Voyage to Eneh (Seas of Kilmoyn) [Hardcover]

Roland J. Green (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Into the growing subgenre of military SF comes this absorbing novel, which opens with a muddle of races struggling for control of the planet Kilmoyn's land and sea using tactics and technology on the level of 19th-century Earth. Sean Lincoln Borlund is a human colonist, or Drylander, a member of the colonists' Study Group devoted to observing Kilmoyn's native cultures without becoming involved with them. When Borlund has the bad luck to break the noninterference directive by helping out during a boating accident, he is assigned to serve aboard the merchant vessel Lingvaas as punishment. Captained by Drylander Barbara Weil, and served by a mixed crew of human and native (Kertovan) sailors, the ship turns out to be Borlund's ideal environment. Before long he's earned a captain rating himself, just in time to take command as the Lingvaas and her crew are commissioned by the Kertovan Captain Over Captains, Jossu I Hmilra, to assist in a major military action against a rival nation. Taking sides breaks every rule in the Study Group's book, but Weil and Borlund can't help feeling more loyalty for the culture that has nurtured their abilities than for the human Directorate that has stymied them. Laying ground for a trilogy, the novel takes a while to get moving, and its aliens aren't very alien, but Green (coeditor, Women at War, and author of numerous mass market paperbacks) knows how to tell a stirring tale; his battle scenes in particular stand out. Fans of military SF will enjoy this tale and its naval spin, and will look forward to its sequels. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

(It is Booklist policy that a book written by a regular contributor receive a descriptive announcement rather than a recommending review.)

The seafaring natives of the alien planet Kilmoyn are finally fighting back against their many colonizers, and a human team trying to get back to Earth is caught in the middle of things in the first volume in a trilogy exploiting Green's expertise in naval warfare. Ray Olson

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (March 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312872313
• ISBN-13: 978-0312872311
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,429,289 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Voyage to Eneh, March 19, 2000

By 

Sheldon Brown (Newtonville, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Voyage to Eneh (Seas of Kilmoyn) (Hardcover)

This is touted as "A thrilling novel of military science fiction." It is set on a distant planet where the furry humanoid inhabitants have technology roughly equivalent to the late 19th century on Earth: steamships, telegraph, gatling guns, railroads, etc. A disabled starship from Earth was stranded on Kilmoyn 60 years ago, with some 10,000 humans (mostly as frozen embryos.) The Earth folk keep their superior technology secret, and have formed an alliance with an island republic that has a strong seafaring tradition.

The book is clearly intended as the first of a series. It starts rather slowly, with a lot of exposition. This is a necessary evil, not only to introduce the main characters, but also the complicated politics of Kilmoyn.

Once past the first half, the pace picks up, and it is a generally good read. I'll certainly be keeping my eyes peeled for the sequels.

Tor Books could have done a better job. The proofreading is very rough...can't remember a book with so many typos. It could really use some maps as well. It does have a handy glossary and "dramatis personae" list.

1.0 out of 5 stars muddle of politics is right, January 7, 2011

By 

Matt Hoglund - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Voyage to Eneh (Green, Roland J. Seas of Kilmoyn, Bk. 1.) (Hardcover)

When I read in the description that this book was about the 'muddle of politics' on Eneh, I had no idea how literally true this was going to be. The multitude of factions were never clearly explained, and there are so many of them I found myself constantly asking who the hell THESE people now were. It didn't help any that the author continually referred to them by varying names. Imperials, Empire, Republic, Kertovans (which is also one of the races) all seemed to indicate the same side I believe. Why they're on a mission to do whatever it is they're trying to do isn't really clear, and why anyone is trying to stop them also isn't clear.

The battles that took place were usually between groups where I did not know why or what either side was quite fighting for and so ended up being kind of meaningless to me. Not only this, the combat sequences themselves were so poorly described I had difficulty visualizing how any battle was going. Who was winning, their battlefield positions, etc.

All in all this book was just a complete waste of time. I only finished it because I'm OCD enough to have to always finish books that I start, even if they're as bad as this one was.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Eneh, January 17, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Voyage to Eneh (Seas of Kilmoyn) (Hardcover)

I have having a hard time getting through the first half. I have actually laid the book down and read a tome on Spartan history if that is a clue as to how this story holds the reader's interest. The first chapters are confusing to me (and I have read 1000s of SF, fantasy, military history, world history books) and this has to rank in the top 10 confusing start for a story. Since I was 6 years old I have only laid one book permanently down and suspected it was bound incorrectly, but this is close to being number two.

What is going on is question in the first half of the book. I am online writing this because I suspected (wrongly) that there was a first novel about the setting I must have missed.