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Safehold


Ammanas

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Getting some popcorn now atleast but it’s to little way to late for me this book. On pg 580. Just trying to finish up asap at this point so I get back to DoD and likely also start Inheritance trilogy to. NK really wowed me with Broken Earth so I’m looking forward to this. 1400+ pg book omni. Gonna be hell on my hands.

still 3 stars well 3.1 with 158 ratings

Edited by Briar King
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Sorry to hear that :( I should finish At the Sign of Triumph in a couple of days. I already believe I know how its going to end. Admiral Thirst and the treasurer for the Group of Four have been painted in a good and sympathetic light from the beginning and I'm guessing they will survive and be instrumental in reform.

It's had its moments, in this book,but there have been quite a few sections where it has dragged. I know you've said books 6-8 is the worst in the series, but I really like book 8 (Hell's Foundations Quiver). I do agree with book 6th being the worst in the series  (although that will probably change with book 10). Book 7 was middle of the road for me. 

I'm surprised, since the tactics and weaponry since book 8, are almost identical with thise in WW 1, that Charis hasn't deployed poisen gas. It seems like it would give them a huge advantage and it was already used in the Inquisitor stronghold earlier in book 9.  

So far my favorites three are in this order: By Heresies Distressed, Off Armageddon Reef, and Hell's Foundations Quiver.

Edited by Ammanas
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I hope you disagree with me afterwards lol. I can understand what he was going for in this book but it was dreadfully long and boring. We will talk about all this stuff later.

i think I’m correct in my suspicions about something for sure now. I had mentioned upthread that if it wasn’t brought up after something else was brought up I would likely have been right all along. It’s actually something that you have brought up but I’m not saying what till you have finished 10.

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Great. Looking forward to your thoughts! It will be awhile though. I'm still five on the list, of one copy, and can't tell if they have the downloadable audiobook available for patrons at the moment or its expecting to get it soon and just starting the queue.

I could probably get a hold of a print copy earlier. But with the amount of bloat I'm expecting in this book I would rather just wait for the audiobook. With a title like Through Fiery Trials and a picture of Merlin with a fleet of war blimps behind him you would think it would be action packed? Wouldn't be the first time a catchy title and cover art has fooled me though.

Edited by Ammanas
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Just going by covers I have found only 20% of these actually having any correct representation. Those being bk 4 with a naval battle and bk 7 with the addition of a certain someone. All others are kinda just there for inaccurate eye candy.

And despite my overall negative reaction to this entry there was definitely some “oh rust” moments that actually had to happen eventually and with this structure the story unfolded with.

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Just finished! I probably should of waited until Thurday, but I had to know how it ended and made more time in my day for it. I really liked how the people of Zion decided the throw off their own chains and revolt against the Inquisitors. Loved the broadsheets that were printed and ended with the words, "Death to to Inquisitors" and seeing the aftermath.

Still feels like this novel dragged in quite a few places, but it had its moments (as do all of them up to this point). Despite the author's faults I am willing to overlook a lot for all of the fist pumps and as you call it "popcorn" that his writing gives me.

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He really handled it well. Aside from the tech/geography lectures and the massive pg counts of internal monologues you really can’t ask for better good guys always beat guys(who have a habit of turning into good guys) series.

i would definitely go into bk 10 asap once available. It had been quite awhile since I finished and it took its toll on my who’s who memory esp on more minor characters. I will say that that’s probably a reason I didn’t find 10 as good as I struggled to remember this large cast and who is in circle or out and what nation or campaign they were part of. 

Def easy to see the turning of 2 of the characters coming and the way the people were completely worn out of the fighting after all those years and the ending of Clinton was satisfying to read.

after bk 1 my favorite was bk 5. Remember I said it starts down some dark stuff? I was referring to Gwlym Manthrys arc. That was some brutal stuff that he went through and everyone watched happen in the circle live and were powerless to do anything about.

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I saw that audible allows you to purchase the Honor Harrington books for only $1.99 if you already have the digital copy, so I took a flyer on it and spent the two bucks to listen to On Basilisk Station. Here's my thoughts (starting with the complaints).

The most I could feel for the main character was only minor interest. She is a nice, strong capable woman, but she felt almost rebotic. She kept saying, doing, and thinking all time that she will "fulfill my duty". She reminds me a bit of that really smart girl in class that is always raising their hand and doing exactly what the teacher wants. You don't have anything against her, but you dont really want to read a book about her. Also the society she is fighting for is just so...weak. I feel like I dont even really want them to succeed. The writing is really raw. The first safehold book were written after almost a decade more experience after this book. The narrator was just ok. I've been spoiled with some really great ones.

Despite my complaints I felt something stir within me when the good guys started kicking butt and taking names. It's also a series, where I look at some of the pieces in it, and feel very confident it will continue to improve. 

It will be too much of a financial investment to purchase these books to get the audio copy (for something I dont see myself relistening). So that leaves the library route. They are audible originals so the library will only get the physical copies (which is a much heavier time investment for me). I suppose I would continue to read the series, but it is very far down my reading list and priorities. I think someday though.

Also I saw that I am number four on the list now for Safehold 10. I'm moving on up!

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  • 2 weeks later...

On number 3 of one copy. Checkouts are for three weeks at a time, but some people are considerate and return it early if they finish before its due. I also might get lucky if a person doesn't download it (when it's their turn) in two days it goes to the next person in line. Taking forever right! I keep hearing the siren song of Weber with both Honor Harington and Safehold that keep calling me to its shore! 

Edit: Great news @Briar King I'm still number three in line through the Overdrive App, but the library got another copy through the Cloudlibrary app and I was the first one to request it. I now have it downloaded and will start it tomorrow. I want to get to a good stopping point on the book I am currently listening to and that should be today. I'm excited to jump back in.

Edited by Ammanas
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About 20 hours in with 12 more to go. You were right about this one being different. There is definitely more sitting around and talking and I've been finding my attention wondering far more than the standard Safehold novel. I can't even imagine actually reading the print version rather than the audiobook. 

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Hah so far the only thing that was glorious was the Dragon attack during the slash lizard hunting expedition. I feel like the author was afraid to introduce the new generation of characters and felt like this book was needed. When readera started Off Armageddon Reef all the characters were new, so just about everything in this book was unnecessary because we could of grown confortable with new cast without much difficulty. Also the fates of the "old guard" could be casual mentions in conversation in the following book.

Edit: I finished it! I'm actually really mad about the book too. If it ended with the inner circle talking about the downward spiral of Siddarmarck (they just can't catch a break can they?) I would of been ok with it. I would of said that every author has a book in the series that didn't work for me, just wait for the next one, and hope that it improves. But to spend hour after hour listening to basically nothing happening and then the author drops a bomb shell and ends the book?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? NO COOL! Now that I've vented my nerd rage what was the theory, you mentioned earlier, that you wanted to discuss @Briar King?

Edited by Ammanas
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I mean that book was an absolute ****pile wasn’t it?! This is what I’m talking about when I say it was to long from 9-10 irl for me.

 

i couldn’t properly place Duke Eastshare other then knowing the name in the books opening but atleast someone finally was like “No! I ain’t buying this.”(I don’t really consider Angelic’s assistant doing so in earlier book) It’s just to large a cast and he chose not to even put in a DP section to refer to for 10. Harchong and especially Siddermark where just so BORING TO READ! I REALLY had trouble with this book cause it just took to much of real life and inserted in the book. 2016 was all over this book and I HATE when Trump invades my books/tv shows. Yet here we had “Never Charis”, “deplorable Republicans” “5 year tyrant” blah blah blah, with coverage of The Great Depression/Recession(why do I need 700 pgs of that crap?)...it was just very frustrating to go through.

then we had the most basic and I will say it juvenile love stories with what’s her face princess and Lewis jr and Nimue/Garvi. It was legit painful to read her crisis and have to get handheld through that indeed she could have kids and I will donate the egg! It was dumb filler. As a 1-9 reader I know the Cave has state of the art tech so why did he fill the need to dumb down Nimue...Gababa info or no? This was an entire chapter wasted.

the dragon attack while good was to little to late and relied sooo much on bk 1 through back it diminished the full impact imo. In the end the section was a yawn.

only real shockers for me were the deaths of Lewis and Rhobiar but with the time jump people had to go.

 

now my theory was on Harrison.... I would have been able to lay it out so easy had this been 2 years ago. Now everything is pretty foggy but I can quite clearly remember suspecting Baron Seamount was the leak from the very get go due to various hints in letters and this never went away so when his turn came up to be brought in the circle by Merlin and Seamounts own friend said this shouldn’t happen and turned Merlin down (bk 9?)it set in stone for me. No way Harrison wouldn’t not blow the lid to Church. I believe Harrison letters or mentions happened every book since introducing so then we have book 10...Seamount is dead(and though now was in circle) not a single mention of Harrison was in bk 10. Coincidence? If he was what happened to his letter writing? Change of heart after actually having access to the true history? Or just not Seamount?

Edited by Briar King
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I have nothing more to add to your complaints except that I need to apply to be David Webers editor; evidently there is no expectation to do anything. Interesting theory about Harrison. I thought the leak was the factory owner who blew himself up but can see that it might of gone deeper. They mentioned that particular incident in the future books occasionally and there were leaks that they attributed to other things, but I can see your logic.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was a Weber "fan" when I was younger, and I think that by now I've read everything he wrote (yes, everything - I'm an insomniac and they helped me get to sleep ;) ). I haven't read anything by him since the week after 9 came out, though - and I really thought it might be the end - and I was wondering if you think that it's worth coming back in?

I liked the explanations of technology, how much is there?

In all of his space-fareing books, he never really seemed to understand 3d battlefields and treated space like a big ocean (especially in the later Honor Harington books, which are really just replays of famous naval battles, but in space. I even call them Trafalgar and the like to myself :) ). Is there actually blimp warfare, and does it suffer from the same? because that would be a dealbreaker for me, I'm simply fed up.

How do you rate it, and should I buy it or wait for the library?

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If I understand you correctly you are saying that you have read the first nine safehold books and were wondering if the tenth book (which is the mosy recent release) is good and if ther is blimp warfare and if it was executed well? Well me and Briar King both had big problems with the tenth novel. We both felt it was much slower than standard safehold and was mainly characters talking for countless pages. I, personally, had a problem that he ends the book in a cliffhanger. Blimp warfare is still in its beginning stages and consists of supply drops and dropping bombs. No one else has developed aerial power yet so there isn't really a need for him to go into such details at this point.

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