WOW!
I hadn't quite expected this level of diatribe to come out of a simple request for clarification - OK, I'm lying, but this is still a bit more than I'd thought I'd see.
Ringo's "Choosers of the Slain" and others in that universe are nigh-pure self-insertion man-masturbation literature. They're low-grade pulps brought up in the year 2000, and they are a damn fine read so long as you can turn your brain off and enjoy the bullets, beer, and babes.
The Honorverse was covered elegantly and well by Bluemage - I can't say anything that wasn't already covered there, except, of course, "Yay! Treecats!"
The Council Wars are also covered very well here in this thread - Florin gave me exactly what I asked for. I agree that the 'good guys' aren't nearly as good as they could be, and the 'bad guys' aren't nearly as bad.
However, I think you, the generic you, have lost track of where the Council Wars started - this wasn't a thinly-veiled clone of modern-day Earth, this was post-utopia Earth, and to have it embroiled into Civil War...
I think that the Changed are the biggest differentiation between the good and bad guys in this book. The good guys may have killed and eaten some Changed, but they didn't bloody well _make_ them. You also don't see any of the 'good guys' keeping a friggin harem...
But I digress. Florin is essentially correct - noone's hands are completely clean in this universe, and that just makes it all the more fun. I personally love Bast, but I have a thing about sexual liberation through high technology, and hot elves. I do believe that the whole 'elf' concept was badly handled in this universe, it seems to be magic where everything else was science.
Bun-bun I have no explanation for.
Regarding the Waffen SS, I have not yet read watch over the rhine, it'll be wednesday before I can get home and pull it from the archive, and friday or better before I can finish it. But, from reviews and discussions, I don't think this is your father's SS. The Espirit Des Corps and the military command structure of the SS is a useful and valuable tool, especially when there is NO moral component to fighting the Posleen. none. You kill. Kill and kill and kill and kill until there's no killing left to be done. Or you die.
The Posleenverse is political at one remove - with Posties on the horizon, noone has political beliefs. You kill, or you die.
And in further news, I'm discussing this book with my literary advisor right now. In Rhine, the Waffen SS are 'resurrected' by the German political leadership with two 'forgiving' factors. First, the 'Nazi' elements are removed - this incarnation is a military unit, not a force of racial subjugation. Second, they are all going to die. The vote was split in the German political counsel, and the last swing voter agreed, with the proviso that they all be used up - which was agreed to. These are elite military officers who know that they are going to die in defense of Germany, and they will happily ressurect the espirit des corps of that hated unit, because it will bloody well _work_. A nonmilitary Germany needs a powerful totem to get behind and push, and the Waffen SS is a damn fine totem for that purpose.
glorifying Nazis, indeed. Next thing you know, you people are going to try and convince me that JK Rowling isn't a no-talent hack plagarist.
Just got off the phone with my literary advisor - he claims that the Council Wars universe is pretty much done for, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. It's not profitable, it seems..Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979
I hadn't quite expected this level of diatribe to come out of a simple request for clarification - OK, I'm lying, but this is still a bit more than I'd thought I'd see.
Ringo's "Choosers of the Slain" and others in that universe are nigh-pure self-insertion man-masturbation literature. They're low-grade pulps brought up in the year 2000, and they are a damn fine read so long as you can turn your brain off and enjoy the bullets, beer, and babes.
The Honorverse was covered elegantly and well by Bluemage - I can't say anything that wasn't already covered there, except, of course, "Yay! Treecats!"
The Council Wars are also covered very well here in this thread - Florin gave me exactly what I asked for. I agree that the 'good guys' aren't nearly as good as they could be, and the 'bad guys' aren't nearly as bad.
However, I think you, the generic you, have lost track of where the Council Wars started - this wasn't a thinly-veiled clone of modern-day Earth, this was post-utopia Earth, and to have it embroiled into Civil War...
I think that the Changed are the biggest differentiation between the good and bad guys in this book. The good guys may have killed and eaten some Changed, but they didn't bloody well _make_ them. You also don't see any of the 'good guys' keeping a friggin harem...
But I digress. Florin is essentially correct - noone's hands are completely clean in this universe, and that just makes it all the more fun. I personally love Bast, but I have a thing about sexual liberation through high technology, and hot elves. I do believe that the whole 'elf' concept was badly handled in this universe, it seems to be magic where everything else was science.
Bun-bun I have no explanation for.
Regarding the Waffen SS, I have not yet read watch over the rhine, it'll be wednesday before I can get home and pull it from the archive, and friday or better before I can finish it. But, from reviews and discussions, I don't think this is your father's SS. The Espirit Des Corps and the military command structure of the SS is a useful and valuable tool, especially when there is NO moral component to fighting the Posleen. none. You kill. Kill and kill and kill and kill until there's no killing left to be done. Or you die.
The Posleenverse is political at one remove - with Posties on the horizon, noone has political beliefs. You kill, or you die.
And in further news, I'm discussing this book with my literary advisor right now. In Rhine, the Waffen SS are 'resurrected' by the German political leadership with two 'forgiving' factors. First, the 'Nazi' elements are removed - this incarnation is a military unit, not a force of racial subjugation. Second, they are all going to die. The vote was split in the German political counsel, and the last swing voter agreed, with the proviso that they all be used up - which was agreed to. These are elite military officers who know that they are going to die in defense of Germany, and they will happily ressurect the espirit des corps of that hated unit, because it will bloody well _work_. A nonmilitary Germany needs a powerful totem to get behind and push, and the Waffen SS is a damn fine totem for that purpose.
glorifying Nazis, indeed. Next thing you know, you people are going to try and convince me that JK Rowling isn't a no-talent hack plagarist.
Just got off the phone with my literary advisor - he claims that the Council Wars universe is pretty much done for, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. It's not profitable, it seems..Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979