Mutineer

Kris Longknife, Book 1

By: Mike Shepherd

Narrated by: Dina Pearlman

Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins

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.

Good but formulaic

This was a decent story. Your basic poor little rich kid/underdog makes good type of story. Nothing spectacular but still a worthy listen. My only complaints are the lack of detail in the space battle sections. The author made it sound like the battles were a video game, just point and shoot. Character development was good but also predictable. I'll definitely listen to the next book in the series to see how the characters develop.

The narration was fairly well done. Lots of interesting accents for the various characters. My only complaint is the obvious one of how difficult its is for a female narrator to do a credible gruff male voice.

Entertaining.

Any additional comments?

I'm not a space sci-fi reader but I was a Star Trec fan growing up. I enjoyed the story quite a bit, but the cultures and voices were all based on human cultures. If you don't mind the human references put into alien culture and listen for the enjoyment of a story please give it a try. I will be listening to the next one. It is an easy "read" for pure entertainment this summer.

As for the plot:
Kris is a wealthy girl who leaves home to get away from home. She encounters a lot of snubs along the way but rises above everything to show her true character. In the meantime, she earns honor and respect from those around her. So when trouble comes calling who does everyone follow.

Good storytelling

A fun read. Kinda like Vatta's War with a bit of honor Harrington thrown in.

Great Start

Being a Navy man, I appreciate the attention to detail. Great story and pretty good performance her timing is a bit off, but she does a good job overall. A thoroughly enjoyable story. Looking forward to the next book.

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.

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.

enjoyable space opera

I really didnt think i would like this one. but i took a chance and now im on book three. it gets a bit lengthy on the political parties and issues with the leas character but it comes around and your glad you listened to it, on to book 2 not a lot of repeat catch you up stuff thats so annoying with other writers. i found it over all fun and enjoyable. the narrator, does a very good job and is a great female narrator!

Great Story!

What did you love best about Mutineer?

A Tough Female Hero coming of Age and overcoming her family and inner demons

What about Dina Pearlman’s performance did you like?

Very Well Read and Engaging!

Entertaining

The main character is a bit larger than life, but it was fun following her through the books plot. The voice acting was very well done incorporating some very distinct voices for each character, making it very easy to know who was talking.

Good storytelling. Not very original.

Another space opera retelling of the Horatio Hornblower tale. David Weber plainly admits that Honor Harrington was imagined from the tales of the original HH. This is another saga painted with the same colors. However, Shepherd is a good story teller so it is entertaining. if you've never read the Honor Harrington books go ahead and enjoy. If you have, be forewarned rabid fans of Weber might be a little put off.