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Shadow of Victory - Quality of the Story / Plot?

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Re: Shadow of Victory - Quality of the Story / Plot?
Post by cthia   » Thu Nov 10, 2016 2:37 am

cthia
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It doesn't seem that any of the reviews are slowing sales.

I have to purchase 50 books - well, 43 overall. (Hardbacks) Five extra for anyone new wanting to try it out. They are mostly going to friends in Romania. I've shipped them copies of all of the books. And when I check local bookstores they have at most 5 copies left. (Not counting the ones on hold.)

I'm ordering from Books A Million and Barnes and Noble. I haven't even received my own yet.

Son, your mother says I have to hang you. Personally I don't think this is a capital offense. But if I don't hang you, she's gonna hang me and frankly, I'm not the one in trouble. —cthia's father. Incident in ? Axiom of Common Sense
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Re: Shadow of Victory - Quality of the Story / Plot?
Post by jaydub69   » Fri Nov 11, 2016 2:18 am

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SOV was just released last week. a much anticipated new book in a popular series by a well-known author and it is #2669 in sales on amazon, #137 in sales in the sci-fi category. did not a couple of his earlier HH books make the top ten bestseller lists? just saying. i suppose if you start reading the book at about the point where Tourville heads into the Talbott quadrant and take out anything to do with planet Poland and planet Slovakia it becomes a decent read. unfortunately, you end up with about 100 pages. take that and add in 600 pages of actual plot advancement and that would have been what I was looking forward to.
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Re: Shadow of Victory - Quality of the Story / Plot?
Post by Gunny   » Sat Nov 12, 2016 1:07 am

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Did I like the book? YES.

Are the complaints by other reviewers valid? Yes.

Did it move the story along as I was expecting? No.

What was I hoping for? More at the strategic level. What's going on with Lacoon? What's happening at Solar League HQ? What's happening at Bewowulf? A Manticore ally, whose name I can't remember this late at night, was going to go after the Mesa folk while Manticore handled the League. What are they doing?

David Weber writes good stuff. I could have hoped he would do more in this book, but as I read it I was enthralled and got it read in only a couple of days.

The early books had lots of space battles, but they get to be repetitive. Let's move on.

If this was the first book in a series, would I jump at the chance to get the rest? No.

But this isn't the first book in a series, it is the next to last (or thereabouts) and Weber writes good stuff. Will I read it again? Yes.

Was it an enjoyable read? Yes.

Will I buy the next volume? Well, I'm an old man with health issues, but if I'm still around, Yes. (I just hope he doesn't hold off too long.)
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Re: Shadow of Victory - Quality of the Story / Plot?
Post by StealthSeeker   » Sat Nov 12, 2016 2:18 am

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I got the book from the library and I'm very glad I did not purchase it. I may get it in some electronic version just so I have it for reference.

This is the first Weber book of I have ever read in which I felt disappointed with. Rather than being new material about new events it was a several year, greatly expanded, rehash of events that happened throughout several of the other books. It was as if Mr. Weber took "cut outs" removed from other books, to reduce those books total word count, and reworked them into this book.

Maybe some of the "detail" that this book presents solves some long unresolved questions about the story line. But it was detail that I personally didn't feel I had greatly missed in the story telling of the saga.

I had felt a great deal of anticipation and excitement about this new book with expectations that the story would move beyond the cliff hangers the previous books had ended with. I was greatly disappointed that it didn't. To paint a mental image: It was like going to the movies and purchasing a ticket to the latest Marvel Universe movie but having once taken my seat the only thing played were Gilligan's Island reruns.
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I think therefore I am.... I think
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Re: Shadow of Victory - Quality of the Story / Plot?
Post by kzt   » Sat Nov 12, 2016 2:42 am

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StealthSeeker wrote:I was greatly disappointed that it didn't. To paint a mental image: It was like going to the movies and purchasing a ticket to the latest Marvel Universe movie but having once taken my seat the only thing played were Gilligan's Island reruns.

That's unfair. It's more finding it's all deleted scenes and alternate endings from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Iron Man 2, and The Incredible Hulk. :D

But I don't regret my eARC.
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Re: Shadow of Victory - Quality of the Story / Plot?
Post by brickmule   » Sun Nov 13, 2016 4:33 am

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Like many, I found the writing good and the story tedious. There has been a tendency in books of the last 20 years to show the events of a story from seemingly as many viewpoints as possible. The result is that many novels read more like a transcript of Ken Burn's Civil War than a story. Shadow of Victory has this problem, exacerbated by many of the mini story arcs being variants on the same theme.
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Re: Shadow of Victory - Quality of the Story / Plot?
Post by kaid   » Mon Nov 14, 2016 12:37 pm

kaid
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On its own SOV is a good book but with the last couple books it suffered from going over ground that has already been covered. Even with the various rebellions a lot of them lacked some impact simply because the last book already let the cat out of the bag that the manties were looking for things like this and acting upon them.

Maybe some of this was necessary setup for the next book but this one given the last couple felt a bit like it was spinning its wheels.
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Re: Shadow of Victory - Quality of the Story / Plot?
Post by Bahzellstudent   » Mon Nov 14, 2016 6:30 pm

Bahzellstudent
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I share some of the disappointment of others in this thread - I had hoped to see the overall time lines would move forward somewhat; the first 100 pages were very slow - although it did get me into the book after that
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Re: Shadow of Victory - Quality of the Story / Plot?
Post by Larry   » Tue Nov 15, 2016 6:37 am

Larry
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Hey guys! Stop with the doom and gloom already, after all we still have to hear the same section of time told from the perspective of the folks out in the Silesian region. At least that would be new material and let David feature several newer, different heroes to throw into the mix.

Plus we haven't heard anything from the Anderman Empire in a while, so I'm sure we need a sub story about what they've been doing during the exact same period of time. And what the heck possibly add to it one from Bolthole about developments in the early collaborations between Manticorian Boffins and Havenite Boffins.

So stop whinging, there are lots of other sub stories we could be enthralled with until David finally remembers where he means to go forward on the mainline. Myself i think he may have painted himself into a bit of a corner with his enemy having undetectable ships and the full might of the Solarian league to throw Cannon fodder at Manticore while the Renaissance Front builds up a hay maker to throw at Manticore, who doesn't even know where their evil enemy is or how large it actually is.

And we get the next book when we get it. Hopefully after David has had time to rest, recuperate, tend to whatever health issues he's facing and get well.

Larry
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Re: Shadow of Victory - Quality of the Story / Plot?
Post by WeirdlyWired   » Tue Nov 15, 2016 7:27 am

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Larry wrote:Hey guys! Stop with the doom and gloom already, after all we still have to hear the same section of time told from the perspective of the folks out in the Silesian region. At least that would be new material and let David feature several newer, different heroes to throw into the mix.

Plus we haven't heard anything from the Anderman Empire in a while, so I'm sure we need a sub story about what they've been doing during the exact same period of time. And what the heck possibly add to it one from Bolthole about developments in the early collaborations between Manticorian Boffins and Havenite Boffins.

So stop whinging, there are lots of other sub stories we could be enthralled with until David finally remembers where he means to go forward on the mainline. Myself i think he may have painted himself into a bit of a corner with his enemy having undetectable ships and the full might of the Solarian league to throw Cannon fodder at Manticore while the Renaissance Front builds up a hay maker to throw at Manticore, who doesn't even know where their evil enemy is or how large it actually is.

And we get the next book when we get it. Hopefully after David has had time to rest, recuperate, tend to whatever health issues he's facing and get well.

Larry


Yeah, but... My paran always said after plowing the field 5 times its time to plant the crop. Time to unhitch the plow and hitch up the seeder.
Helas,chou, Je m'en fache.
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