I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
Hell Hath No Fury
by
David Weber, Linda Evans
military science fiction in Hardcover edition that was published by Baen Books on March 6, 2007 and has 512 pages.
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Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Mission of Honor, Insurrection, Worlds of Honor, Empire from the Ashes, Changer of Worlds, Torch of Freedom, Hell’s Gate, In Fire Forged, In Fury Born, Off Armageddon Reef, By Schism Rent Asunder, Mission of Honor, By Heresies Distressed, A Rising Thunder, A Mighty Fortress, How Firm a Foundation, Fire Season, Midst Toil and Tribulation, Shadow of Freedom, House of Steel, Worlds of Weber: Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington and Other Stories, Beginnings, Like a Mighty Army, Cauldron of Ghosts, Treecat Wars, A Call to Duty, Hell's Foundations Quiver, At the Sign of Triumph, A Call to Vengeance, Uncompromising Honor, Through Fiery Trials, The Shadow of Saganami, A Call to Arms, A New Clan
Second in the Multiverse military science-fiction series. And it had better not be the last!
My Take
Weber, Evans, you simply cannot leave me hanging like this!
The deaths, the sacrifices made. The subsection of the Act of Unification requiring a chan Calirath to marry into Chava Busar’s family, but then there’s that Glimpse that the emperor had involving Darcel Kinlafia with a child and his daughter. The Arcanans are at a temporary standstill while the Sharonians are trying to recoup from the attack and the prince’s death.
Does that traitorous bastard, mul Gurthak, finally get exposed? What about the brutality of Thalmayr? Does he ever get stopped? Will Ulthar ever man up? And if he does, what happens??!! If Jathmar and Shaylar’s Talents are fading as they go further into the Arcanan universe, will the same happen with the Arcanans’ magic as they push further into Sharona??
What happens with Jathmar and Shaylar, Gadrial and Jasak?? And there has been nothing about chan Baskay and his tiny group of survivors…! What did Janaki Glimpse that Darcel just realized? Dang it, inquiring minds have got to know!!!
The brutality and evil of mul Gurthak with his underhanded, traitorous plot. Setting up the Sharonians with the peace talks at the portal while bringing his army and dragons forward for the sneak attack. Only the Talents of the Sharonians enable them to survive at all as they escape through the forest.
I loved meeting Crown Prince Janaki and his encouragement of Darcel Kinlafia, the Voice from Hell’s Gate who passed on Shaylar’s psychic video of the attack on their party of surveyors to the rest of their world. I wish there were more people of honor like Janaki and Darcel, chan Baskay, oh, so many others who are decent including Sir Jasak Olderhan and Gadrial Kelbryan.
The forward attacks on the Sharonian forts. The knowledge the Arcanans’ have of the Sharonians’ VoiceNet and how they use it. Then there’s the political machinations as the Sharonians attempt to respond to this violent encounter. Most of Sharona wants Zindel as emperor of a united planet but Chava Busar, Emperor of Uromathia, is plotting for his own crowning. His needs come before anyone’s including the survival of Sharona.
I. N. T. E. N. S. E. It took me days to read this as it was such an intense story.
The Story
It began with two men. They came from very different worlds — entirely different universes, in fact — and they met in a virgin forest on a duplicate planet Earth.
Neither of them had expected it, both of them realized how important the first contact with any other trans-universal human civilization might be. But something went wrong. Neither side knows who shot first. But both the magic-using civilization of Arcana and steel-and-steam age Sharona, with its psionic Talents, think it was the other side.
And it doesn’t really matter, now, because the original incident has snowballed. Both sides have additional dead to mourn; both sides have additional wrongs to avenge. Both sides have additional military forces moving towards the front.
War between the universes is the last thing responsible leaders on either side want. But the fury of their respective populations, xenophobic fear of the unknown, and cries for “justice” (or vengeance) are all driving both sides towards the brink.
The actions of local military commanders and diplomats may well determine the final outcome, and unscrupulous, power-hungry men — and Arcana and Sharona alike — have agendas of their own. The fuse has been lit, and a war stretching across the universes, across an endless succession of identical Earths, fought between dragons, spells, and crossbows and repeating rifles, machine guns, and artillery is about to begin in white-hot rage and fury. Where it will end — and how — no one knows.
The Cover and Title
I can’t help it. I think the cover is dorky. Yes, it’s accurate in its 1940-ish, almost cartoonish depiction of blasting dragons with fierce armored soldiers fighting back. It just doesn’t convey the amazing worlds at odds with each other. I’m not getting that sense of magic versus technology that runs throughout the New Multiverse series. And that series name? What’s with that? New Multiverse? Sounds more like a set of textbooks.
The title though, that is amazingly accurate. I love the fury that rains down on the Arcanans at Fort Salby…YES!!
