Beyond the Gap and The Sky People
- Thread starter Roberto
- Start date
I really enjoyed The Sky People. It was great fun.
I havn't read the Turtledove book, so I can't comment on it.
I havn't read the Turtledove book, so I can't comment on it.
I enjoyed Sky People, and I'm looking forward to the next one. It's an interesting concept, goes back to the old pulp magazines of the 50s, good characters, etc..
I was disapointed in Beyond the Gap, it just seems like I've read it before, not much originality. Not sure if I'll buy the rest of that series.
I was disapointed in Beyond the Gap, it just seems like I've read it before, not much originality. Not sure if I'll buy the rest of that series.
Much of The Sky People reminded me a great deal of the scenes in Against the Tide of Years and On the Ocean of Eternity that dealt with the Giernas expedition going across North America. I think the only thing Giernas didn't have that Vitrac did was a zeppelin.
And even then the Nantucketers built their own zeppelins.
And even then the Nantucketers built their own zeppelins.
BTW, it just goes to show that even Stirling shares the common AH enthusiasts love for airships.
I still like the scene in The Peshawar Lancers that's just Stirling lovingly describing every detail of the Raj's airship, from the hull down to the Stirling-cycle engines. It's horrendously boring and is placed badly as far as book pacing, but merely the attention he gives to it is hilarious.
AH challenge - describe "The Sky People" as written by Turtledove, and "Beyond the Gap" as written by Stirling.
Bruce
"Repetitive and full of inappropriate parallels,"
and,
"Good but food and action heavy."
Respectively.
and,
"Good but food and action heavy."
Respectively.
I could be wrong, but I think I've isolated the primary AH community problem with Turtledove. He doesn't write counter-factuals (as in make a POD and follow). He writes historical fiction with enough of the names/titles changed to make it sellable.
He's only mediochre at making people, and does have 1/2 of his protagonists being minor varients of the same person.
On the other hand, it is nice to get POV characters that aren't modern, which he is good at.
He's only mediochre at making people, and does have 1/2 of his protagonists being minor varients of the same person.
On the other hand, it is nice to get POV characters that aren't modern, which he is good at.
I think you may be on to something there; certainly that's been my basic complaint with ITPOME and the Colonization novels, to a lesser extent.
