By: David Weber, Steve White Publisher: Baen Average Rating: Binding: Mass Market Paperback Label: Baen Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 416 Publication Date: November 01, 1990
A Bland Sequel The fourth book by Weber and White, I found this one to be by far the least interesting.
At first the book has much promise: political intrigue, mutinies, space battles and rebellion. However, the flare quickly dies down.
The Fringe Worlds, often economically subjugated by the Inner (Corporate) Worlds, finally have enough after their political leader is assasinated. When the government sends a naval task force to quell any unprising, it instead ignites it. For those that have read the other three books (Crusade, In Death Ground and The Shiva Option), this comes as no surprise because of the tension always felt between the two. It was inevitable.
The characters quickly lose their zest, not changing and not doing anything that surprises you. They are quite bland in their actions, and it is hard to sympathise with any of them. Nearly all the characters have the same driving force: they were thrown into a higher political/military position than they ever imagined, and it's up to them to make a stand or lead their troops. "Yadda yadda yadda" is a pretty good summation. It might have worked for the first three books, but by now the idea is exhausted, and the characters tiring.
Much of the characters the first half of the book focused on take a back seat or are a no show for the second half, leaving you to wonder why they were used if only to be cast aside. And the personal tragedies don't always work. One character who is injured has something taken away from her she held dear, but with her tiring attitude and persona, it's hard to feel sorry for her in any way. This is pretty much the case with all the characters.
There are really no twists and turns to this book, and the technological surprises Weber and White like to have one enemy throw at another are limited in their quantity and interest. There are some side plots here and there, but nothing that can save the book from the long periods of boring character interaction and inactivity. Unlike the three before it, Insurrection has a lot of filler, and nearly every time momentum is gained, a boring character interaction chapter is added. And not all the time is it relevant to the story.
The first word that comes to mind for Insurrection is dissapointing. The three books preceeding this were never short of interest, but this just seems like a lax effort in comparison. There were times I actually had to force myself to read the next chapter because so little had happened, and frankly by mid book I was hoping all but one main character would meet their end so they could not possibly show up in a sequel.
Insurrection is not of the battle heavy grand scale that are In Death Ground and The Shiva Option, nor does it have the plotical, moral and personal intrigue of Crusade. Instead, it is more like a space soap opera. It's not horrible, but it's like a hollywood sequel that didn't need to be made.
United in war, divided in peace "Insurrection" is a collaboration between two masters of military science fiction, David Weber and Steve White.
The book explores the causes and progress of a civil war between parts of a Terran Federation originating from Earth and then bound together in the crucible of war against a merciless alien race. The story of the Fourth Interstellar War against the Arachnids is told in other books of the series. "Insurrection", while written first, is chronologically at the end of the series. It highlights that democratic legitimacy is ultimately grounded upon the consent of the governed.
Weber and White succeed by incorporating insights with clear parallels in Earth's military, diplomatic and political history. The rebels of the Fringe most nearly approximate the American rebels who split from Great Britain within a generation of winning the French and Indian Wars. United in conflict against an external enemy, they are divided by economics and mutual disdain.
"Insurrection" follows key rules of the space opera and military science fiction genres, so will be familiar to the typical reader. Yet, it succeeds in executing the formula very well. It takes a good historian to tell this type of story in a believable way. It requires imagination to teach similar lessons in the new circumstances of space combat. Weber and White deliver both. Heroic sacrifice in the course of combat by rebel and loyalist alike echoes the graduates of West Point split apart by America's Civil War.
Each of these authors have other books that I like as well or even better, yet it was "Insurrection" that hooked me and so it holds a special place in my collection.
An Ugly Civil War Insurrection takes place in the same universe as IN DEATH GROUND and THE SHIVA OPTION about a generation after the events of the latter. Humanity has been at peace but that doesn't stop nasty politicians from trying to do nasty things to people. Finally, a time comes when the people will take it no more and the result is civil war.
This book makes clear that there are honorable people on both sides of the conflict but the horrors of war are such that innocents are bound to suffer. Like the other books of this series, the action sequences are well though out and well written but the main lessons come from choices faced by the protagonists. Weber and White are good at writing about space battle. They are even better at writing about political issues and human choices.
Insipid Insurrection This book is dull, disjointed, and devoid of both excitement and literary value. There is little to tie the storyline together--the novel just lumbers from one situation, planet, and poorly described space battle to another. Dozens of characters get introduced; most just get tossed aside. There also are too many side plots. The book reminds me of a cheesy disaster film where many characters and their soap opera lives are displayed for a few minutes of "human interest" before the disaster actually strikes. (The Poseidon Adventure comes to mind.)
I own and have enjoyed many David Weber books, but this is one I regret buying.
An Impressive First Effort I recently reread this book, and was even more impressed than the first time I read it. Realizing that this book has a copyright of 1990 means it's the first book in the series that includes Crusade, In Death Ground, and The Shiva Option; it sets the stage for the other books which, though having later copyrights, occur chronologically earlier in time. What I hadn't noticed when I first read the book is that it is the last in chronological time. This adds even more impact to the book, realizing that it follows the crusade against the bugs, detailed in In Death Ground and The Shiva Option. That means that Weber and White set the stage for the other 3 novels in this one, and fleshed out the details later. It's great space opera, and shows signs of Weber's political awareness, that come out with even greater impact in the last Honor Harrington adventure, War of Honor. The machinations of the Corporate Worlds in the Federation Assembly as they attempt to squeeze more and more profit out of "the Fringe" with total disregard for the consequences should be a warning to ALL politicians. In this book, the battles are classic Weber/White, the strategies planned by both sides are fascinating. While some of the characters may seem a little "flat" (which is typical of space opera), others (notably Admiral Han Li and Oskar Dieter) are not. And the influence of weapons development on the struggle is well-done. If you're a Weber/White fan, buy this book; I believe you'll enjoy it. But be sure to read it in the proper order in the series. I also enjoyed the "trivia" Weber and White bring to their books. How many readers are aware that Admiral Analiese Ashigara is named for a Japanese heavy cruiser from the World War II era?
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