differences well, it gets confusing when he starts to introduce the pronouns for a third gender. It took me a while to realize that he was using a different pronoun to describe the third gender, and wasn’t actually using proper names.
Thirdly, there is very little description of the alien world. This might not have been a big deal if the scenes had taken place indoors or on the spaceship, but it got very confusing when the humans started driving around in Earth-style cars on the alien world. 🤷🏼♀️🤷🤷🏽♂️
Really, did I pick the wrong series to start reading David Weber?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 17, 2021
Barely Ok actually. An even worse sequel so Weber's weakest book. Weber is my favorite SF writer. I read and loved all his SF series and was very excited when Out of the Dark came out and it was a big disappointment - vampires vs aliens?!. But I did get to the end. By the time the sequel came out I forgot how weak the original was and eagerly grabbed Into the Light as my main holiday read. I was not that worried about the second author - I have enjoyed other contributors to the Honorverse series and found them to be up to DW's standard. Well, this time it's way worse. The language is terribly wooden (I've read better computer-generated prose), humor formulaic and heavily reused from DW's prior works. The books consists from three roughly equal parts:
- the first third doesn't deserve even a single star it consists of repetitive scenes of vampires dispatching bad guys, good guys doing good work and waxes poetic about the genius of America's constitution and electoral system.
- the second third ramps up to star-and-a-half as the action get's off the planet
- by the third part it actually get's somewhat readable maybe worth whopping 2.5 but if I weren't a captive beach audience I wouldn't have made it that far.
Dear David, please no more outsourcing!..
Your biggest fan.
- the first third doesn't deserve even a single star it consists of repetitive scenes of vampires dispatching bad guys, good guys doing good work and waxes poetic about the genius of America's constitution and electoral system.
- the second third ramps up to star-and-a-half as the action get's off the planet
- by the third part it actually get's somewhat readable maybe worth whopping 2.5 but if I weren't a captive beach audience I wouldn't have made it that far.
Dear David, please no more outsourcing!..
Your biggest fan.
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