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Free eBook for Heinlein fans
https://heinleinsociety.org/thsnexus/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1727		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  PeterScott [ Fri Nov 17, 2017 3:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Free eBook for Heinlein fans
Author:  BillMullins [ Mon Nov 20, 2017 10:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Free eBook for Heinlein fans
I got a copy, and promised a review. I'm not sure he'll be happy if I honor that promise.

It's not wholly amateurish, but neither is the story told to the professional standards of most books I read.

I'm on page 25 of a PDF (out of 343 pages total). So far:
Gage Renner was a thin wiry guy "in his forties."
Pierce Mercier was "in his forties".
Karen Wesley was a thin woman "in her mid-forties".

I'm seeing a pattern here. (I'm betting that the author is somewhere close to 45 years old).

There's a drone in the first part of the book, and it is shaped like an eagle for disguise. "By design, the birdlike drone’s mouth had to remain open for air intake. It sucked in oxygen to fuel the solid rocket booster that ran down the core of the machine." (page 5) Ignore for the moment whether an intermittent solid rocket is an efficient way to provide station-keeping thrust to a drone, or is consistent with mimicking the appearance and flight of a raptor.

1. It would be unusual for a solid rocket engine to require external oxygen. Hybrid motors do exist, but the vast majority of solid rocket motors have their own oxidizer in the solid.
2. If it required external oxygen, there's no reason that it would have to come in from the mouth. Intakes could be anywhere that's convenient.
3. Boosters are used for launch -- this would be a sustainer engine.

Later on, a rail gun fires at a pirate ship off the coast of North Korea. The description of it charging isn't consistent with the video of real rail guns firing, or with the physics of rail guns.

The book reads like a techno-thriller, but without the technological authenticity that comes from the solid research (like Tom Clancy would have given).

I'm going to keep reading a while, but so far, there's nothing about this book that makes me want to look for its sequel.
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