A Mighty Fortress

Safehold Series, Book 4

By: David Weber

Narrated by: Jason Culp

Length: 35 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Young Cayleb Ahrmahk has accomplished things few people could even dream of. Not yet even thirty years old, he’s won the most crushing naval victories in human history. He’s smashed a hostile alliance of no less than five princedoms and won the hand of the beautiful young Queen Sharleyan of Chisholm. Cayleb and Sharleyan have created the Charisian Empire, the greatest naval power in the history of Safehold, and they’ve turned Charis into a place of refuge for all who treasure freedom.

Their success may prove short-lived. The Church of God Awaiting, which controls most of Safehold, has decreed their destruction. Mother Church’s entire purpose is to prevent the very things to which Charis is committed. Since the first attempt to crush the heretics failed, the Church has no choice but to adopt some of the hated Charisian innovations for themselves. Soon a mighty fleet will sail against Cayleb, destroying everything in its path.But there are still matters about which the Church knows nothing, including Cayleb and Sharleyan’s adviser, friend, and guardian— the mystic warrior-monk named Merlin Athrawes. Merlin knows all about battles against impossible odds, because he is in fact the cybernetic avatar of a young woman named Nimue Alban, who died a thousand years before. As Nimue, Merlin saw the entire Terran Federation go down in fire and slaughter at the hands of a foe it could not defeat. He knows that Safehold is the last human planet in existence, and that the stasis the Church was created to enforce will be the human race’s death sentence if it is allowed to stand.The juggernaut is rumbling down on Charis, but Merlin Athrawes and a handful of extraordinary human beings stand in its path. The Church is about to discover just how potent the power of human freedom truly is.

Listen to more in the Safehold series.

©2010 David Weber (P)2010 Macmillan Audio

wow

loved it the battle were great. I loved the way the author was able to make it seem so personal

Follows the format/theme

Would you consider the audio edition of A Mighty Fortress to be better than the print version?

Didn't read the paper version

What did you like best about this story?

It's an intricate, ongoing story. Not for casual readers. This series develops slowly, but the overall concept works.

What about Jason Culp’s performance did you like?

Adequate, but not up to first books.

Just OK

The book was OK, a lot of background detail and not much progress in the overall story.

Great Story and finally buttoned up narration

Finally the narration team responsible for this title got it together. In The last installment of the series, we had a new narrator. An extremely experienced and usually excellent narrator, but it all went south and ruined the entire book pretty much. This is the same narrator, except this time the voices make a bit more sense, since the last installment it seems the narrator chose a better voice for one of the main characters (Merlin) and I guess the people responsible for editing this decided to use the same voices this time instead of having a character sound five different ways throughout the book. Bravo! The writing wasn't ruined this time! I can't imagine what caused the last one to be so terrible, and then this one works out pretty well. But whatever caused all that to be straightened out, thank you!
As for the work itself, the written word, I enjoyed it. The think about works from this author is that you either like them or you don't, they are wordy, and the author plays out every little bit of conversation and intrigue which not everybody likes, but I really do. I will say that I can't argue that this one is about the slowest and wordiest in the author's history but okay, luckily I like that.

Sorry Mr. Weber

I've never reviewed a David Weber book eventho I went through the whole Harrington series and loved every minute of it. So where do I start? I saw the the description for the first novel in this series and it really needs work to describe what's really going on in this series. It just doesn't come close to doing a good job at telling this amazing story. The level of detail during the ship battles alone are second level. I actually had to download the map, yes there's a nap of Safehold, to take the battles to a strategic next level. What I regularly do in this series, is use my very limited knowledge of mechanical advancements to try and figure what will the next invention be that will help the Empire even the very uneven paying field. Amazing peicee of work and the best use of an audible credit you'll find.

A world well built

Another excellent addition to an out standing series. I see other reviews that see the many characters and incremental development of the story line as a negative. But the authors attempt to build an entire world, with many characters is outstanding. Instead of a story where one evil and one good actor stand off against each other and resolve everything in a nice 60 minute episode. This is a story with many moving parts. The story has hero's and villains but also many others some selfish some noble, some working for a common good some seeking their own benefit. If your looking for a short simple feel good story this is not a series for you, but if you are looking for a story that feels like a piece of history with exceptional detail and development, this might be the series for you. Definitely recommend starting at the first book in the series, the story development will really help in understanding the series and add a great deal of enjoyment to the reader or listener. Excellent series, and an excellent addition to it, I hope the author continues the high level of development and scope the first four books have demonstrated. In one word this series is "Epic".

Loved it!

New characters, new problems, new solutions! These books just keep getting better. On to the next on.

great listen!

I couldn't wait to continue listening to the point of doing work that allowed concentrated listening.

Excellent addition to the Safe Hold Series

If you're truly a Safe Hold series fan you've got to listen to this or get the bloody book! It's worth the time and effort. Weber is a masterful story teller of war on the open seas, besides an intriguing storyline of political back stabbing and underhandedness. You'll never regret starting this series that's for sure.

excellent as always

love this series. 10/10 would recommend to friends and family. such good attention to detail and perfect twists