Customer Reviews

Strength and Honor: A Novel of The U.S.S. Merrimack (Tour of the Merrimack)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Oh, what a guilty pleasure this series is. "Strength and Honor" is the fourth in the U.S.S. Merrimack series, and it's as fun as the ones that preceded it.
As with the previous books in the series, "Honor" features a strong cast of characters, a healthy mix of action, sex, intrigue, physics and humor. There are two enemies (the bad space-Romans and the hungry Hive). Of particular interest to a nationalist like me, the heroes of the book (mostly) are clearly Americans, who appear to be the leading power in outer space.
There are some resemblances to the "Star Trek" concept; the captain of the Merrimack has some James T. Kirk in him, and there are a host of "minor" characters who are intriguing and amusing in the Spock and Scotty tradition.
This book -- like the whole series -- is well-written, fast-paced and fun quite on its own merits. There are lots of cliff-hanging moments, and the term "page-turner" seems to have been coined for these stories.
One minor flaw seems to be the resolution of plot points. Frequently, when the Merrimack is about to be destroyed, captured or eaten, Capt. Farragut has some last-second "It's-crazy-but-it-might-just-work" idea that saves the day. You can only go to that well so often, and perhaps author R.M. Meluch even knows that.
Despite that, I'd quickly scarf up a fifth "Merrimack" book. It's that much fun.

In this book, Romulus, the newly declared Caesar (who is not entirely in his right mind) decides to take over the Universe.

Naturally, his plans come close to succeeding but our heroes are still heroes and justice has to triumph. The ending (I won't give it away) was brilliant, though the whole scenario leading up to it was (to say the least) improbable. Why then do I give this book five stars? I love the characters. I love the dialogue and I love the sheer preposterous grandeur of the whole idea: the Roman Empire never died, it just went underground for a couple of thousand years until it could reconstitute itself in space.

I have always loved the work of Rebecca Meluch. She is one of the best writers of science fiction around. This series is excellent and I hope it gains her the acclaim it deserves, but it is not in fact her best work. Try The Queen's Squadron or Sovereign or, best of all, Jerusalem Fire. We had more than ten years between The Queen's Squadron and this series. I hope that this author keeps it up. We need more great books and R. M. Meluch can give them to us.

Strength and Honor, is much more than a supreme example of military science fiction. It is a proclamation of the absolute glory of the human spirit.

Meluch gives us a view into the unparalleled strength of mankind to remain always faithful to answer the call of morality and justice to defeat the forces of entropy and evil.

In portraying the indomitable strength of man, and the ability to achieve honor in the face of enemies both inexorable (the Hive - mindless alien race feeding on the universe) and insidious (New Rome on the planet Palatine and its far flung colonies) this novel (and its predecessors in the Tour of the Merrimack) is catapulted into class of its own. This series is on par with the Star Trek franchise for action, the Star Wars saga for portraying the eternal struggle between good and evil, and a great big helping of "hoo ra", a la Starship Troopers to boot.

I hope you pick up the whole series and enjoy them as much as I have.

This lady does military sci fi right. The perfect blend of action, drama, and intrigue, with a solid and mature emotional core sprinkled with wit and sensitivity to The Way Things Really Are.

I loved this novel, and I loved the other three that came before. I plan to read the rest of R.M. Meluch's novels, and would be willing to get on my knees and beg for the Merrimack series to continue. I just can't get enough of these characters!

Appearing to be the final book in the series, the author did a very good wrapping up all the loose ends. Not too fast, nor overly dragged out, but done so in a natural progression. This is good, as the author did not bleed the premise dry. Even so, it still left me with wanting more, but that's more of a sign of a good story rather than an unsatisfactory conclusion: knowing the story is over, but still wanting to read more adventures.

I did like the insidious way in which the author wove details from the first book into the rest of the series, and left you with a mild feeling of deja vu.

This Merrimack series has been as much fun as any books I've read in a long,long time! After a strained (4-star) 3rd offering, but one that set a lot, and I mean A LOT of the stage for this final novel, I'm just as pleased as I can be. Strength and Honor tied up loose ends and made the series to end on a satisfying note or two.

I guess it was both "a comedy AND a tragedy"...you'll have to read it to get that, but suffice to say, someone dies in the end, and someone else gets married in the end as well, satisfying the criteria for both comedy and tragedy. The character who is responsible for those quips, Darb, is one I'd have liked seeing more of, but all in all I'm just sad this looks to be the end of the Merrimack series.

The "main" or recurring characters were already mostly fully developed, and it seemed the bit players held their own, as they should. The story continued to be engaging and surprising. All in all, a feel-good space opera, as others have noted.

If you're a fan of Sci Fi, and more specifically the militaristic space opera, it's highly likely you'll recognize the situations and personalities and the "reality" that these characters operate in...namely a military vessel. Bravado, good times, sex, fear, competition, supressed emotions, often banal ferocity, other times genuine bloodlust...really well-done.

The enemy of all life, the Hive, is still undefeated, but Rome decides that the Hive is far enough from its own region and disowns its surrender to the United States, declaring war on the US while the US attempts to eliminate the last of the Hive. The Caesar who surrendered to the US is dead, murdered by his son who replaces him and pushes his system into war. In a surprise attack launched months before war was declared, Rome assaults the Shotgun, the US instalation that makes it possible to to quickly travel from near-space to far-space, then launches an attack on the US on Earth itself.

Captain John Farragut, of the USS Merrimack, fails in his first assignment of the war--the execution of Roman patterner Augustus. It wasn't an assignment he relished, but he'd been prepared to do his duty, except that Augustus beat him to the punch. But Augustus is something of a wild card. Although he's Roman through and through, he regards the new Caesar as illegitimate. And the new Caesar is a large part of the problem facing the US. Of course, the Hive isn't going to do nothing while Rome and the US go to war among themselves. A problem that was near a solution is about to become a far more deadly menace.

Author R. M. Meluch starts with an interesting conspiracy theory--that Rome never completely fell but preserved itself in the form of a secret society (at times owning the Catholic Church, as well as being behind the colonization of the new world). With the coming of space travel, Rome left Earth to found a new empire in space--an empire that's been at war with the US until the Hive forced it to surrender and cooperate.

Meluch combines space opera action with a bit of emotional depth and some clever dialogue in an enjoyable story. I would have liked Romulus (the new Roman Caesar) to be a bit more clever--he really isn't a worthy opponent for Farragut, let alone Augustus. And I think we needed an explanation for why Rome couldn't replace the remote pilots Farragut captured as well as why Augustus chose to let himself be defeated in the way he was. Also, I found Col. Steele's antics in the coloseum to be a bit extreme. These, though, are mostly minor details. Overall, STRENGTH AND HONOR is an enjoyable and well-written tale. I'll definitely look for more by this author.

The Roman Empire never died; it just went underground waiting for the right time to emerge. That time came when FTL ships made traveling to the stars possible while the internet connected the Romans all across the globe. They took a spaceship and colonized the planet Palatine, modeling it after the ancient Roman Empire. They have since colonized planets all over the galaxy and they have conquered their sector of space. Caesar Romulus declares war on the United States for breaking a treaty which America never did.

It is believed that Romulus' father was assassinated on his son's orders and the Patterner Augustus is still on the USS Merrimack determined to pay Romulus back for killing his Caesar. In a surprise move, Romulus has his troops attack the United States; while they hold their own the government orders the space armada to attack Palatine. Romulus has a plan to conquer earth and make it another Roman colony, but someone who is dead reaches out from the grave to try to foil his scheme. Captain Farragut of the Merrimack is in the thick of the hostilities on earth and Palatine even as Augustus makes a move and the Hive feels regenerated.

R.M. Meluch writes a fantastic military science fiction tale with vivid battle scenes, intricate plotting, and great characterizations. Although Earth and Palatine are home planets to humans, their cultures are radically different, making it seem like two diverse species. The key element is how well the author makes a case that war is waste and the fool's folly of politicians who care nothing about expendable soldiers except the bottom line. The Patterner (a super cyborg who seeks intelligent patterns in the midst of seemingly random chaos) adds to the overall feel of a distant future in which the earth is still at war.

Harriet Klausner

Another great book in the series, could be the last one. You should read the books in order. Worth your money.

Why is the Kindle edition more expensive than the hardcover edition. I would love to buy this book but I prefer Kindle and am not willing to pay a premium for it.