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How do you rate TFT?

This fascinating series is a combination of historical seafaring, swashbuckling adventure, and high technological science-fiction. Join us in a discussion!
Re: How do you rate TFT?
Post by runsforcelery   » Sun Feb 10, 2019 12:58 am

runsforcelery
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roboz6 wrote:Oh My! On the one hand I feel flattered that RFC (David) himself has responded to some of my comments, and on the other hand I feel contrite and chagrined that David feels miffed in response to all of his hard work.

As David rightly says:

The bottom line is that books will be however long (or short) feels "right" to me, and that may not always be a given reader's (or group of readers') cup of tea. I'm okay with that. I've been doing this for 30 years now and I'm still learning my craft (hopefully I'll always be learning my craft), and I always try to listen to my readers. Unlike certain PITA well known writers who shall remain nameless, :roll: I think reader feedback is essential, especially in a long running series. But I am the conductor of this particular orchestra, and the pieces will be performed in the way that suits my ear until the day I finally hang up the baton.

So there! :twisted: :lol:


At the end of the day, I, and I am sure many others of the Safehold fans, just love this series so much - dare I say addicted to it - that we just can't wait to get into the next instalment.

And I must also agree with:

SilverbladeTE wrote:I don't really care much about the Gbaba, like faceless murder machines....not anything like as interesting as dragging Safehold up, the antics and tragedies of Merlin and the mortals who make their tales touch you, etc :)

Wanna see the Two Emperors and the Siddermark Scum get their arses handed to them :mrgreen:


So David, don't you dare die before you finish this series! And I pray as well that I don't die in the meantime and miss out on getting to read the entire series.


Oh, not miffed. The thing is that after 30 years or so I neither panic if someone is less than totally pleased with a story, nor do I get ticked off with someone who critiques one (or more) of them so long as the critique is delivered in a reasoned way and without invective. You can look back at some of my online exchanges with Dilandu, kzt, GregD, and a few others for places where I've taken them to task for taking me to task, but all of us have generally managed it in civilized fashion and without making it personal. We don't always agree at the end of the day, but at least we're still speaking! :lol:

I wasn't trying to say I was irked with you (although, of course, suitable acknowledgment of my towering talent, possibly with a few "thou conquerest, O David"s and a couple of dozen dancing girls with pompoms leading my chariot as it rolls down the Appian Way past the cheering multitudes would probably have been more appropriate, you understand :roll: :lol: ). What I was trying to say is that there is no such thing as the perfect novel; that I'm more interested in telling the story than in scoring points for my superlative, unrivaled, downright peerless stylist perfection; that no two people are going to tell the tale in exactly the same way; that there can be only one guy at the wheel; and that in the end the fellow responsible for the story has to tell it the way that works for him.

The fact that so many people are kind enough to like them --- and like them enough to be dissatisfied on those occasions when the writer doesn't hit it out of the park for them --- is all gravy, really. These are the voices trying to get out of me head, and if I don't let them out my way, a teeny bit at a time, then the moon rises, and ----

Let's just say you wouldn't like me when I'm hairy. :lol: :lol:


"Oh, bother!" said Pooh, as Piglet came back from the dead.
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Re: How do you rate TFT?
Post by roboz6   » Sun Feb 10, 2019 1:16 am

roboz6
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Great response David, but I still want your promise to this:
roboz6 wrote:
So David, don't you dare die before you finish this series! And I pray as well that I don't die in the meantime and miss out on getting to read the entire series.

:D :lol:

We all have a lot invested in you and Safehold and are counting on you to deliver.
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Re: How do you rate TFT?
Post by Isilith   » Sun Feb 10, 2019 7:17 am

Isilith
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runsforcelery wrote:
roboz6 wrote:Well yes I agree, not all of the fan base is thinking this way. After all Amazon shows 30% of reviewers rate TFT with 5 stars and 44% rate it 4 stars or better. That kind of spread will always tend to be the case. But there is still an underlying message for David and his publisher that a significant percentage of fans are to use the word I used before - restless.

And yes I agree that TFT is a bridge setting the stage for the next arc. But nevertheless, the pace and the lack of action is such that, in my opinion, TFT was not one of Himself's best efforts. And as I also said, that will not stop me from investing my time and money in Safehold 11, but I can still wish that we could get a move on and start to come to grips with the Gbaba.

Can't win, can I? :P



Take the time to give you all the juicy details and character development, and the book drags. Cover 15 years in a single volume, and it's a "bridge book" (which, to be honest, it is) and I didn't show you all the neat stuff you wanted to see. :roll: :lol:

Truth time: I write the books and the story the way I think they need to be written and told. Sometimes readers think that knocks it out of the park; sometimes not so much. End of the day, I have to be satisfied with what I've done if I'm going to continue the story.

Now, I had some significant health issues when writing the last couple of HH and Safehold books (prior to Uncompromising Honor and, to some extent, TFT). ATSOT got hammered less badly by that than some other projects, because I had more of it laid out in detail in my head and notes before I got started on it, but it was definitely a factor. That doesn't mean I would have told the stories differently (and Shadow of Freedom was setting up a major part of the post Solarian War plot development, which is one reason it went some of the places it went), but it does mean that I might have told them better, if you see the distinction.

The bottom line is that books will be however long (or short) feels "right" to me, and that may not always be a given reader's (or group of readers') cup of tea. I'm okay with that. I've been doing this for 30 years now and I'm still learning my craft (hopefully I'll always be learning my craft), and I always try to listen to my readers. Unlike certain PITA well known writers who shall remain nameless, :roll: I think reader feedback is essential, especially in a long running series. But I am the conductor of this particular orchestra, and the pieces will be performed in the way that suits my ear until the day I finally hang up the baton.

So there! :twisted: :lol:


I am just annoyed the next book wasn't ready for sale as soon as I finished this one. :twisted:
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Re: How do you rate TFT?
Post by roboz6   » Sun Feb 10, 2019 7:38 pm

roboz6
Midshipman

Posts: 6
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Location: Brisbane, Australia

Oh for that Utopian world where the next book and the next and the next are immediately available. Anyone got a spare time machine?

Sigh! It can never be - and I wasn't born with an abundance of patience. :roll:
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Re: How do you rate TFT?
Post by noblehunter   » Mon Feb 11, 2019 12:19 pm

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This book scratched an itch to get a good look at how the major events of the last arc played out over time. One of the downsides of the multi-volume novel is that there's very good reasons to include only a short denouement after the climax. When there's been three or four or ten books building to the last fever-pitch of drama, it's natural to want the reader to go away with that emotion rather than muddle it with all the issues of the aftermath.

Unfortunately--for conventional genre fiction at least--the aftermath is where the interesting story starts. We have so many stories about defeating the dark lord but far fewer about re-building the world afterwards.

It was really neat to see how Safehold developed in the wake of the Jihad.
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Re: How do you rate TFT?
Post by Panzer   » Mon Feb 11, 2019 6:32 pm

Panzer
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Posts: 133
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roboz6 wrote:Great response David, but I still want your promise to this:
roboz6 wrote:
So David, don't you dare die before you finish this series! And I pray as well that I don't die in the meantime and miss out on getting to read the entire series.

:D :lol:

We all have a lot invested in you and Safehold and are counting on you to deliver.


I think we all want that.

I think we need to wrap the MWW up in cotton and bubble wrap to keep him from injuring himself, too.

8-)
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Re: How do you rate TFT?
Post by Thrandir   » Tue Feb 12, 2019 8:21 am

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Panzer wrote:So David, don't you dare die before you finish this series! And I pray as well that I don't die in the meantime and miss out on getting to read the entire series.


I totally agree with this sentiment.

For me TFT while not the most stunning of the series it did lay the foundations for the next part of the story & in this it has done it's job. So now the wait for the next book begins ………… :cry: :evil: :roll:
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Re: How do you rate TFT?
Post by sonex   » Thu Sep 26, 2019 1:39 pm

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SilverbladeTE wrote:10" kindle fire rocks :)


I may get one next year if I'm still around!
82 and feeling it. :cry: :cry: :cry:
Honor Harrington and Safehold nut.
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Re: How do you rate TFT?
Post by SilverbladeTE   » Fri Sep 27, 2019 5:31 am

SilverbladeTE
Captain (Junior Grade)

Posts: 308
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2019 9:14 am

sonex wrote:
SilverbladeTE wrote:10" kindle fire rocks :)


I may get one next year if I'm still around!
82 and feeling it. :cry: :cry: :cry:


Music and architecture really sucks nowadays, but the tech sure does make being an Old Fart easier! :p
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