The Battle at the Moons of Hell (Helfort's War: Book I) [Mass Market Paperback]

Graham Sharp Paul (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 25, 2007

“A planet-stomping space opera that bursts off the page like a tactical nuke.”
–John Birmingham, author of Weapons of Choice

The Hammer Worlds–the most brutal and oppressive interstellar government in the universe–have hijacked the Federated Worlds cruise ship Mumtaz, seizing its valuable terraforming cargo and damning its passengers to mining the moons of the prison planet known as Hell.

For Junior Lieutenant Michael Helfort and the crew aboard deep space scout vessel 387, the mission is clear: infiltrate enemy territory, locate the Mumtaz, and rescue the prisoners.

The odds are appalling, and the damage will probably be fatal, but victory is nonnegotiable–especially for Helfort, whose mother and sister were on the Mumtaz.

And Michael Helfort will be damned if he’ll let his family rot on the moons of Hell.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Graham Sharp Paul, born in Sri Lanka, received an honors degree in archaeology and anthropology from Cambridge University and an MBA from Macquarie University. He joined the Royal Navy in 1972, qualifying as a mine warfare and clearance diving officer before reaching the rank of lieutenant commander with the Navy’s mine warfare flotilla. In 1983 he transferred to the Royal Australian Navy, serving in its Trials & Assessments Unit and Clearance Diving School before transferring to civilian life in 1987. Paul worked for two Australian companies in the banking and media sectors before setting up his own business development and corporate finance consultancy in 1991. Over the next twelve years, he worked on a worldwide range of projects. In 2003 he gave up corporate life to write full-time. Paul lives in Sydney with his wife, Vicki, and their three sons.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (September 25, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345495713
• ISBN-13: 978-0345495716
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #577,691 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Colombo, Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon).

Educated at the Hill School in Nuwara Eliya before completing my secondary education at Glenalmond School in Scotland, then on to Cambridge University before joining the Royal Navy. Why the navy? Simple. From the day I started diving as a 16-year-old in Trincomalee, I wanted to be a diver and, when it comes to the business of military diving, the Royal Navy was the best.

Migrated to Australia with my wife and three sons in 1983 by transferring to the Royal Australian Navy (best decision I ever made) before moving into a new career in corporate finance in 1988. Retired from what was a stressful if well paid business in 2003. Now I write military science fiction in between diving, which is - after my wife, my three boys, and my two granddaughters - my greatest passion.

Why write sci-fi? Well, living next door to Arthur C. Clarke in Colombo had a lot to do with that. The first SF book I ever read - thanks Mum - was his "Fall of Moondust". It captured my imagination in a way no other book ever has. Thanks to that book, I still look to the stars and will write SF for so long as there is a publisher willing to back me.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good start to a series, September 28, 2007

By 

NYC Reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Battle at the Moons of Hell (Helfort's War: Book I) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the start of a space opera/military SF series with a number of pluses and some detractions.

On the plus side, the author is an experience RN and RAN naval officer which let's him permeate the book with authentic sounding detail - far more authentic than David Drake's Lt. Leary books for example, though a bit less fun (more on that). Also, his ear for political and military dialogue is more authentic than, say, David Weber. Finally, the author is smart and well-educated, and this comes through in well-written if sometimes stilted prose. Good space battles, some tense action, nice overall political sweep, good villains.

I have alluded to a couple of minuses. Not a lot of "fun" - our hero is a bit stiff, his love interest is hard to get excited about and I found him wooden. I also thought that the book could have been a little longer and in some parts skipped days of storyline too abruptly.

That said, I liked the book, liked the universe and enjoyed this as the start of a new series with a more "real-world" hero than lots of these military SF series have and a potential for a number of exciting, richly detailed sequels.

41 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fairly decent novel., October 4, 2007

By 

J. R Weaver "A simple man." (SF, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Battle at the Moons of Hell (Helfort's War: Book I) (Mass Market Paperback)

I'm not usually a fan of military scifi, but every once in a while I'll dip into the pool. _The Battle at the Moons of Hell_ is a pretty standard work of its genre, containing echoes of Weber, Drake, and Feintuch. The plot is straightforward, no real surprises, and the pacing is good - not a lot of dead spots and needless exposition, something I particularly dislike about David Weber's military scifi.

I believe this is Mr. Paul's first novel, and as such, it's a good, solid, if somewhat uninspiring read. The political structures of the two main 'space empires' are a little simplistic and underwhelming in their execution, as are the characters, but the book was decent enough to keep me reading to the end. I'll probably pick up book two in the series when it comes out.

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A welcome return to traditional Military Sci Fi, November 4, 2007

By 

L. Kjonnerod (Fairfax, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Battle at the Moons of Hell (Helfort's War: Book I) (Mass Market Paperback)

Well written, tied together, lots of themes developing that will lead to future story lines, without sacrificing the current book. Michael Helfort is a classic hero - a dastardly plot against him by another envious student clique, he is punished, but family ties keep him from being booted out of the service. So he's gets to move on, to less than what he could have expected as an assignment but he moves right into a convergence of events that sets the stage for what could be another Worlds War. His family is caught in a hijacking and his first ship is called in to confirm the intelligence. Author needs more time to develop the characters, but I see this as the first enjoyable salvo in a good series of books that will entertain as well as provoke comparisons to our current situation on Earth. I wish the book had been longer but I have great hopes for the next one.