Tag Archives: david drake

The Reaches by David Drake: a review

This is a marvelous work of imagination. The author has developed plausible and internally-consistent reasons for starships to have similar properties to age-of-sail warships, and similar vulnerabilities. Moveover, he’s created a political universe enough like that of Elizabeth’s reign to use it as a framework for a Drake-like career. Finally, he’s told the story through the eyes of sympathetic, albeit very brutal, characters who are certainly real enough to be credible; they worry about each other, brood about the impacts of their activities, and–most interestingly–they grow as we watch them.

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With the Lightnings by David Drake: a review

To my mind, David Drake’s Republic of Cinnabar Navy series is the best of the SF sets based on the Royal Navy’s war with Napoleon. Lt. Daniel Leary’s no superman–but he’s a very good officer and tactician. His friend and Comm Officer Adele Mundy is the tech wiz all these series seem to need, but she’s flawed in interesting ways.

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