Recent Reading, Mar 22, Oh dear....

[davidgillon]

Exodus, Steve White and Shirley Meier

I've been re-reading odd bits of the David Weber and Steve White Starfire series while thinking about the associated game rules (the game came first, with Weber honchoing the third edition before he made it big as an author). And I came across a reference to White having published further books in the series. It turns out there are actually four more, apparently two linked duologies, one book with Meier and three with Charles Gannon. So I decided I'd pick up the first one for my Kindle.

And it would have to be the Kindle, because that cover is so bad I would have been embarrassed to buy it in store, or have it on my bookshelves. The book introduces a new species, the Arduin, who are basically humanoid, but specified as having three eyes, one large above two small, no nose, and with limbs that are somewhat tentacular and hands that are very tentacular. They're also bald, and are called "Baldies" by the humans throughout the book. So our artist interpreted this as an extremely well-endowed woman, wearing strategically-draped minimal clothing, with conventionally jointed limbs, though they do have the tentacular hands. And if you look closely you find that there is actually a third eye squeezed in at the bridge of the nose, which is covered in Star Trek Klingon brow-ridges. And god knows if she'd bald or not, because she's wearing an extremely ornate headdress, and I can't swear that part of it isn't supposed to be antennae. About the only thing the artist got right is that she has gold skin, And the '50s era looking blocky starships visible over her shoulder have tentacles extending out of their bottoms. ?!?

It is just so obvious the artist has taken a pre-existing image of a half-dressed woman and painted over it. *headdesk*

Unfortunately the writing also leaves something to be desired. It's basically the plot of the first Weber/White Starfire novel, Crusade, all over again - unknown species appears, decides they have a religious casus belli against all humans and launches a genocidal war egged on by corrupt churchmen while one alien leader wonders 'Are we the baddies?' And I was just complaining last month about Weber having used this plot three times already. There's actually some reasonably decent writing and characterisation, which is probably helped by most of the human characters being retreads from Insurrection, the last novel in the Weber-White timeline (though written second), even if they are, mostly, 80 years older. But some of the writing is just plain bad. One of the established major civilisations appears to have been put on a bus, while there's a supposedly important sub-plot about human resistance on an occupied planet that gets precisely three scenes, and if you are having two of your military characters lament about no one studying military history any more, do not mis-spell the name of Erwin Rommel. And for experienced military SF writers, the authors seem remarkably hazy about the appropriate ranks for characters.

But "Irwin Rommel" is not the only spelling or layout error, this is a book that literally talks about "armerments", and where every scene break indicator has gone AWOL, so you suddenly find yourself out of one character's POV and in that of someone on the other side, on a different planet, and months later.

It's just plain bad. The only way I could recommend it is if you were looking for additional background for the game, which basically I was, but still. (Though I did finally work out whether it was Weber or White who has a thing for short women, it's White.)

I also downloaded the Kindle sample for the next book, Extremis, with Gannon replacing Meier*. Which opens with a stirring speech with the (extremely short) resistance leader telling people "You're all marines now, and you'll use marine rank whatever service you came from". Which might have been more impressive if she wasn't a character whose rank was, and is confirmed immediately post-speech to remain, the naval rank of Commander. (Also, no civilians in the resistance?) *le sigh*

* Changing co-authors mid-duology is probably never a good sign.