Review: Tired of Weber's Books Of Meeting Minutes?  Try Some Real Space Opera!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 4, 2013
_Admiral Who?__Admiral's Gambit__Admiral's Tribulation__Admiral's Trial__Admiral's Lady_[NOTE THAT THIS IS AN OVERALL REVIEW ON THE SERIES SO FAR.  IF SPOIILERS WORRY YOU, STOP READING AFTER I MENTION THE FIRST BOOK YOU HAVEN'T READ]Years ago, there was a dark time in the galaxy's history when rogueAIs subjugated human populations and ruled them according to thedreaded cost-benefit-ratio.  A virus finally ended the AI plague,but to this day the space-faring civilizations avoid using computersmore complex than those of 21st century Earth.A number of space-faring polities grew up in the AI aftermath.  Thebig dog in the galaxy is undoubtedly the "Empire of Man", a somewhatRoman affair with ruling Triumvirs theoretically responsible to aSenate.  In the rather backward "Spineward Sectors", the localinterstellar government was The Confederation.  Some time ago, theEmpire and Confederation merged under a Treaty of Union, formingthe Confederated Empire.  Or that was the theory.  In practice,what was phrased as a merger for political reasons was essentiallythe simple incorporation of the Confederation into the Empire.Still, the forms are observed, and the Multi Sector Patrol Fleetin the Spineward Sectors has a titular head admiral supplied froman old Confederation world to sit around twiddling his thumbs whilethe Empire admiral, as everyone expects and understands, completelydirects Fleet operations.In our case, the thumb-twiddler is a Caprian, perfectly happy tobe off-world.  Capria has a long history of rather unstable politicswith violent swings between Monarchial and Parliamentary government.The last such swing, from King to Parliament,  involved the orbitalbombardment of the Summer Palace and the destruction of most of theroyal family.  Apparently there was a planetary wave of revulsionafter this overreach (especially since a large percentage of thepopulation was still Royalist), and Parliament was forced toleave the remnants of the nobility in public positions -- carefullywatched, and completely hemmed off from any actual responsibilityor power.  Jason Montagne Vekna is a member of a cadet branch ofthe former ruling family and can't wait to finish his college studiesin Colony Administration so he can renounce his Caprian citizenshipand emigrate to a new colony somewhere where he can perhaps actuallyhave a life instead of being paraded (and controlled) like a showanimal.  While he had very little choice in accompanying "The LuckyClover" as figurehead Confederation admiral, it suits him fine tobe away from the poisonous atmosphere at home and the lack of anyactual duties gives him plenty of time to pursue his studies.  Ofcourse life in a Space Opera universe is never that simple.For years, the Empire has been fighting the Gorgon Alliance on theother side of the galaxy.  (The official position of the Empire isthat humanity is the only intelligent species.  The unfortunateexistence of the Gorgons and the Bugs is explained as "they musthave been partial uplift experiments of the AIs..).  At any rate,the fighting was far away from the Spineward Sectors, and not closelyfollowed there.  It would seem however that the Empire was muchharder pressed than had been publicly let on:  Suddenly allImperial personnel and resources are to be withdraw from the SpinewardSectors to be re-deployed against the Gorgons.  The fact that thismakes a mockery of the Treaty of Union, simply proves it was apurely Imperial figleaf all the time.  The Imperial ships in theMSPF prepare to leave at once.  The Confederation era (and Caprianbuilt) "Lucky Clover" is too old to bother with, though the departingImperials do strip all her Imperial tech and weapons.  Suddenly,far from home, in a half-crippled ship with no weapons left, andthe actually trained part of the crew gone, a titular admiral findshimself in actual command.._Admiral Who?_ is the story of Jason Montague's handling of this dicysituation.  The Confederated Empire is gone and The Confederation has notbeen re-established.  Piracy is on the rise.  What he actually knows aboutNavy operations comes from holo-dramas, his first officer probably plans tokill him and his chief engineer may be actually insane.  The same couldprobably be said about the wife he somehow acquired on a lost colony world.The only thing to do is follow Winston Churchill's famous advice about Hell..In _Admiral's Gambit_, Jason continues to fight pirates -- and politicians.The vacuum of Imperial withdrawal has yet to be filled with anything stable,and various power centers, rump and new, try to attach the MSP, preferablywithout its troublesome admiral.  In addition, a hated cousin has broughtword from Capria that the pendulum has swung again, and "King James", anunbeloved uncle, is now in power (or is he..).  And crazy or not, losinghis engineer and some of his most loyal crew is a heavy blow.._Admiral's Tribulation_ sees further fallout from the situation on Capria.Long undercrewed, the "Lucky Clover" receives reinforcements from home.But are they Royalists, or Parliamentarians that King James wanted off-planet?If they are Royalists, is that the same as on Jason's side?  With a capturedpirate revealing the location of the biggest pirate base, can Jason trust anew crew as the MSP starts its largest operation?_Admiral's Trial_ has Jason sidelined for most of the action by the simplefact of being in the brig and then put on display during a show trialby the shaky new Confederation.  Of course they didn't manage to grabhis wife, and Anakatha is the last woman in the galaxy you want to cross,especially when she has help from an unlikely source.._Admiral's Lady: Eyes Of Ice, Heart of Fire_ is a Spineward Sectors novellaexplaining Anakatha's story and how she came to be in the situation whereshe met Jason.These books are apparently written by a team of two brothers, Joshua & CalebWachter, using a pseudonym based on a nickname for their son/nephew: "LukeSky Wachter".  Normally (I think..) Joshua writes and Caleb edits, but on_Admiral's Lady_ they reverse roles.Anyway, these books are great fun.  I think from the setup above, you cansee why -- they are pure old-fashioned space opera.  The natural referentshere are Miles Vorkosigan (though Jason is no genius), the self-doubtingHoratio Hornblower and of course the other HH: Honor Harrington.  Whilethe science is preposterous, the universe is interesting, and we are gettingongoing hints (like in a great "Things I Should Have Been Told Yesterday"speech by a villain) on the Bigger Picture.That is not to say the books are without problems.  Some plot elementsseem forced or don't work quite right (Jason initially in hisbattlesuit and old Confederation uniform/helmet etc).  The engineer ismaybe too crazy, the first officer too sniveling, Anakatha too Anakatha..I will say that the writing seems surer as we go along (and _Admiral's Lady_does a really good job of putting across the strangeness of Anaktha's culture).There are also some writing and editing problems.  I suspect theauthor(s) have a bigger mental vocabulary than a written one.  Fromtime to time a wrong word is used where you can immediately tellwhat was meant.  ("Decedent" for "decadent" for example).  Spellcheck, of course, doesn't catch such mistakes.  I am also convincedthat the first two books, at least, were originally written completelyin the third person.  This has the effect of Jason't first personnarrative being lightly sprinkled with incorrect adjectives (stufflike "his spacesuit" instead of "my spacesuit").  While I belive they madethe right choice in making his a first person story, that does leave sectionsof the book in third person as other points of view are being followed.  Ingeneral I think this works, certainly it works better than the dueling firstperson narratives I have seen from time to time, but it does take a bit ofgetting used to.The last two books do suffer slightly from pacing problems.  The big battle ofbook three drags on too long, and Jason is sidelined too much of the timein both books, during which his voice is much missed.Are these books better than _On Basilisk Station_?  Probably not.  Are theybetter than the latest collection of meeting minutes disguised as an HonorHarrington adventure?  Definitely, and possibly still improving.  Investthe $2.99