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With the Lightnings (Lt. Leary / RCN #1)
by
David Drake
Daniel Leary is a lieutenant in the Cinnabar Navy with no money and no prospects. Adele Mundy is a scholar whose family was massacred by the Government of Cinnabar. Kostroma is a wealthy planet which depends on diplomacy to stay independent through galactic power struggles. In a few hours, diplomacy is going to fail Kostroma. Daniel, Adele, and the scratch crew they gather...more
Mass Market Paperback, 416 pages
Published
July 1st 1999
by Baen
(first published 1998)
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Mark
added it
I don't think I've enjoyed a book this much since Lois McMaster Bujold gave Miles Vorkosigan a rest and went full-time into fantasy. I've been aware of David Drake for years, since "Hammer's Slammers," and I've read a number of the Patrick O'Brien books that Drake says he patterned Daniel Leary and Adele Mundy after, so in retrospect it was no real surprise that I enjoyed "With the Lightnings."
Although the antecedents of Leary and Mundy (Aubrey and Maturin) are fairly clear ...more
Although the antecedents of Leary and Mundy (Aubrey and Maturin) are fairly clear ...more
I was put off from reading this for a full eight years mainly due to the horrible cover, but also some misgivings about David Drake. While I loved his Hammer’s Slammers, his writing has often been a bit wooden. The blurb just didn’t do it for me either. Well, I’m so happy to be proven wrong. “With the Lighnings” is quality military SciFi. The RCN series has been likened to the Hornblower books, However Drake himself says they are actually based on the Aubrey/Maturin books. Since those are in the...more
The start of a series I shall now hunt down, With the Lightnings is military sci-fi (sort of--mostly an unexpected commando operation set against a broader backdrop which I expect to come into play later) built upon character. In this case, two main characters: a charming and slightly underbaked lieutenant and the exiled librarian he falls in with (or vice versa). In fairness to David Weber, his books had more characterization back before all his developed characters were spread one or two to ...more
Woosh! That went quickly. I started reading this late on Thursday night and at first I was disappointed as I found the rapid introduction of (and chop between) the characters a little scatter-shot and confusing, although that may have been my tired brain.
I put the book down after a few pages to get to sleep and didn't pick it up again until Friday night. As it happens, I must have chosen the exact point at which the character intro's finished and the action began, because it felt l...more
I put the book down after a few pages to get to sleep and didn't pick it up again until Friday night. As it happens, I must have chosen the exact point at which the character intro's finished and the action began, because it felt l...more
Oh... my... GOD! This was just a damn chore to read! I did not care for the prose or the world/galaxy setting. I didn't care about the characters at all & by the time I was at page 200, I realized nothing was really going on. It's as if this novel was just a set up for the rest of the novels & a poor one at that.
I will give Drake credit for not making this a thousand page novel like Peter Hamilton or Weber (though Weber writes fantastic Military Science Fiction). He kept it...um...more
I will give Drake credit for not making this a thousand page novel like Peter Hamilton or Weber (though Weber writes fantastic Military Science Fiction). He kept it...um...more
Micah Seymour
added it
Not bad, but nowhere near O'Brian, and that is not a slight. The problem with a science-fiction take on the Master and Commander is that Master and Commander is science fiction. The science is sailing and natural history, and the pure science of the math is the only thing more real than characters.
Subjectively, I can ask myself, "What would Aubrey do?" in most situations and get an answer. Objectively, the characters and stories are very closely based on amalgamated real...more
Subjectively, I can ask myself, "What would Aubrey do?" in most situations and get an answer. Objectively, the characters and stories are very closely based on amalgamated real...more
Aubrey and Maturin go into space. I really liked how he built his universe so that the jargon of the age of sail was able to fit into space travel. And I also really liked that while one of the main characters was a woman, she was able to be friends with the male protagonist without a hint of romance. How refreshing! Another point in the book's favor was that there were no gender-defined roles. The bosun is a woman--Maturin is a woman, for that matter--and good guys and bad guys are a mix of bot...more
What a disappointment. Having read loads of favorable reviews on this site for this book and its successors I was looking forward to a good, well written Sci-Fi book. Hopefully one that would be comparable to Shepherd, Moon and Weber in it's brilliance.
It just didn't happen.
This book is said to be influenced by Aubrey/Martin and by extension Hornblower, and this was the first warning sign for me. I am a great fan of the Aubrey/Martin series but have found innumerable f...more
It just didn't happen.
This book is said to be influenced by Aubrey/Martin and by extension Hornblower, and this was the first warning sign for me. I am a great fan of the Aubrey/Martin series but have found innumerable f...more
Roberta
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Roberta by:
David Broussard
Shelves:
sciencefiction
I didn't like this book to start with it. It started slow with a lot of world building, and I thought that Leary was a bit of foppish cad and Adele was a cold bitch. As the book moved on, I started liking them a bit more, and the action really lit up in the last 200 pages (400 pages over all).
Not the best SF I've read, but enjoyable. I liked the book enough to read the second one. I won't put Drake up there with Moon, Ringo, Weber, Shepherd, or Bujold because his action just is...more
Not the best SF I've read, but enjoyable. I liked the book enough to read the second one. I won't put Drake up there with Moon, Ringo, Weber, Shepherd, or Bujold because his action just is...more
I enjoyed this little space opera. A space navy lueitenant luietentent luie... officer and a librarian find themselves on a suddenly hostile world after a coupe orchestrated by a hostile foreign power. Can they lead an escape or oppose the forces. [return]Hell this a space opera of course they can. A nice little action adventure with only minor quibbles. People are tightly bound for far to long without screaming or serious after effects. and the moons seem to cause more far noticable tides than...more
I have no idea what part of this was inspired by Patrick O'Brian (other than the spaceships acting like real sailing ships), but that's a good thing. When I first heard this series pitched as 'Aubrey/Maturin IN SPACE, oh but Stephen has become a girl' I was skeptical. I figured it was one of those things where the author couldn't handle Jack and Stephen's closeness and had to flop one of the genders in order to make it okay.
Nope. I couldn't recognize very many traits from the inspirati...more
Nope. I couldn't recognize very many traits from the inspirati...more
When the Tide Rises was a favorite read a couple of years ago. Despite my liking Daniel Leary and Adele Mundy as characters, I have been slow to return to the series. I decided to start at the beginning, and it has been worth the wait. Drake claims he was copying the Patrick O'Brien novels, not Hornblower. It is an interesting distinction. As the start-up novel to a series, this book works well. We are introduced to the principals in an engaging fashion. The story moves along at a breezy pace. T...more
A semi-solid start off for a new series. The back round universe is quite interesting and in many ways wonderfully written. However, the underlying story is not all that great. The characters are interesting, well defined and grow during the course of the story.
I just hated the main male character, to the point where I will not be picking up the rest of the series.
I just hated the main male character, to the point where I will not be picking up the rest of the series.
My bias -- I know David Drake. Keeping that in mind, I think he is a terrific writer. His SF books are interesting, exciting, unique, fast paced -- what more can I say? His characters are not cardboard cut-outs. They have human dimensions and Drake writes with heart and emotion. I could read his Lt. Leary and Venus series books all day.
Michael Barnette
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
lovers of miltary scifi
Shelves:
military-scifi
They don't let you give half stars here or I would have rated this one 4.5.
Another of my favorite David Drake series--second only to the Hammers Slammers books--I really enjoy reading the Lt. Leary books. I couldn't put this one down and will be reading it again, if I can ever figure out which 'keeper box' I stored it.
Another of my favorite David Drake series--second only to the Hammers Slammers books--I really enjoy reading the Lt. Leary books. I couldn't put this one down and will be reading it again, if I can ever figure out which 'keeper box' I stored it.
in the wikipedia article Drake says this is inspired by the Audrey/Maurin characters created by Patrick O'brien. Having read that series as well I can see the resemblence. I have read the series out of order and really enjoyed the books. This is the first of the series and was available as a down load from the Baen website.
The first quarter of the book was a bit of a chore to get through, so much that I kept setting it down in favor of other books. Once past the initial doldrums, however, the book quickly gains momentum, becoming quite the rousing adventure tale. In addition to the space battle action promised by the cover (which comes surprisingly late in the story), there's quite a lot of heist-style sneaking around and some wilderness survival as well. The characters seemed a little bland at first, but they als...more
I've read this series once before, through book 4 or 5. I notice there are 8 out now, so I'm going to read them all. I enjoy this series, though the first book probably deserves 3 stars, I'll give it 4. I enjoy Adele a lot. Librarian spies who are amazing hackers and a crack shot with a dualing pistol FTW.
If you're looking for military science fiction, this won't satisfy. It wants to be Master & Commander in space. I hope it wasn't successful because I'd like to try Patrick O'Brian's work one day.
I picked this up from the Baen Free Library. It's decent space opera. Certainly not a great book, and not one to take seriously even as sci-fi goes, but it was a pretty enjoyable read.
Completely enjoyable first installment in Drake's space-opera take on Patrick O'Brien's Aubrey-Maturin series.
The combination of jaunty high adventure with Drake's usual unblinking presentation of brutality works much better for me than his usual straight military SF. The moments of amusement and fun are a good respite from the bleak results of violence.
Drake also makes the very interesting decision to make one of the viewpoint characters a sociopath who knows, more or l...more
The combination of jaunty high adventure with Drake's usual unblinking presentation of brutality works much better for me than his usual straight military SF. The moments of amusement and fun are a good respite from the bleak results of violence.
Drake also makes the very interesting decision to make one of the viewpoint characters a sociopath who knows, more or l...more
I tried and tried, but I could not get into this book. The parts from the woman's POV weren't terrible, but I couldn't stand the man. He is arrogant and manipulative; in his first scene he thinks to himself that he knows he's in horrible debt and should cut back on his spending, but he likes the high life so he'll just mooch some money from his sister instead.
With the Lightnings is the first book of a military science fiction series and takes about half the book to meander around and get its feet under it. Although the background of the two main characters, Lt. Daniel Leary and the librarian/information analyst Adele Mundy, are fleshed out a bit, in many ways their history is underused and everyone else is fairly static and flat. The action ramps up toward the end, but overall its not as promising a start as another similar series, the Honor Harringt...more
fantastic space opera with enough homages
spread around to make a seasoned reader smile.
Patrick O'Brien would be glad
spread around to make a seasoned reader smile.
Patrick O'Brien would be glad
A good start to a series I was not sure I would enjoy, it had a rather slow start but once it got going it didn't stop. was a good easy read.
In the early 'setting the scene' part of the book I found this to really drag. In fact I thought it seemed really badly written. Fortunately I persevered, got past the background fluff and arrived at the adventurous romp that exists at the core. It was fun, an entertaining enough story that I looked forward to turning a few more pages at night, but also a bit pulpy and disposable for my tastes.
Fun. Dig the Kirk/Spock dynamic between the two protags.
Character driven SF with a gun-toting librarian!
Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides
marked it as decided-not-to-read
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction,
could-not-finish
This just became impossible to take seriously. I couldn't keep going. (Who the hell is Cassian? didn't help, since the error is on the first page.) Oh, and it doesn't help that every time I see the sequel to this in a bookstore, "Legend of a Mind" gets stuck in my head. (Well, the chorus, which is the only part I know.)
The beginning was kind of slow. And some of the action sequences and plots are a bit... simple? Not very realistic in terms of chances, but that's what makes the book tick I guess. I'll continue to read the series to see where it leads.
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David Drake, an attorney and veteran SF and fantasy author, lives near Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
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