Space Viking
Let me admit, first off, that I very much enjoy H. Beam Piper's Fuzzy series. They're somewhat outdated, but they're light and fun, and I like them enough that I was horrified when Scalzi "rebooted" the first book. (Seriously, who does that?)
So, since I enjoy Piper's style, I thought I'd try another of his books.
Space Viking...doesn't work.
For one thing, it's more of a synopsis in places than a story. Great swathes of time and activity are glossed over. For another, it's much more sexist than the Fuzzy trilogy, though to be fair everything on the cover warns that the protagonist's lady is fridged right at the beginning. I nearly gave up partway through, because I couldn't bring myself to care about the protagonist at all. He throws his entire life away to avenge the death of his wife, and then halfway through the book he finds he doesn't care about vengeance any longer. I suspect that this sort of thing is much more true to life than otherwise, but as a plotline it just makes him look like a twit. More of a twit than he is already, anyway.
It's also fairly racist without coming out and saying so, and pretty vehemently anti-democracy, though again to be fair the protagonist admits that there doesn't seem to be a better system to use instead. But really, the main failure of the book is that it zips past half the story without stopping to look at it. Most of the other flaws can be blamed on the time it was written; the lack of actual storyline, as it were, is solely Piper's fault.
However, I might try another if one comes my way. Perhaps there's a medium somewhere.
So, since I enjoy Piper's style, I thought I'd try another of his books.
Space Viking...doesn't work.
For one thing, it's more of a synopsis in places than a story. Great swathes of time and activity are glossed over. For another, it's much more sexist than the Fuzzy trilogy, though to be fair everything on the cover warns that the protagonist's lady is fridged right at the beginning. I nearly gave up partway through, because I couldn't bring myself to care about the protagonist at all. He throws his entire life away to avenge the death of his wife, and then halfway through the book he finds he doesn't care about vengeance any longer. I suspect that this sort of thing is much more true to life than otherwise, but as a plotline it just makes him look like a twit. More of a twit than he is already, anyway.
It's also fairly racist without coming out and saying so, and pretty vehemently anti-democracy, though again to be fair the protagonist admits that there doesn't seem to be a better system to use instead. But really, the main failure of the book is that it zips past half the story without stopping to look at it. Most of the other flaws can be blamed on the time it was written; the lack of actual storyline, as it were, is solely Piper's fault.
However, I might try another if one comes my way. Perhaps there's a medium somewhere.