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Safehold


Ammanas

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So every once in a while I see that people are reading the Safehold series (by David Weber) in the currently reading thread. I looked it up and it sounds really interesting, but several reviewers have expressed great disappointment in the latter novels. Since this series looks to be a major commitment I am looking for fellow sharders perspective. What do you think of the series? Especially the latter books?

Edited by Ammanas
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Def yes I would but there is really very little SF. It's got some sprinkled in but your mostly dealing with a 1600-1700 era tech world so far. I'm sure it ll get more SF in the last bks but it all works great. It's a fun read if you want fluffy popcorn, so predictable in bk 1-3 that it's fun to see, a HUGE World to explore, etc...

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Forgot to add if your not a fan of naval warfare(wooden ships and cannons) you could struggle a bit cause it's very navy heavy in all bks that I have read 1-5. Large portions are covered at sea but Weber does it xtremely well...just may have trouble with all the sea/ship/sail etc terms if it's not your usual cup of tea. Again though he seems to know his stuff and the battles are very action packed but predictable. I highly reco to try this if you want a great popcorn read. I myself plan on checking out his other works now in the future.

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7 minutes ago, Briar King said:

Forgot to add if your not a fan of naval warfare(wooden ships and cannons) you could struggle a bit cause it's very navy heavy in all bks that I have read 1-5. Large portions are covered at sea but Weber does it xtremely well...just may have trouble with all the sea/ship/sail etc terms if it's not your usual cup of tea. Again though he seems to know his stuff and the battles are very action packed but predictable. I highly reco to try this if you want a great popcorn read. I myself plan on checking out his other works now in the future.

Thanks! I will give this a try. I have about 3 books ahead of it, but I'm excited to start this series. I heard that the Safehold book that came out last month concludes the series, but plenty is left to happen in a upcoming sequel series.

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Yeah that's what I'm talking about. Idk the specific rules but if I'm talking bks with  people I ll just say ex bk 5 (spoiler) etc I'd be pretty irate with someone if they just posted a spoiler in a series thread without ref what bk they talking about 1st and I see something yet to come on my end. It's usually 2 weeks or so of tagging in a bk specific thread then if you read spoiler it's on your own head. Upon new bks/movies I meant

Edited by Briar King
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  • 3 months later...

Hah yeah I read about 50 pgs and couldn't get into it. I am not giving up though. Sometimes if I wait a while and give it another shot I end up liking it. Right after I tried this book I really got into the science fiction series The Expanse by James S.A. Corey. I LOVED these books and quickly gobbled all six of them. I just finished them (or all that have been published) and have a few things on my list. I will give it another try soon.

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On 3/14/2017 at 9:42 PM, Ammanas said:

Hah yeah I read about 50 pgs and couldn't get into it. I am not giving up though. Sometimes if I wait a while and give it another shot I end up liking it. Right after I tried this book I really got into the science fiction series The Expanse by James S.A. Corey. I LOVED these books and quickly gobbled all six of them. I just finished them (or all that have been published) and have a few things on my list. I will give it another try soon.

It really is fun when it's moving along.

 I'm on bk 5 of Expanse.

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  • 1 year later...

My library finally got the downloadable audiobooks so I gave this series another try and it is going much better! I am about halfway through the first one. I like a lot of the central ideas behind the series and questions it raises. It's a little slow paced though. I thought the beginning was hard to get through and could be better relayed  to the reader through flasbacks, but once they they get to the current timeline it is much more interesting.

Supposedly the latter installments are slower paced, but I will keep listening until it stops being fun. All in all a few nagging things I don't  like about it, but a there is quite a bit I do like about it! By the way @Briar King are you all caught up on this series? The latest is At the Sign of Triumph, but there is a tenth coming out in January. Judging from the cover they are just getting Blimp technology. I have no idea how he will ever finish the series and get the People of Safehold ready to defend/avenge the inhabitants of Old Earth against the attacking Alien species.

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I finished a long time ago yeah. It’s a super fun though often frustrating grind in middle bks. To much info in long 20+ pg info dumps but when the story is moving it’s moving.

That said I have vowed to never read any other Weber series barring this one if it ever went past bk 9. I’ve heard to many horror stories and I never want to experience the same kind of grind I went through with the worst of Safehold. I’m to invested in Safehold to call it quits after over a yr spent read 1-9.

Edited by Briar King
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  • 4 weeks later...

@Briar King Just started A Mighty Fortress. Mixed feelings about the series, but overall there's just something that keeps pulling me back in. I saw that the plan for Weber is 5 more books in the series of building up technology and three that deal with the Gbaba. That means 9 published at the moment and (assuming everything goes well) 8 more books to go. Just to echo your thoughts B.K this will probably be my only Weber series that I will read.

Edited by Ammanas
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He does outstanding battles particularly naval. The story is quite simple and extremely predictable and full of fist pump moments and yes it has the ability to draw you in. Will totally be my only Weber. I just can’t suffer through another stories 20+ pgs massive info dumps/tech explanations multiple times in any given book(you ve got more to go). Take heart though cause bk 4&5 gets into some juicy stuff.

Really hoping he got an editor who will tell him to cut out lots of that Deltak tech lectures **** for any remaining books.

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How are you finding the info dumps anyway? At book 4 point they aren’t nearly as tedious as the later books. It got to the point where I considered just skipping any chapter with a certain location title but I never did just incase some huge piece of info was discussed.

When Safehold was moving though it was REALLY moving along imo and there is some legit “OH RUST!” moments in every book.

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@Briar King Since I am doing the audiobooks the info dumps, while annoying, aren't nearly has bad if I was reading it. I am listening on 1.6 speed too which really makes it fly by the slow parts. You were right about when it moves it really moves. Reading this series is kind of like the experience of a prospector mining for gold on a river a lot of sifting through sand, but every once in a while you find a gold nugget and makes it worth it. I loved the battle scenes in book 3 where the break out not only their advanced muskets and artillery, but also their tactics with two man sniper teams that target officers. Also loved Merlin traveling at Mach 5 to rescue the Empress. Also when they break out the new socket/ring bayonets that can still fire into the cavalry charge; it completely took the commander by surprise...I just started pumping my fist in the air. Take that group of 4!

Edited by Ammanas
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@Briar King I think its official...I have a sickness because I can't stop listening to this series. I loved it when Charis brought out the exploding artillery shells (for the first time in that world) at the end of A Mighty Fortess. The wooden ships never had a chance!

Just started How Firm a Foundation and the High Inquisitor just mentioned the spy with the code name of Harrison. Do we get to know the real name of that spy by the end of the book or will it be a while before we learn the true identity. My first thought was its really Merlin sending out real information in order to pull the rug out from under the group of four when it really matters and the stakes are high enough. Probably wrong about that though.

It will be interesting with the new book that comes out Tuesday. Evidently it deals with the events over a 15 year span. All the books so far take place over a few months for each novel.

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