Customer Reviews

In Fury Born

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The tale/series begins in the middle of the thirtieth century. Alicia Dierdre DeVries is only fourteen-years-old when the military took an interest in her. Very few teens pop the test filters. Even fewer complete schooling shortly thereafter. Her psych evaluations are already astronomical. Age fifteen finds her in college. Before most people graduate high school, Alicia has finished college and entered the Marine Corps. Camp Mackenzie, the most grueling training ground where Marines are almost taken apart and totally rebuilt, is considered "fun" for Alicia. Directly afterward, she asks to join the Recon Marines and actually gets it. The Recon Marines are considered, even by their fellows, as among the Corps' elite. Once in the Gyangtse System, Alicia's military career really begins...round page twenty-five.

Alicia is considered "larva" by her fellow Wasps until her first real combat duty. Everything hits the fan eventually and Alicia matures quickly, very quickly, under fire. Those watching her at age fourteen still are and Alicia finds herself recruited into the Imperial Cadre, just before her nineteenth birthday. The Cadre are the Emperor's personal sword, paladins, and champions. They are the elite of the elite of the elite. Everyone else has one synth-link to worry about. The Cadre each have three. Alicia must undergo lots of surgery to have it all implanted. She also has a pharmacope, where her body injects itself with needed meds, from the inside, whenever needed. Some of those meds are unique only to the Cadre. One of those drugs is a neurotoxin which would automatically kill her if the need arises. The chance of long term survival in the Cadre is small.

Here I must skip lots. Let us just say that author David Weber outdoes himself with the battles and brilliant tactical moves. No one "retires" from the Cadre. They are simply classified "inactive". They may be reactivated at any time during their life to serve the Emperor and the Empire. Alicia is inactive only a few years when her entire family is massacred by pirates. Almost dead, Alicia finds help from an impossible source. She is "reactivated", of course, but believed to be insane when she tells how she accomplished the impossible. None believe her, yet no one can figure out how Alicia keeps doing the impossible. So Alicia and her impossible source go after the pirates themselves. Problem is that the pirates are not what they seem to be. If Alicia manages to find out the truth, the Empire may very well collapse!

***** Fans of David Weber's Honor Harrington series will fall in love with this new series featuring Alicia DeVries! Other than words such as "Fleet", "Imperial", and the military hardware used in Honor's novels, nothing is the same. You will NOT see familiar characters. To my knowledge, they are not even mentioned. No treecats either. As I stated, this is an ENTIRELY new series. The enemies within this story are not always human either. The Rish are giant and lizard-like. No, more like a T-Rex but on a smaller scale. I found myself just as enthralled with the Rish as Alicia. Enough said on THAT subject. I repeat, this is nothing like Honor Harrington! I stress that often because as unusual as Honor is, even without her treecat, Nimitz, Alicia is even more. Yes, she moves up in rank quickly, but that is normal in war time. All I can say without ruining the numerous surprises and twists is that I found myself totally blown away with Alicia. If the author continues this state of high standards for the next novel in the series, I may not be able to choose which is better; Honor or Alicia. *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

David Weber has done it again! If you never read the original story of Alicia DeVries in "Path of the Fury" then now you have a chance to read an expanded version. This book is divided into five novellas that provide much need background into the life of the heroine.

The first book covers her reasons for enlisting in the Imperial Marines. We get a glimpse of her family and her first exposure to combat as a member of the marines. In the second book, her recruitment into the Cadre, training, and a mission gone horribly wrong that destroys most of her Cadre company. As captain of the reconstituted Cadre company, the third book explains why she left the service and became a colonist with her family. The fourth book introduces Alicia's reason for turning to the Fury and her link to Tisiphone. Book five covers the added link to the third member of the triumvirate, Megaira. Human, Fury, and AI are now complete and ready for revenge. But, can you call a victory of revenge triumph?

The author has produced a very well thought out blend of Greek mythology, technical advancements, and tragedy into an exciting tale. I can only hope that the tantalizing clues at the end mean that a sequel will be written. I highly recommend this book.

When I first read Path of the Fury some years ago I enjoyed it greatly, so when I heard Weber was doing another Fury story I was overjoyed,subsequently I was disapointed on finding out it wasn't a sequel but a rewrite.Now I've read it I can safely say it is so much more then *just* a rewrite it is a fleshing out of an already excellent story, the backstory is well realised and fits in seamlessly with the original plot. This story remains an excellent example of an old fashioned revenge drama. Unfortunately I found the terrorist subplots in the additions to be very typical of recent american media treatments and this did detract from them in my opinion. This is a book which all fans of David Weber's work will enjoy, drama, character development,300 million reasons to forgive someone and Weber's trademark exploding spaceships.

I never read the original novel, so I'll comment only on my impressions of the current revision. The executive summary is that it is a David Weber military space opera story, with pretty much all the positives and negatives that implies.

The plots are well executed, except for a glitch where the new material is grafted onto the original story. It is easy to spot -- the first half of the book is obviously a post-9/11 story about honor, sacrifice, duty, and terrorism. The second half of the book is entirely different, being a more traditional space opera story.

As usual with Weber's stuff, he writes exciting descriptions of military action broken up by detailed technical explanations of the limitations of the hardware he has invented for the story. Also as usual, he spends a great deal of time telling you why each situation is hopeless so that he can impress you when his heroes overcome it. If you are looking for anything other than superficial characterization, you are reading the wrong book.

Many of the staples of Weber space opera are included, such as a heroine who is genetically elite, medical augmentation to create super-soldiers, and a government consisting of a benign monarch who has to deal with craven and treasonous nobles and elected officials.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the book is the question addressed towards the end: What is the difference between justice and vengeance? There is not a great deal of depth involved, unlike for instance something by Steven Brust or Lois Bujold. But even just asking the question opens up more interesting grey areas of morality than are usually addressed in Weber's novels. It does come at a slight cost to the plot, however, because the tension at the ending is almost entirely forced and the suspension of disbelief is severely strained.

As usual I think it could have used some more aggressive editing, but it's better than most of the late Honor Harrington novels in that regard -- probably because he's not trying to tell a much bigger story on top of the one that is happening to the characters.

All in all it is fun to read the first time, but probably not something most people will read over and over again looking for nuances. It's good (but not great) pulp fiction.

More Is Better

In Fury Born (2006) is a greatly expanded version of the novel Path of the Fury (1992). The earlier novel has already been the subject of a prior review and, insofar as I can tell without the book in hand, the latter half of this work is basically unchanged from that work (with maybe a minor correction or two). This volume, however, adds 436 pages (more than doubling the length) which cover the life of Alicia DeVries from the age of fourteen to the day she resigns from the Imperial Cadre.

Alicia first came to the attention of the Cadre through the results of the standard exams taken in her fourteenth year. However, the Cadre was constitutionally restricted from minority enlistments and she was only added to the recruiting watchlist. After her graduation from the Emperor's New College and immediate enlistment in the Imperial Marines, the Cadre began actively manipulating her career.

Her first assignment after basic training was to the Recon battalion on Gyangtse, where she displayed conspicious awareness of both the military and the political environments. Her subsequent deployments continued to demonstrate her brilliance and competence, so she was rapidly promoted to staff sergeant. She was slated for a transfer to the Raiders when the Cadre offered her an alternative. Thereupon she became one of Brigadier Sir Arthur Keita's proteges.

Alicia only resigned from the Cadre after the Emperor betrayed her dead by making a deal to allow the traitor of Shallingsport to live. She settled on Mathison's World with her family for four years. Then the "pirates" raided her homestead, but missed Alicia because she was out hunting direcats. Her family was dead by the time she could return, but shortly thereafter all the raiders were also dead. Unfortunately, Alicia was dying as well, but everything changed when she made a deal with the remanents of the Fury Tisiphone (see my prior review).

With David Weber, more is better. The first half of this novel is just as engrossing as the latter half. It is a long read, but well worth it.

Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys military and naval action novels.

-Arthur W. Jordin

David I must apologise, I thought the Path Of The Fury was excellent and didn't need expansion, I was wrong. This explains how the superwoman Alicia DeVries can become an ally of the Fury Tisiphone, a creature of the Greek Gods; turn her back on the Empire and the Emperor she was a paladin for; and, almost, single-handedly capture the elusive pirates who killed and tortured her family. We also see how important family and friends are in the development of individuals. This is also a study in the difference and importance of revenge versus Justice, and why justice is so important to the creation and sustenance of any civilisation.

Why I love this book. First the exploration of what it takes to be a profesional soldier, something that takes up 2 thirds of the book, also the sacrifices those soldiers take to protect their citizens. We see it explored in discusions with her Grandfather, and between her Father and Grandfather, and between her trainers in her carreer from PFC. Marine to Lt. in the Imperial Guard. We also see why a single incedent in her carreer can turn her against her empire and to a blind alliance with the Fury Tisiphone. What is also fun is watching the creation of a new Fury triumvirate of Tisiphone, the real thing; Megaira, the AI ship Alicia has stolen and linked herself to; and the Human Alicia DeVries.

David, you now have 2 masterpieces, the Honorverse and In Fury Born. Your time and effort in competely re-writing Path Of The Fury is well worth it, and this is a must read for fans of Weber, military fiction of both the Science Fiction variety as well as more typical Military Fiction and Histories of various military battles and campaigns.

If you read the Honor Harrington books you will love this.
Even if you own a copy of Path of the Fury buy this.
It takes you back to the start of Alicia Devries career right up to & including Path of the Fury.
Finaly read about what happened in the Shallingsport raid.
All we need now is to know what happens next.

I thought that IN FURY BORN surpassed even the "Honor Harrington" series which I have, up til now, run out to buy as soon as they are available. Perhaps the story of a young recruit resonates so strongly because of our current military actions. But I am seldom moved to tears and the section dealing with the Cadre's defeat in Shallingsport was nail biting suspense along with a healthy dose of emotion.

As a female and a veteran, I find that Weber does a great job portraying women doing a job on an equal footing - and not even having to notice that they are "equal"! Since we're talking almost 500 years in the future I guess we can hope.... The beauty of the writing is in the matter-of-fact portrayal of a duty recognized and done.

The scifi aspects were clear and understandable and added to my enjoyment of the story. At times the spaceship details in the Harrington series interfere with the narrative flow (for me). This book was seamless. Thank you, David Weber!

A'.com recommended this book to me--a sci-fi addict--so after reading the synopsis and a few of the reviews I decided to give it a go. WOW!!!...now I'm a David Webber fan of the Inner Order after this book, and have bought at least three (3) others since my Webber initiation. Extremely well written, this book--set in the far future of Earth and settled Earth-like planets--develops it's characters gradually but to the full, deals with philosophical issues necessary to the story line, and "Alley" (Alicia) the heroine grows from adolescense to womanhood in the Elite Space Corps in equally gradual confrontations with "The Enemy" suffering defeats as well as stunning successes as she marshalls HER Fury (pay CLOSE ATTENTION to THAT WORD as you read this book) as she learns the enemy is not just without but treacherously WITHIN her Military Establishment as well. She exacts her revenge with ecstacy AND agony in league with her "personal" Fury, becomes more and more facile with her bionic enhancement (internal--not external), uses her bionic "links" to become fast friends with a self-aware artificial computer intelligence on the "AI" spaceship prototype she commondeers and not only triumphs over the enemy, but over her revengeful self as well in a surprising plot twist at the very climax of the action at the book's close. David Webber gets it ALL together in this book, telling a masterful tale in which the reader participates both objectively and subjectively. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

I have read Path to Fury before and I knew this is a prequal before I dived into it.

But oh boy, I have never seen a prequal done so well. Even though I knew how it is going to turn out (Alicia was going to leave the Cadre, she was going to lost her family ...), the novel still griped me from start to finish.

The characters are well done and there is no one in the world that can write battle scenes as well as DW. All the battles are exciting, emotional but also clear explained so the readers know what is going on at all times. The tactics, use of hardware all seem to be very intelligently thought out .. which is a hallmark of DW's novels.

I am now feverishly hoping for a sequal. This universe potentially can be as interesting as the honorverse.