thomasindc's review against another edition
2.0
Found this to be a pretty middling sci-fi pulp that didn't really meet my expectations. The expectations were tainted, I admit, by the game *Star Fox* and my desire to read about space ships fighting each other - which there is virtually if not literally none of in this.
The start of the book had some genuinely interesting world building with a federation, aliens, political intrigue, the promise of privateering, etc. The middle of the book diverts into a long planet-based survival that felt a tad boring. The final part promised some genuine starship combat, but we never see any. We rejoin the crew months later after several successful raids, and we depart the crew as soon as they are about the face their greatest challenge in the deep of space.
After, we rejoin our protagonist (who has some rather revolting approaches to women in this book, more on that later) acting out his own little George Washington fantasy on New Europe. It was fine.
Re: Heim and women. At the start of the book, Heim is mourning his deceased wife, who he seems to have cheated on with a character named Jos. Later, we meet Jos, and they entertain the idea of renewing their affair - Jos even graciously says outright she wouldn't mind if he fooled around with other women (how kind). Along the story, we find that Heim's main (?) purpose in his privateering is to save/see an old flame again. When he gets to the planet, her weight is commented upon alongside that she's married. Then they meet and he is INSTANTLY more interested in the woman's daughter than he is his old love herself. To make it even better, Heim points out *to the daughter* that she is *his* daughter's age, and gets all pissy when another character (more age-appropriate, maybe ? I don't think we know) swoops in and starts flirting. Yuck.
I'd have left out the middle, left out the daughter and old love story, kept Jos but left out the misogeny, and brought in more space ships and more space fighting.
The next book club book is 700 pages long so I, even now, am denied reading the book I want to ([b:Warbreaker|1268479|Warbreaker (Warbreaker, #1)|Brandon Sanderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1240256182l/1268479._SY75_.jpg|1257385]) because I don't think I can squeeze it in. So, I am fleeing to one of my all-time favorites [b:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|11|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)|Douglas Adams|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1531891848l/11._SY75_.jpg|3078186] to cleanse my palette of this before starting in on [b:Perdido Street Station|68494|Perdido Street Station (New Crobuzon, #1)|China Miéville|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1680461055l/68494._SY75_.jpg|3221410].
The start of the book had some genuinely interesting world building with a federation, aliens, political intrigue, the promise of privateering, etc. The middle of the book diverts into a long planet-based survival that felt a tad boring. The final part promised some genuine starship combat, but we never see any. We rejoin the crew months later after several successful raids, and we depart the crew as soon as they are about the face their greatest challenge in the deep of space.
After, we rejoin our protagonist (who has some rather revolting approaches to women in this book, more on that later) acting out his own little George Washington fantasy on New Europe. It was fine.
Re: Heim and women. At the start of the book, Heim is mourning his deceased wife, who he seems to have cheated on with a character named Jos. Later, we meet Jos, and they entertain the idea of renewing their affair - Jos even graciously says outright she wouldn't mind if he fooled around with other women (how kind). Along the story, we find that Heim's main (?) purpose in his privateering is to save/see an old flame again. When he gets to the planet, her weight is commented upon alongside that she's married. Then they meet and he is INSTANTLY more interested in the woman's daughter than he is his old love herself. To make it even better, Heim points out *to the daughter* that she is *his* daughter's age, and gets all pissy when another character (more age-appropriate, maybe ? I don't think we know) swoops in and starts flirting. Yuck.
I'd have left out the middle, left out the daughter and old love story, kept Jos but left out the misogeny, and brought in more space ships and more space fighting.
The next book club book is 700 pages long so I, even now, am denied reading the book I want to ([b:Warbreaker|1268479|Warbreaker (Warbreaker, #1)|Brandon Sanderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1240256182l/1268479._SY75_.jpg|1257385]) because I don't think I can squeeze it in. So, I am fleeing to one of my all-time favorites [b:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|11|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1)|Douglas Adams|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1531891848l/11._SY75_.jpg|3078186] to cleanse my palette of this before starting in on [b:Perdido Street Station|68494|Perdido Street Station (New Crobuzon, #1)|China Miéville|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1680461055l/68494._SY75_.jpg|3221410].
dessa's review against another edition
2.0
Why don't I read more Poul Anderson? Oh yeah, campy and sexist.
Bless.
Bless.
bzedan's review
4.0
My feelings for this book are so biased by the super-crap pulp I'd finished before. But Anderson is a totally enjoyable author and the story never devolves into a tale of privateers (kind of bummed about that, but I understand why). He focuses instead on the enjoyable characters and a look at how different folks do it differently and how folks should probably remember that.
Enjoyable space battles and political lawyering. I didn't even get bored with those parts!
Enjoyable space battles and political lawyering. I didn't even get bored with those parts!
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