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Huh. I read the military SF novel The Outback Stars and unlike this Tor blogger, I found the romance arbitrary and unconvincing and hated the whiny emo male love interest. He may have reason to be whiny and emo, but that doesn't mean I gotta like him for it*, and I don't find commander/subordinate romances hot, I find them hella unethical.

* Er, maybe it's relevant here that my favorite male characters tend to be people like Manji from Blade of the Immortal, Kenpachi from Bleach, Hotaru from Samurai Deeper Kyo, Croaker from The Black Company, Sanzo from Saiyuki, Hiei from Yu Yu Hakusho and my favorite Ninja Turtle is Raphael. I have little tolerance for the whiny emo subtype of brooding, embittered hero.

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I don't find commander/subordinate romances hot, I find them hella unethical.

This is my one gripe with Library Wars, as much as I love the series.

Although re: the blog post, is it sad that I was for-certain-values-of-pleasantly surprised that the commander is female?

Yup. Unrequited longing can be good, but the moment they break and consummate the relationship and don't (a) worry a lot of it and/or (b) immediately work on getting one or the other transferred into a new position, I get such a low opinion of the two that I can't respect them any more.

:D Yeah, it's nice that the roles are reversed. What kept me reading the book to the end was the abandoned alien tech, which is a Cool Bit for me.

~~But then, you also like Zuko and Fai...~~

I dunno. The romance sounds kinda dull to me from the review...

ETA:

and I don't find commander/subordinate romances hot, I find them hella unethical.

And my agreement on this matter is why I always feel vaguely guilty for enjoying Hawkeye/Mustang in FMA...

~~I like Fai. I love Kurogane. :D~~

Everyone loves Kurogane. "Kurogane is the awesoime" even managed to get through someone's Sakura-vision from time to time.

Kurogane + Sakura = (non-romantic) SOCUTE (& unstoppable)!!

One of my favorite random scanslation moments evah was a very matter-of-fact translation note about Kurogane reading "Uvf gehr anzr yvgrenyyl zrnaf 'Unjx Xvat,' naq vf znqr bs jva."

Kurogane has a princess complex that is surpassed only by Syaoran's princess complex. Sakura sometimes gets a double dose, as the main target of his princess complex is unavailable. Unlike Syaoran, however, Kurogane's princess complex appears to be purely platonic in both cases.

You say princess complex and the only picture that comes to mind is Kurogane in a pretty pink dress slit up the sides for ease of movement, and a tiara.

This is Clamp. In a series they deny is an AU Cardcaptor Sakura, but really is. The outyfit you describe is quite similar to one that Tomoyo dressed Syaoran up in at one point.

In other words YOUR SUGGESTION IS NOT OUT OF THE QUESTION!!!

CLEARLY SOMEONE MUST DRAW THIS.

I can't decide if it should be slinky or have ruffles and puff sleeves. Bother.

Yes. I was disposed to like this series because it is the most realistic view (minus the aliens and space travel and boinking your subordinate) of being a woman in the military I've read. And then I realized that was the closest to today's US Navy (and being an officer), which is what I know. And I got annoyed at the bits she didn't bother filing the numbers off of (I expect COSALs to be called something by the time we have a Space Navy, dammit).

Oh, and the commander/subordinate thing really pisses me off with how little it is examined.

Hee. :D I like the occasional military SF novel - I can't remember the title of it, but I read a recent one about an ex-mercenary who has a partnership with a possibly-sentient battle tank and I enjoyed it enough that I'll read the sequel when it comes out in paperback. If I can remember the author or title...

The only series I've read with sentient battle tanks is Bolo*. The original novels are from the 80s (by Keith Laumer), followed by a series of anthologies and a couple of stand alone novels by other authors. From your description, I suspect you read David Weber's Old Soldiers. (http://www.webscription.net/chapters/1416508988/1416508988.htm?blurb)

*OK. There is the possessed tank in Those Who Hunt Elves. But that is manga and fantasy.

Nope, wasn't the Weber - it was the author's first novel, and just recently published within the last couple of years. I remember the author was male, and that his last name would be somewhere in the second half of the alphabet judging by where I remember picking it up on the shelf, and he had the sequel out already, but it was in hardback.

The cover had one of the standard Baen looks, and I expect it was published by Baen. The image on the cover was a man on the inside of a battle-tank, with a woman in the background (who ended up not having a whole lot to do with the story). He's an ex-mercenary vacationing on a world where he gets sucked into the plot when he's hired to recover a politician's kidnapped daughter. He's got a special talent that allows him to talk to machines that are complex enough to have attained a sort of sentience (er, not telepathy, more like being able to tune into their radio transmissions and understand them), which is part of a Mysterious Background[TM] that we learn about in little hints and bits. The tank is decommissioned and sitting out in a park. It contacts him, he negotiates with the city for its use, and the partnership is struck up.

I suppose that I'll have to go poke through Baen's catalog to see if I can find it.

ETA, some time later: Got it! Mark L. van Name's One Jump Ahead (http://www.baen.com/author_catalog.asp?author=mlvname). The sequel is Slanted Jack, but it looks like it won't be out until May.

Thanks for letting me know about the commander/subordinate relationship because I was considering giving this novel a try and now I won't.

If I'd realized that it was commander/subordinate going in, I'd have put it down, but by the time I realized that she wasn't going to either be tough and hold out against her hormones or get him transferred elsewhere, I wanted to know about the ancient alien tech plot.

Pssst, from the catalogs at work today, a new kanzashi book!

Oooh, thanks!

Speaking of the little firebug, how did you like SDK 30 and 31? Or have you read them yet?

I loved them! :D

Apart from the romance aspect, how is it overall? The alien/dream time aspect sounds interesting.

And from the blogger: Terry is an atypical hero, perhaps not for SF but definitely as far as the romance genre is concerned. He’s also one of the most endearing reluctant heroes I’ve encountered in a while. Terry is a brooding, bitter romantic if there ever was one.

I get the feeling she has not read many (any?) romances.

I kind of liked the rest of it. Certainly enough to keep me reading to the end, although I wouldn't pick up any sequels without someone I trust reassuring me that the romance is way better than it was in this one.

By the beginning of book 2 they are both transferred and he's not her direct subordinate. The military is highly disapproving, but doesn't punish them as they are now important/did good things (Still hits me wrong - lieutenant sleeping with a chief is taboo).

my favorite Ninja Turtle is Raphael

I knew I liked you for a reason.

...I really should have a Raph icon.

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