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382nd out of 763 books
—
659 voters
The Apocalypse Troll
by
David Weber
There Captain Richard Aston was, minding his own business as he single-handed his sailboat across the Atlantic while his Navy retirement was processed, when everything went to hell in a handcart. First, there were the UFOs that decided to overfly a USN carrier group at Mach 17. Their impossible aerobatics were bad enough, but then they started shooting at each other. And a...more
Hardcover, 320 pages
Published
May 1st 2001
by Baen
(first published December 1st 1998)
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There are certain books that have a special resonance for me: some because of when I read them, and some because of who I am or would like to be. This is one of the latter.
The story is pretty straightforward (for science fiction), involving implacably hostile aliens, space battles, time travel, and heroic individuals fighting against long odds.
What makes it an excellent book is the quality of David Weber's writing: the characters are complex enough to be believable, their dialog is crisp and w...more
The story is pretty straightforward (for science fiction), involving implacably hostile aliens, space battles, time travel, and heroic individuals fighting against long odds.
What makes it an excellent book is the quality of David Weber's writing: the characters are complex enough to be believable, their dialog is crisp and w...more
The reasons I am a general fan of David Weber are the same reasons I gave this book 5 stars. I love that Weber is capable of making me care about a character in the two pages it takes to introduce him/her before killing him/her off. Of course this means that I absolutely love the protagonist and main supporting cast by the end of the book. I recognize that many of Weber's characters are larger than life, but I personally find utterly ordinary kind of boring. Also, I think history has taught us t...more
It can be done. Weber, breaking thead infinitum tendencies exhibited in his Honor Harrington, bolo and 1634 series has written a fully-developed, well nuanced SF techno-thriller in one volume. He even took more time than most authors to deal with the theoretic and practical problems of backwards time travel. (Try to skip the GoodReads blurb, not because it's incorrect, but because it tells you too much.)
While his prognostication of history in the following dozen years from the book's 2011 publis...more
While his prognostication of history in the following dozen years from the book's 2011 publis...more
In the future, mankind is winning the war against the Kangas. But the enemy attempts to send troops back in time to Earth 2007. Only one Kanga unit, a deadly Troll, remains alive in 2007 after mankind tries to stop the plan. But a human from the future also survives… And so it begins.
The idea of only one “future human” surviving is entertaining, and Weber on a bad day is still better than many authors on a good one. However, I did feel that Mr. Weber was treading water here. The plot is predicta...more
The idea of only one “future human” surviving is entertaining, and Weber on a bad day is still better than many authors on a good one. However, I did feel that Mr. Weber was treading water here. The plot is predicta...more
Available at Baen Free Library.
David Weber is at his best when he is writing space combat, and those are the parts of this book that really shine. He is somewhat less proficient when he translates the setting to include modern military forces, but those parts are still quite good. What drags this book from 4 stars down to 3, though, are the areas where no action is taking place. Weber, to me anyway, really doesn't have a great grasp when it comes to writing the non-military parts of this book.
But, overall, an enjoyable book....more
But, overall, an enjoyable book....more
Apr 18, 2013
Katy
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Katy by:
Dmitry Sozaev
Please note: I wrote this review after reading the book in March of 2006. Just copying it over!
While waiting my turn at the Honor Harrington series, I picked up this book in order to get a taste of David Weber. I was very happy with what I read. This book is a great deal of fun - lots of action, a great work of military science fiction (read: SCIENCE FICTION to those who are going "oh, but this doesn't make sense" - yeah - it's SCIENCE FICTION!! Who knows what might make sense in an alternate re...more
While waiting my turn at the Honor Harrington series, I picked up this book in order to get a taste of David Weber. I was very happy with what I read. This book is a great deal of fun - lots of action, a great work of military science fiction (read: SCIENCE FICTION to those who are going "oh, but this doesn't make sense" - yeah - it's SCIENCE FICTION!! Who knows what might make sense in an alternate re...more
Weber does here what Weber does.
This story is compleatly seperate from his other universes.
It is also fansastic in every way.
When you read this, pretend it is the first Weber you have ever read and have no preconseptions about the story or the technology base.
Fantastic story, as always fantastic story, a must read for any SciFi fan.
This story is compleatly seperate from his other universes.
It is also fansastic in every way.
When you read this, pretend it is the first Weber you have ever read and have no preconseptions about the story or the technology base.
Fantastic story, as always fantastic story, a must read for any SciFi fan.
IT's pretty standard stuff for David Weber. The characters are likable, if a bit shallow, the story is fun, if a bit silly, and overall it was a fun read.
How did the editor ever let the book go out the door with this title? The terrible title was almost enough to keep me from picking it up in the first place.
How did the editor ever let the book go out the door with this title? The terrible title was almost enough to keep me from picking it up in the first place.
This was the first Weber I've read. I gave it three stars because it was entertaining but I waffled between two and three. This is one of those books where the characters exist to drive the circumstances rather than the other way around and for that reason it falls short for me.
Mostly predictable, sometimes even boring, few levels below Honor Harrington series, but a bit better than the Dahak Trilogy. At the end I had a feeling that Weber wanted to write something that could be easily used as the scenario for fast-paced, action packed shallow Hollywood movie.
This was a terrific story! It's an ingenious use of time-travel, not to mention a very clever form of time travel. The plot is compelling, and the characters evolve wonderfully. I don't want to spoil the story, so go read it!
The story in this book was fun. The writing, however left me angry. Half of the book is rehashing the same thing, and the final confrontation with the Troll seems rushed and not well thought out. I'm also not a military person, nor do I care about military jargon, so the repeated uses of military acronyms was a bit overwhelming and completely unnecessary.
An amazingly good read, this book kept me wanting more until the very end! The interplay between characters, the overlying plot and jokes, everything about this book deserves to be read.
Another Good Book by David Weber, This is a time travel/lost in the past story but the protagonist is lost in the past which is current for the reader, a really good military Sci-Fi read
Not the best Weber's book, but still is "readable" and the book is written in such a way that it could successfully kill your time during long journey.
Quick read, neat heroine concept (I get the impression that David tested a lot of heroine models before he settled on Honor Harrington), and fun.
It was pretty good, although a bit predictable. Anyone who likes the Honor series will like this, too. The same ideas of upstanding military characters, evil villains & lots of heroism. A fun read, but not as memorable as the Honor series, IMO.
4.5 stars. A highly entertaining story that I thoroughly enjoyed. A good mix of scifi, military action, adventure with a little romance thrown in.
I would have liked this much better without the psi angle, but the basic premise was excellent.
Good book. I really like the way the Mr. Weber writes. Kinda predictable though.
Loved it. Not literature for the ages, but fantastic military/adventure/puzzle SF.
Great plot. Loving that Weber is not overkilling the plot setup which makes for a nice smooth read.
It's military adventure fiction with a hard-ish SF frame, but I liked it!
Good aliens come to earth story - fast paced - plenty of action
One of the best "first" books I've ever read.
One of the worst sci-fi I have ever read !
I enjoyed the concepts David Weber introduced in the symbiotic humans and the trolls. However, the book, particularly the last third, was a bit too "action-movie" for my taste. I also would have liked to have known more about the state of the world after the climax and how mankind would go forward in their new history.
Oct 10, 2012
Rich Clark
added it
A wonderful stand alone story
I LOVED IT !!!!!
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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...
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
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