Customer Reviews

With the Lightnings [With Headphones] (Playaway Adult Fiction)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

David Drake wrote a novel with Janet Morris, "Arc Riders," which is one of the finest novels about time travel in Science Fiction. He has always written good stories with good technology, but I have found it hard to identify with his main characters. And though not in the same league as S.M. Stirling, I have found his graphic descriptions of mayhem unsettling. This novel is as enjoyable as a David Weber novel, with leading characters you can identify with and like. It is not really a future war novel, more of an adventure novel with war in it. "Starliner" and "The Forlorn Hope" were good novels in this genre, but this is the best work David Drake has done alone, so far. It would make an excellent beginning for a series.

Bibliophile friends recommended this book to me on two counts: they said that it contains one of the deadliest hiney-kicking librarians in all of fiction, and that the partnership between the two leads is reminiscent of the late (sigh) Patrick O'Brian's team of Aubrey and Maturin. Both recommendations are definitely true. The book kept me turning pages and very absorbed in the plot. I especially appreciated that Drake didn't drag in a romance just because his two main characters were male and female. I can imagine something like that happening a few books down the line, but as fast as the plot moved in this first outing it would have been very implausible.

My only complaint was that Drake seemed to work TOO hard at making his futuristic space navies similar to Hornblower or Maturin's British Navy -- complete with masts, barefoot sailors, and prize money. David Weber's "Honor Harrington" series has a little bit lighter touch with this kind of thing. Still, looking forward to the sequel due out in August.

Let's get the plot out of the way first; it's fairly straightforward. Lt. Daniel Leary, of the interstellar Republic of Cinnabar, is a junior officer aboard the communications vessel RCS Aglaia, sent to the planet Kostroma for diplomatic purposes. Adele Mundy, whose family was massacred on orders of Leary's politically important father, is the new Electoral Librarian of Kostroma, trying to get a government library off the ground with virtually no help from the ostensible government. The Alliance, Cinnabar's deadly enemy, takes over Kostroma in a single night of violence, and the eager Daniel and dispassionate Adele are Cinnabar's only hope. The result is a space opera that takes place mostly on the ground. With more politicking and character development and less action than Drake's usual work, With the Lightnings is surprisingly thoughtful for military science fiction. The physical conflicts are resolved not so much through violence than through outside-the-box thinking and skilful research, to the point that this book promotes a surprisingly positive view of information science. This is remarkably refreshing storytelling.

Admittedly, With the Lightnings is Aubrey/Maturin in space, in the same sense that Honor Harrington is Horatio Hornblower in space. If you don't like Napoleonic sea stories, they're both hard to get into - but there is a caveat. Despite the similarities to their literary counterparts, Daniel Leary of Bantry and Adele Mundy of Chatsworth are unique, engaging characters with offbeat personalities. Lieutenant Leary, for example, the rough `n' tough naval officer, is an enthusiastic naturalist, and the Kostroman wildlife that Drake provides for his likable curiosity is exciting in itself, with shades of Drake's survival novel "The Jungle." In fact, it's that very curiosity that draws him to Adele, whose favorite pastime is looking things up.

Ah, Adele. What is it I like about her? She's not just a spy; she's a librarian, and her intelligence still comes into play despite all the cool technology that she has to aid her. As a library student, I've learned that merely getting information is never enough (particularly with today's "information overload," especially on the Internet). You must recognize which information is important and how to use it, and Adele demonstrates this perfectly. I have seriously recommended this book to fellow students and librarians, because it inadvertently takes a positive look at the information industry. While some readers may think the book is at first slow (because the real conflict only appears 150 pages in), I was captivated by the descriptions of Adele's duties as a librarian, and by Drake's ideas of what makes for a good library - perfect discussion material for most of the classes I'm taking. Daniel Leary's own inquisitiveness also takes up a good deal of story time, and his interests in biology become an important plot point later on.

Adele's other unusual trait is her expertise with a pistol; her detached skill with an instrument of death further accentuates her cool objectivity. As a character, she perfectly balances Daniel's fiery cheerfulness. Both Daniel and Adele are professionals in their fields, and they treat each other with a professional sort of friendship that, delightedly, has no romantic overtones. They're friends, not lovers, yet they're dedicated to each other as they are to their jobs. This is what friendship should be; again, it's refreshing.

Okay, I admit that the plot of With the Lightnings is pedestrian. But David Drake, with unique sci-fi concepts and compelling characters, makes it work and come alive in a way few authors can. This is a book to treasure.

_________________________________________
A more descriptive title might be "The Lieutenant & the
Librarian". Lt. Daniel Leary, estranged from his powerful father, is
a supernumerary on a diplomatic mission from Cinnabar to Kostroma, a wealthy trading planet squeezed between two expanding
empires, Cinnabar and the Alliance.

Adele Mundy survived the political massacre of her family on
Cinnabar. She's the newly-appointed Electoral Librarian in
Kostroma's capitol. Drake sets the scene in a leisurely fashion, but
once an Alliance-sponsored coup unfolds, the action is fast and
furious -- and clever and fun.

The Lieutenant is an interesting fellow -- a promising astrogator,
he's also an amateur naturalist and a bit of a lady's man. He
dreams of command, and is plunged into it to rescue a
detachment of Cinnabar sailors cut off in the coup. He proves to be
competent and infectiously optimistic: given lemons, he makes
lemonade, lemon cream pie or lemon-drop cookies, as the
situation requires. He befriends the Librarian, rescues her when
the coup turns ugly, and learns that besides being a computer
whiz, she's a a crack shot and a cool head. They become an
amazingly effective team. No, there's no romance between them
-- at least, not yet.

Comparisons to Nick Seafort and Honor Harrington are
inevitable; fans of either won't be disappointed. Drake's

"Hornblower" [note 1] is more to my taste - it's not quite so compulsively
readable as the Seafort Saga, but more plausible and with *much*
more likeable characters. There's never much doubt of the
(general) outcome, but getting there is all the fun. Drake writes in
a clean, transparent style that's a joy to read. We haven't seen the
last of Daniel and Adele. I'm ready for the next.
_____________
Note 1) -- more accurately, his trubute to Patrick O'Brian's "Master & Commander" series, itself a Hornblower knockoff.

review copyright 1998 by Peter D. Tillman

This is, in my opinion, Drake's best to date. I even likedit better than "Forlorn Hope" - which was my previous favorite. I'd give it a ten on a scale of one to ten.

I think most of you who like Drake will love this one. For those of you who aren't fans of Drake, I will say that this novel doesn't have the "dark" emotional overlay that some of his works have, in particular many of the "Hammer's Slammers" series. It is a rousing adventure with well drawn and likeable characacters.

The main characters are a naval lieutenant and an unusual librarian. One of my favorite quotes:

{Lamsoe is a Navy rating that has just been assigned to a mission with our librarian}

Lamsoe murmured, "Proud to be chosen, Mistress. There's always something happening where you are."

"It's an occupational hazard for librarians," Adele said.

I'm just hoping this will become a series!

You can read about the storyline in the other reviews so I won't repeat it here. I found this a mediocre adventure story that disappointed slightly in three ways: the characters had no depth, there was too much gore for my taste, and there wasn't very much science fiction in it. Except for a space battle in the last 20 pages, the book could have transpired on present-day Earth. Science fiction should either be good literature or have interesting science in it, I'm fine with either, but this book has neither. If you want adventure stories about plucky junior officers, I recommend the Hornblower novels instead.

If I had to guess, David Drake has decided he'd like a piece of David Weber's action. Daniel Leary and Adele Mundy make an interesting pair, and Drake's description of their unusual relationship (strictly professional) is part of the interest for this novel. Leary is a young naval officer whose easy going way is quite different from any Drake character in memory. Adele Mundy is a woman whose passion is information, and together they make a dangerous team.

While in a similar vein as Weber's Honor Harrington books, "With the Lightnings" is a much different universe, an odd mixture of 3rd world ineptitude and corruption mixed with futuristic technology. The Republic of Cinnabar, Leary and Mundy's home star nation is an odd mixture of revolutionary France and Victorian England. The planet Kostroma (where most of the novel takes place) stands in as Spain for a further parallell to the world of Hornblower or Sharpe.

Drake's casual way with the lives of supporting characters is still there. They die in droves, frequently described quite graphically.

Still and all, an entertaining way to pass the time until Weber finishes his next book.

David Drake's With the Lightnings, from 1998, is the first of a space opera series featuring Lieutenant Daniel Leary of the Republic of Cinnabar navy. As far as I can tell there have been three further books with a fifth in the series, Some Golden Harbor, due this year. The model here is clearly naval adventure fiction resembling Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series, or perhaps C. S. Forester's Hornblower series. I can't tell if the correspondences with Hornblower might not be closer than with O'Brian, but there are definitely points of comparison with the Aubrey/Maturin books.

Daniel Leary is a junior lieutenant from a powerful family on the planet Cinnabar, leader of a group of human-colonized worlds. His father is one of the leading politicians on Cinnabar, but Daniel and his father are not on speaking terms. Leary is assigned to a small diplomatic mission to the independent planet Kostroma, which has historically been neutral but favoring Cinnabar in an ongoing rivalry with a fairly evil seeming group of worlds, the Alliance. A new Elector has taken over on Kostroma, and it's necessary to make sure the Alliance doesn't sway this Elector's opinions.

Leary has an interest in natural history (thus Drake takes a "Maturin" characteristic and transfers it to his "Aubrey"-analog), and he makes his way to the Elector's Library. This library is run by Adele Mundy, who has spent 15 years or so in Alliance space learning to be a great librarian. (Er, information retrieval specialist.) But Adele is actually part of a once influential Cinnabar family, the Mundys of Chatsworth, most of whom were brutally murdered when they were accused of treason. The accusations were made by ... Corder Leary, Daniel's father. (It seems that the accusations were correct to an extent -- some of the Mundys were traitors, though not Adele, but the resulting punishment, murdering everyone connected with the family including Adele's 10 year old sister, was excessive.) Adele, basically apolitical, survived by virtue of being away in Alliance space. But when Adele realizes who Daniel is, she insults him gravely. Daniel's only recourse, he feels, is to fight a duel, but he finds a graceful way out of this and the two become friends of a sort.

But then, after a very long time setting things in place, all heck breaks loose. An Alliance spy has planned a coup, and the Elector is overthrown by a man in league with the Alliance. Most of the diplomats are summarily murdered, but Daniel escapes, along with a crew of "sailors" he has assigned to make shelves for Adele's library. And of course, Adele, a crack shot and a great hacker too, comes along.

There follows a series of hair-raising adventures, both on surface ships and space ships. Daniel Leary is shown (surprise!) to have brilliant leadership capabilities, while Adele proves a very resourceful communications officer type. (She seems well placed to take the Maturin role of non-Naval sidekick who will have a secret job as a spy on future missions.) And in the end Daniel more or less single-handedly (well, double-handedly with Adele, and also with the help of his 20 or so sailors) takes over a space ship and saves the day against amazing odds.

So, yes, it's basically pulp. The main characters are impossibly brilliant. The bad guys do some sneering. There are class assumptions, and servant/master relationship assumptions, that I have a hard time swallowing. The whole thing is pretty implausible. As others have said, the action takes a long time to start. I know all that -- but I still enjoyed the book immensely. It's just nice light fun. The main characters are engaging and easy to root for. (And so far as I can tell not destined for each other. (Adele is about a decade older than Daniel, and seems to be not interested in romantic relationships of any sort, while Daniel is very interested in short-term (i.e. one night) romantic relationships with girls who are much prettier and dumber than Adele.))

With the Lightnings is the first novel in the Leary, RCN, series. Lieutenant Daniel Leary is an officer on the Republic of Cinnabar Navy ship Aglaia with no money and no prospects. Adele Mundy is a scholar and librarian with no money and no prospects.

In this novel, they meet on Kostroma in the Elector's Library, which is under Adele's supervision. They recognize each other as fellow bibliophiles. She is trying to get the palace carpenters to put up some simple shelves for the stored books and other items, but having little luck in getting across her needs, so Daniel offers to provide her with assistance from his ship's crew. They begin to strike up a friendship ... until Adele discovers that Daniel's father is Speaker Corder Leary. She then snubs Daniel and he leaves fluming with anger.

Later, Daniel learns that she is a Mundy of Chatsworth, whose family was all shot as conspirators by order of Daniel's father. He rounds up a work party from the ship and takes them to the Elector's library to assist Adele in putting up the shelves. He provides his card in case that she would want to have a friend call on him to arrange the details of their duel, but she realizes that Daniel had nothing to do with the death of her family, he being only seven years old at the time, and releases her anger. The petty officer over the detail takes crew, carpenters, and library assistants in charge and starts them building shelves with no more nonsense.

This novel features some interesting characterization, particularly of Adele, who is a strong-willed woman much like Honor Harrington, even to her expertise with a dueling pistol. However, she is not a leader of men (or women), but rather is an expert and advisor. Daniel is the leader in this story, fitted for this role by both training and talent. The plot is fairly obvious (the shooting begins a little later in the tale), but is fast, furious and fun. What Adele can do with a data terminal is just short of miracleous and, after the onset of the invasion, she applies this expertise for the RCN Aglaia.

Recommended for Drake fans and anyone else who enjoys spatial combat tales with likeable characters.

-Arthur W. Jordin

They used to call this kind of thing space opera. No, not a visionary and intellectually challenging exploration of social possibilities (geez, if that's what you want, go back and read LeGuin or Cherryh) but a dam' fine read that accomplishes all to which it aspires. The reviews that have compared it to O'Bryan's Aubrey - Maturin novels and (to a lesser extent) to Weber's Honor Harrington series, are dead on. Good company imho, though in this tale Drake is less technical than Weber and less encyclopaedically erudite than O'Bryan. For what it's worth and in case the word hasn't gotten around, Drake has a sequel coming out titled "Lt. Leary Commanding" due out from Baen Books this coming July. I thought well enough of With the Lightnings that I plan to snag the sequel as soon as it hits the shelves.