Starship

Mutiny

By: Mike Resnick

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Mike Resnick

The date is 1966 of the Galactic Era, almost three thousand years from now, and the Republic, created by the human race - but not yet dominated by it - finds itself in an all-out war.

They stand against the Teroni Federation, an alliance of races that resent Man's growing military and economic power. The main battles are taking place in the Spiral Arm and toward the Core. But far out on the Rim, the Theodore Roosevelt is one of three ships charged with protecting the Phoenix Cluster - a group of 73 inhabited worlds.

Old, battered, some of its weapon systems outmoded, the Teddy R. is a ship that would have been decommissioned years ago if weren't for the war. Its crew is composed of retreads, discipline cases, and a few raw recruits. But a new officer has been transferred to the Teddy R. His name is Wilson Cole, and he comes with a reputation for heroics and disobedience. Will the galaxy ever be the same?

BONUS AUDIO: Includes an exclusive introduction by author Mike Resnick.

Engage! Hear the rest of the Starship series.©2005 by Mike Resnick (P)2008 Audible, Inc.

Clich?s at Warp Speed

My first time to give 1 star to any book. I listened to about a half-hour and started to suspect that I was hip-deep in space-mediocrity. So, sez I to myself, maybe just a little bit more, since I hate to press ERASE on a book I've already paid for. Twenty additional minutes were more than enough.
The set-up? Wilson Cole, twice busted from captain of his own space ship because he can't live according to the regulations (i. e., he's convinced that he makes better decisions than his superiors, and so disobeys orders he thinks are dumb...all in time of war). All the cardboard scenarios are here, folks: the renegade who plays by his own rules; the brilliant intuitive decisions that only he can make; his million-to-one guesses about what will take place...and that of course do come to pass just as he predicts; his know-it-all expositions to his intellectual inferiors, who gaze with open-mouthed admiration at their hero. Puh-leeze! It's a stereotypical earth cop show transfered into hyperspace (and by the way, they travel at light speed and click off dozens of light years without a net...or any sort of escape hatch from relativistic physics). I just read Caesar's Commentaries from AudioBooks. A dictator, yes, but now there was a brilliant leader and strategist! And a wonderful writer, as it turns out. Pass on Mutiny, go for the Commentaries.

Not worth your time

This novel wasn't as interesting as other recent Sci Fi military epic series. I read the first and second because I was traveling and it is all I had to listen to. They were somewhat entertaining, but the plots were two predictable and redundant. I wish Wilson Cole and his ship goodbye while I go find some more more interesting sci fi that takes much more advantage of the genre.

A tired cliche

The author gives us an explanation as to why he wrote the series to begin our tale. He says he is interested in writing the story of a leader.

He fails. The main character is not a leader. He is a subverter. It just so happens that he is smarter and more "intuitive" than all his superiors. His superiors are so ridgidly unbelieveable it strains the imagination (of the reader!).This stereotyped story of untinking space marines and a stupid face saving military hierarchy was simply absurd. The main character stands out because he is a "thinker" while everyone else are lazy ignorant louts. Unbelievable! It as if the author's intended audience was 6th grade boys and he was writing in the media frenzy at the end of the Vietnam War.

I will not be listening to the rest of the series and I love a good series.

Totally disappointing!

Sorry there isn't a rating lower than one star. If you are, have ever been, or are ever considering serving in the military, this story will make you cringe. I guess if I had no idea what the military was about, I might have enjoyed this a bit more, but nothing over two stars. the protagonist is supposedly a decorated officer who is resisting the stupid orders of the persons above him, and relies on his superior intellect and moral judgement to justify all of his mutinous actions in the end. He also is supposed to be a natural leader who inspires the loyalty of his enlisted crew by always being a stickler for the rules. Alright, I can buy the premise, and can think of some good characters who have had similar situations (Honor Harrington leaps to mind). But, and here is the problem, the total incompetance of the officers above him is so over the top that you would never buy their getting to positions of power. Also, his total disregard for the rules personally, while enforcing the rules in a draconian manner with subordinates is unbelievable at best. Believe me, that sort of behavior does the exact opposite of inspire loyalty in the real world. Listen, I like military fantasy a lot, and I enjoy difficult, even untenable situations, but this is just too unbelievable! Combined with the poor character development, the one-track narrative, the reader's performance (he sounds so bored and supercilious I have the feeling he liked the story about as much as I did, and did everything in his power to make it unappealing), the ridiculous aliens and the pointless romantic and sexual innuendo (one character was blackballed for an alien liason, and spends the time hinting about her kink) this novel is just too awful to recommend to anyone.

Boring and Predictable

This book would have been more slightly enjoyable without the preface by the author, but only just. The author specifically says that he had no interest in genre military/scifi, and ironically creates the worst kind of genre fiction. William Cole is an arrogant, sarcastic nonconformist who is never wrong, yet pretexts himself to be a humble soldier. The supporting cast is entirely hollow and the antagonists are strawmen. Too many nonsense "alien" words. No depth of plot.

I can't say it's all terrible, but it's terrible military-political fiction and middling scifi. I had to put it down.