I know I'm beating a dead horse here, but...

....War of Honor has to be the most turgid piece of fiction in any of
the countless genres in which it fits. Not because Weber (like
Forrester or Clancy or Tolstoy or (as of recent) Blumenthal) inundate
the reader with page after page of unconscionably irrelevant
information. Not because he sticks to the same formula for writing
Peep offensive operations ("So and so should be hitting the wall right
about now...we're winning...damn Salamander..."). Not because he
actually duplicates inner monologue and narrative descriptions in
conversations later between people who really aren't saying anything
they don't know already.

What really gets me is the way he bends over backwards to depict every
character as omniscient, or if not then utterly prescient about their
limitations. Not one conversation goes by without a character poking
a whole into their own arguments or managing to see the other side.
Anybody else notice that?

Rev Prez

"Rev Prez" <cypha.RemoveThis@aemail4u.com> wrote in message
news:b0f09a5c.0307071323.22871b85@posting.google.com...
[SNIP!]

Rev;

Not to be totally argumentative (go ahead, TRY to spell-check that one!),
but I think you may have missed something here.

I haven't found ALL his characters to be omniscient, omnipresent,
omnibenevolent, or even omnivorous (except Nimitz, et al; they'll eat almost
anything that doesn't eat them first!). Besides, the two personality traits
(omniscient/prescient) are almost mutually antagonistic, as well as mutually
preclusive. After all, you either know it all, or don't know squat (I'm
being NICE HERE, darn it!), but if you know it all, you're damn sure not
going to admit to any limitations. For that matter, I DON'T know it ALL (I
missed a chapter, okay? So SUE me!), but I always fake 'em out at work that
I DO, and I can usually keep from self-flagellation until I get home (where
my better half is always willing to beat the crap outta me whenever we agree
I need it; NEVER piss off a 5th Dan black belt!). And I keep finding people
in the Honorverse that I KNOW - usually SF Fen! Hmmm...

Anyway, if you accept that HH is written as space opera with a twist (the
hero is a heroine; the GUYS usually faint!), then you realize that a certain
overdose-per-chapter of verbose introspection is inherent in the genre, and
sail past it with a giggle (something Honor would rather DIE than have
anyone hear). Besides, it gives us something to read while the
(fill-in-the-blank) fleet builds up delta-vee after transitioning.

And please stop beating that poor equine; somewhere a dog is starving, and
he needs maxillofacial exercise with his steak. So don't tenderize it too
much.

Okay, now that I've muddied the waters as much as I can, lets go back to
reading.

See ya later!

Jim Kratzer
The Mad Yank
Proud Vietnam Veteran
LOUD VFW Lifer