[Mithfânion]

I've seen this name pop up on Amazon a couple of times but I'm not sure he's ever been mentioned here. Has anyone read books of his?

[Rob B]

I think for the most part, he writes Military Fantasy and Military Science Fiction, most notably the Honor Harrington series. I haven't read them myself, not really a Military SFF fan.

[Hobbit]

Mith - he's mentioned a lot in the Sf forum. Am a recent convert to him (as the favourite space opera thread shows!)

Has written some Fantasy - The Apocalypse Troll is about the only one that springs to mind, though its more about the end of the world as we know it and a superwoman than trolls, elves and dwarves. (Didn't really rate it - don't think I finished it!)

Oath of Swords is another more traditional fantasy - but haven't read it.

Hobbit

[nicba]

I guess I'm kind of a fan of David Weber. I've read many of his books. I don't know quite what it is about them I like, they are all rather 'light' space opera, at least at the surface. But whenever I read one of his book, I almost always have a hard time putting it down. His books are page-turners.

He often switch point-of-view between the good guys and the bad guys, giving us a view of the action from both camps. It's something I haven't seen done very much by other authors, but he carries it out well.

He has some special thing for religous maniacs and teorists. Many of his books features one such group, be it fanatic aliens dedicated to wipe out all orther sentient life in the galacy or misguided humans. He portrays the way of thinking of these maniacs really well, I think. The way they absolve themself of all guilt for their actions because they are doing 'gods work' ect. Nevertheless, it can be a bit
repetitive to read about again and again in so many of his books.

Hobbit mentioned 'The Apocalypse Troll' but it's pure science fiction. As far as I know, David Weber has only written two fantasy books: 'Oath of Swords' and 'The War Gods Own.'

They, too, feels somewhat 'light' in reading. They stars a somewhat interesting original race, though. The 'hradani' was manipulated and altered by some dark gods and a bunch of wizards in some long ago great war, to be soldiers on the 'dark' side. As a consequence, the hradani have decided they haven't got much use for gods and wizards of any kind, and they don't trust them. So when some war god wants the main character as his 'righteous champion' he doesn't exactly leap to be a hero, as most traditonal fantasy characters.

If you want to check him out, his publisher, Baen, has a free online library where you can download a good number of David Weber's books for free (4 or 5 titles I think, including the two fantasy books). The free library can be found at http://www.baen.com/library/ .

[Hobbit]

Thank you Nicba - as you can tell I obviously remember the book well! http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/redface.gif

The hrdani were what I (vaguely!) remember as sort of supermen/women. Thinking more I seem to remember it was trying hard to be amusing - sort of like David Brin's The Practice Effect, but it didn't work for me.

I'll shut up there - all I will say is that i have only just been able to get into Weber's Honor Harrington series, but i have really enjoyed them (once I've got used to the cat!)

Hobbit

[DarkMatter15]

How are the David Weber books?

[Jon Shannow]

He is best known for his Honour books and they are pretty good military S/f that get more and more political as the series progresses 10 novels or more with 4 or 5 books of short storys featuring works by the other baen top authors set in the Honour universe.
I prefer the Dahak books mutineers moon and its sequals and the stand alone's Path of Fury and the Troll book very good he has also writen a few fantasy

[Radone]

I know he's more known for his sci-fi (Honor Harrington), but he's just released "Oath of Swords", the third book in his fantasy series. It is a pleasant, easy to read fantasy along the lines of a David Eddings, although there are some grittier, bloodier portions that Eddings usually glosses over.
I'd read the first 13 chapters of "Oath of Swords" on Baen a long time ago and wasn't impressed, but I bought the book anyway because it came with a CD that has most of David Weber's books on it, along with a number of books as well.

[Reekar]

Just a bit of clarification: The third book in his War God Series is Wind Rider's Oath(May 2004). The first book is Oath of Swords and second is War God's Own.

[Radone]

Sorry about that. Reekar is absolutely right. I guess I just got my "Oaths" mixed up. Anyway, the rest of the post about the CD that comes iwith the book is correct. Just one thing about the CD, though, is that in order to use it and read the books on it, you have to be online. For those with broadband, that isn't much of a problem, but for those with dial-up, it could be a potential headache.