|
I very much enjoyed that book but see no reason to buy it again. Be careful with this book. It is word for word the same as the last 500 pages of Off Armageddon Reef.
This second volume takes place after Charis' overwhelming victory over the combined navies the Church organized against them.The themes of the books are familiar to readers of Weber's previous books--genocidal aliens, regressed human colonies, theocracies, introducing future technology through slight of hand. Merlin decides that its time to start developing technology again and uses the nation of Charis (an island nation much like England) to do it. Charis already chafes under the restrictions of the Church, and it doesn't take much to begin outright rebellion. This is the second book in the planed three-volume Safehold series. "By Schism Rent Asunder" is slower than the first, with a lot of expository material on technology, politics, and religion, but Weber makes it mostly interesting, especially if you enjoy political science fiction. To keep the colony safe, the leaders of the original survivors brainwashed everyone else into believing in a all-powerful church and a technologically fixed culture set about the 17th Century Europe. Safehold is possibly the last place in the universe where humans live, and all those on this planet are descended from the survivors from a genocidal alien race. The first book introduced the world, the players, and Merlin, an android recently reactivated, with the memories of one of the original survivors.
Things likt this make that drive worth it. I drive a little over an hour to and from work 5 days a week. One of webers best series in my opinion. Has gotten me started on Space Opera's.
I'll read the next installment because the overall story is compelling, but hope it moves along at a more enjoyable pace. I certainly hope there are more books to the series, because this one ends, but has no conclusion, unlike "Off Armageddon Reef" which had a complete story arc. This book was also overly wordy with way too much minute description of technology, and not nearly enough action.
Little humor but some. The plot is decent but not outstanding, but with a few nice surprises. Overall a good read if slow and similar to other works by Weber. Overall an interesting well built world and good compelling characters. Weber has advanced from more straight shoot `em up to more political views.
|
