David Weber and Linda Evans do a superb job in describing two dissimilar cultures and those cultures’ idiosyncrasies. As they alternate back and forth from culture to culture you find your sympathies vacillating as well. The beauty of their work is that you truly find things that are both laudable and stimulating for each culture. They are being drawn into conflict by serendipitous contacts and malicious behavior in spite of their root similarities.
The contrast of opposing technologies is interesting. What makes the book great is the emotional undertones. The ability to evoke strong emotions regarding the characters is rare. I cared for Emperor on Sharona and his family and loathed the Arcana villains.
My biggest disappointment with this book was the cliff hanger ending. Normally I don’t mind cliff hanger endings if there is a proposed forthcoming book to get you off the damn cliff. Sadly according to what I can see on the web there is no forthcoming volume let alone a conclusion in process. I wish the authors would have done a better wrap of the work if they weren’t planning on proceeding with the series in a timely manner.
I highly recommend the book with the caveat that I can almost guarantee that you will be strongly annoyed at the ending and the fact there is no foreseeable conclusion.
Body of work of David Weber
Body of work of Linda Evans
Review: http://gcbooks.wordpress.com/2009/08/05/sequels-read-in-july/
Web site http://davidweber.net/
Linda Evans keeps a very low profile. I could find no website, no info or no photos.
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