Dorsai!

Cafe Society
1

Well, maybe I’m just stupid, but… I don’t get it.

Gordon R. Dickson started off great in Tactics of Mistake. I enjoyed the story and thought it was well-crafted, with an acceptable premise and believeable storyline.

But what’s the deal with Soldier, Ask Not and Dorsai!?
They both start off strong, but seem to wander off into existentialism and then… no closure. At least, there’s no closure in Dorsai!, that I could find. Soldier at least has a clear ending, but in both cases I was left wondering, “…and your point is…?”

So am I missing something? What happened? The end of Dorsai! was so immediate that I couldn’t tell what, if anything, had been resolved; there just plenty of philosophical talk from Sondar the Bond, something about how the Exotics were wrong.

And just for kicks, what was with the walking on air bit?

Hmmmmm.

2

Though I can’t answer your specific question, I will point out that “Tactics…” was, iirc, the fourth book in the series, after Necro-whatever, “Dorsai!,” and “Soldier…,” although I believe it was a prequel to at least the latter two.

I recall that “Tactics…” was my favorite of the series.

Trivia: If memory serves, Dickson first mentioned the Dorsai in a short story called “Lulongomeena” (sp?).

Wasn’t able to finish any of the many later books, other than the short story/novella collections.

Sir Rhosis

3

Yeah… I checked Amazon. I guess there are a lot more than three books in the series. That migh explain some things. Annoying though, I have a lot more reading to do :).