A Review of By Heresies Distressed

This is the third book in the epic Safehold saga series and like its predecessor, it has a 4.07 out of 5 rating on Goodreads, which is pretty good. However, you’ll find, as was the case with the previous book, that a lot of people don’t like it. And they have their reasons. I liked this book. For the most part. I think. But it also pissed me off. Because it was merely an obvious continuation of Book Two. It was a filler book in the series. And while the end of Book Two promised war between Charis and Corisande, and while we finally got that war in this book, that’s about all we got and in so getting, we only got two battles and even then, only parts of them. So I feel cheated. I feel screwed. And this book ends like the previous one did, with an ending that begs the reader to buy and read the next book in the series if you want to find out what happens. And that pisses me off. Whatever happened to stand alone books? Hell, whatever happened even to just trilogies? Now every author has to write a freakin’ series, and the only books that actually matter are the first and last ones and all the ones in between are filler. And these books are so damn long. 700 pages, 800 pages. I think the next one is 1100 pages. Weber seriously needs an editor or two. Obviously the publisher agreed to a contract with him that guaranteed he wouldn’t have one.

In this book, Cayleb and Sharleyan are now happily married and in love, but Cayleb has left Sharleyan to rule their combined empire while he leads his fleet to the conquest of Corisande. Meanwhile, Church Loyalists try a huge assassination attempt on her life, in which all but one of her guards are killed, but super android/AI Merlin rushes to save her life, which he does, and then she is made privy to his secret and the secret to her world and its history. Meanwhile, Mother Church’s Group of Four is plotting to destroy Charis and its empire, per usual. Different book, nothing changes. Corisande’s Prince Hektor is assassinated by the Church, hoping to spin it as Cayleb’s brutal murder scheme, even though he’s at war with Hektor and would have killed him anyway if he had caught him. By the end of the book, Corisande has surrendered to Charis and has been made part of the empire, but we’re made to believe there will be many rebellions to put down there. The occupation will be difficult. Hektor’s exiled daughter ends the book by vowing revenge on Cayleb and Sharleyan. End of story.

More problems. The naming conventions Weber employs remains brutally stupid, although I suppose I’m somewhat used to it now. However, phonetic spelling of names, hundreds of them, seems damned stupid. And in the back of each book, there is a character reference. In the back of this book, there are about 10 pages of characters, I believe over 300 of them. And they all have to have titles. Duke, Earl, Baron, Sir, Captain, Commodore, Prince, King, Vicar, Archbishop, etc. How the HELL are we supposed to remember all of these people, Weber??? Dumbass! He’s making a pretty penny off of us suckers and the thing that really grates my nerves are these stories are well told and darn addictive and now I have to read the next one to find out what happens with the Church’s efforts to build their own army and navy to attack Charis and with that empire’s occupation of Corisande, among other things. Damn you, Weber! I didn’t know whether to give this book three or four stars. I wanted to give it three because I was so freakin annoyed, but in the end, I’m giving it four because it is pretty well written and it does cover the war that was promised in Book Two. But don’t read this if you haven’t read the first two, in order. And I actually don’t recommend this book. Just because I’m addicted to the series doesn’t mean I think other people will be. Not recommended.

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