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[Bobbie]

I haven't read yet, but I recall ZA getting bitched at in a few reviews for not knowing military speak or some similar thing.  ZA, if I recall, was in the Army.   What my husband says (in the Corps for a long time) is that protocol can and does change over time, and can even vary based on who/where you serve.   Things can and do shift to serve the purpose/objective too.  He reads a lot of military type novels and when he comes across something different, he usually just writes it off as different time, different place.

[MarcW]

and YAY, first one-star review!

Your reply to that particular review was excellent... you are a class act Thom.  As for the more negative reviews, I think there's just much higher expectations that come with this series and that people might be harsher because they really wanted a pure Z. A. Reicht book which is impossible.  Taking on this book was a tall order and you deserve a lot of credit.  I wonder, given the circumstances, if you might have been in a "damned if you do and damned if you don't" situtation regardless of any choices you made in the book... in some ways, a thankless proposition. 

Those reviews won't deter me from getting the book... and besides, there are plenty of positive ones to round it all out.  I'll be reading it knowing that you had taken great care in trying to honor the spirit and voice of someone who is no longer with us.  That is no easy task. 

[Wardog]

I did finish off some Russian dog training book the other night. They had some odd methods for taming wolves.

... what'd you think?

and YAY, first one-star review!

I thoroughly enjoyed it and owe you a review. I am just starting Survivors and figure I won't be asleep early tonight. That will then be two reviews that I owe you. I also think I owe you feedback too. You artistes are so demanding! 

[BruceinMaine]

  Review up soon.

[Wardog]

I've posted this, with some minor modification, a couple of other places, but it will also go up as my Amazon review.

I have read it through, Some are left standing and others die - they survive.

I just finished reading it an hour ago, sort of mulling it over. Thom captured Recht's voice very well and I like the way it flows. Shit happens in a PAW, especially a ZPAW when it isn't just the usual obstacles to deal with. I know many folks are over that side of the PAW, but I still enjoy the stories that I am reading. Good authors, and bad, can manage some piece of information in their stories that give me ideas. But for me, whatever genre I read, it is the characters that grip me in a good story. Good authors know that and work on how their characters deal with the world around them, and do try to keep the way that world works consistent so that they don't throw the reader out of the story by something that doesn't make sense (everybody coming through a melee with just scratches is one of my hated ones).

Thom Brannan took piles of notes, and some already written story, and turned it into an excellent tale with characterizations based on what Recht already put forth in the first two books. I'm quite satisfied with the way it goes and I'm hoping that the Recht family will allow side tales to be written of various characters or events that have either dropped off to the side of the story or still have more to tell. It is a situation ripe for an anthology of shorts or even novellas. We'll see how the results pan out of course, but I wish the Recht family, Jacob and the folks at Permuted the best for bringing this to us. I was sorry to get to the end, it may have finished off the trilogy, but I long for more.

[Thom Brannan]

YAY!

thanks for the review, and it's interesting to note, Z had said:

I do plan on expanding this universe in the future, beyond the 3rd book. The Saga will end with Survivors, however. That is, the storyline we've been following will come to its end, but that doesn't mean the world of the Morningstar Strain is over. There's a lot of stories that can be told there. For example, what did Captain Franklin do onboard the Ramage after his sailors left? How did Abraham come to be a city of survivors, and what was their history with the raiders before Sherman's group showed up? And so on and so forth. There will also be characters from the Saga whose fates can be expanded on after Survivors, but I can't mention who or what they might still need to do without spoiling things.

i think it would be worthwhile to pitch a post-Survivors anthology set in the MSS Universe. (Z'd also said something about a spin-off about Abraham, but i well and truly FUBAR'd that.) i guess the success of the third book might drive that.

[Wardog]

YAY!

thanks for the review, and it's interesting to note, Z had said:

I do plan on expanding this universe in the future, beyond the 3rd book. The Saga will end with Survivors, however. That is, the storyline we've been following will come to its end, but that doesn't mean the world of the Morningstar Strain is over. There's a lot of stories that can be told there. For example, what did Captain Franklin do onboard the Ramage after his sailors left? How did Abraham come to be a city of survivors, and what was their history with the raiders before Sherman's group showed up? And so on and so forth. There will also be characters from the Saga whose fates can be expanded on after Survivors, but I can't mention who or what they might still need to do without spoiling things.

i think it would be worthwhile to pitch a post-Survivors anthology set in the MSS Universe. (Z'd also said something about a spin-off about Abraham, but i well and truly FUBAR'd that.) i guess the success of the third book might drive that.

I have great hope for the future of this, but like you said over at MSSF - it depends on some factors - Jacob, the estate and, of course, those damnable sales figures. I'll keep reading your high quality writing no matter what my friend.

[Thom Brannan]

I'll be reading it knowing that you had taken great care in trying to honor the spirit and voice of someone who is no longer with us. 

thank you! the constant support of the MSS fans during the finishing of the novel was supremely bolstering, and whenever i got their stamp of approval, i felt better about what i was doing.

I'll keep reading your high quality writing no matter what my friend.

and thank you! hopefully, there'll be more for you to read in the not-so-far-off future.