Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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41 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Solid Sci-fi by a rapidly rising talent in the genre, June 6, 2000
Mutineers' Moon was my first exposure to David Weber. Oh sure, I had half a dozen Honor Harrington novels on my shelf along with one of his collaborations with Steve White. But these novels sat unread. They didn't feel right. The novels sounded good but I couldn't get past the covers. I know it sounds silly but the book covers always looked very cheesy to me. Just a personal taste issue you understand.Anyway back to the point, the book. The book begins with a mutiny and ends fifty one thousand years later. Not a complete enough summary for you? Well maybe this will help more. The backdrop of the story is nothing less then the Galaxy in its entirety. Mankind, and many other species, have been chased and exterminated by a ruthless race called Achuultani. Now, the Achuultani do not play an active part in this book but they do provide the motive for many of the actions and reactions played out in the book. This is only logical as any race, which nearly exterminates your race several times, is bound to have an impact. The story we are told in 315 pages (Baen paperback edition) takes place on Earth in the near future. (About thirty years best as I can tell.) Two factions of long-lived humans fight a clandestine war to determine the future of Earth. All the action takes place unknown to the great majority of humanity. Two characters prove to be the main characters throughout this novel and the next two books so far. These two characters are Colin MacIntyre, Lt. Commander US and an ancient spaceship named Dahak. If you have read the book you will realize that I have left a great deal out and if you haven't read the book I am sorry. If I were to tell too much more I would ruin much of the fun from reading this book. In closing, I enjoyed this book a great deal. The writing was good and the plot moved along at a consistent and clean clip. The characters were believable if a bit predictable. I enjoyed Mr. Weber's writing enough that I purchased and read everything of his that I could find and feel confident in saying that this is a rather good representation of his Science Fiction writing thus far. (He has also written at least two Fantasy novels.) One final note. I do recommend this book with little to no reservation but new readers of David Weber should be aware of something. Mr. Weber is very good at attempting to explain the technical aspects of the toys he writes into his story. Many readers enjoy this; I could care less most of the time. The explanations are consistent but lengthy. If this type of thing annoys you please just ignore it and skim through it. Ignoring the tech spiel won't ruin the story, at least I don't think so, and it would be a shame to cast aside this yarn over such a minor qualm. I hope this helps. Happy reading.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Overall worthwhile, interesting ideas yet immature delivery, October 3, 2003
3.5 stars rounded to 4. I greatly enjoyed the first 6 of David Weber's Honor Harrington series so I thought I'd check out this series of books by him. I must admit I was a little disappointed by this piece. There are some good ideas in it however Weber is still learning his craft here and the presentation comes off as immature. Not immature attitude wise, but he has not yet mastered his craft. The idea of long-lived aliens fighting a war on earth while their descendants, humanity, are unaware of it is intriguing enough. The enhanced soldier idea is old, but Weber handles it well enough so it doesn't appear terribly old and re-used. His battles as always are superb. However, there are somethings that are too predictable. Such as the fiery young woman who initially takes a dislike to our hero. We all know what will happen in that relationship. Cleverly though, he has her speak in Shakespearian English, the tongue she grew up in. Which is a nice touch giving us a reinforced reminder of her age and avoiding having all the long-lived ones come off as being able to easily master the language and societal changes that happen around them, particularly as many of them are sequestered. The plot is not perfectly smooth, it stutters and stops and starts which is a shame because a bit more polished presentation would have made this a much better book. Though I have been a bit negative up above, it is actually fairly decent. The battles of course are superb. The intrigue of the power-seeking villains looking out for themselves against one another is done well and though still an early effort he makes sure to have enough of his characters flesh out to be more than one dimensional. Perhaps not three dimensional, but not cardboard cutouts. As a story it is interesting enough. It is also a nice view into the early talent of one of the top selling authors of today.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Preposterous but Fun, October 11, 2005
The story opens in the midst of a mutiny. Things are not going well for the imperial loyalists so the captain of the Imperial ship of the line "Dahak" takes drastic action ensuring that even if he dies, the mutineers will not succeed. The problem is that the mutineers are led by the chief engineer who has some technical savvy of his own. The destruct sequence is begun and all of the rats abandon ship and head for shelter on the nearest planet. That would be earth. The mutineers' plans to reclaim the ship, however, are thwarted and the mutineers are stranded.
All of this took place over 50,000 years ago. Since then, the mutineers have subtly controlled the progress of the earth by means of such events as the Hundred Years War, the World Wars, Pol Pot and other such unsavory characters (they are BAD). A desperate group sucked into the mutiny fights a rearguard action for all these millennia. Meanwhile, the ship of the line, devoid of any crew, carries out repairs and hides itself as the moon. All of this is just prolog for the real story.
The ship Dahak cannot fulfill its final commands without a crew. It manages to kidnap an earthman, train him as captain and swear him in as an Imperial officer. It is then up to him to resolve the mutiny and, not incidentally, prepare for invading aliens. To do this, our gallant hero is going to have to wipe out political terrorists and quash corrupt politicians. The result is a wild but fun romp filled with action and intrigue.
This is a book where it is hard to "suspend the disbelief" but managing to do so is worthwhile for its entertainment value. This is a quick and frivolous read but it is fun.
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