By Heresies Distressed (Safehold Series #3)

lovin this series pt three

great

Number Three...

Unlike most of Weber's books, this one *didn't* climax in a huge battle. And despite the fact that I *love* Weber's battles, this was still an wonderful book. It's book three of his Safehold series (don't read this without reading the prior two), and Weber is really hitting his stride with the characters, the world, and the situation that he's stuck them all in.

As a one-sentence summary, By Heresies Distressed is essentially the post-wedding consolidation of the new Empire of Charis, and the conquest of Corisande.

There are certainly *some* battle scenes, and *some* technological superiority going on, but this is primarily a book that tells a story of political drama. If you had told me that politics what what the book was about before I'd started, I would have had serious reservations about starting it. But the truth is that it was hard to put down. Weber did a fantastic job of connecting all the dots and making a real *story* about what was going on.

I was very impressed, and I'm eagerly looking forward to the next in the series.

5 of 5 stars.

Visiting Safehold...again

I love this series. The story line is complex as are the relationships and interactions between the characters. David Weber does an amazing job with space opera and this series demonstrates that he can transfer his expertise with technical and space battle to a marine and land setting. The complex interweaving of politics, social and industrial advances, and religous reformation is truly engaging. I devoured this book in two days and now will have to wait to see what happens next with Caleb, Merlin, and Charis.

Waiting for the next installment....

Great writer

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Terriffic!!

Despite my surprise that this book did not end the series, (even though I should know better, David has a hard time writing something short.) I couldnt put it down. Just like the first two novels in the series, it was easy to get drawn into the story. I finished it in four days. Cant wait for the next book.

Weber has Another Winning Combination

Again Weber has been true to form. Excellent development of plot and characters and couched within this is not just a little history in terms of the horrible abuses of religious systems run amuck that have plagued human history even unto today. This book has cemented the Safehold series into a must have acquisition and as a sobering reminder of what the institutions of faith and religion have; in terms of oppression, intolerance, self righteousness, and purely evil actions; and may again, become. The founders of this nation were extremely wise in placing a firewall between government and religion, in spite of the efforts by many to batter it down, even today.
Due to previous character development and the manner in which it immediately rivets the readers' attention, this is the most enjoyable read of the three volumes to date. While it is not, as few of this author's works will ever be, touchy feely or in any real sense romantic, it is every sense as fast paced and intriguing a work as any he has done. The most intriguing aspect of this book and series is the reverse nature of the fictional society compared to the situation found with In Death Ground and The Shiva Option. The concept of a few select survivors of an annihilated species being hidden away for a future emergence is developed in the second book of that series. This makes for an interesting reversal of concept as it might apply to the destruction of humans by a superior military source. I'm very interested in the progression and ultimate outcome of this series and highly recommend it to any who have enjoyed previous works by this author.

David Weber hits it out of the park... again!

Great book. One of the best series in SF right now, and done up to the standard of the Honor Harrington books (and maybe better). I've hammered some of the stuff David Weber's done that was crap, but this is definitely worthy of your dollars and time.

Hard to put down.

The character development continues apace. The plot continues to interest. The management of the background information makes the characters and plot more and more grabbing.
I lost a lot of sleep over this book. I went back and read the first two again in preparation and the story line continues seamlessly.

Good, but definately a placeholder

A good book, but it does not stand alone, nor would I expect it to. Lots of political intrigue, with a good bit of action as well, and much less of the "Deus ex machina" from Nimue/Merlin. I am waiting for the next one.

At last...

David Weber is a busy guy -- he's got four serial novels running now, two in collaboration with other authors (Linda Evans for the Hell's Gate series, and Eric Flint for the Torch series). Maybe that's why we had to wait what seemed like a long time for this sequel to Off Armageddon Reef and By Schism Rent Asunder. It was almost long enough to make me go back and re-read the first two books; but it was worth the wait.

Weber's classic style interweaves political machinations with military action, and gives us a rich field of characters who are NOT neatly divided between good and evil. As in most of his novels, many of the good guys have flaws, and many of the bad guys have redeeming qualities -- and some of them are only "bad guys" because they happened to wind up on the wrong side in a war.

I got the impression that Weber is having fun with this series -- indulging his personal passion for military history (and obviously doing a LOT of research on the subject of ancient weaponry, tactics, etc.) and yet keeping what would otherwise be a military novel of the 17th or 18th century in the realm of Science Fiction by setting it on another planet and making one of his major characters an android with access to advanced technology (which, of course, must remain secret). There's also plenty of Weber's conservative philosophy here, but expressed in terms of nation-states rather than galactic empires.

In the end, of course, you know who's going to win -- because Weber obviously believes in the triumph of Good over Evil; but it will, no doubt, be a painful process and victory will come at great cost for many of the characters.

I won't bother to summarize. If you haven't read Off Armageddon Reef, you need to start there. If you have read it, you need to read By Schism Rent Asunder to get to this part of the story. If you have read those two, you are probably already hooked and will want to read this one anyway. Anway, the story isn't over yet. This book ends with many things unresolved, so there will have to be at least one more in the series.

One thing unique about this series is Weber's use of character names that are simply weird spellings of common names of today (e.g. Zhaspar Clyntahn = Jasper Clinton). Weber's novels are usually populated by dozens of richly-developed characters, and this makes it a little more difficult to keep all of them straight -- I wonder if he got tired of inventing names and just went to the phone book and applied some creative phonetic spelling.

Weber often treats us to character names from another world and time, a little tongue-in-cheek author's joke. Fans of his Honor Harrington series will remember Rob S. Pierre, the Chairman of Haven's Committee of Public Safety (like Robespierre of the French Revolution). Well, he's done it again in this novel: consider the Prince of Emerald, Nahrmann Baytz (Norman Bates -- of Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho").

When you write as well as Weber (and as MUCH as Weber), I guess you are entitled to a little secret joke now and then.
P.S. -- If you like David Weber, my recommendations are the FIRST books in each of the four other major series he's done. If you choose On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington series -- my favorite), be prepared for a long read -- there are 11 novels in that series (and he may write another some day...)

David Weber does it again

This series is more interesting than his Honor Harrington series. Though the third book in the series, it could easily stand alone as the start of a series. Mr. Weber gives enough background without boring the reader of the other two books in the series. When you finish reading it you are eager for the next book to come out. (Hurry up with it PLEASE?!)

Dragging a little but still good

This is a good 'next book' in the series but I feel the story is dragging a little.

It is well written. I like the plot and characters. David Weber just tends to drag things out a bit and go into lengthy discussions and descriptions.

Good read

The third installment continues a fun read. The characters continue to be fleshed out, and the story stays fresh. Recommend the series highly.

Ongoing Safehold Saga: A Complex But Occasionally Off-putting Historical Fantasy

This multilayered addition weaves a complex portrait of political intrigue/tactics and empire building, but that same complexity lessens the protagonists' roles and muddles reader sympathy. Multiple story lines become attenuated and jumbled in recounting the expansion of the Charisian empire to surrounding island nations. Previously unknown characters take leading roles during combat, and Caleb, assisted by Merlin, directs rather than fights battles. The primary characters become less important and less sympathetic. Technological and surveillance advantages cybernetic Merlin has given to Caleb/Charis causes empathy for the beleaguered and besieged opposing Corisande forces. Plus, the dubious morality of precipitating a global religious war without informing the populace of the ultimate necessity for rejecting the established and artificial church doctrine stifles enthusiasm for the Charisian cause and reduces the appeal of Caleb, Merlin and Merlin's inner circle. The phrase, "the ends don't justify the means..," comes to mind in the context of inciting war and causing countless deaths under the aegis of a sham religious reformation to jump start technological advancement through conflict and topple a corrupt but finite cabal of four church-leaders. Moreover, aided by overly formal and unnatural dialogue by Caleb and Sharleyan, an underlying smugness (assumed superiority) on the part of the protagonists emerges. In sum, this book comprehensively builds upon the ongoing saga of the Charisian Empire's religious rebellion, but pathos and intimacy are lost in the process. Similar to its predecessor, this book fails to utilized any futuristic concepts other than cybernetic Merlin and his surveillance/communication/transport technology. I recommend this book to any historical fantasy fan, but warn against reading it w/out first reading "Off Armageddon Reef" and "By Schism Rent Asunder."

magnificant

Book flows smoothly from by shisims rent asunder to the next book in the series, what ever it is.

Love this series

Can't wait for each new book. Looks like a wonderful series shaping up.

Continues to build upon the story...

If you've read other Weber series, you know that there always seems to be a book or two that focuses on advancing the storylines without much battle action. This one does have some combat, but not nearly the amount the previous two had. There are however, a couple of interesting plot lines and developments to keep your interest. Mother Church is working to build up to a Holy War...sounds vaguely like G.W. and his administration. Spin doctoring of the war and the politics has contemporary parallels. It's a good book, but a little light on both pages and combat. It appears that Weber is busy writing more than one series at a time, and this one has paid the price this time around. Now we have to wait (probably another year) for the next installment.

Halfway

I am only halfway through, but if you are familiar with Weber's work, you can see the storm brewing. This is one of his better titles and deserves a good hour or two of reading every day (till finished)

Highly recommended

Continuation of the Safehold series - a series that will likely go down as one of the all-time greats in science fiction - IF the author actually moves it along before we all die. Sounds like an open-ended series that could go 10+ books - at least authors of such series should be considerate enough of their loyal readers to have intermediate codas; i.e., maybe 4-5 books, then conclude with those characters and start another set with future characteris/etc. After saying that, this a series where you find you will reread the book several times over some months/years - and what author could ask for more. Some of the other reviews are pretty petty - like having no kindle version, or too much talking. For the latter, there are plenty of fairly mindless series of one battle scene after another. What a relief to have characters grappling with practical/ethical/religious problems. Yes, there's some repetition of stilted dialogue, but the scope of the series draws you in. Even with many reservations, this is still highly recommended for readers who enjoy actually liking characters and some thinking beyond the next blaster shot.

By Heresies Distressed (How to destroy a religion without even trying)

David Weber has made his mark in the SF kingdom with his Honor Harrington chronicals. His new Safehold Series is a giant step away from the Honorverse, with a thoughtful exercise into the vagaries and pitfalls of fanatacism, politics and relgion. There is enough "magic" (read hi-tech devices) to require some suspension of belief, enough "combat" and "conflict" to sate the bloodthirsty amoung us, but under it all, is the question "How does one combat the LIE that we all know to be TRUTH"?
How does one shatter the "isms", the "God-given" truths a society has grown by, lives by, and believes---- when all of the above is but a hollow, shallow mockery of reality?
D.W. in this series, is asking these questions. I'll be interested in learning his answers---- with a "hopeful" assurance that it won't involve TOO large a bludgeon!!