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

WolfFan wrote:
> Lynn McGuire wrote:
>> 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.
>
> My problem with this book is the severe suspension of disbelief issues.
> There’s ’the Moon is really an alien warship’ bit, which is bad enough,
> but those who have read EE Smith and the likes of Skylark of Valeron and
> assorted loose planets might swallow. With difficulty. There’s the really
> interesting biology, in that humans are aliens, despite biology saying that
> they’re related to all other life on Earth, but those who have read Larry
> Niven and Protector can swallow that. With difficulty. There’s the secret
> history, and how the Big Bad was behind most of the villains in history...
> and let them lose..., but again EE Smith was there in Triplanetary.
> Swollowable, with difficulty. There’s the Really Neat Supertech, very like
> swarms of stories from the 1930s, 40s, 50s... and with all the problems of
> those stories, plus additional handicaps in that the Really Neat Supertech
> has to be hidden from John Public. Again, swallowable. With difficulty. The
> problem is, all of that is  in one story. EE Smith and Niven and Campbell and
> van Vogt and the rest spread things around in multiple stories, building on
> each, they didn’t just pile it into one huge blob and try to ram it down
> reader’s throats. Weber did exactly that. Plus infodumps. Nope, not buying
> it. Nope.
>
> And the three books in this series were an early indicator of another Weber
> problem: he can’t finish a series. He stopped at three here. He’s written
> himself into corners with Honor Harrington and Safehold... including just
> stopping at incredibly annoying cliffhangers. (I’ve given up on Honor, and
> am getting very tired of waiting for the problems dumped in the last few
> pages of the last Safehold to be resolved. There is, so far as I know, no
> planned date for the release of the next Safehold book If there ever will be
> a next Safehold book.) The Bloody Hand has vanished, along with an
> explaination for a certain wild wizard’s actions, and exactly why the
> Bloody Hand’s daughter is so incredibly important. After Weber spent three
> books setting things up. Instead we have space vampires, and I suspect that
> that’s going to pitter out, too.
>
> Weber is almost as bad as Ringo with respect to finishing a series. This is
> not a compliment.

Escapism is catnip to me. Your suspension of disbelief and infodump issues
are relatively minor, in my case. (From my perspective, it takes a far
greater suspension of disbelief and a bellyful of bigger info-dump blobs
to believe in the reportedly real Higgs Boson.)
    The story's start IN SPACE is excellent. It channels Perry Rhodan.
And Jiltanith's characterization entertains me.
    Unfortunately the story soon comes down to Earth. Then its inner
_Jerico Sanction_ (North) takes over to flick me in the face over and
over again.
    My patient wait for less Black Mecca and more Moon was mostly in
vain. This feels like my MilSF Baen baptism. The genre's not for me.

Danke,

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