Dawn for a Distant Earth: The Forever Hero, Volume 1

I read the second book a couple of times before I found this one. I was so happy to read the beginning of this trilogy. Excellent hero with a wonderful mission, although he's a fanatic.

“What was, was. The past defines itself. Historians refuse to accept that definition & instead superimpose their analysis of the past through the eyes of the present. Thus, history becomes a pale reflection of the present, while the true past is lost behind the reflected image presented by historians who would have us see what they believe, rather than what was.”
is a quote from one of the chapter breaks which are written by a variety of historians from centuries to a millennium after.

This is used to build the hero into a larger than life, almost show more like Beowulf, but in a more realistic (if that can apply), understated way & shows his story from both perspectives. It's pretty neat.

Modesitt is an under appreciated author, IMO. He used to be an economist in DC. He writes both fantasy & SF with a very strong eye toward economy, resources, technology, & history. Most people don't seem to get just how good he is at those things. They just read the obvious fantastic story. When you really look at what he's saying, such as in that quote, he's got some great ideas.

I don't care much for his 'tech speak' in the SF novels (although they're some of my favorites) or the way he handles men & women in love. The first is very clipped & gets a bit old. The love angle is too intense. Two friends that don't know each other, but do know him & his wife, say that's the way they are, so I guess that explains it. His Soprano Sorceress series has a great basis on his wife who teaches singing at a college. IOW, she IS the sorceress in many ways.

On to the next, [b:The Silent Warrior|185226|The Silent Warrior (Forever Hero, #2)|L.E. Modesitt Jr.|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1382340151s/185226.jpg|1761385]! show less

What I liked about this book: the basic premise was good; the ending was good; the use of economics as a driver of planetary, solar system wide, and interstellar issues and activities was thought provoking; as was some of the insight into motivation for non-optimal military decision making; and I was intrigued by the discovery of the enigmatic underground relics.

What I didn't like: I found Gerswin to be neither credible nor sympathetic. I can accept that Darwinism would produce Devilkids who would be smart, strong, and tough (only people with those traits would survive to procreate), but a Paganini of whistling, who also happens to be an unaging killing machine, and a great leader despite his rugged loner personality, and a super sperm show more machine (proof against contraceptives) with whom every woman he meets wants to have sex (those Devilkids must also have genetic selection for those pheromones I keep getting emails about)? Beyond that, I thought the shambletowner and Devilkid "societies" were not credible (there appears to me to be some bizarre inconsistencies inherent in the numbers of and interactions between Devilkids, which perhaps will be explained in future volumes). And the entire Caroljoy plot line was bizarre. And the idea that the only animals that would survive the ecological apocalypse are Man, coyote, and rat seems unlikely.

In any case, based on intriguing ending (not to mention the fact that I already bought it), I will move on to book two of the series before long. show less