How Firm a Foundation

Okay. Book 5 of the Safehold series. If you don’t know what’s going on by now then either look away or hunt down Book 1 (Off Armageddon Reef) and start reading.In a nutshell this is more of the same. Politics, religion, war. The jihad launched by the Church of God Awaiting against the Empire of Charis has gone badly for the Church. Charis has survived, and not only that is now taking the war to the Church.As with other books in this series Weber relies heavily on sometimes over long scenes of infodumps. Then throw in another 5% of the book being taken up by the Charisian galleon HMS Destiny battling against a ferocious storm. It’s well written and tense and technically expert as we learn how sailing ships survive in hurricane force winds, but 5%? Really? And then there are the scenes where different characters hold long conversations that tell the reader what is going on for the story progression. And that’s the problem, we are told not shown.But, having said all that, and knowing what Weber is going to give us, the tension ratchets up with assassinations and terrorism as the Church launches Operation Rakurai and Operation Sword of Schueler against the Charisian Empire. There is a line in the book where a representative of the Church says “Extremism in the pursuit of godliness can never be a sin” which tells you everything about the lengths the Church and the Inquisition will go to destroy Charis and anyone else, man, woman or child who stands in their way.If you can take the length of the individual books, and the entire series as Weber is currently up to Book 9, then read on, just don’t start here – go back to Book 1 or you will be completely lost.

This book starts terribly. We are treated to sixty pages of incomprehensible gibberish in which sailors desperately thwart the top-gallants and abaft the mains'l while the sea larboards the weather side. Yes, we get the idea that they're in dire peril, but for God's sake GET ON WITH IT. At a 'mere' 800 pages for the whole book, far fewer than its bulky predecessor in the series A Mighty Fortress, which weighed in at over a thousand, this is approaching 10% of the book, and much of this nautical nonsense serves little purpose. Yes, what little of it is comprehensible to people without peglegs and clavicular psittaciformes is exciting, but it doesn't advance the story much, and certainly not by nearly 10%.Thankfully, normal service is soon restored and as well as interludes of exciting local action as navies smash each other to bits, the global story is significantly advanced. One particular advance opens the way for what I'm sure will be very dramatic events in the next volume in the series.Returning to my criticisms of the previous volume, the cover art is far less awful - it's still not great, but at least it's not offensively bad this time - and the internal monologues are kept under better control. They're still there, they're there in everything Weber writes these days, but at least they don't distract too much from events. The stupid names? Well, yeah, they're still there. It wouldn't really be possible to fix that now. But I still hate them.If it wasn't for the meaningless interludes of ahoying of spinnakers and the stupid names I'd just about award this five out of five shiny gold stars. It's not a great book, but it is at least thoroughly enjoyable, which matters far more to me than all the literariness in the world. Of course, this deep into a series it will make little sense if you've not read all the previous volumes, but with those caveats I recommend it.

Part of the larger story telling of the series, the book (and the series) maintains interest with predictable and unpredictable events in the plot. The book has slow passages, as do all the books from this author, but they are not too long. Equally there are 'fast' passages where you feel compelled to read on.

The author obviously loves sailing and the world of galleons and there's a lot of affection in the writing - and, I suspect, a great deal of accuracy. He also communicates a clear Christian commitment - which makes it all the more strange that he has chosen as his combatants the leaders of a corrupt "church". (I guess he would argue that one theme of the books is the difference between faith and religion.)The series is somewhat protracted and could have done with some heavy editing (hence the loss of stars). There were also one or two places where I found it difficult to accept the basic premises behind the books. Some of the dialogue was also a bit twee and I found myself wincing at attempts to express affection or humour.Nevertheless, if you want a good swash-buckling read without too much effort, then these fit the bill.

Like many other reviewers I found this episode particularly turgid. There was so much padding there were whole sections that can be skipped. Merlin, instead of driving progress, seems to have taken a back seat and didn't come up with any original ideas. Only at the end of the book was there a little action with the rescue of a prince and princess. Not even an illusion as to whether Hector, one of the rescuers, and the princess hit it off during a perilous boat journey!