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- Verified Buyer
First let me say to my fellow Amazon reviewers, seriously? You're like someone who recommends The Sixth Sense to someone and you start out by saying "So Bruce Willis is a ghost."There is such a thing as a spoiler, and the polite thing to do is not to mention them. It is certainly possible to talk about the book without giving things away.Now my review. I came upon this book through the Warriors Anthology. Of all the twenty-ish stories in that anthology, this short story (which was then expanded into the novel you see here) was my favorite. Yes, the ending was the same.This is the first David Weber book I've read, I get the impression many of the negative reviews are by his long time "fans" so maybe this isn't typically what he writes. I have no preconceived notions so I judged it as is.I really enjoyed it, it is fast paced, the action and military aspects are well described, the level of detail is excellent, and I find the plot and the world he has created wholly unique. Especially given the current geopolitical climate a situation in which we're the insurgency really resonated with me. Also, unlike similar plots such as "Independence Day" where our technology is completely outmatched, I liked that this novel describes a much closer fight where both sides can inflict harm. I also found his explanation for the alien's vulnerability to make sense.The book basically follows the actions of part of an ancient 70,000 some year old alien "hegemony" as they try to subjugate Earth, they're easily able to take out our major cities and military bases, but when they start landing ground troops they become vulnerable and we give it back to them pretty good.As for the ending, I was surprised, I like being surprised, I consider it hard to surprise me. In retrospect there were signs, of course, but it is so out of left field the possibility wasn't even on my radar. It is a little deus ex machina, but I reserve that label for situations where I think the author invented ending to get out of some writer's block, out of convenience. In this case I'm pretty sure David Weber knew his ending before he wrote a word.And yes, the ending is similar to a contemporary fad, but it at least is a very unique application of that subject matter, one I've not heard of or seen before. One might say he was capitalizing on it, as if his motives affect your enjoyment of the book or not. Could he merely have been inspired by it? Maybe thinking along those lines more now because the topic is pretty popular? In any case, his reason for the ending shouldI liked the book so much, I hope he writes a sequel. Seriously, take the battle to the hegemony. Everyone likes the story of an underestimated adversary rising from the ashes like the mythical phoenix to make his antagonist regret ever proviking his ire. In the end thats what you have here. It is very pro-human, and pro-human race, and human civilization, and human exceptionalism. It writes as if we're the best species in the universe out of thousands. That is candy for people prone to patriotism like myself and others. Then it has a very surprising twist. Which, understand, when I first read it, I didn't even know there was a twist in advance, let alone what it was. I hadn't read any reviews, I thought it was straight up man vs. aliens.That is probably the best experience. Even if you read my review, I don't tell you what the twist is, but you know there is one. The best experience is if you know nothing and read it like I did to be fully surprised.On a side note, I also think this would make an excellent movie. As you say, its a fad, and would do well enough at the box office. Plus who doesn't want to see an F-22 shoot down spaceships?
