Re: "Mutineer's Moon (Dahak Series)" by David Weber

On 12/8/2021 2:35 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> "Mutineer's Moon (Dahak Series)" by David Weber
>     https://www.amazon.com/Mutineers-Moon-Dahak-David-Weber/dp/0671720856/
> 
> Book number one of a three book space opera military science fiction 
> series.  I read the well printed and bound MMPB published by Baen.  This 
> is my favorite SF book and series of all time as I have reread it eight 
> or ten times now.  I did buy a new copy of the MMPB which is the six 
> printing from 2004, the original publishing was in 1991.  I am rereading 
> the second book in the series now which sadly, has gone out of print as 
> a standalone book.
>     
> https://www.amazon.com/Armageddon-Inheritance-David-Weber/dp/0671721976/
> 
> 55,000 years ago, a Fourth Imperium Utu class 2,000 km diameter 
> planetoid, Dahak hull number 177291, dropped out of Euchanch drive due 
> to a supposed failure.  Dahak and his 250,000 person crew were headed to 
> a picket post for forty years at the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy.  It 
> had been 7,000 years since the last genocidal invasion of the 
> Achuultani, a race who periodically swept the Milky Way of all life, who 
> had destroyed three Imperiums and countless civilizations.  But the FTL 
> drive failure was not a accident, it was sabotage.  And the mutiny that 
> followed exiled the mutineers and crew alike on Earth, the third planet 
> of the Sol System.
> 
> Today, the unmanned picket posts are warning of the imminent invasion by 
> the Achuultani.  And Dahak is not receiving any warnings by hypercom 
> from Central Command.  Nor can he transmit a warning to Central Command 
> as that capability was sabotaged also.  Dahak needs a crew and a NASA 
> pilot on a solitary mission, Colin McIntyre, around the Moon looks to be 
> a good candidate.  For you see, Dahak is the Moon.
> 
> I do not know why this is my favorite SF book and series of all time.  I 
> like the standup position of the chief protagonist, Colin the First.  Or 
> that there are so many different species of intelligent space races.  Or 
> that the book is written so tightly, especially when compared to Weber's 
> later works.  Or that an self aware artificial intelligence shares the 
> main protagonist job in the book, much like Heinlein's _The Moon Is A 
> Harsh Mistress_.
> 
> I keep on hoping that David Weber will write more books in the Dahak 
> series but, I doubt it.  He did write the Safehold series which is along 
> the same lines as this book, overpowering space aliens and self aware 
> artificial intelligences.  BTW, there is an ending to the Safehold, 
> Honorverse, and Dahak series that David Weber wrote as joke:
>     http://www.davidweber.net/posts/443-how-safehold-wont-end.html
> 
> The entire series is also available in an omnibus book, _Empire From The 
> Ashes_ in either kindle or trade paperback.  I also own this book in 
> trade paperback.
>     https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Ashes-David-Weber/dp/141650933X/
> 
> Here is my 2006 review of the book: "I love this book.  Of my 5,000+ 
> SciFi books, it is my favorite.  True, it is a little bit raw.  But, it 
> tells a SOLID story and leaves you wanting more more more at the end. 
> That is the sign of a great book.  A sentient ship the size of the moon 
> and the unique story of the "space aliens" makes for a totally cool 
> story.  BTW, I am reading it for the 5th or 6th time (who keeps count 
> ?).  Weber owes a couple of authors for his story: Heinlein's The Moon 
> is a Harsh Mistress and the Perry Rhodan series.  There are two sequels 
> to this book, also 5 stars.  I am valiantly waiting for the fourth ..."
> 
> My rating: 6 out of 5 stars (yes 6 stars, I have about 20 six star books)
> Amazon rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (211 reviews)
> 
> Lynn

Maybe I will read this again in 2024.

Lynn