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Peter David is a great comic writer.
By:Quirel
Date: 5/25/15 2:22 pm
In Response To: Is painful to read (scarab)

: oh good grief

But ask him to write a novel, and he's like a mime taking a day off. Wow.

I just read the whole excerpt this morning, and it didn't pique my interest at all. It feels like David takes two sentences and half a dozen adjectives to describe something that could've been covered in one. That's not necessarily a bad thing. If the same chapter was written by Larry Correia or Jim Butcher or Larry Niven, it could have been eight pages longer and fun to read. It wasn't. It was a bit of a slog. The dialog reminded me of the Hardy Boys, for some reason I can't put my finger on. Maybe it's because most of exchanges between Luther and Henry are purely expository.

Speaking of expository, you could cut this chapter in half by eliminating the stuff that the reader who picks up a Halo book already knows. I've read worse infodumps. If the chapter were written by David Weber, the whole infodump would have been condensed to one spot, there would have been two whole pages devoted to the mechanics of slipspace travel, and Vanessa would be empathic and have a mild addiction to celery.

I like the idea of a Halo novel about someone other than soldiers. I really like the idea of a novel about a joint UNSC-Sangheili venture. But the excerpt that was supposed to sell the book completely failed to capture my interest. Second time in a row that's happened.

When I was reading Broken Circle, I wondered if it was the last Halo book I'd ever pick up. So far that worry appears to be coming true, but I'll have to wait for Statten's novel to be certain.


Messages In This Thread

Hunters In The Dark Preview!Quirel5/21/15 12:06 am
     Re: Hunters In The Dark Preview!Archilen5/21/15 2:30 am
           Re: Hunters In The Dark Preview!davidfuchs5/21/15 9:24 am
           Re: Hunters In The Dark Preview!serpx5/21/15 10:42 am
                 Zeta halo?Bounce-A-Gon5/21/15 1:24 pm
                       The same *NM*davidfuchs5/21/15 9:20 pm
     Is painful to readscarab5/23/15 4:56 am
           Peter David is a great comic writer.Quirel5/25/15 2:22 pm

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