Fiction Elite: Reclamation

ShamelesPain

ShamelesPain
Greetings Commanders,

So I finally decided to spend one of my Audible credits on the Elite Dangerous book by Drew, and I have to say, I am thoroughly impressed with the recording quality of the studio and the writing prowess of Mr. Wagar. I am only barely through Chapter 2 and am already hooked. I look forward to seeing how the story unfolds and for more works from Mr. Wagar.

Keep up the good work Drew!

Shameles
 

sqzbox1

S
Sadly I disagree. Read the first one - won't be reading any others. I really don't think he has the storytelling gene. He writes quite well but not well enough to engage me, and the story itself is rather contrived and I felt forced. I often found his choice of words aggravating - I could think of better, more appropriate words myself and I am not a writer. Might sound like a very strange complaint, but honestly, his command of language is really not that great. Probably better than the average joe but not up to professional writing standard I would say. Read one of his and then go read a truly pro one and you will likely see what I mean.
 

Codger

Codger
I enjoyed both books. They add a lot of flavor to the galaxy, and I like how they tie into the game. They aren't the finest books ever written, perhaps, but for 'game lore' type books they are way ahead of the usual drivel.

I consider them recommended reading for anyone interested in the story of ED.
 

GreyAreaUK

GreyAreaUK
If you'd enjoy playing Elite when you're not actually playing Elite (if you see what I mean) then they're worth the money. I bought them, read them, enjoyed them both. Some of the borrowing from The Dark Wheel was a little blunt though, in my opinion, even though there wasn't too much of it.
 

Jack Schitt

Jack Schitt
The audiobook is great. I really hope they can pull something together so that Premonition can get the same treatment.
 

Cmdr Esteban

Cmdr Esteban
I enjoyed Reclamation but will be giving Premonition a miss. If the demise of the central character hadn't been based on a player-driven fiasco with multiple clownish participants I would have been happy to read it though.
 

CMDR EO

CMDR EO
I've listened to Reclamation twice now. The sound design for Elite novels is always top-notch, but Reclamation has one problem that makes it difficult for me to listen to.
The narrator does great work using different accents to classify different characters with one exception: the Federation Officer. He starts out well enough with a typical American-English accent and a sense of military authority (contrasts nicely with the haughty British accents of the Imperials) but after a while his American-English accent begins to slip into a stereotypical Jersey-mobster accent. It gets worse as the story progresses until eventually it's the most cartoonish thing you've ever heard.

It's hard to believe that no one in the recording studio told him to take it down a notch. As an American I have zero knowledge of the regional dialects of British people so, normally, I'd just assume that all the British people involved in producing this audiobook just heard an American accent and didn't pick up on the regional dialect, but it's so over the top and ridiculous that I just don't see how this is possible. It's so bad.
 

besieger

besieger
Ensign Ward said:
I enjoyed Reclamation but will be giving Premonition a miss. If the demise of the central character hadn't been based on a player-driven fiasco with multiple clownish participants I would have been happy to read it though.
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no need for such salt, it was a great read.
 

Jack Schitt

Jack Schitt
Apologies for the tangent, but I invite anyone critical of Drew Wagar's writing to trawl the interwebs for the insane amounts of praise heaped upon the talents of one Ernest Cline, who many in the geekosphere would have us believe is some sort of literary genius and creative Messiah. Then go read Ready Player One.

You will discover a whole new benchmark for bad SF writing, believe me.

An interesting concept, and it will make for an audio-visual spectacular in the hands of Mr. Spielberg. But one of the worst actual reading experiences I've ever had.

Don't get me wrong, Drew Wagar is no Peter Hamilton. But thank God he's no Ernest Cline either.
 

CMDR EO

CMDR EO
Jack Schitt said:
Apologies for the tangent, but I invite anyone critical of Drew Wagar's writing to trawl the interwebs for the insane amounts of praise heaped upon the talents of one Ernest Cline, who many in the geekosphere would have us believe is some sort of literary genius and creative Messiah. Then go read Ready Player One.

You will discover a whole new benchmark for bad SF writing, believe me.

An interesting concept, and it will make for an audio-visual spectacular in the hands of Mr. Spielberg. But one of the worst actual reading experiences I've ever had.

Don't get me wrong, Drew Wagar is no Peter Hamilton. But thank God he's no Ernest Cline either.
Click to expand...

I enjoyed Ready Player One, but I don't pretend it was supposed to be anything more than some geeky 80's nostalgist's wet dream. It had zero depth but it was a lot of fun. I can't comment on whether or not he's a good writer having only read the one book.
 

StiTch

StiTch
sqzbox1 said:
Sadly I disagree...Probably better than the average joe but not up to professional writing standard I would say. Read one of his and then go read a truly pro one and you will likely see what I mean.
Click to expand...

If you are after some sci-fi by the hands of a man with control of language, I cannot recommend Stephen Donaldson's Gap Cycle enough.

Very Elite-esque, though of course with true classical physics observed. And the guy's writing...his command of language is truly second to none.

He's also twisted as the threads in a rope. And it's glorious.
 
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