Will there be a second bock?

bert953 wrote:

bobsuncorp wrote:I can't help but think of this as 2 stories. One is the best showcasing for "human spirit" that I have seen in ages, with military men and women all across the world determined to make the invaders pay in blood for every inch of land they can take, and slowly losing their best weapons until they are almost down to throwing rocks, and the other one is the one with the vampires.

Now I like vampires (Buffy and Being Human vampires, not Twilight) but I agree with a previous poster that I would have preferred to see the humans win on their own.

I don't like to say too much against the book though, because I heartily enjoyed it, and I felt like it could be the kind of project that might be more easily adapted to the big screen in the style of Battle of Los Angeles or the tv show Falling Skies, than most of the Honorverse.

I have read all of DW's books, and would say that he is my favorite author. I enjoyed Out of the Dark, except for the ending as I felt that Vlad saving the day came out of left field, foreshadowing notwithstanding. Actually, the ending felt like cheating as there was no explanation of how Vlad was able to infiltrate the aliens defenses, which made it rather unbelievable for me.

As far as a plot for a sequel consider the excellent short story "Carthego Delenda Est" by Eric Flint in Foreign Legions, where the humans have 5 yrs to adapt alien tech before they come calling and we really kick some butt with our ingenuity. DW did a spin off of that universe in the Excalabur Alternative, but Carthego Delenda Est was enthralling in describing the way we humans adapt and improvise. I believe that DW's skills at making realistic characerizations would really expand this storyline, but no "cheating"

I'll admit that I would love for the MWW to get around to expanding on his Excalibur Alternative book into an actual series... but I would also totally agree with anybody who wants him to wait on that until at least one (preferably two or even three) of Honor / Safehold / Bahzell / Empire-of-Man are completed (or at least much closer to completed)....

FriarBob wrote:I'll admit that I would love for the MWW to get around to expanding on his Excalibur Alternative book into an actual series... but I would also totally agree with anybody who wants him to wait on that until at least one (preferably two or even three) of Honor / Safehold / Bahzell / Empire-of-Man are completed (or at least much closer to completed)....

Minor nit... The Excalibur Alternative is part of an actual series, the Ranks of Bronze series. Wether it is actually canon or not (depending on how you interpret the timeline of the other books with regard to it) is a bit iffy, but it is part of the series.

Michael Everett wrote:

FriarBob wrote:I'll admit that I would love for the MWW to get around to expanding on his Excalibur Alternative book into an actual series... but I would also totally agree with anybody who wants him to wait on that until at least one (preferably two or even three) of Honor / Safehold / Bahzell / Empire-of-Man are completed (or at least much closer to completed)....

Minor nit... The Excalibur Alternative is part of an actual series, the Ranks of Bronze series. Wether it is actually canon or not (depending on how you interpret the timeline of the other books with regard to it) is a bit iffy, but it is part of the series.

Not really. It's an expanded version of a short story that was part of the "Foreign Legions" anthology. But though all the stories in that book are all at least somewhat vaguely related stories, they also all have MAJOR differences in everything from who the primary characters are to technology to politics to what they imply will happen next. Major differences that David Drake knowingly allowed, knowing full well that they contained major contradictions. Implicitly, he thus created "spin off alternate-universes".

Further, David Drake specifically stated that Weber and all the other anthology participants had his permission to take their particular "subset" of the storyline and expand on them if they wanted. And I'm about 85% sure the word Drake used was "series".

But Ranks of Bronze isn't really a series. It may be called that by the morons who run Amazon/B&N/etc, but it's actually not. What it truly is is a loose collection of "closely-related alternate-history sub-universes".

Hi folks,

First post.

I hope there will be a second book, although I found the change over a little rushed.

Welcome to the Forums Writer's Block now onto your post, I agree that the end seemed a little rushed.

Writer's Block wrote:Hi folks,

First post.

I hope there will be a second book, although I found the change over a little rushed.

Whilst the ending was rushed, imo, it also lead me to believe there would be a sequel.

I'll likely buy the sequel; I just hope the ending isn't rushed in the next book.

It was irritating. Leaving me wanting more, as an excuse for a sequel is not something I've come to expect from David; this gave me that impression.