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 Namby Pamby Reviewers at Amazon
 
mclark
178 posts
5th
Joined
1/27/2006
Namby Pamby Reviewers at Amazon
Posted: 27 Jan 06 12:25 AM Modified By sturgeon on 2/3/2006 3:14:19 PM)
I like Amazon -- lots of good books and the price is generally right.  So I was lurking over there one day not long after finishing Backshot and thought I would have a look at the reviews.  Good grief.  I can handle it if somebody thought the writing in a book was bad, or the plot unbelievable, the characters made of cardboard, and so on.  Or if they thought the writer was being dishonest with them.  But while Backshot seems to have garnered a good set of negative reviewers, they all seem to be complaining about the bad outcome of the special operations mission to assassinate the President of the planet!  They seemed to hate the fact that sometimes special operations troops are used to do things that shouldn't be done.  One of the reviewers expressed his concern that the Confederation government seemed to be getting corrupt!  I had to roll my eyes at that one.  If you've read the previous Starfist books you have to know that certain elements in both the government AND the military are corrupt to the core and have been so for some time.  But what else is new?  "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."  Everyone (except blind idealists) should know that drill by now.

The thing is, people, the book portrayed the good with the ugly, the admirable with the dishonorable, amd the success and the failure of how things are in real life, or real Spec-Ops!  And did so in a very readable and well-written way.  Book reviewers (even the random amateur ones that write reader reviews at Amazon) need to get a clue what they're REALLY complaining about before they put pen/keyboard to paper/textbox.

Unlike some of those reviewers, I wasn't disappointed in this book, at least from a qualitative reading experience point of view.  I found the story believable, the plot likely (given the story background), and the outcome sad but definitely within the realm of reality.  Some of the reviewers seemed to have bad feelings about the book because they didn't like the outcome, as if this were a genuine history.  I believe that the negative feelings are based in the fact that the book and its story grabs ahold of you and won't let go.

What I was disappointed in was the assasination target actually getting assasinated!  I had really gotten to like the guy, and then *whack*.  I kept turning the page hoping sanity would break out and the mission would get aborted, and when it finally went down I was really bummed.
Finucane
1932 posts
2nd
Joined
1/25/2006
Re: Namby Pamby Reviewers at Amazon
Posted: 01 Feb 06 3:47 PM
Well, the amazon.com reviews are like opinions and something else I could mention if your rules permitted, everyone has one.  When David and I sat down to plot this book we wanted to depart from the usual "happy" ending and come up with one that reflected how things all too often turn out in life.  We picked the name Jorge Lavager for a reason and the clue to that is in the text somewhere.  I wonder if anyone caught it?  Frankly, I'm rather happy you were turned off by what happened to him.  That means we achieved our purpose with that character.  Bad things happen to good people and bad people often exploit good ones to achieve their ends.  But that story does not end on a depressing note. Chang-Sturdevant is not happy with the way things turned out.  You'll hear more from her about that.
Deadshot
415 posts
5th
Joined
2/10/2006
Re: Namby Pamby Reviewers at Amazon
Posted: 11 Feb 06 8:36 AM

Loved the book and the outcome.  Liked the fact, as with Mike, not knowing if Lavager was going to get popped or not.  That outcome was interesting.  (I think The Queen of Killers would make even The Hammer nervous)  Hated it when Daily had to shoot that prisoner.  Amazed that the Cabbage Patch was actually producing a new fertilizer (shocked the crap out of me, I actaully thought Lavager was planning something.).  The bad guys get it in the end with the hint that the COI jags in charge of this mess would get sent to Darkside..NICE!  (I was nervous Anya was going to disappear.)  Dan & David do a nice job of 'humanizing' their characters, both bad and good.  Putting the daughter in the mix really pulled on the heart strings (hope to see her in book 4 or 5) and I actually felt bad for Pres. Chang-Sturdevant as she's pounding drinks to kill the pain she feels she caused.  One 350 page book tapped so many emotions...as a good book should.  As always, very nice job gentlemen!

Deadshot

Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli
Finucane
1932 posts
2nd
Joined
1/25/2006
Re: Namby Pamby Reviewers at Amazon
Posted: 11 Feb 06 3:20 PM
Well, thanks, Deadshot.  I guess we did our job on BACKSHOT, then.  But the proof of that is in what the readers say and we appreciate you taking the time to balance the score.

Dan
SouthWind
66 posts
www.19ag.com
Joined
4/22/2006
Re: Namby Pamby Reviewers at Amazon
Posted: 23 Apr 06 1:56 AM
 Deadshot wrote

Loved the book and the outcome.  Liked the fact, as with Mike, not knowing if Lavager was going to get popped or not.  That outcome was interesting.  (I think The Queen of Killers would make even The Hammer nervous)  Hated it when Daily had to shoot that prisoner.  Amazed that the Cabbage Patch was actually producing a new fertilizer (shocked the crap out of me, I actaully thought Lavager was planning something.).  The bad guys get it in the end with the hint that the COI jags in charge of this mess would get sent to Darkside..NICE!  (I was nervous Anya was going to disappear.)  Dan & David do a nice job of 'humanizing' their characters, both bad and good.  Putting the daughter in the mix really pulled on the heart strings (hope to see her in book 4 or 5) and I actually felt bad for Pres. Chang-Sturdevant as she's pounding drinks to kill the pain she feels she caused.  One 350 page book tapped so many emotions...as a good book should.  As always, very nice job gentlemen!

Deadshot

 

I think Shultz would scare her. Or they'd just end up falling in love with each other lol. I loved the book, and as always never really paid attention to reviewers. I pick up a book and I read it, despite what people say. Hell, I love tomatoes and some people hate them. Everyone has different tastes. I for one love the book, and my opinion of the reviewers wouldn't be so kind either. Loved the book, is the second Force Recon book out? If so, will pick that up when I pick up the books ten and eleven.
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