cdeane61's review against another edition
3.0
A quite plausible alien invasion scenario (up to a point), but way too many details about weapons and ammunitions for my taste.
I picked up the sequel and that prompted me to track down this one and read it first.
should make for some fun further reading.
I picked up the sequel and that prompted me to track down this one and read it first.
should make for some fun further reading.
pjonsson's review against another edition
3.0
This was a somewhat unusual story. It was not really a bad book but it was not really great either. The basic story is a classical one but one that generally works reasonably well. In this one it also has a twist at the end which not everyone seems to like but I did.
A lot of the book is fairly standard let-us-fight-the-invaders stuff, and it is well written and quite fun to read. However, it slows down from time to time in longwinded talk sessions, especially in the second half of the book. This is unfortunately something that Weber have had a (bad) habit of doing in many of his books. The concept that the (violent) humans are actually better at kicking butt than the aliens is not exactly a new concept in books but the reason behind it this time is a bit far-fetched I have to say. That the aliens should come back to Earth after 600 years and believe that we were still shooting arrows and throwing spears is somewhat ludicrous but okay, I can get over that. It was still fun to read about the aliens getting surprised followed by getting dead in a number of ways.
Then we have the surprise twist at the end. I did like it but, at the same time, it was a bit disappointing. It really came too late and when it finally came it was just too much über-guys kicks alien butt, done, end of book. This part should really have come much earlier and been given much more space in the book. As it was now, a book that could have been really fun became a fairly standard sequence of aliens invade, kick alien butt, repeat a number of times, throw out the aliens.
As I said, it is not really a bad book. It was enjoyable to read. But it is not a great book either. A lot of people on Amazon have given it a single star. Personally, I think that is unfair. It does not merit such a low rating. Unfortunately it seems that the poor reception have prevented Weber from publishing a continuation which I think is really a shame. I would have liked to read about the humans and the “other” guys to go out and knock on the aliens’ door and repay them for their little courtesy visit to earth. The stage is set for a quite interesting continuation after all.
A lot of the book is fairly standard let-us-fight-the-invaders stuff, and it is well written and quite fun to read. However, it slows down from time to time in longwinded talk sessions, especially in the second half of the book. This is unfortunately something that Weber have had a (bad) habit of doing in many of his books. The concept that the (violent) humans are actually better at kicking butt than the aliens is not exactly a new concept in books but the reason behind it this time is a bit far-fetched I have to say. That the aliens should come back to Earth after 600 years and believe that we were still shooting arrows and throwing spears is somewhat ludicrous but okay, I can get over that. It was still fun to read about the aliens getting surprised followed by getting dead in a number of ways.
Then we have the surprise twist at the end. I did like it but, at the same time, it was a bit disappointing. It really came too late and when it finally came it was just too much über-guys kicks alien butt, done, end of book. This part should really have come much earlier and been given much more space in the book. As it was now, a book that could have been really fun became a fairly standard sequence of aliens invade, kick alien butt, repeat a number of times, throw out the aliens.
As I said, it is not really a bad book. It was enjoyable to read. But it is not a great book either. A lot of people on Amazon have given it a single star. Personally, I think that is unfair. It does not merit such a low rating. Unfortunately it seems that the poor reception have prevented Weber from publishing a continuation which I think is really a shame. I would have liked to read about the humans and the “other” guys to go out and knock on the aliens’ door and repay them for their little courtesy visit to earth. The stage is set for a quite interesting continuation after all.
moni_r's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
lyrrael's review against another edition
2.0
This book made me sad.
Not because it was a sad book. Okay, well, rather, it is, but not in the cry-me-a-river sort of way.
It made me sad because I am a HUGE David Weber fan. I love his Honor Harrington series. Love it. Lurve it, even.
I am also a huge fan of end-of-the-world apocalyptic scenarios, even if that means an invasion by a crazy alien species.
This book was all set up to be one of my all-time favorites. Really. Seriously.
But the gaping plot holes..and the craziness...and the...vampires? Really? Vampires? We already have a crazy militaristic alien species nuking the planet and the survivors are in a losing battle to survive, and we get..vampires?
That, tacked onto everything else, just made the jump from improbable to completely implausible. Suspension of disbelief completely suspended. And thus I was sad.
Woe.
Not because it was a sad book. Okay, well, rather, it is, but not in the cry-me-a-river sort of way.
It made me sad because I am a HUGE David Weber fan. I love his Honor Harrington series. Love it. Lurve it, even.
I am also a huge fan of end-of-the-world apocalyptic scenarios, even if that means an invasion by a crazy alien species.
This book was all set up to be one of my all-time favorites. Really. Seriously.
But the gaping plot holes..and the craziness...and the...vampires? Really? Vampires? We already have a crazy militaristic alien species nuking the planet and the survivors are in a losing battle to survive, and we get..vampires?
That, tacked onto everything else, just made the jump from improbable to completely implausible. Suspension of disbelief completely suspended. And thus I was sad.
Woe.
tangentfox's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
A realistic view on an alien invasion of Earth with an out-of-the-blue twist .
There is a light analogy to the way powerful countries believe they deserve to mess with others' business, but this is only mentioned briefly a few times, not analyzed in any depth.
There is a light analogy to the way powerful countries believe they deserve to mess with others' business, but this is only mentioned briefly a few times, not analyzed in any depth.
mferrante83's review against another edition
3.0
Out of the Dark is a novel that is far too straightforward to be entirely successful. For those that don’t know Out of the Dark is an intelligently written alien invasion penned by military-sf master David Weber. The Hegemony, a council of alien races capable of interstellar travel, are horrified by the brutality and violence of the recently discovered human race have. In response they have allowed the Shongari, one of the most war-like and less-respected members of the Hegemony, to send a fleet to Earth for “colonization.” What ensues is a very straightforward invasion story that touches upon the classic themes that subgenre has come to be known for: underground resistances, underestimation of human capabilities by a more “advanced” species, and the unification of different people and groups in light of a common threat are just some of the familiar elements Weber employs in the majority of Out of the Dark.
Where Out of the Dark stands, particularly in its advertising, is the inclusion of vampires. Yes, you read that right. When humanity’s back is to the wall it is the vampires that rise up to aid in humanity’s defense. Which is, to put it mildly, ridiculous. I don’t mean that in a bad way. I’m totally willing to embrace the ridiculous in the name of awesome. The problem seems to be that I’m not sure Weber is similarly willing. While Out of the Dark is certainly a competent alien invasion/resistance novel for the first three-quarters of the text; it takes a sharp turn towards B-movie-ville in the final quarter. Now, that b-movie vibe is pretty fantastic but considerably less so given the dire tone and straight-faced storytelling of the majority of the novel.
I’m heading into spoiler territory, it’s hard to discuss the vampire-laden section of the novel without it, so bear with me here. Those I haven’t scared away from the novel by the above comments would still due well to check it out for themselves. This is still a classic Weber sci-fi novel to start and if the addition of craziness to that model tickles your fancy I think you’ll have a good time with Out of the Dark. Now, for everyone else, hit the jump for some more spoiler laden discussion.
OK. So vampires. Not just any vampires. The big man himself is their leader. Yup, Vlad himself takes up the charge to fight back the Shongari. And these vampires don’t seem to be the vampirism is a disease type either. They have just about all the earmarks of over-the-top supernatural style vampires. Yet, at the same time, many of the conventional aspects of vampire myth don’t hold true. Weber makes Vlad into an interesting characters despite the relatively short screen time. He casts him as man who was a monster long before he entered the ranks of the undead and one whose long centuries have seen him come to regret his past indelicacies. I like that characterization; the idea of Vlad as a monster learning, with a real drive I might add, to be human makes for some interesting reading. Unfortunately, it doesn’t make for much interesting reading since that concept is only introduced somewhere in the last thirty pages or so.
The decision to introduce vampires so late in the novel after some solid groundwork in creating a believable science fictional universe seems intended to increase the shock value of their sudden appearance. While that shock certainly holds true for the aliens who suddenly find themselves on the defensive it is less true for the reader; particularly one like myself who picked up the novel on the promise of vampires. Once the vampires are introduced into the mix the novel moves rapidly towards a conclusion; adopting a frenetic pace that lends the proceedings an air of vitality that the earlier sections of the novel (barring the battle scenes) lacked. The desperate Shongari command trying to figure out who or what has been destroying their bases is a particularly nice touch; illuminating who outside their frame of reference the potentially supernatural vampire threat truly is.
What Out of the Dark has is two fairly well executed narratives. The tried and true tale of humanity struggling against an alien invasion and completely out of left field: badass vampires saving humanity from an alien invasion. But those two narratives are far too separate to be entirely successful as a whole. Weber spends too much time with the first part and too long with characters who seem to have little to do with the humans and vampires versus aliens part of the story that each of those narratives short changes the other. What results isn’t a mess but it certainly something of a let down.
All that being said I still find myself hoping the Weber continues the story. Now that the cat is out of the bag, so to speak, I’m curious to see how things change for both humanity and the Hegemony. While a part of me hopes, as I hoped for Out of the Dark, for some crazy over-the-top no-holds-barred B-movie type action I would do well, as would other readers, to remember that thrill-a-minute action has never been something I’ve seen Weber pull off. The man can write the hell out of grandiose action scenes, no argument there, but his tendency for pacing is towards the deliberate and would behoove readers to remember that going into Out of the Dark and, one hopes, beyond.
Where Out of the Dark stands, particularly in its advertising, is the inclusion of vampires. Yes, you read that right. When humanity’s back is to the wall it is the vampires that rise up to aid in humanity’s defense. Which is, to put it mildly, ridiculous. I don’t mean that in a bad way. I’m totally willing to embrace the ridiculous in the name of awesome. The problem seems to be that I’m not sure Weber is similarly willing. While Out of the Dark is certainly a competent alien invasion/resistance novel for the first three-quarters of the text; it takes a sharp turn towards B-movie-ville in the final quarter. Now, that b-movie vibe is pretty fantastic but considerably less so given the dire tone and straight-faced storytelling of the majority of the novel.
I’m heading into spoiler territory, it’s hard to discuss the vampire-laden section of the novel without it, so bear with me here. Those I haven’t scared away from the novel by the above comments would still due well to check it out for themselves. This is still a classic Weber sci-fi novel to start and if the addition of craziness to that model tickles your fancy I think you’ll have a good time with Out of the Dark. Now, for everyone else, hit the jump for some more spoiler laden discussion.
OK. So vampires. Not just any vampires. The big man himself is their leader. Yup, Vlad himself takes up the charge to fight back the Shongari. And these vampires don’t seem to be the vampirism is a disease type either. They have just about all the earmarks of over-the-top supernatural style vampires. Yet, at the same time, many of the conventional aspects of vampire myth don’t hold true. Weber makes Vlad into an interesting characters despite the relatively short screen time. He casts him as man who was a monster long before he entered the ranks of the undead and one whose long centuries have seen him come to regret his past indelicacies. I like that characterization; the idea of Vlad as a monster learning, with a real drive I might add, to be human makes for some interesting reading. Unfortunately, it doesn’t make for much interesting reading since that concept is only introduced somewhere in the last thirty pages or so.
The decision to introduce vampires so late in the novel after some solid groundwork in creating a believable science fictional universe seems intended to increase the shock value of their sudden appearance. While that shock certainly holds true for the aliens who suddenly find themselves on the defensive it is less true for the reader; particularly one like myself who picked up the novel on the promise of vampires. Once the vampires are introduced into the mix the novel moves rapidly towards a conclusion; adopting a frenetic pace that lends the proceedings an air of vitality that the earlier sections of the novel (barring the battle scenes) lacked. The desperate Shongari command trying to figure out who or what has been destroying their bases is a particularly nice touch; illuminating who outside their frame of reference the potentially supernatural vampire threat truly is.
What Out of the Dark has is two fairly well executed narratives. The tried and true tale of humanity struggling against an alien invasion and completely out of left field: badass vampires saving humanity from an alien invasion. But those two narratives are far too separate to be entirely successful as a whole. Weber spends too much time with the first part and too long with characters who seem to have little to do with the humans and vampires versus aliens part of the story that each of those narratives short changes the other. What results isn’t a mess but it certainly something of a let down.
All that being said I still find myself hoping the Weber continues the story. Now that the cat is out of the bag, so to speak, I’m curious to see how things change for both humanity and the Hegemony. While a part of me hopes, as I hoped for Out of the Dark, for some crazy over-the-top no-holds-barred B-movie type action I would do well, as would other readers, to remember that thrill-a-minute action has never been something I’ve seen Weber pull off. The man can write the hell out of grandiose action scenes, no argument there, but his tendency for pacing is towards the deliberate and would behoove readers to remember that going into Out of the Dark and, one hopes, beyond.
saursi's review against another edition
1.0
It was standard Earth gets invaded by advanced aliens fair at first. I liked the concept that a spacegoing race used to attacking pre-industrial civilizations may have tactics that don't hold up against a contemporary army. The book had a lot of 2nd amendment porn and self congratulatory references to how good it was that the US had more guns than citizens. I was 90% of the way through the book expecting to rate it a solid 3 stars. Then it turns out that the heroically tragic Romanian Hero we have been following was actually Dracula and he desperately didn't want to give in to his dark side. What follows is a small group of vampires wiping out bases and enemies that the bulk of the book had humans barely scratching. This followed by the vampires hitching a ride holding to the outside of landing ships before hijacking enemy dreadnoughts and destroying the entire fleet.
furicle's review against another edition
1.0
If you have this book, and especially if you haven't read it yet, just burn it now and save yourself the anger and annoyance you will experience if you insist on reading it.
The first half is actually ok, or even better than that. It's a pretty typical military action novel, with aliens thrown in so you don't have to identify with all those people you're trying to kill too closely. And hey, half the human population has already been killed off, so it makes fighting back all that more heroic right? If reviewing battle plans and ammunition calibre then boldly overcoming all the odds to pull out a win against a horrible enemy sounds like a fun formula, then this delivers in spades, for quite a while.
Then it follows up with the worst, most horrible, stupidest possible formula crud ending you can imagine.
Seriously, read the first half and stop, then think to yourself - "How could the authour sell out and end this in such I way I would consider throwing up in a pail when I'm done?" Write that down and see how close you come to the truth.
Or just skip it altogether.
You have been warned.
The first half is actually ok, or even better than that. It's a pretty typical military action novel, with aliens thrown in so you don't have to identify with all those people you're trying to kill too closely. And hey, half the human population has already been killed off, so it makes fighting back all that more heroic right? If reviewing battle plans and ammunition calibre then boldly overcoming all the odds to pull out a win against a horrible enemy sounds like a fun formula, then this delivers in spades, for quite a while.
Then it follows up with the worst, most horrible, stupidest possible formula crud ending you can imagine.
Seriously, read the first half and stop, then think to yourself - "How could the authour sell out and end this in such I way I would consider throwing up in a pail when I'm done?" Write that down and see how close you come to the truth.
Or just skip it altogether.
You have been warned.
llcooljabe's review against another edition
1.0
Vampires????? Seriously???? Stop. Such an entertaining first 80% of the novel. Ending sooooo stupid.