Der zehnte Band einer endlosen Reihe. War am Anfang das Setting noch frisch und unverbraucht, verwirrt jetzt das große Personal, die vielen ungewohnten Namen und das ständige politische Geschwafel.

David Weber began one of the most uniquely poignant, deeply woven sci-fi series back in 2007 with Off Armageddons Reef. It was a newly different take on the typical sci-fI story of the time. It was more adult in it’s style, narrative, and Rip Van Winkle with a twist characters who are deeply passionate about their Religious standings, their Luddite style of living and all the other complicated details surrounding these elements placed in one arena. Weber continued to develop this outstanding story into the ongoing “Safehold Series”. Due to it’s voluminous writing, it’s inherently touchy subject matter and transgendered cyber bot, Merlin, this series is either loved or disliked. But, for those new to the series, giving it a chance it is one of the most intricately woven story captivating your imagination, begging for more and grieving during those long periods of writing to printing the next book of the series. It takes a special author to contrive something this large that holds together seamlessly. World building before it was today’s popular term. This book, Through Fiery Trials, is the latest in the Safehold series. After taking time to catch up on the entire series, As I dove into this new book, it felt like I was putting on my favorite pair of jeans. Escaping into this universe is always an exciting experience; one that only a small group of authors like Weber can do in today’s publishing.

David Weber continues the Safehold story in Through Fiery Trials. Safehold is a very complex world which hosts the last of mankind, most of whom believe a false history of their past. The champions of tolerance and science are winning but must step carefully as both the fanatical supporters of ignorance and aliens from outside are a threat. A world with no easy answers.

The 10th book in Safehold series is a mixed bag. The plot moves quickly in tying up loose ends, but seems to suffer from trying to fit too long a time span into the book. Some sections seemed to exist merely to kill off a character from one of the earlier books - usually by the convenient excuse of "old age" - and then explore superficially what change that causes for the specific province they occupied and what superficial changes that brought to the Charisian empire.
It seems like the author is trying to tie up the character driven loose ends, while setting up one more volume to discuss the ramifications of what lies under the Church of God Awaiting and whether or not the "archangels" will be returning.
The book was good in that it tied up several character arcs, but it seemed almost rushed to completion.

The ongoing saga of the development of Safehold, the last outpost of humanity, led by Merlin, the cybernatic avatar of the last survivor of old Earth, continues slowly but inexorably forward. Although slow and, at times, tedious, I found this volume fascinating as the clash between the feudal church and the society it created as set up by a faction of the original colonial leaders and the push for industrialization and progress as nurtured by Merlin and the splinter seafaring society continues to unfold. Hints of future conflicts and old, lingering prophecies entice the reader as the various allies and enemies engage in ongoing simmering conflict that occasionally flares up into brief, intense battle. This series is long and convoluted but well worth the read.

Safehold secrets!

Safehold continues to be a complex, multifaceted world that pits technological development against the righteousness of the Church of God's Awaiting. Think back to the Spanish Inquisition and you're coming close to the nub of heresy and beliefs that stymie cultures unable or unwilling to look to move forward. Of course cobble this together with the story of Safehold's beginnings and the age old story of treachery, of political shifts, of narrow focuses, and the current situation becomes at least understandable.
Supposedly peace has come, at a huge price, to the Island of Charis, but holding this peace together in a world of shifting alliances is not easy.
And then there are deeply hidden secrets that will metaphorically 'throw a spanner in the works.' Merlin, the 'cybernetic avatar' is in the thick of things and it seems little may have changed. Things for me moved rather slowly in this tenth in the series, but as always Weber leads us into new vistas.

A Macmillan-Tor/Forge ARC via NetGalley

War with the Gbaba happened. They overwhelmed and massacred all human life in the solar she with one colony ship surviving. They terraform a new world, but then disagree about how it should be governed. The majority plan is to have a society kept at feudal levels so the Ghana can never find them, having no technological fingerprint about the planet. One of the major players sets up a plan of her own, while the Archangles as they now style themselves wipe the memories of the sleeping colonists and set up the Church of God Awaiting. They write the scriptures which will control everything these people will believe and the rules they must live under. So it will be for the next 828 years before Nimue Alban awakens in a cave on Safehold with no memory but tapes and technology of old Earth surrounding her. She has 300 years to learn to use this before spreading it to this new world. The Church of Charis seems the place to start as they are the most accepting of change. So begins an grand epic.
As with most really long series I buy the first 2 or 3 and read them as they come out. If I find them good reading, I just but the rest and shelve them until the series is complete, then read them all at once. There are so many names in this series, with many characters having several, that it was especially difficult. That being said, the story line is absorbing, the main characters so human ( even the AI's) that you understand their actions and cheer them on or mourn with them at each setback. You understand the motives of the founders on both sides and how it came about.
I recommend this series to anyone seeking an emense adventure
I received this copy from Netgalley and Tor Publishing. Many thanks.

"Through Fiery Trials" eBook was published in 2019 and was written by David Weber (http://www.davidweber.net). Mr. Weber has published nearly 80 novels. This is the tenth novel in his "Safehold" series. 

I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence, Mature Language and Mature Situations. The story is set in the far future and surrounds the activities of the remnants of humanity on the planet Safehold. 

There are several characters that are followed in this story. The war between Charis and those following the Church of God's Awakening has come to an end. The leaders of Charis are part of a small but powerful group who know the truth behind Safehold. Now in the short time they have left before the Archangels are scheduled to return they must advance the technology level on Safehold as far as they can. This novel deals with the trials they face, both political and military, as they struggle towards that goal. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the 25.5 hours I spent reading this 752-page science fiction novel. This novel is massive and took a very long time to complete. I have read several books by Mr. Weber and have enjoyed them all, including a few others in the Safehold series. This novel seemed a little slower than most. I think that is partially due to its length. The cover art is OK. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/. 

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

In David Weber's last Safehold book, the mighty Church of God Awakening was defeated after years of war with Charis and its allies. It looked like the end of the series while also leaving the door open to continue. This is that continuation and it's an excellent start to what comes next for Safehold, a world that was colonized 1000 years previously by humans fleeing from the destruction of aliens named the Ghaba. When the planet was settled, the original colonizers set up the world to use much less technology than earth in hopes that they would not be found by the Ghaba. Charis has of course won the war with the redevelopment of technology (and of course the help of Merlin, an AI hidden by the original settlers).
As with all of David Weber's books this one is long and dense with explanations. The author does give us Safehold history at the beginning which is extremely helpful to new readers as well as fans who appreciate the succinct overview. This book covers the next 15 years and the many nations that make up Safehold now, many allies of the Charisians but also those who are not. Charis is now worried about what will come next -- will the original leaders (turned into 'Archangels' of the world religion) actually come back as some read the 'scriptures'? There is some technology that Merlin and others cannot access in the city of Zion so perhaps something preprogrammed from long ago will happen and no one is sure if it will be good or bad. All in all this a welcome addition to the series and promises more books to come.

DNF. Very disappointed that I could not get into this David Weber story. I have always enjoyed his military/sci fi novels but just could not stick with this one. This universe is very complicated with totally made up names for people and places. The plot is very good but the total scenario is too complicated to keep straight. Weber has in the past made much more readable material.

If you are interested in this book, you probably know what to expect from a David Weber series. There are no real pitched battles here, but there are intriguing applications of technology to support the Safehold world Weber has created with fascinating and intricate detail. This book certainly sets up the next part of the series, focusing on the political, economic, and social changes that Charis's and Merlin's innovations have ushered in. It does this well and the writing is of a quality with Weber's recent works. It is slow and deliberate in it's actions, doing a lot of set up yet still being interesting.

My major complaints are two-fold. First, the most major event of the book takes place in the last few pages. It's definitely a cliffhanger ending, of a political nature and one that will likely upset the apple cart significantly in the near future. As a series, you expect a certain amount of that, but that left the rest of this book feeling like it was marking time until it could make that revelation. There were detailed, intricate, and interesting things that happened that furthered us toward the rest of the series, but no major events that really impacted the major characters.

That brings me to the second complaint; nothing goes off the rails for the main characters. They are inconvenienced by some events, but there is never anything that they have to work to solve. There is one event at the beginning that could cause significant heartache, but it's solved in very short order and while the characters pay lip service to how terrible it was, it doesn't really affect things. Writers talk about the "scene-sequel" format, where you give your characters a challenge in one scene and allow the next to be a reaction against it, where little new happens but where you can set up the next important scene.

Nearly this entire book feels like that sort of in-between narrative to set up the rest of the series. If you are a fan of David Weber and have made it this far in the series, you'll enjoy the book, but with more challenges to the characters and more of a try-fail cycle, it would have been more engaging.

The Jihad is over, but that doesn't mean that all is calm on Safehold. Among other things, multiple rebellions have broken out in Harchong, and Siddermark is in disarray. The accelerated pace of new technology adds to the unrest. The archangels promised to return in a thousand years; it is unclear when the count begins, but the earliest possible date is only a few years away. Charis and their allies are hoping to make industrialization widespread enough by then that the archangels can't wipe it out.

This book has all of the virtues and flaws of the rest of the series. There are no large set-piece battles, but a lot of smaller conflicts. Fans of the series will not be disappointed.

Through Fiery Trials is the tenth book in the Safehold series.. I started off reading the Safehold series with Off Armageddon Reef. At the beginning of the series a lot of world building was required. Given that you were referencing up to three different time periods, there was a lot of back story to tell. As the series progressed you moved from more back story to the telling of war and political intrigue.

It's important to include this backdrop because Through Fiery Trials needs to be viewed as a part of a much larger tapestry, rather than as a singular book. The book starts off with the characters that you know, proceeding to move forward and plan towards their ultimate goal. If I were to fault the book, it would be with this balance. More and more of the administrative minutia are apparent on the pages of this book. This minutia can go anywhere from characters building economic plans to meetings on troop movements. This minutia can sometimes make the book a chore to make through. This is understandable though, given that the book is busy moving many different plot points along.

I enjoyed this book, even with it's flaws. It knows that it's moving us towards an end. The characters continue to evolve, and small parcels of facts continue to come forwards as the series moves forwards to the final books. I would recommend this book to my family and friends.

It's a riveting book! Weber continues his Safehold series. I could not put the book down. Weber does a great job developing characters and going through the politics of this world. The plot was intricate and I can not wait for next book in series.