Insurrection

By: David Weber, Steve White

Narrated by: Marc Vietor

Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's Summary

In the end, the only political systems that seem to work are those based on freedom. The Inner World leaders of the Terran Federation seem to have forgotten this simple truth. After fighting the Khanate - with the Fringe Worlds to supply the raw material and the fighting men - the Inner Worlds found it hard to give up the powers they had seized during the war. So they decided not to - rather than allow the rapidly expanding Fringe Worlds representation in the Federation, they are inviting the Khanate in, to keep the colonial upstarts in their place. The Fringers have only one answer to that: insurrection.

©1992 David Weber and Steve White (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

First Novel WRITTEN, fourth novel in TIMELINE

If you’ve listened to books by David Weber and Steve White before, how does this one compare?

This one is by far the "roughest" and "most politically focused" of the books I have read so far. It was really not as good (in my opinion) as Crusade, In Death Ground, or The Shiva Option. HOWEVER I learned later that this book was written FIRST. So a lot of things feel out of place and not as polished as previous books. Just go into this one knowing that it was their first

Any additional comments?

dont start here.

3 people found this helpful

Ignore the "Book 4" and read this. It's EPIC!

Forget the "book 4" designation and read or listen to this right now. Crusade was written earlier (and isn't terrible), but Insurrection was second and remains the hands-down best introduction to the Starfire universe in novel form. If you are looking for epic fleet-action space opera, you have found it.

Are you dissatisfied by the background role played by starship fleets (when they appear at all) in SW, ST, and other classic space operas? Then this is for you. There's no shortage of battles involving battlecruisers, carriers, and even ships larger than a superdreadnought...and none are gratuitous; all of them make sense in the terms of the larger story.

The human story is not neglected either. Aside from the (amazing) fleet battles, this is the story of an interstellar civil war in a human Federation that spans dozens if not hundreds of inhabited star systems and takes months to travel across. You are put in the room with people from the ones whose grasping arrogance starts the war, down through presidents, starship crews, and civilians on both sides, all the way to farmers who have (rightly) expected to be screwed over by those in power for generations, centuries, or forever. And by and large they feel human, not like cardboard stand-ups.

There are aliens (awesome ones, of course!), but they are in the background. When humans go to war with each other, sensible aliens stay out of the way—even if they have the best assault carriers in the known universe.

Finally, there is the narration. I first read this book decades ago, not long after it came out. I have reread it since a number of times, so the quality of the performance is kind of personal for me. Marc Vietor sets a high bar for narration. Quick complaint: many narrators use a one-dimensional array of character voices; the men are manly or weasely, the women are unnaturally soft-spoken, etc., ad nauseam.

Marc Vietor is not these narrators. If a character is from Virginia on Old Earth, he sounds like it. If he's a highly educated man from a Japanese culture or an upper-class Englishman, he sounds like it. A nervous young yeoman, same. And If she's a starship captain, she *doesn't* sound like she's on her way to the damned bedroom with you. His general narration, in and out of character, is just as excellent—warm, textured, and unhurried; a storyteller's voice.

Overall, I recommend this book highly. It's the only five-star narration review I've ever given and (unless something changes in the general quality of audiobook narration) the only one I'm ever likely to.

Oh, and if you're not looking for a six-year long epic about an interstellar civil war, well-written and very well-performed...buy something else instead.

1 person found this helpful

Solid Military SciFi

This is pretty solid military sci-fi. It focuses pretty fairly on all sides and gives a great overall view while showcasing the heroism of humanity in general. Well written and worth a read.

1 person found this helpful

not as good as I expect

the thought that a underdeveloped region could come up with inventions a fully staffed research region hadn't is absurd.

1 person found this helpful

Thorough, but less weapons, more character please

Weber and White dive deep into the characters of both side of a conflict, and conflict is what they do seem to write about. It is refreshing to get that insight into to character motivation.

It is contrariwise tedious to see the dame detail applied to psuedoscience and long drawn out accounts of the lasers and missles flying about. I am pretty sure another reader would have the opposite reaction and prefer more technical mumbo jumbo and less about the characters. Undeniably successful at weaving a complex plotline, but I find it difficult to stay immersed in the story. KISS I say, and stay on the characters. I realize this feedback is 50 years too late, but still.

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this book was a great ending to the series it was easy to pick up and leave then come back and read at a different time

Haven't Finished Yet, Will Edit This When I Do...

In a civil war, the side that is more just is right. How do you tell which side is more just? It is the side that seeks to reduce the suffering of others, to put power in the hands of more not less, to give freedom to the oppressed. So in this book, the Fringers are more just, and therefore are right.

Too much politics and tangents

Would you try another book from David Weber and Steve White and/or Marc Vietor?

At times they write good books, but with this one they failed. Too many tangents. Of the 14 hours only about 20 minutes were of the "can't stop now".

What was most disappointing about David Weber and Steve White ’s story?

Sick of politics!

What about Marc Vietor’s performance did you like?

He is always superior in his renditions.

Did Insurrection inspire you to do anything?

Yes, discard the story.

Any additional comments?

I hope the series gets better, this book was a bust.

1 person found this helpful

Insurrection

A book the draws you in that sales you beyond a shadow of a doubt. A true story of what greed can lead to even the main advance science fiction world.

2 people found this helpful

This should be book 4

Any additional comments?

Listen to In Death Ground then The Shiva Option as they are books 2 and 3.