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How Firm a Foundation (Safehold #5)

4.13 of 5 stars 4.13 · rating details · 1,415 ratings · 100 reviews

The Charisian Empire, born in war, has always known it must fight for its very survival. What most of its subjects don’t know even now, however, is how much more it’s fighting for. Emperor Cayleb, Empress Sharleyan, Merlin Athrawes, and their innermost circle of most trusted advisers do know. And they know if they lose it will be far worse than their own deaths and the des...more

Paperback, 768 pages

Published July 31st 2012 by Tor Science Fiction (first published September 13th 2011)

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Nov 03, 2012 William Bentrim rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

How Firm A Foundation by David Weber

Ok, I’m losing count, this is another book in the excellent Safehold series. Safehold is a planet lost from an alien intelligence that has wiped out mankind except for Safehold. Safehold’s founders founded a new religion to deter industrialization in hopes of not attracting the attention of mankind’s nemesis.

The aforementioned theocracy has become dominated by the gang of four. The gang of four, are four corrupt churchmen who will do anything, no matter how d...more

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May 26, 2012 Jo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-and-science-fiction

This is the Fifth in the Safehold military science-fiction series that combines high tech with early 19th century technology in a world rent by religious warfare. [If you haven't read the other books, don't read this first. "Off Armageddon Reef" is the first. Read them in order.] I’ve listened to the four prior books as audio books, but couldn’t find the audio of this volume, so I read it – and got very little sleep until I finished it.

I love this series, in part, because it has real depth, not...more This is the Fifth in the Safehold military science-fiction series that combines high tech with early 19th century technology in a world rent by religious warfare. [If you haven't read the other books, don't read this first. "Off Armageddon Reef" is the first. Read them in order.] I’ve listened to the four prior books as audio books, but couldn’t find the audio of this volume, so I read it – and got very little sleep until I finished it.

I love this series, in part, because it has real depth, not just space battles (or, in this case, sea battles – but when it does have sea battles, they are damn well written). One of the main reasons I like this series so much is that it deals with deep questions of morality, law, and justice. Weber’s characters believably struggle with these sorts of questions and with having to come to terms with the darkness in others, and themselves. The last book (“A Mighty Fortress”) dealt more with the moral differences (and consequences of those differences) between a person or nation believing that they were personally accountable to God for their actions, and those who believe that by blindly following the orders of other men and woman, who may act as mouthpieces for God, they themselves are absolved of responsibility before God for their actions. However, in "How Firm a Foundation," the focus is more on the political arena. This time Weber explores power: the application of power, the will to power, the seductiveness of power, the trap of power, the corruption of power, and the differences between power and faith. And wraps it up in an excellent, tension-filled story, with just the right amount of action, and characters you really care about.

Another reason I love the series is that Weber focuses quite a bit on character development of both major and minor characters. I’ve read some reviews complaining that he spends too much time on storylines for minor characters, but it is essential to how the overarching story of the series develops. Weber has huge casts of characters in this series and, as major characters die, they are replaced by formerly minor characters who continue to grow into their new central roles. Each of the story lines is compelling reading, and “How Firm a Foundation” is an excellent, absorbing read. Give yourself the time to truly enjoy this novel.
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May 21, 2012 Kathy Davie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: military, political, sci-fi

Fifth in the Safehold military science-fiction series that combines high tech with early 19th century technology in a setting of religious warfare.

How can you tell evil? They're willing to kill anyone. Anyone not on their side is a heretic; anyone on their side is a martyr.

My Take
I hate David Weber. I was hoping that he'd finally conclude this series with this book and, while it appears to be getting close, I find I have to wait for the next installment…! Arghhhh!!! It's making me crazy! This se...more

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Mar 14, 2012 Doc Opp rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really do like this series on the whole, and considered four stars, but ultimately felt that it didn't quite make that threshold. The book continues the saga of the realm of Safehold. Readers who have not read the other four books will have no idea what's happening - in fact, after waiting 8 months for this book to come out, I had trouble remembering various story elements, and Weber makes no effort to orient (or re-orient) readers who aren't on top of what's going on.

He also has a tendency t...more

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Jan 17, 2012 Annette rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, sci-fi

Another thoroughly engaging, enjoyable, and occasionally thought provoking entry into Weber's growing "Safehold" series. (And, as this book covered only one calendar year in world, I see every reason to believe it will continue to grow!)
The Empire of Charis continues to dominate the seas, in large part due to their weapons development. And even Corisande, the most belligerent of their acquisitions, shows strong signs of calming down and accepting their rule. But they've still no realistic plan...more

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Sep 23, 2011 Barbara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: keepers, sf-f-goodies

Weber has a story to tell and who knows how many books it will take. So fair warning to new readers--this is NOT the place to start. You really need to start with Off Armageddon Reef.

Though at first it seems like all Weber is doing is moving people around, there are a few bits of story arc that are tidied up and brought to a conclusion. A couple of these endings will make readers happy and one will probably break their hearts. And it always nice to catch up with the large cast of continuing char...more

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Sep 20, 2011 Gigiabob rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I place HFAF in the same category as "By Schism Rent Asunder" - pieces move about the table, jockeying for position and events are set in motion that require more segments to resolve. This is definitely a middle book in another story arc.

The excitement of Charisian naval victories and technical supremacy at sea is temporized by the Church moving to a strategy of terrorism, subversion and suicide bombers - all while promulgating oppression as it visit's the "Question" and Schulerite Torture on an...more

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Sep 22, 2011 Jesse rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The fifth installment of Weber's Safehold series I found to be an uptick from a couple of the previous books. The combat and politics flow a little more cleanly, and a couple of the things that were 'hanging out there' in the plot threads come more fully into the picture. For the most part, characterization remains strong. Weber continues to be willing to kill off secondary characters, though with the problem (carried over from the Harrington books) that sometimes the replacements aren't noticea...more

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Sep 29, 2011 Ove rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Church Strikes Back …

I like the Safehold series and How Firm A Foundation is another good installment. Familiarity is sometimes a good thing, reading an author you like writing something like what he has done before. I often go for that in reading series but it also can become a bit repetitive. This is what happened to me here. This is just more of the same, these medieval battles as entertaining as they are, are starting to bore me and even if we are moving into steam and iron. I do expect...more

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Sep 28, 2011 Jeffrey rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: naval-fiction, read-in-2011

David Weber's latest Safehold novel, titularly science fiction, has now swept straight into the alternative history segment of the field. True its an alternative history not shaped by events on Earth, but set in a far distant world, but its mostly a story about the conflict between a sailing empire and a religious empire who are coming to blows both at sea between their fleets and on land. Most of the action takes place at sea in the form of two richly detailed engagements and some terrorism on...more David Weber's latest Safehold novel, titularly science fiction, has now swept straight into the alternative history segment of the field. True its an alternative history not shaped by events on Earth, but set in a far distant world, but its mostly a story about the conflict between a sailing empire and a religious empire who are coming to blows both at sea between their fleets and on land. Most of the action takes place at sea in the form of two richly detailed engagements and some terrorism on land by the Church's proxies. If compelled to read it by an allegiance to the past novels, you will find the talkative aspects of the prior books quelled a little, but still predominating the action.

At the same time, Merlin, the character who has set in motion many of the events of the book, has been relegated in many ways to a sideshow. Its his very advanced nature that compells this. These novels, to my mind, are almost like a what if episode of Star Trek's prime directive. What if, Kirk and Spock intervened on a medieval industrial planet and parsed out ideas to the smarter inventors and industrialists to use to advance military warfare and industry. But Kirk and Spock after doing so, are not going to get into a phaser engagement with others, and here too, Weber is constrained, by both that issue, but also by sticking some mysterious devise under the Church territories.

At the same time, we do see a little into Merlin's mind as to what he may contemplate to break the stalemate with the Church, and Weber has added some elements of a possible return of prior Archangels.

Overall, this book is mostly filler in a line of books. the plot seems to have advanced a tad, the lines are even more drawn between the sides, but the excitement of the early books in the series has faded to an extent. The cast of thousands of characters has grown -- even the death of a few, will ever be inevitable as will Merlin's superiority even with that World's weapons, but we can and should ask for more from this author.

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Nov 11, 2011 Greg rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: alternate-history, kindle-ebook, science-fiction

This book was David Weber at his best. The web he weaves in this story is awesome and is getting better with every book. This book was one of the better ones in the series in that everything is not all rosy, there's a number things that happen that disrupt the plans of the Merlin and team, which highlight that even with all their advantages, they are not omnipotent, that the other guy can be just a smart too.

The tempo seems to be picking up a bit and it's looking like things will come to a head...more

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Dec 28, 2012 Mojo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I thought this one was on par with the others in this series. To sum it up, I would say 'more of the same'. If you liked the other titles in this series you should like this one. If, on the other hand, you are looking for a more "High Tech" Weber than this isn't the book for you. Mr. Weber is clearly quite interested in the Age of Sail warfare and it shows. The detailed sea battles and (quite) lengthy passages on the operation and maintenance of a wind powered vessel are very well researched. A...more

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Dec 13, 2012 Mark Horejsi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've been reading David Weber's Safehold series for at least half a decade now. I'm a big fan of David Weber, I've also enjoyed his Mutineer's Moon and Honor Harrington books, but Safehold is the series that I think I've enjoyed the most. Well, I picked up How Firm a Foundation a few weeks ago, in celebration of having finished some editing, and read it over about six days. This is a hefty book and that should tell you how much I enjoyed it.

If you haven't read any of the Safehold series, don't...more I've been reading David Weber's Safehold series for at least half a decade now. I'm a big fan of David Weber, I've also enjoyed his Mutineer's Moon and Honor Harrington books, but Safehold is the series that I think I've enjoyed the most. Well, I picked up How Firm a Foundation a few weeks ago, in celebration of having finished some editing, and read it over about six days. This is a hefty book and that should tell you how much I enjoyed it.

If you haven't read any of the Safehold series, don't start with this one. This is the fifth book in the series and the story has expanded a good deal, touching on a large number of characters across the world of Safehold in the ongoing war between the Empire of Charis and the Church of God Awakening. One of my only complaints about this book is that we are hearing less and less about the main character, Nimue Alban, and her alter-ego of Merlin, and more about the other characters that Weber uses to tell this story. That's fine, I suppose, in that Weber's supporting cast is quite strong, and one of the things Weber does very well is hop between a variety of characters to tell a big story. Another thing he'd done very well in this book is naval technology, he must have done a staggering amount of research to be able to write as fluently as he does.

My biggest complaint about this book is that, by this point in a series, I'm having trouble connecting with the large number of characters and locations that Weber has touched on. That may be a feature of it having been a year and a half since I read the last book in the series, and it may just be a feature of needing to visit characters who we then don't hear from again, in order to tell the story. Still, it means that at the start of the scene, I often have to pause and think back and see if I remember the character, and if there's something important going on with them that I should know. Sometimes, I have no idea. My other complaint is that naval scenes can sometimes make my eyes gloss over, even during high tension scenes, because my patience for memorizing the difference between the spinnaker, the yardarm and the poop deck is limited.

All that said, I enjoyed this book a lot, and I do recommend the series for anyone interested in ongoing science fiction. This book touches on issues that Weber first explored in his book Heirs of Empire, mostly in debates of religion as a force of good or evil. If you've read a lot of Weber's books, this isn't exactly a new theme, but they are a key element of the Safehold books. I look forward to the next book and seeing just how far Weber takes this series.(less)

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Mar 20, 2013 John Hill rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Another great installment in the "Safehold" series.

One thing that I really liked about this book, was that in some ways I found the action really picking up again in this novel and the slow-moving pace of the previous two was pretty much gone.

Don't get me wrong, there are still a lot of places in the novel where I think some more inventive pacing could have been used, but there are not as many expositions in this novel as there were in the previous novel.

The novel is still very long, but this...more

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Jun 26, 2012 Craig Beckett rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Why do I keep reading these books? The dialogue is pretty amateurish. The characters are paper thin and the discussion of religion is way too optimistic. Weber wants me to believe that when a number of people find out their religion is a complete fabrication, as documented by a 1000 year old cybernetic being, not one becomes an atheist? Not only this but the cybernetic being in question witnessed the near extinction of humanity at the hands of a mysterious alien--is also a believer in God. I jus...more

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Nov 10, 2011 Karina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Finally fnished. I don't know what it is, this time the book was slow-going. There was a little discontinuity I noticed--one of the Archangels left a some type of video apparently, and the person talking about didn't mention anything about how odd the Archangel sounded, how difficult it was to understand him. The idea is that there were only written records, no spoken audio/video, and the pronounciation shifted. Merlin had to learn the new pronounciations, and this is indicated in the shifted na...more

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Oct 02, 2011 Steven Cole rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans of Weber's Space Opera; also sea battle lovers

How Firm a Foundation is the fifth in Weber’s “Safehold” series of novels, and they really don’t seem to be getting tired at all. I loved this one. From the moment I picked it up, I felt like I was back in a world I thoroughly enjoy, ever eager to get to the next page.

The pace is somehow both fast and slow simultaneously. While I’m hard pressed to say things in the world have advanced much from the beginning to the end, at the same time the prose never dragged, and I never felt I was slogging th...more

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Jan 09, 2012 Joshua Zucker rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I love the premise of this series, that there could be a holy book for this civilization that really does have amazingly useful advice about diet, medicine, and so on. However, the significance of that aspect of the story steadily diminishes as the series goes along, and we end up reading long descriptions of the setup and execution of naval battles. There's also a lot of the story that's told through characters' conversations instead of just happening. It has its moments and the plot is pretty...more

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Oct 14, 2011 Mike rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

I missed out on reviewing David Weber’s fourth Safehold novel A Mighy Fortress. The audiobook just got lost in the shuffle at the time. However, when the fine folks MacMillan Audio offered me a review copy of How Firm a Foundation I jumped at the chance and am I glad I did. My initial feelings towards the first few volumes of David Weber’s Safehold novels were typically positive with some reservations. My major complaints for By Schism Rent Asunder were outlined primarily as follows:

Weber’s peri

...more I missed out on reviewing David Weber’s fourth Safehold novel A Mighy Fortress. The audiobook just got lost in the shuffle at the time. However, when the fine folks MacMillan Audio offered me a review copy of How Firm a Foundation I jumped at the chance and am I glad I did. My initial feelings towards the first few volumes of David Weber’s Safehold novels were typically positive with some reservations. My major complaints for By Schism Rent Asunder were outlined primarily as follows:

Weber’s perimise, conceptually a pre-industrial Earth set about reclaiming and rediscovering technology is both a fascinating exercise in science fiction and a frequent narrative trap. The latter occurs through often lengthy dialogue, or worse internal monologue, passages where characters are forced to come up with or reconceive (sic) object, tools, and theories in a way slightly different, or wholly new, from what we the reader might be familiar with. At the same time these rediscoveries must deal with as yet undefined scriptures of the church that prevent certain undefined technologies. Weber frequently gets bogged down in these explanations which despite being interesting reduce the novel’s pace to a crawl.

With How Firm a Foundation (hereafter HFF) that quibble has by and large disappeared. As Merlin’s secret has been outed to more and more people over the course of the series the narrative has been able to open up and include more detail on the characters and political maneuverings across the surface of Safehold. HFF is for me the first time this series has moved beyond being good into being something great.

Note: Having listened to the audio and only listened to the audio I can guarantee that I have spelled some if not all the character’s names wrong. Weber’s decision to spell things oddly (Caleb as Cayleb, Merlin as Merlyn, etc.) doesn’t help at all either.

The opening of HFF sees the Empire of Charis in firm command of sea power in Safehold however the tiny empire struggles with manpower. When it comes to population the people of Charis are outnumbered 15 to 1 compared to its enemies and while the nation struggles to figure out a means to overcome that disparity its many enemies maneuvering against in unspeakably terrible ways. As new people are added into the inner circle of Charis, those who know the secret of Merlin, the Church of God Awaiting, and Safehold itself new complications are added. New information about mysterious power sources beneath the Temple at Zion, and a long held secret family tradition, shed light on potentially troubling developments regarding the plans the “archangels” set forth in the distant past. Elsewhere everyone’s favorite ship’s hand turned duke Hector Aplan-Armach gets a moment to shine and the somewhat traditional adventure-at-sea feel to his part of the story plays an excellent counterpoint to the more dire stakes seen elsewhere in the novel.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of HFF is the careful examination of hardline religious fundamentalism versus a more liberal and accepting take on religion makes for easy parallels to modern society. The ideological split between the Church of God Awaiting and the Church of Charis could be similar to that within various religions across the modern world. As a result the terrorist attacks seen in HFF from the destruction of a large powder store, to direct attacks on the population of Charis call up, perhaps mostly to the American mindset, memories of our own experiences with terrorism. Indeed more than ever the machinations and rantings of Vicar Jaspar Clinton eerily and chillingly echo the rhetoric of extremists like Osama Bin Laden or Fred Phelps. Jaspar Clinton, who might have easily slid into the realm of villainous caricature is instead made frighteningly real by that fact he so readily resembles real people. I don’t know why this comparison never really occurred to me before now but for some reason Clinton’s actions and his vitriolic and hate-filled take on religion really hammered home that connection bringing an otherwise fantastical novel of a distant future into present of our own world.

Similarly HFF takes another longer look at the nature of faith in Safehold. It has been looked at many times before in the series but as the circle of people who know the truth continues to expand that examination becomes more and more fascinating. People like Michael Stainaire, who know the lie behind the Church of God Awaiting yet continue to believe firmly in a loving benevolent God are fascinating and takes Weber’s story, what could have been an excoriating take on the dangers of religion, into a more rounded examination on the nature of faith and belief. The are three big sides side, at least that I can see, to this examination. On one side you have Michael Stainaire who has taken on a very individual based view on man’s relationship with God despite the known falsehoods behind the foundation of his former religious views, on the next you have Vicar DuCerne who has had a religious reawakening within the confines of the Church of God Awaiting, and lastly you have the Grand Inquisitor with his uncompromising (and potentially self-deluding) views on religion. The heart of the world sweeping conflict of the series is in essence about the relationships between these various views on faiths. Each side has several layered sub-strata and the exploration of faithful man’s exposure to the truth is examined in a little bit of detail as the novel progresses. This aspect of the series was brought more into the limelight in the previous volume and has come even more the fore here.

Readers will likely note that HFF is a much more sedate novel than previous entries. While some might take umbrage with the drop in pacing I rather enjoyed the more sedated tone and though that the novel provided an excellent means to take stock of just how the landscape has changed. It definitely feels something like a set-up novel laying groundwork for big things to come in future volumes. This series is, and always has been, something of a slow burn in terms of action and plot resolution but with HFF things sort of feel like they are closer than ever to really exploding. HFF also marks the second time the Safehold series has changed narrators this time to Charles Keating (Oliver Wyman and Jason Culp have narrated the other volumes). Keating does a passable job at reading but doesn’t inject the text with the emotion of previous narrators. In truth that didn’t bother me too much, but his consistent and even deliver might be wearing or even boring for readers look for a bit more vigor in an audiobook performance.

Despite its slow opening there was a certain emotional resonance to the events of HFF that elevated it above earlier volumes for me. The complete lack brainstorming ways to reinvent old technologies was a welcome change and, in an almost contrary fashion, seeing some new-old technologies put to use once again was still a thrilling read. I’ve almost come to expect each of these novels to have some sort of “Q briefs Bond on new gadgets” scene and that is still the case here but those moments are refreshingly brief. I feel like I’ve said this with every volume but HFF is the strongest entry in the Safehold series yet. While some might complain at the series length I for one am perfectly content to sit back and enjoy the ride.
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Jan 14, 2012 Lynn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the fifth book in the Safehold series, and to tell the truth, I have had trouble getting into each one of them. But David Weber is such a good storyteller, that by the end of each (and they are LONG books!) I'm always left looking forward to the next one.

The Safehold series is about a society based on a lie that nearly everyone has forgotten; a society where progress is prohibited if it involves anything more that wind, water, or muscle power. Traditions and beliefs of generations have b...more

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Sep 16, 2012 Matthew rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Just finished going thru this series again to prep up for the next book being release on 9/18. Love this series because it does an excellent job of balancing politics and action.

The only thing that I don't like about this set of books is the author does spend quite a few pages sometimes talking about sailing. Given that I have no knowledge of ships sails or half of what is being done ... having two pages devoted to how the sail plan was laid out or modified makes for a bit of a slog / skip. Luck...more

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Jul 19, 2011 Liviu rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011_release_read, review_fbc, genre-sf, read_2011, t1_recommended_2011

How Firm a Foundation has an interesting structure in the series and while a lot happens I found it the least satisfying novel to date because all the great moments - and it has a lot of them - are repeats from the earlier four novels - eg we find out what the key is and it is not as mind blowing as Merlin visiting Saint Zherneau in BSRA, or the martyrdoms/Charisian retaliation, wrenching and satisfying respectively still do not compare with Eryk Dynnis and the Delferak hangings to which they ar...more

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Feb 23, 2012 Trike rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2012, science-fiction

This book moved the plot forward ably enough. We lost some characters, gained some others, most stayed where they were. Except for one big "didn't see THAT coming!" moment, the book was mostly what I had expected it to be.it did take a while to get going -- a 175 page while -- but once it did, things moved along at a decent pace. I do hope he steps things up in the next installment, since a lot of groundwork has been laid... Such as hints there might be more than one PICA on Safehold. Dun dun du...more

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Dec 09, 2012 Elizabeth Galewski rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Wow! The first time I took this book out of the the library, I hadn't read the others in the series. I thought it was so boring that I could barely get through the first hundred pages. But then I went back and read the books that came before it in the series. This time, when I picked up How Firm a Foundation, I couldn't put it down. Scenes that seemed banal before were now packed with hidden meaning. Gripping! Just don't use it as an entrance point into the series and you'll love it.

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Aug 16, 2012 Nicole Luiken rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sfantasy

Latest installment in the Safehold series. This book basically ate yesterday; I read 600 pages. I couldn't stop reading it. I have trouble explaining to non-Weber fans exactly why I find these books so compelling. Weber does complex politics and religion and great battle scenes, but often info dumps when it comes to the technology and has a ton of minor character POV. I think it ultimately comes down to stakes. The public stakes are so high I have to keep reading.

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Mar 21, 2012 Michael Jones rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I continue to read this series in spite of myself. The centuries or millennial spanning saga I envisioned after book 1 never materialized. instead we have a Horatio Hornblower mixed with military history and speculative sociology. It is nowhere near the excellence of the first 6 Honor Harrington novels, but it still has its charms. And I continue to read...

Book 5 continues to trend of less and less happening in each book. Yet I continue to read.

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Nov 20, 2011 Guy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction-and-fantasy

Same strengths and weaknesses as the previous book (A Mighty Fortress), with one additional weakness: it read at times like a series of vignettes / set pieces that had been thought out beforehand and then glued together. I liked the vignettes, as well as the things I usually like about Weber's books, so it gets three stars, but it is not really worthy of the author of On Basilisk Station.

And I can't stop wondering if he gets paid by the word....

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Sep 27, 2011 Doug rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi-war

I quite like this series. At times there is a but much of describing every single thought & facial twitch that's going on, but in general it's an enjoyable read. In spite of the hyper detail, I'm sticking with because I really like the characters. I persevere through the detailed descriptions because it gives me more about the characters I like (although there are times when it get's to be a bit much even for me.)

In spite of all that - a good read.

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Jun 24, 2012 Matthew rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, science-fiction

Usually, if I finish a book, I give it 5 stars, because if I finished it, I probably liked it in some way. This time, I had to seriously consider taking off a star. I felt, until about halfway through, that the characters were too flat, and the good guys were getting too many easy breaks. By the end of it, I had changed my mind, but I'm still concerned. Weber introduced some good complications, which I'm not going to go into, but I think this series needs to find an endpoint fairly soon. (N.B. I...more

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Dec 25, 2012 Frode rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I liked it a lot, and it moved the series forward somewhat. I did find the first chapter a sidestep that did nothing in my mind to advance the plot. Also toward the end, a couple of near Deus Ex Machina events occured which strained the imagination. The action toward the end was fast and heavy. Of course, there are multiple unresolved issues, so I will read the next installment when it appears in paper.

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About David Weber

David Mark Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1952.

Many of his stories have military, particularly naval, themes, and fit into the military science fiction genre. He frequently places female leading characters in what have been traditionally male roles.

One of his most popular and enduring characters is Honor Harrington whose alliterated name...more

More about David Weber...

Books by David Weber

On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington, #1)

The Honor of the Queen (Honor Harrington, #2)

The Short Victorious War (Honor Harrington, #3)

Field of Dishonor (Honor Harrington, #4)

Honor Among Enemies (Honor Harrington, #6)

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title link	preview: How Firm a Foundation
avg rating	preview: How Firm a Foundation Goodreads rating: 4.13 (1415 ratings)
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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13513630-how-firm-a-foundation?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347504854l/13513630.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13513630-how-firm-a-foundation?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]How Firm a Foundation by David Weber[/url]

How Firm a Foundation (Safehold #5)

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