• Mutineer

  • Kris Longknife, Book 1
  • By: Mike Shepherd
  • Narrated by: Dina Pearlman
  • Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (1,649 ratings)

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Mutineer  By  cover art

Mutineer

By: Mike Shepherd
Narrated by: Dina Pearlman
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Publisher's summary

Kris Longknife is a daughter of privilege, born to money and power. Her father is the prime minister of her home planet, her mother the consummate politician's wife. She's been raised only to be beautiful and marry well. But the heritage of the military Longknifes courses through Kris' blood - and, against her parents' objections, she enlists in the Marines.

She has a lot to live up to and a lot to prove in the long-running struggle among her powerful family, a highly defensive - and offensive - Earth, and the hundreds of warring colonies. Then an ill-conceived attack brings the war close to home, putting Kris' life on the line. Now she has only one choice: certain death on the front lines of rim space - or mutiny.

©2004 Mike Moscoe (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Mutineer

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    707
  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
    252
  • 2 Stars
    77
  • 1 Stars
    52
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    661
  • 4 Stars
    376
  • 3 Stars
    173
  • 2 Stars
    30
  • 1 Stars
    38
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    584
  • 4 Stars
    415
  • 3 Stars
    196
  • 2 Stars
    43
  • 1 Stars
    32

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Harsh reviews seem undeserved to me

I'm not military nor do I know about military protocols, so any slip-ups in that area went past me and did not bother me. On the other hand, this series is supposed to be set in the far future, and who can know how things will change. Also, I thought they were pretty clear that she wasn't supposed to be in the situations she was in. The original drop mission was a setup to kill her, so I don't see the problem with the plot there. I don't dissect books that I read/listen, I read them for enjoyment. I guess if you are a big military enthusiast looking for ultra-realism, this book will probably disappoint you. I found it to be entertaining enough that I plan to download the next one.

As to Dina's reading, I was entertained by the different voices. Did I stop and check them for realism and quality? No, I just took them as they were and enjoyed the book. Dina spoke clearly, did not have any voice mannerisms that drove me crazy, and I thought did a good job and was consistent when using a particular voice for a particular character.

I don't know why there is such a gulf in opinions, but I would suggest you listen to the sample online and if you like the sample, then you will probably like the book.

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81 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Brain Candy with problem

Over the last 2-3 months, I listened to the entire 8 book series (and more are coming). I actually own these in book form as well, and regardless of the format, this is good brain candy. These adventures of Kris Longknife don't make you think, raise questions about morality or do anything but provide a pleasant diversion from life.

That being said, these audiobooks have a major flaw. Miss Pearlman has a pleasant enough voice and does a better and better job of presenting these books the further along in the series she goes. However, she also has two rather distracting flaws in her performance. Throughout all 8 novels, she regularly presents the wrong voice for a character, particularly using Jack's voice in place of Kris' quite frequently. The other problem I have might more fairly be described as a personal preference. Particularly in the early novels, Miss Pearlman regularly slips into a sort of children's storytelling cadence during the exposition. Its jarring to be hearing about a battle, when the rhythms of her voice sound almost fairytalish.

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26 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Join the 24th Century Navy; see the Universe!

Courtesy of Lost Art Audio

This book has some really wonderful elements. Even though it's sci fi, it's more a military novel, following the Navy career of Kris Longknife and the political structure of 100 planets with human life. We don't see any aliens, and most fantastic elements have to do with computers and technology. I should mention that the book was written in 1994, meaning that Nelly - Kris's personal (pet) AI computer - is probably a bit less powerful than the newest Android. Be it as it may, the story is excellent, and very, very military. If you're into the politics of internal command hierarchy, or into rescue and humanitarian distress mission, it's a fun read. Mike Shepherd does a good job with a 22-year-old female, but I think it's more because she's a soldier, and Mike Shepherd was Navy himself, so he knows a thing or two in the regard.

My only real criticism is that this book was a lack of cohesion - it seemed to be separated in three parts: rescue mission & return home (very well done; we really understand Kris's history from the mission, and we get a good understanding of her family - the prime minister family of an entire planet - from her return home); humanitarian mission on Olympia (this part sags. It tells us a lot of Kris's character and leadership abilities, but it gets too bogged down in the moral implications and reflections on a soldier's duties); and mission to attack (this is the crowning moment and the name-sake of the book). Unfortunately, these three parts don't meld too well. I would have liked to see a bit less soldiering, and more politicking, maybe more love interest.

On Narration:
Dina Pearlman is excellent (Anna Strong series, or Weather Warden series). She does a wonderful Irish accent, which takes up a good half-hour of reading when the Highlanders visit Olympia. She also does a great job with internal dialogue versus external dialogue is very important to the listener, and she does it well.

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24 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Not the best

I'm a big fan of strong female characters in sci-fi and have loved authors like Elizabeth Moon for portrayal of such characters and their exciting stories so I was quite disappointed in this weak character and her pathetically boring story lines.

The pace was slower than any adventure story should be with the author obviously setting up future plotlines for the next book or reveiwing information from a previous book.

The characters were 2D with innapropriately stereotypical cultural backgrounds. The relationships lacked depth and the romances were immature at best.

The dialogue of all the characters was flat and the use of modern idiomatic language was distracting. I also had serious problems with the stereotypical language used in the dialogue of characters from certain religious or cultural backgrounds.

Probably my worst complaint was the narrator, who mispronounced several words, used bizzare accents and kept up a slow 'children's book' tone throughout the series, including scenes of violence and death which was just creepy.

I will say that the universe created by the author was interesting but not enough to make up for the slow pace and boring characters.

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

A Complete Disappointment

I suppose I got what I deserved buying this title based on two customer reviews, but those reviews couldn't be more wrong - perhaps they are plants.

The story was weak, preachy and un-inventive. The idioms used were straight from today - hardly sci-fi. The descriptions haphazardly complete in thought and imagery; in some cases excruciatingly detailed, in many others almost blank, in all cases dull.

The narrator is squeaky and she gives a Southern twang to even the Irish and Scottish characters. Ultimately this audio book feels like it was written and narrated by two women (yes Mike Shepard is a guy's name) who have never left the suburban Maryland neighborhoods in which they were born and raised (and never watched a sci-fi movie, let alone read a novel in their lives).

In retrospect this was a good lesson for me. Six books by Mike Shepherd all narrated by Dina Pearlman - neither have any other presence on Audible; that's should have been a warning sign...

I was hoping for a strong story line, intelligent characters and a rich narrative - especially a strong female character as was written in the review - but was bitterly disappointed.

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20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

great military sc-fi

If you like strong female characters in sci-fi, then you will enjoy this military sci-fi series. I have actually read most of the series in paperback, but picked up Mutineer on Audible to see how it compares. I thought the narrator did an excellent job, particularly with the Scottish/Highland/Irish characters (though a true Scot may feel differently), and in keeping all the characters voices seperate (and there are a lot of characters). Looking forward to listening to the others soon!

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20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Just Got Bored Halfway Through

Some of the issues I had with the book: sloppy writing, inconsistencies, logic issues, etc. But the big problem for me is that the whole space scenario is completely wasted. This really didn't need to be set on another planet. The names, people, technology, etc., all felt like it should have been a hum drum medieval fantasy type piece instead: kidnapping plot foiled, politics aplenty, the king (er prime minister) is playing a double edged sword, heroine has a plethora of suspiciously brilliant relatives/friends whose only purpose is to provide some deus ex machina answer to the not very interesting mystery, and will she survive....... The plot kept running around in circles, belaboring points of the heroine's past (yeah, we get it already, move on!) ad nauseum.

I didn't connect with any part of this. The action was flat and didn't feel threatening but the non-action scenes lacked depth and hit far too many cliches. Rebel daughter, wise grandfather, shallow aristocratic mother, distracted leader father, loyal servants who help her out on the sly. At the point where you get to the middle of the story, and (no spoilers here) despite having lost one child to murder the father doesn't investigate a threat on another child. It just lacks heart. And a story set in space should probably take place in space more and not on typical old fashioned earth type settlements with computers, hackers, cars, sleds, castles, and surprisingly no other type of creates from these planets, etc.

The narrator has been on a lot of books and was a bit too familiar to me. She does a great job reading but I just didn't connect the mature, scratchy, voice with a young plucky heroine.

Unfortunately, it just didn't pique my interest and so I won't be continuing the series.

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19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Skip this

The plot is predictable and the narration is long wined and drags out the predictability to horrific lengths. Dina Perlman keeps pausing at awkward moments as she tries (and fails) to give the shallow dialogue some depth.

I am sorry, but I recommend that you skip this series. Try the Lois McMaster Bujold series instead.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

This Book SUCKS! Avoid like the Plague!

Dana's review is 100% correct. Except she was too nice. This book SUCKS! It is just BAD. Just because you put a space ship on the front of the cover of a book doesn't make it Science Fiction! First let me say that I have never written a review for any Book or Audio Book before. The reviews I read for it were good, but after reading halfway through this book I felt completely duped I felt as if I had wasted a credit on crap! The only reason I wanted to finish this book was to write this review so that I could warn other people to stay away from it.
Like Dana, I choose this book because of the review that I read about it. The series sounded promising from the reviews and the other books in the series. So I decided to take a chance. Let me be clear. This is the worst Audio Book that I ever listen to. The plot was just bad. The military themes and references didn’t make sense. And they kept put the heroine in situation that would be militarily wrong. For example (from the beginning of the book) you would NOT assign a boot ensign to be in charge of team of Marines on a special ops mission. The Marines have there own officers corp. The presented scenario would never happen.
The Narrating was equally awful. The bad country/Irish/Scotish accents just got on my nerves! The only thing good I can say is that she knows how to read.
Like Dana I believe that Mike (the Author) must be an alias for Michelle (or has to be a woman), because men don't think, write or care about the dribble she wrote about in this book. I would also guess that she is an alcoholic that has a low opinion of military procurement as a while.
I would give this book 0 Stars out of 5 if they let me. Again, save your credits and avoid this book like the Plague! If you buy this book anyway, you won’t be able to say you weren't warned.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I'm hooked

My kind of fantasy fiction. Right up there with Horacio Hornblower. My budget doesn't allow for me to obtain them as fast as I would like. I will be doing at least one a month until I read them all or pass into the next realm of existence.

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7 people found this helpful