First off to the statement about military buildup in the PC, there is a difference between being at war and in desperate times and being at relative peace and assuming you are out of the reach of the enemy. During the first part, the members of the alliance gave everything they had on a planetary scale because they had no other choice, but even then the PC worlds were not producing as much because they were so far removed from the fighting, we had descriptions of Tug and then his daughter bargaining and cajoling businessmen to support the Alliance even 7 years ago, and in that time the war ended without any real threat to the PC. So the PC worlds started to grow using Jump technology along the viable paths, shipping and tourism. With the Avendahl there (and remember the scale of that ship, it was MASSIVE) and its support craft and fighter wings there was no need to spend money on building up a military, unlike in the sol sector where we have seen massive build up. As Far as Takkara goes, well they pretty much don’t have the resources to build up much and are way too arrogant in their management to assume that the Jung would attack. AS far as ground defenses, what good is a missile or laser that has to travel longer than a second to get to a ship if that ship can jump out of the way, whether they didn't bother building more of those or they were so ineffective Ryk didn't need to talk about them. I suspect there were a number of Coraniarians on the avendahl and in the alliance, the alliance simply failed to consider an attack on the PC without having some fore knowledge. Also remember that the Jung were far more advanced in many ways as far as military ships go and have an entire caste of their society dedicated to war, their economy is built around this caste system, there ships are simply better in a lot of ways, especially if they had 7 years to figure out jump tactics, which they would have been doing form the moment they learned of the device, well before they ever acquired it.
Second, I found starting this book hard because I knew I had high hopes and was emotionally connected with the characters, and as I read I got more disappointed in what they had been doing, I mean Josh a commercial pilot? Jess a mercenary? As the book got along I started to see the motivation and guessed about why Josh and Marcus were on that ship, and then I noticed I was almost done with the book!! It reads fast, it sets up a lot of things, and by the end I didn't want it to stop… I think the 7 year gap makes a lot of what you are talking about make sense, people get complacent, they expect the same thing to happen tomorrow as happened yesterday in the grand scheme of things, life moves on, people leave behind the pain of the past and move forward, and hero’s become older trying to live a normal life with their family and deal with the memories of a highly traumatic experience…
All that said, all I have to ask is the inevitable, when’s the next one coming out?!?!?
p.s. Just a “Meta” thought this does set up a different type of story from the first part. In the first part it was a story of Youth and inexperience moving through challenges to become the leaders that were needed at the time, this time we are starting with people who not only lived through the first part (more or less) but have also lived through the aftermath of greatness… It sets up a very interesting story dynamic that I can’t wait to see how Ryk tells!
We can all agree that the world of 2-1 is far different to the world of part one. There has been radical changes to the mind set of the peoples of both the PC and the Core.
We have not yet seen what the Real Jung are up to - just a few errant ships in the core testing the alliance and pushing their buttons. And the Jung Lord in the PC taking a few core worlds. We know that the Forces that took the PC were about 20 ships total (no battle platform yet but large numbers of people!) I assume that there is a Jung colony out there that got the jump drive from the Alliance somehow (probably from the shuttle Dubnik stole - the only real option for him was to find a strong non alliance world that would benifit from his offering) and are making moves to capture the PC and make moves to force the Main Jung and Alliance forces in the Sol Sector fight among themselves.
As for the PC forces. Takara had 3 ships at the end of 1-15. They had 6 ships close to the home world when they were attacked (they built a few destroyers I guess which is fair enough)
The Corinair and Savoy worlds likely spent a lot to maintain the Avandalh and its fighter forces while focusing on supplying the public with retrofitted Jumpdrives.
I imagine that a large number of smaller gunships were build/retrofitted but those were out numbered and taken out by the Jung attack. So for the most part I'm happy with the Defense forces of the PC as they were described in the story.
The Alliance in the Sol Sector have a Protector Class Ship the Cape Town (Battleship) the Aurora (Cruiser) and I would assume about 20 Destroyers (8 ships every 2 years construction ability with redundancy for retrofitting some as they were updated) and 300+ Cobra's. The reason we do not see all of them is that they would be patrolling the Sector - they could be assigned to different Alliance Worlds etc. Even With Jump drives it would take time to move the full fleet to one location, and then the rest of the sector would be undefended! Also The Destroyers aren't designed to stand toe to toe with other ships so why would you recall them short of a complete assault on Earth pending. And I am looking forward to seeing if Gilardi will put his plans for and Earth Empire on hold to tackle the Jung problem again or if he will start the war someone obviously wants him to!
Someone commented on the Jung Spy Network in the Sol Sector - A lot of this was Nanite driven, which would have been disabled at this stage. But the Jung hidden in place would still have to deal with the fact that they're information would be traveling slowly by ftl drone through an area obviously well monitored by a growing Alliance detection grid.
I would like to point out that while I eventually enjoyed the Book, I did have reservations about the flow of the story, how some parts seemed contrived, how I didn't like just killing Nathan off screen as it were, and about Tuplo being a clone of him... but I took a step back and finished the book happy because I realized that as a story the points I was upset about were just set up points, they didn't matter. they were purely to remind us of the characters and show us the world is a different place. The real story is ahead. I mean we really didn't know what to expect of the Frontiers Saga from 1-1... we hadn't even met Josh Yet!!!
From a rocky start I ended up Liking 2-1. It has me ready for 2-2 and hopeful!
If you wanted to bring Nathan back, why couldn't it have been a good old fashioned rescue? Why bring him back as a clone? Everyone hates clones in Sci-Fi. There's is no way anyone would ever accept a clone of Nathan as Nathan Scott, or Na-Tan. He would be universally reviled. It would have been much better to have just left this beloved character dead, than to clone him. I'm sorry, I loved the first 15 books, but I felt like throwing my phone off the wall at the end of this one.
I get what you are saying about cloning, but there are a few things to keep in mind: 1: we dont really know the attitudes around cloning in this universe, though since they said it was illegal we can infer a more or less antipathy towards the process.
2: We dont know the technology involved and how developed it is or was if taken completely from the Ark, this information could change what we think we know about the process, for good or bad. 3. I am not sure if the idea was to clone Nathan, or Na-Tan.... Legal and ethical issues would hang around Nathan the clone, however humans are fickle and capricious when it comes to legends/religion, the clone of Na-Tan could just have the cloning woven into the legend and make him even more impressive in the eyes of the believers.... 4. We know they have a clone underground on Cornair, but we dont know the full story behind Tupelo, we know he was the earlier attempt but do we really know he was a clone or was he the rescued near brain dead actual Nathan... I was thinking about the statement about how much it would take to keep the clone underground alive and moving him would set them back but Tupelo has been out for 5 years ( i think) without much upkeep apparently... A couple of years to move the smuggled and near brain dead Nathan away from the Jung as quietly as possible, heal him up and try and reintegrate his memories from before near brain death... just a thought...
Have hope, Brian. The universal theme of the Frontiers Saga has always been to take Sci Fi tropes and use them in new ways. You should also realize, after 15 books, that the answers don't always come within the same book in which the problem is introduced.
Remember, there are different types of clones.
Also, just for the record, I am appalled at how many people were not only upset that something was the way they expected it to be, but that they were posting complaints about it when they had barely read a quarter of the book. Did they expect every tidbit of information to be condensed into the first chapter? What, like a status report?
If that is what such people want, they may as well give up on this series now, because I'm never going to give it to them that way. That's one of my biggest peeves with most books. Info dumps.
I do like the Firefly deal of the ending.
Considering Nathan et al are pretty much outside the law at this point. Even if the Jung are pushed out of the PC I can not see Nathan getting his commission back ever and Jessica and Telles appear to be mercenaries outside the law already.
I can not wait to see how it shakes out with those left inside the Alliance and the entire Na'Tan thing.
An interesting if not aggravating first half. Reminds me of Red October "things are going to get out of control and lots of people are going to die."
Makes me think that all the big powers jockeying for control will all end in flames and the real story will be about ours Heros living on the Frontier. Hmmm. 15 books just to set up the real story, love it.
Ryk, I appreciate the response. I have a ton of respect for the skill that it takes someone to build and develop a story and world as complex as this. As much as I didn't love the cloning aspect, I of course would have still been eagerly awaiting the release of the next book. I also understand that part of building up the anticipation for the next book is to end the current one with an unsolved conundrum or crazy cliff hanger.
I'm ok with the cloning plot, though I half expected the invading Jung to be led by a cloned Nathan.
The destruction of Avendahl so easily doesn't sit well with me though. It was bigged up to be the meanest baddest ass ship ever built with the potential for a great story for it's captain (who did he talk on haven after his meeting with the nobels? Tug I thought) Pity that wasn't explored.
I apologizes for my earlier negativity. I look forward to the future installments with the same fervor as i have all the others.
I was always concerned there was not more of an effort to go after Captain Dubnyk, and the hijacked jump shuttle, especially after all the "teaching" of younger people by the good captain, not to mention the Jump drive itself. I still stand by my original prediction that Dubnyk (or whatever his real name is) is an original member of the Jung tribes. For the record I'm not convinced that Capt Tuplo is a clone, methinks there is some other scheming going on. Remember the Admirals private conversation with Nathan prior to going to Nor-Patri? All in all I really liked this installment as it does a good job of setting the stage for Part Two!
Ryk - most probably you will not be able to appease ALL the readers all the time with any given installment. This is even more true when they do not understand the big picture at the time. HOWEVER, you have been creating fairly amazing (and believable) future history within the Frontiers Saga. PLEASE, do not let yourself be deterred by the questionable comments, as they arrive.
Personally, I was upset by Tug's demise - AT THE TIME. The "Wait ... WHAT?" probably went on for a good several days. Guess what? As a loyal reader, not only am I over it, but I'm cautiously anticipating another possible conclusion. Neither here nor there, if he truly is truly gone - it does not change the fact that Frontiers Saga is, hand's down, one of the best extended series I have read - in over 50 years.
Keep up the phenomenal work, and continue providing us with such rich, enjoyable AND highly-anticipated stories, sir! Thank you for many great books so far!
OHH! Jung Clone Nathan.... That is a nifty idea!! Or maybe not cloned at all, but re-educated..that would explain Superior jump tactics and the Avendahls quick loss, Nathan knows stuff... that could set up an epic battle of Nathan vs Nathan.... Any way cant wait for the next book!!
I think Jess said that the Body of Nathan came back to Corinair and that Jess wanted it moved... Could it be that Nathan's Body was reanimated? and that Connor is Nathan raised from the dead? Na-tan is a spiritual figure, so rising from the dead could be a solid push in the Alliance direction!
I would also point out that a Clone, however good, is not the original person. They would be a new person with the almost identical DNA and implanted memories but a different person all the same.
I feel that Clones have the Right to be they're own person! Forcing one to be Nathan Scott or even coersing one to be is wrong whatever the need!
While I dont want Connor to be a Clone, that's a personal dislike for me and I can get over it because the story is just that good!
In all fairness though I have one dislike in the book and thats an ethical issue (that you have no real control over). The story and the characters and the action was on point! Ryk you have done well with this book (but if you can and please back-track on the Connor is a clone point and/or add escalators to the story)
There are different types of clones?
I figured any clone would have the same DNA.
When Doran said "we believe this time it will ( work)" implies o n e of them didn't. So either the first one was grown in a lab and the memories didn't take or it suicided and Conner is the one because he has some memories and they just need to feed him the rest, or they thought Conner isn't the one who "worked" and there is another body laying in the lab waiting for memories...
