Customer Reviews

Off Armageddon Reef

5 star:		(66)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

"Off Armageddon Reef" was the first David Weber-penned novel I've read, so I like to think that this can be a useful review for other readers who are also new to Weber. Time will tell, I guess. With no further ado:

WHAT I LIKED

1. The introduction to the new series rocked. I thoroughly enjoyed the setup involving the Terran Federation and the Gbaba Empire. And, while I enjoyed it, it was also sad because, over the span of three to four decades, the reader bore witness to humanity's gradual destruction at the hands of the ever-advancing Gbaba, despite our having taken the war to some of their worlds for a period of time.

2. The introduction of Safehold and how the administrators of humanity's last colony set up a system that ensured it would become stagnant, technology-wise, and, even worse, worship those same administrators as archangels and angels. As a person who loves learning new things and seeing society advance forward in general, it was for me to swallow seeing millions of people intentionally held down in the Dark Ages. Yet, at the same time, it was for their own good. To rise again too quickly would likely bring the Gbaba down on humanity's last hope, even if the colony was 10,000 light years beyond the former star systems of the destroyed Terran Federation. Heh. They should have split the difference -- keep humanity's remnant ignorant for say, 500 years, then let them begin learning again, about not only their lost past, but new things as well.

3. I became attached to a number of the characters, but in particular, Crown Prince Cayleb and King Haarhald, both of Charis. It's always a good thing when an author can make a reader care for at least some of the characters. Other characters that drew my attention included Nimue Alban/Merlin Athrawes and, oddly enough, Archbishop Erayk Dynnys. (I think I spelled the names correctly; if not, my apologies.)

4. The occasional use of ancient, advanced (and, mostly, lost) technology that was scattered throughout the novel.

5. Great description, especially of the space and naval battles. The writing was so good that there were times I winced and felt genuine sorrow for the crews, nameless as they mostly were, of these great starships and seagoing vessels that were being chewed up in the meatgrinder of war.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE

1. The bastardization of characters' names. Allow me to use some of the names I mentioned above: Erayk Dynnys, Crown Prince Cayleb and King Haarhald (these are just a few of the many, many such names readers will encounter in this novel). Almost every time I ran into these names, especially in the first third of the novel, they would throw me right out of the story, as I had to stop and figure out how to pronounce them. Throwing a reader out of the story is a *major* no-no, as I'm sure you're aware of, Weber. So why do it? And, no, that line about how pronunciations and spellings shift over the centuries doesn't work, especially when it's seemingly only people's names that are affected and nothing else.

2. Too much detail. Yes, I know it sounds like a contradiction to what I wrote in the "like" part of this review, but there were some parts of the novel, such as when a character was being introspective, where it simply got to be too much for this reviewer. C'mon! Let's move the plot along! Don't take 10, 15 or 20 pages detailing a character's (or group of characters) thoughts on a single issue, like, say, the development of a new type of cannon or gunpowder!

WHAT I HOPE FOR

1. "Armageddon" is but the first novel in a new series, judging from its jacket and whatnot. With this in mind, I sure as heck hope it won't be another four, six or eight novels before humanity gets back to 21st century technology and, beyond that, another 10, 12 or 14 novels before they're able to take on and (hopefully) defeat the Gbaba Empire. If that's the case, Weber, odds are I won't be along for the ride.

In closing, this new series by Weber has a great deal of potential. In fact, awesome potential. "Armageddon" only scratches the surface of the aforementioned potential (and it's pretty good). That said, don't drag the series out. That'll kill whatever potential there is, in my humble opinion.

M. Keck

This book has a lot in common with Weber's Children of Empire: Both feature high-technology protagonists marooned on a more-or-less medieval planet where the only remaining high technology is treated as divine and used to prop up a monolithic organized church, which inhibits further technological progress theologically and culturally. Amidst this, both books involve the protagonist(s) inserting themselves into the most philosophically progressive country around, with fairly predictable results.

That said, Weber remains an interesting writer with a strong sense of imagery. The characters tend to group pretty easily into omni-competant moral paragons versus backstabbing morons, but frankly, the book is just so much fun to read that it doesn't matter. If you like Weber's style, naval combat with a twist, or plots of this general template, this is a book worth reading. Otherwise, it may leave you fairly cold.

My wife and son and I love David Weber, but this is one of a number of recent very disappointing books that have taken Weber off of my family's "automatic buy" list. Although Weber's action scenes are as good as ever, Armageddon Reef just doesn't work. The plot holes are gaping and intrusive and the stylistic defects are annoying enough to detract seriously from the story.

The worst plot hole is Merlin, the AI/android who is the story's protagonist. We are supposed to believe that mankind has been locked for centuries into a desperate life-and-death struggle against a large, implacably hostile, but only slightly more technologically advanced civilization. Furthermore, these aliens do not innovate at all; their tech base is completely frozen. Obviously, humanity's only hope is to force the pace of science and technology development.

At the same time, we are told that humanity has the ability to produce AIs that duplicate in every way the minds, memories, knowledge, and abilities of specific living humans. Merlin thinks, feels, and acts in every way like the real person he is based on, except that he has superhuman strength, reflexes, and mental processing speed.

So of course, in these desperate circumstances, mankind would use this technology to replicate its leading scientists, engineers, technicians, and military cadres, vastly multiplying the productivity of its R&D efforts and making it much easier to staff its star fleet. Need a dozen Einsteins? You got 'em. Need 20 copies of your greatest fleet Admiral? No problem. Need 600 starship engineers, all with the knowledge and abilities of the greatest starship engineer available? Coming right up! Oh, yes...the copies think and act faster than the originals, never need to eat or sleep, and never get fogged out by fatigue or distracted by bodily aches and pains.

Um, no. Weber tells us that this technology is used ONLY for RECREATIONAL purposes! We are supposed to believe that the human race would let itself be wiped out rather than make use of a technology that could easily multiply its scarcest intellectual resources a hundred-fold. Nor are there any ethical considerations that would explain it. After all, this is the same society that creates a secret colony by MIND-WIPING tens of thousands of colonists. Apparently they have no problem with the idea that desperate times require desperate measures.

I'm as willing as the next SF lover to believe 6 impossible things before breakfast, but the conventions of SF require that the impossibilities at least be logical and internally consistent. This is neither. It's just plain dumb...sloppy, self-indulgent, contemptuous of the reader, and DUMB.

There are other gaping plot holes, but compared with that one they seem trivial.

The worst stylistic problem is Weber's treatment of names. The book is written in early 21st century English. All of the place names are written normally. Yet ALL of the character names (except Merlin's) are bizarrely transliterated, using a pseudo-phonetic spelling. Weber takes normal names, substitutes vowels & consonants at random, adds H's, turns many different vowels into Y's, and changes J's, G's, S's, Ch'sand Sh's into Z's & Zh's.

Coupled with Weber's continued obsession with giving half of his characters "J" names, the result is hopelessly confusing. John becomes Zhan, Gerald becomes Zherald, Jason becomes Zhasyn, Janet becomes Zhanayt, Jennifer becomes Zhenyfyr, Jim becomes Zhym, James becomes Zhames, Jeeves (a valet - I kid you not!) becomes Zheevys, Jasper becomes Zhaspyr, Jack becomes Zhak, Joseph becomes Zohzef, Joshua becomes Zhoshua, Jacob becomes Zhaikeb, Johnson becomes Zhansan, Jepson becomes Zheppsyn, Jessup becomes Zhessyp, Jolson becomes Zhoelsyn, George becomes Zhorzh, Samson becomes Zahmsyn, and so on.

There is absolutely no justification anywhere in the book for the altered spellings. In fact, given that the colony world starts with an absolutely universal culture and language and that writing everywhere remains stable and uniform, the idea that the spelling of names - and ONLY names - would have drifted this far is patently absurd.

In addition, the proliferation of unintelligible but very similar names, loaded with Z's, H's, and Y's, balks the reader at almost ever line, utterly ruining the story continuity. I particularly treasured one section in which two minor characters named Zhaspahr Maysahn and Zhames Makferzahn - or is it Zhames Maysahn and Zhaspahr Makferzahn? - spend 3 pages talking and it is virtually impossible to tell them apart or to remember afterward who was a spy for whom.

Any author who creates a sprawling novel with many major and minor characters needs to give careful thought to naming his characters in ways that help the reader tell them apart. Making it this hard for the reader is either extremely sloppy or arrogantly insulting. The attitude it conveys is, "I'm so great I'm above the rules. I can shove any stupid thing down the reader's throat and get away with it." This attitude was evident in the later Belisarius novels and has become blatant in Armageddon Reef and Hell's Gate. Much as I love some of Weber's books, he's starting to remind me of another beloved author, Robert Heinlein, whose output became increasingly undisciplined, self-indulgent, and forgettable once he reached superstar status.

I would not recommend this book to anyone but a die-hard and completely uncritical Weber fan.

Generally, I have been enjoying this latest by Weber, it draws on fewer cliches then some of his other novels, and the plot moves quickly, even if only to set up the sequel. Since 600+ pages is serious reading, however, here are the major strengths and weaknesses you may want to consider:

The strengths: An extremely original premise sets up an interesting world for Weber's typical story of technological and military progress in the face of forces designed to slow or stop it. Additionally, the story is quite engaging and generally well-written, despite the fact that this is clearly the beginning of a very long series and that the plot advances quite slowly (and with few surprises) relative to the length of the book. And, if you like history, especially military history, you will very much appreciate Weber's incredibly deep knowledge of the way that gunpowder was milled or cannons fixed to their carriages, and how that affected the ability of armies and countries to do battle or act as centers of commerce.

The weaknesses: Weber uses many of the standard tired narrative elements of both science fiction and military technothrillers in this book. For example, there are many long, and sometimes suprisingly complicated, technical descriptions that are presented as the musing or lectures of various characters ("Capt. Thundermountain thought of the advantages of using two rollers to mill grain. By reducing heat that caused grainocentisis, this would change the way flour production worked forever!" - except for 20 pages at a time, and that doesn't even count the long passages aboard ship). There are also some occasionally repetitive or annoying word choices, such as "thunderous thunder," and the fact that everyone is always "quirking" their eyebrows or lips.

Additionally, Weber draws characters with broad strokes, the bad guys tend to be pretty bad, the good guys very good; and there is little human emotion or interaction among the characters aside from "manly virtues," characters may respect, fear, or honor each other, but rarely have more complex interactions. Indeed, this is a book of men doing manly things, so much so that there are basically four women in the book after the fist couple dozen pages. Three appear for a single paragraph or so each (a grieving widow, a dutiful wife, and a young queen clearly modelled on Elizabeth I), and the final "woman" is the main character, who effectively becomes a robot AND changes sex at the start of the novel and thus is basically treated as a man.

All in all, a fun read for those who like to hear all the details of technological development, especially at sea (think Patrick O'Brian without character development) but others should probably skip it.

Bynzharmyn
Oskahr Mhulvayn
Zhaspahr Maysahn
Zhenyfyr
Rayjhis
Erayk
Ahlbyrt
Tahdayo Mahntayl

These are just a few examples of the characters populating David Weber's latest creation. Imagine trying to keep track of a few dozens or so of such characters within his novel, sometimes being referred to by their first names, sometimes by their last names and then sometimes being addressed by their titles and I quickly found myself overwhelmed just trying to keep track of who was who within the story! I would readily admit to being a great fan of David Weber's line of space operas but even I have to confess that such tongue-twister of names created literal 'speed bumps' toward my reading enjoyment!

Granted that this is a science fiction piece but, unlike some of his other series of galactic wars spanning numerous star systems complete with alien races, or of the six-limbed Mardukans that populated his very enjoyable Prince Roger series, most of the characters in this novel are descendants of earth. Lets stick with some reader-friendly names here, just so we could navigate, keep track of and enjoy this very Machiavellian novel involving future church and states, of political intrigues and military lessons.

If Mr. Weber could readily retain conventional titles and ranks like vicars, bishops, dukes and kings, why not make the rest just a little more reader-friendly, particularly, American readers, which I believe would be his targeted audiences. I would like to think that Mr. Weber's novels are just as popular around the world, enjoyed by readers of different cultures and maybe in just as many different languages. I would guess that if the novel is translated into various languages, those same readers will have to deal with their own versions of tongue-twister names too. But we are reading this now, in English, and I found myself needing to go back, from time to time, to find out exactly just who Mr. Weber was referring to... of who this particular person is.

Take for example, within one short paragraph, I came across someone referring to Mhulvayn and Maysahn and I had to stop; I have to sort out and figure out who they were, again.

I certainly wouldn't be expecting to see names like John or David (no insults intended for anyone named John or David) or such extremely common names but, please don't try to be exotic just for exotic and unconventional sake; it makes for very awkward and uncomfortable reading that distract greatly to the overall enjoyment of the novel. If I could not even recall in my own mind what any particular character's name was, I am not so sure I could then readily remind myself that... hmmm, that was one great read and maybe I would go back to it again some time in the future.

Mr. Weber went into great details on ships, naval weaponry and tactics and I only wish he would pay equal attention to character name generations instead of something that reminded me of random keyboard inputs or major typos.

I do hope Mr. Weber might glance over some of these comments on Amazon.com and get some readers' feedbacks that might reflect in his future novels.

In my opinion, the is just a mediocre effort by David Weber. That makes it a great book because even his off days produce great work.

The situation is this: Humanity is about to be wiped out by an alien species. A last ditch attempt is made to send out a colony that will avoid detection by the aliens in the hope that humanity will somehow survive. The key to this plan is to forswear all advanced technology that could lure the aliens in at least for a while. In time, after the search is over, perhaps they can develop advanced methods to deal with the stagnant aliens.

The ship makes it but there is a problem. The leaders of the expedition are megalomaniacs with the all too common attitude that "somehow, it must all be our fault". They change the parameters of the mission. Technology is suppressed altogether, except for the leaders. The colony is planted and the people are taught that the leaders are agents of God, and expect to be venerated and obeyed as such. They have no desire ever to confront the aliens again.

Some of the leadership does not agree with this policy and the two faction wipe themselves out leaving just the ill prepared colonists to survive at a pre industrial level. That brings us to the beginning of the real story.

An electronic copy of one of the losing officers has been cached with some supplies. After nearly a thousand years, that electronic copy is awakened to try to set things right. To do so, she must guide a rebellious kingdom towards technological advancement while avoiding having that kingdom wiped out by the all powerful but corrupt church. She's got quite a job ahead of her.

Webber does what he does best as he guides the reader through the political and military conflicts that are to come. This book takes the heroine through her first appearance and effort. Expect many sequels.

I don't expect to like this series nearly as well as some of his other ones but I like it just fine. Its going to be an interesting slog back towards technological civilization.

It took me awhile to get into this book, mostly because so much "ground work" had to be laid in setting up the story and this is why I only went with 4 stars. This is the start of a new series, right? I'd hate for all this background to be wasted! Weber's sly use of "gender switching" is a lot of fun, and as usual he excels in depicting battles--this time at sea.
I just hope that the next entry in this series is soon!! Heck, I'm still waiting for Prince Bazell and friends to get off the Wind Plains, and it has been almost THREE Years!!

Weber obviously likes the Hornblower series. So much so that it seems to have decided to give them the ultimate compliment -- he imitated them.

This is not science fiction folks. If your cup of tea includes endless expositions on wooden ship-building, sailing, naval warfare, and how they communicated in the dark ages, well then this book is for you. If, on the other hand, you're looking for good science fiction, read the first 50 pages of this book and then throw it away. In my entire science fiction reading experience I cannot ever recall having flipped through so many unread pages of endless, boring, mind-numbing, useless detail. And even though it seemed I skipped through half the pages of this book, in the end it was clear that I hadn't missed even the slightest iota of story buried in all this verbiage.

And his other two affectations are equally irritating. First, this idiotic naming convention that others have mentioned. Second, his...incessant...use of ellipses to denote a...usually eye-winking...pause. For example: "That would be...unwise of you." Most authors would be more than content to use this device once or twice per book. Weber uses it once or twice per page. Does this man have an editor?!

Fans of David Webers usual non-stop action Sci-Fi will be somewhat disappointed by the measured pace and careful development of this book (even though they will enjoy the great sea battles later in the book).

The basic story idea is intriguing - the Alien Gbaba, who have exterminated all the other races they have stumbled across, discover us. The defense of the human worlds fails and Earth itself is destroyed. A carefully hidden colony is set up on a distant world, named Safehold. A deiberate plan to maintain low-tech indefinately is deployed using a Theocracy. The crew that transported them there sets themselves up as Gods.

But dissent breaks out amoung the Gods. The dissidents are ruthlessly killed and all their work destroyed. One final hidden dissident asset remains - a sort of android with the persona of Lt. Com. Niume Alban. This robot becomes the Seijin (sort of a mystic warrior) Merlin - who will subvert the power of Mother Church and bring technology and the memories of lost Earth back to her children.

Unfortunately the story becomes bogged down with the constant use of contrived distortions of usual names into the likes of: Zhenyfyr Ahrmahk, Zherald Ahdymsym, and Mhulvayn. Please spare us! It became a struggle to read, rather than a pleasure to read. Yes, there can be language drift across 800 years but we don't need this to make the story exotic or entertaining.

OK, I got over it and you should as well. The best parts are towards the latter half of the book when the plot thickens and the action quickens. Merlin introduces measured upgrades to the local military technology and the King of Charis struggles to produce and get into the field enough of the new technology to make for their lack of numbers against the huge armada that Mother Church has assembled against them. The climax is crowned by some awesome sea battles that are worth the price of admission all by themselves. You'll have to read the book to find out what happens in the end.

Safehold is a well developed world, with nicely fleshed out characters and I must admit I am eagerly awaiting the next volume.

Off Armageddon Reef (2007) is the first SF novel in a new series. Humans have been expanding through space for hundreds of years without finding any other spacefaring species. In 2368, however, they found the remains of another civilization that had been thoroughly destroyed. Although some argued that the aliens had committed suicide, most supported the development of a real space navy.

Ten years later, the Terran Federation Navy encountered the Gbaba. The TFN thoroughly lost its first battle with the aliens, but took out some of the enemy. The aliens then systematically killed every remaining human in the system. This scenario became the rule for the next few decades.

In 2421, the TFN managed to sneak out a squadron of ships to establish a holdout colony. A prior effort had worked for a while, but eventually the Gbaba located the colonists, probably through the characteristic emissions of advanced technology. The current group of refugees was supposed to revert to primitive technology and multiply for several centuries until the Gbaba became less alert.

Eric Langhorne, civilian chief administrator of Safehold, made some radical changes to the original plan to ensure that all high technologies -- and even the scientific method -- were suppressed. One of the key points was a modified psychological profile imposed upon the colonists, which established the Church of God Awaiting with Langhorne and his department heads proclaimed as Archangels. Another was the erasure of all knowledge of the Gbaba.

Some of the administrative council objected to these changes and moved away from the main colony to Alexandria, where they maintained records for all human history. Langhorne ordered Alexandria destroyed. Kinetic missiles crossed and recrossed the site with high energy strikes until every body was vaporized. The area was filled with craters, forming Armageddon Reef, and was thought to be haunted by demons.

In this novel, Nimue Alban awoke within a cave in the Mountains of Light some eight centuries later, or did she? A holographic recording explained to her that the real Nimue Alban had died in battle with the Gbaba. She is the PICA -- Personality-Integrated Cybernetic Avatar -- of Nimue and her job is to prepare the colony for battle against the Gbaba.

Mother Church is still running the colony, although it has direct control only in the Churchlands. The hierarchy of archbishops and other clerics strongly influence the nation states elsewhere in the world, but communication delays preclude effective management of the peripheral nations. Moreover, the Church is mostly guided by secular concerns and the archbishops spend more time at the Temple of God than in their nominal lands.

Charis is among the richest of the peripheral nations, with the largest fleet of ocean-going vessels. King Haarahld VII is the current ruler of Charis. The kings of Charis are unusual in that they feel responsible for the well-being of their citizens. These kings have encouraged a number of innovations that have eased the life of the citizens and increased their individual wealth.

Crown Prince Cayleb is heir to the throne of Charis. Like his father, Cayleb feels a personal responsibility for the citizens of Charis. When he hears of a slash lizard terrorizing a small town near the capital, Cayleb tries to slip out to hunt the lizard. Unfortunately, his marine guard refuses to be left behind, so he has five others to tag along in the hunt.

Unknown to Cayleb, he is the target of another hunt. A group of mercenaries has followed him into the hills. When the slash lizard is killed instead of the Prince, the mercenaries attack the small party. Then the mercenaries learn that they too have been followed and another person has become involved.

Merlin Athrawes is really Nimue Alban in a slightly modified body -- it is now male -- and a slightly different personality. His arrival doesn't worry the mercenary commander until he tries to parry the first slash of the intruder's strange sword. When that sword cuts through his own weapon and decapitates him, he doesn't have much time to be anxious.

Merlin saves the Prince, disposing of more than his share of the mercenaries, but two of the marines are killed. After a short -- and somewhat vague -- explanation of his presence, Merlin accompanies the Prince and his surviving bodyguards back to the palace. Then the King interviews Merlin and tentatively accepts him as companion and personal bodyguard of the Prince.

In this story, Merlin has his own agenda for Charis, but convinces the King that his aims are for the betterment of the nation state. He passes on some technological concepts to a selected group of military and commerce advisors and is amazed at the resulting inventions. He may have initiated the projects, but the locals have turned the basic concepts into hardware.

Merlin also spends some time protecting the royal household and advisors. However, he points out one flaw in their security that no one is quite ready to believe without more evidence. When he is found to be correct, Merlin is accepted as an essential advisor to the King and Council.

Merlin finds that almost everyone on Safehold strongly believes in God and Mother Church. Yet many of the rulers recognize the secular ambitions of the clergy and use massive bribes to win church support for particular goals. In many respects, this wholly fabricated Church reflects the politics and venality of the Eastern Church during the Byzantine Empire and the Holy Roman Catholic Church prior to the Reformation. Some of these scenarios were probably lifted whole from church history, with names changed to fit the story.

This story is a rather modified variant of the advanced technology wizard tale. Since Cecil Rhodes essentially used this approach to found Rhodesia, few could argue with the credibility of this plot. Many other tales have used this plotline -- e.g., Lest Darkness Fall -- but this one has several enhancements, including the use of an immortal android as the main protagonist.

The name Merlin is suggestive of his role in the story, but the Safeholders probably lack knowledge of King Arthur. However, one wonders at the name Nimue. Of course, any character with this name should know of the Arthurian saga, but maybe the author just chose such names to pay tribute to these tales.

Highly recommended for Weber fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of cultural engineering, technological explosions and interesting characters.

-Arthur W. Jordin