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

On Tue, 19 Mar 2024 14:55:31 -0500, the following appeared
in alt.books.david-weber, posted by Lynn McGuire
<[email protected]>:

>On 3/8/2024 9:10 AM, WolfFan wrote:
>> On Mar 6, 2024, Lynn McGuire wrote
>> (in article <[email protected]>):
>> 
>>> 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
>> 
>> 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.
>
>"Safehold" has been finished.  You just don't like the ending.
>
Actually, it hasn't; the last book left open what will
happen, with the Archangel's testimony.
>
>    http://www.davidweber.net/posts/443-how-safehold-wont-end.html
>
Yeah, even David says that is how it *won't* end (although I
enjoyed it ;-) ).
>
>There may be an alternate ending to "Safehold".  Time will tell.
>
You mean a *real* ending. It will indeed; I just hope I'm
still around for the finish.
>
-- 

Bob C.

"The most exciting phrase to hear in science,
 the one that heralds new discoveries, is not
 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny...'"

- Isaac Asimov