Off Armageddon Reef

Safehold Series, Book 1

By: David Weber

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Length: 29 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

Humanity pushed its way to the stars—and encountered the Gbaba, a ruthless alien race that nearly wiped us out. Earth and her colonies are now smoldering ruins, and the few survivors have fled to distant, Earth-like Safehold, to try to rebuild. But the Gbaba can detect the emissions of an industrial civilization, so the human rulers of Safehold have taken extraordinary measures: with mind control and hidden high technology, they've built a religion in which every Safeholdian believes, a religion designed to keep Safehold society medieval forever.

800 years pass. In a hidden chamber on Safehold, an android from the far human past awakens. This android, Merlin, emerges into Safeholdian society to begin the process of provoking technological progress, which the Church of God Awaiting has worked for centuries to prevent. To conceal his formidable powers he finds a base of operations in Charis, a mid-sized kingdom with a talent for naval warfare, where he plans to make the acquaintance of King Haarahld and Crown Prince Cayleb, and maybe, just maybe, kick off a new era of invention. Which is bound to draw the attention of the Church…and, inevitably, lead to war.

It's going to be a long, long process. And David Weber's Off Armageddon Reef is going to be the can't-miss Sci-Fi epic of the decade.

Listen to more in the Safehold series.

©2007 David Weber (P)2006 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC

Critic reviews

“Wyman rises nicely to the near Herculean challenge of performing this 30-hour epic. His clear, expressive reading never falters while he skillfully navigates his way through a labyrinth of plot twists and multiple characters. Whether describing high-tech space battles or the covert activities of courtiers and spies, Wyman brings Weber's intricate world of Safehold to life.” —Publishers Weekly

kept trying to not get hung up on the reef

I was intrigued with the idea setting up the book; which is why I continues to listen to the end. The author at times at times writes truly beautiful word pictures and then gets caught up in how to rig the sails of a ship, over and over and over again. I wish he had spent more time fleshing out more of the relationship of the characters. While I wouldn't read another in the series, I am glad I listened to this one.

Not my kind of story

When reading about the story it sounded great. But I couldn't get through it. It almost put me to sleep it was so slow. I love a little history, but this was way over the top. I couldn't get through the last chapter, I gave up.

long winded makes it a little slow.

I got through it but prob wont liaten to the next book. theres better stuff out there.

Imaginative, genre-defying sci-fi. Good narration

David Weber's first book in the Safehold series is, despite the author's trademark wordiness, a lively and well-paced novel. Later novels in the series are less well-paced, but fans of Weber (of which I am one) will keep slogging through the endless exposition to see just where the story might go.

Difficult to define by genre, "Off Armageddon Reef" blends Science Fiction, Space Opera, Alternate History (thematically, if not exactly in fact), and Age of Sail naval action. Oh, and swashbuckling. There is swashbuckling. Buckles are swashed. While that may be a confusing melange of stuff to cram into a story, it works pretty well. Be forewarned; what is effectively a prologue spans the first few hours of the audiobook.

Oliver Wyman's narration is excellent. I wish he had been the narrator for the entire series. The others are a mixed bag, although none are bad. Wyman, though, does a superb job of bringing the disparate characters to life through accent, tone, and pitch.

I definitely recommend this to fans of Weber, fans of military sci-fi, or those who have the time and patience for a long, but entertaining, novel. If your tolerance for lengthy exposition about technical minutiae is low, this probably isn't the novel for you.

It's Star Trek meets Master and Commander: TFSOTW

15 words is not long enough. Listen to this story I have five words left

Off Armageddon Reef

This is book one of a new series called Safehold. Safehold is a planet that humans have hid on to seek survival of the human race from destruction. The goal was to stay a low tech world so it would not be seen by the enemy. They set up a religion to control people and a simple society. The story starts from here and was slow to get going but by the end of the book I was hooked and looking forward to the next book. I think I prefer the Honor Harrington series better but they are much different stories.

Fascinating characters in an epic storyline

This story is well worth five stars. The story contains the usual consistency of plot, character development and novel thinking (Pardon the pun) of David Weber. The narrator is far and away the best I've had the pleasure to listen to. He has clearly read the book and understands the characters.

Good book, a little detail heavy

I loved the start and I'm looking forward to the sequels. I could have done with less painful detail about sailing. I love when authors paint a visual picture but I'm not that interested in having them paint operating instructions.

Ummmm Yes Please

If I had read this book, I think my brain would have melted trying to remember characters (that's 100% on me), but with Oliver Wyman at the helm, giving each and every character their own distinct voice and diction, I had no problem leaning back and enjoying the HELL out of this epic adventure.

Tought to get into but then riviting

The book was a little tough to get into but after the first few chapters you couldn't put it down. I can't wait for many more