Interesting that of the 70+ reviews across a range of media, yours is the only one lacking a 5-star rating or that recommends it to readersActually I did recommend it. "if you have an interest in an unusual facet of the Vietnam War give it a look."
But among those to whom you wouldn't recommend it are half-a-dozen female bloggers born after Vietnam and with no military or aviation background at all, who gave the story their highest marks, too. You really know who likes what. I'm impressed.Guess what? I'm here to give my personal review. Take it or leave it. They liked the book good for them. I don't think less of them because they do. I do think that a book on an obscure topic, artillery spotting discussing a certain geographical area within a conflict is going to be of limited outside interest. For the casual reader of military history or the Vietnam war.
Cordially,
Jim Hooper
Instead of sniping at me [seriously that review was posted 10 months ago and now you're upset?] perhaps you would be better served by taking this opportunity to go write your next book.
come to think of it there's only a slight hyperbole in that title. Covers the Stanley airfield attack although mostly talks about the frantic planning and training that went on. The aircraft were actually being phased out and they had to relearn a bunch of things including aerial refueling. Popular history that at least tries to demarcate between dialog he knows took place because of transcripts and dialog he's made up.
contains 13 novellas. Unfortunately the only criteria for selection was if Dozois enjoyed it. Like most people there's a particular type of story he enjoys. There's a lot of the same here. Themes of extended life span and perception of reality. I'd be OK if they at least treated the themes differently but they often use the same plot devices (alien biological material invading humans is probably the most glaring). LeGuin's hand wringing about gender roles in Forgiveness Day was almost a relief. There is some great stuff here Sailing To Byzantium by Robert Silverberg, The Hemingway Hoax by Joe Haldeman and Mr. Boy by James Patrick Kelly. Beggars In Spain and Oceanic by Greg Egan both completely failed to work for me. For different reasons. By the end the repetitiveness was taking its toll. I'd probably think better of New Light On The Drake Equation by Ian R. MacLeod and Turquoise Days by Alastair Reynolds if I had got to them earlier. If I would have it to do over instead of reading it all in two weeks I probably would have read one novella every week.
superb history written by as far as I can tell a layperson. Campbell is a journalist. The story is mostly about the development of the tanks and it's deployment. What I especially liked was that he's not looking forward to WWII so he doesn't overemphasize the rather limited success they had.
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