Caution! Spoilers ahead!
We’re reading DORSAI! by Gordon R Dickson for #VintageSciFiMonth and in this post we’ll cover Veteran through Sub-Patrol Chief II
Ok was anyone shocked at the revelation that Donal had Hugh executed? Seems a very Dorsai thing to do so it keeps with his character. I’m honestly not sure he truly realized all the benefits it gave to his side plans or not, but it really did benefit him! And now he has William as a true enemy… or William at least realizes Donal isn’t a common pawn!
As Empress8411 pointed out in our last discussion there is a lack of female representation in the series and it is a little frustrating. It would be so cool to see badass female Dorsai merecenaries fighting in this universe. Anea doesn’t progress much in this section. But at least she refuses to be Donal’s ego salve. I was excited to see a female first officer at first, but then war happened.
Are you the sort of reader that focuses on the description of the spacecraft? Or are you (like me) the sort that just quickly reads over that part and pictures something straight out of Star Wars and moves on?
Do you feel that Lee’s character has shifted unexpectedly? Does this line up with what we already knew of him?
Is the story compelling? Do you still feel like turning the pages? 🙂
All The Stars Were Red 
To answer your questions:
I was not surprised by Donal’s execution of Hugh. He still adheres to a black and white viewpoint of the world, and hasn’t yet encountered the nuance that will make him question that. Additionally, Donal has a logical mind, and is not given to emotionally driven choices. This is demonstrated by his inability to comprehend why Anea was upset with him and refused to believe his assertion of Hugh’s true purpose. Donal approached her with logic and expected her to do the same because that is how he approaches events. He hasn’t learned yet that most people don’t.
I do pay attention to space craft descriptions as long as it is not pages and pages. Each author has ideas regarding the designs of our space ships, and I enjoy reading about them. Some start with science and design a ship from there, while others design the ship and invent technology to justify the design. For example, on the C4J, there was a gravity-flip, where you essentially dive headfirst in to a hole in the deck and come up standing in the room on the other side. However, since gravity works in a field, that probably wouldn’t be possible. But it’s an intriguing feature of the space craft, so why not add it and just say the tech of the day allows it?
Lee’s character confounds me. It did seem rather an abrupt shift but then, we didn’t see much of him at first – just his nose. He seems a bit one-dimensional and much more self-aware than you find in a normal human. I’ve curious to see how he factors into the story.
My own observations:
We’re introduced to two more females – Elvine and First Office Coa Benn. Elvine is a nonsensical character. If she had a point, I didn’t catch it. She was as one-dimensional as they come and did nothing to enhance the story.
First Officer Coa Benn was much more interesting. Our first female solider, and a second in command to boot! I enjoyed that she was depicted as mentally and emotionally strong enough to handle a task considering too mentally trying for enlisted men. I would have enjoyed seeing her develop as a character, but alas, as you said, war happened.
The science behind interstellar flight is intriguing to me. The idea of being torn apart, everywhere and nowhere at once, is a brilliant idea for FTL. And that it takes time between jumps to the body to recover, and it can kill if done repeatedly. This adds an interesting dimension to the story, to ship travel, and to Donal’s plan over Newton.
Overall, I’m enjoying the story. It feels a bit rushed but I suspect that is because the real action awaits us, and this is just the prelude. Excited to see what happens! ~ L