Wasn't a single wedge. Was a whole bunch of wedges, forming a multi-layered shell. There are a lot of idle Manticoran-flag merchies right now, and since Oyster Bay there are dozens of them assigned to protect really important bits of system infrastructure. If no one ever attacks, they can go right back to being merchant ships; in the meantime, they are a solid barricade of impeller wedges to provide 360-degree cover (well, they usually don't worry about fire coming from the planet) against stand off missile attacks.
OK, I either misunderstood or it was too subtle for me. I didn't get the impression that they have basically englobed the stations. I can certainly see how a very large number would work much better.
"they stood ready to interpose their impeller wedges between the targets under their protection and the threat axis from any attacking force."
Perhaps a clearer explanation in the text would be possible?
There were maybe a few things I didn't like about it but overall it was a great read.
It's not perfect, but then I've not read a perfect book (I can think of maybe four tha I've read in the SF&F space) that had a successful sequel.
Thanks for the lengthy answer, rfc!
Mind you, even if readers are hard to satisfy, they wouldn't criticize if they didn't like it (and you, and your work) alot!
the criticisms being raised, or I wouldn't have written the book the way I did to begin with.
I would like to take a moment to note that the christening of Shannon Foraker and Sonja Hemphill as the 'Demonic Duo' might just be my favorite part of the whole damn book.
roseandheather wrote: I would like to take a moment to note that the christening of Shannon Foraker and Sonja Hemphill as the 'Demonic Duo' might just be my favorite part of the whole damn book.
They will never pass on their brilliance genes if they get married...besides, for pure fun, marriage can be a downer!
Says who?? I don't think Franz Illescue would agree with you!
Fine, they don't need to get married, but they are clearly soulmates and the Honorverse needs a technological singularity of lesbian geek love.
I'm not sure if the Beowulf code allows it.
engineered from their combine DNA.
So there is a way for me to yank an Rose's chain... Yeah, there are sperm donores and petri dishes, but how romantic is that?
Hi! I haven't posted much since joining but I just purchased and read the EARC and I decided to reply to this thread since I have no one in real life to discuss these awesome things with. So, here we go!
Likes: Damien Harahap joining the side of the angels and being adopted by a Treecat (Also like: His treecat name, which is awesome!). He always seemed like less of an evil guy and more of a craftsman doing his job out of a sense of orderly pride, which is basically exactly how Honor describes him.
The Demonic Duo: More of this please. More Shannon Foraker. A Shannon Foraker book. A series of Shannon Foraker books.
The fake, innocent "Alignment". That was a sneaky trick and entirely in keeping with the MA's layered defenses, and it was funny in a macabre sort of way.
The Sollies getting some hits in. I'm not happy that so many beloved people were killed, not to mention millions of other innocents, but the battle at Hypatia was excellent from a military fiction standpoint, in that it was getting kind of repetitive watching Solly fleets being blown out of the stars without making a single dent in return. I like the idea of no Manticorans, Graysons, or Havenites dying but it was a little satisfying to the military fiction lover in me to see that while Koudoc's squadron managed to rout their enemies, this time it came at an actual cost.
More adventures of the guys now christened the "Ghost Hunters". I hope Bryce, Daud, and the others manage to make it through the future alive. It's nice to know there are some fundamentally decent people in the uniform of the Solly military.
There are a lot of other likes (I loved this book), but these are the ones I thought of for the moment.
Harahap and Clean Killer. I love the fact that Harahap was adopted, and I'm not complaining that it happened. My complaint is that of all the characters in the series, this was the first non-Manticoran/Grayson to be adopted. It should have been Foraker, darn it! Or Eloise Pritchart, or Tom, or Lester, or even someone like Chien-Lu or Stephen Westman. I feel like one of the greatest possible cementings of the Grand Alliance would be an adoption by a treecat of the Havenite President, no? And Shannon would be an even more obvious choice, given the way she risked her life for Nimitz all those years ago. Anyways, I know it's a small gripe, and it's colored by my love of the Restored Republic of Haven and it's top people, but darn it, I'm just a little disappointed.
No Avairs, no Helen, no Michelle, no Lester, no Benjamin Mayhew. Barely any mention of Chien-lu. I understand there's only so much you can fit, but with all the high-level discussions and meetings, I had hoped to see some of them. Even a cameo message from Avairs or Michelle would have been welcome.
Anyways, sorry for the long-winded post, but I NEVER get to talk about the Honorverse with anyone, ever. So hi!
The space battles were generally excellent. I'm still not fully convinced about the LAC ambush on the far side of the WH, but it wasn't insane. The others all seemed to hold together really well and were really fun to read.
But it was overall a really, really good book. I was certainly surprised by the approach used to close the war, but it all held together and worked very well.
It will be interesting to read the HC and see what changed.