Earth is dead. Humanity is hiding.
Invention, progress, change. . . all are forbidden.
Now it's time to change all that.
The science fiction epic of the decade begins here.
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.
Eight hundred years pass. In a hidden chamber on Safehold, an android from the far human past awakens. This "rebirth" was set in motion centuries before, by a faction that opposed shackling humanity with a concocted religion. Via automated recordings, "Nimue"—or, rather, the android with the memories of Lieutenant Commander Nimue Alban—is told her fate: she will emerge into Safeholdian society, suitably disguised, and begin the process of provoking the technological progress which the Church of God Awaiting has worked for centuries to prevent.
Nothing about this will be easy. To better deal with a medieval society, "Nimue" takes a new gender and a new name, "Merlin." His formidable powers and access to caches of hidden high technology will need to be carefully concealed. And he'll need to find a base of operations, a Safeholdian country that's just a little more freewheeling, a little less orthodox, a little more open to the new.
And thus Merlin comes to Charis, a mid-sized kingdom with a talent for naval warfare. 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 it's going to be the can't-miss SF epic of the decade.
About the Author
David Weber is a science fiction phenomenon. His popular Honor Harrington novels are New York Times bestsellers and can't come out fast enough for his devoted readers, and his novels have regularly been Main Selections of the Science Fiction Book Club.
In addition to the Honor Harrington series, he has written many top-selling science fiction novels, including Mutineers' Moon, The Armageddon Inheritance, Heirs of Empire, and Path of the Fury. Weber has also begun a top-selling epic SF adventure series in collaboration with John Ringo, with four novels so far: March Upcountry, March to the Sea, March to the Stars, and We Few. His novels of the adventures of the Bahzell—Oath of Swords, The War God's Own, and Wind Rider's Oath, another New York Times bestseller—have proven that Weber is equally a master of epic fantasy adventure. He lives in South Carolina.
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Product ReviewFans of David Weber are well aware of his life long interest in and study of naval military history.
All I can do is recommend the book. Its a brilliant 18th century naval war, its a detailed view of the political, the spying, the managing of people and fleets, the entire zeitgeist of the genre, whilst also having excellent science fiction underpinnings, which are fit neatly into the entire story line.
Thanks, David. Excellent!!
Ian Clark
AustraliaPosted on
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Product ReviewWeber's pretty well known as a capitalist apologist, especially for regency-style British mercantilism. As this book demonstrates quite clearly, both in plot and in price. [And if you don't like the price, don't whinge about it, just don't buy it.] He even manages to get a two-fer, with a conglomeration of the Brits and the Dutch. It's a bit derivative, and predictable--a fairly good yarn, with unambiguous villains and heroes, as DW is wont to make. Unsurprisingly, I've read better books with similar storylines:
* King David's Spaceship
* Drake's _Avatar of Man_ series (Raj Whitehall)
* Flint's Belisarius
And the granddaddies of them all:
* Canticle for Liebowitz (somewhat more blasphemous than _OAR_)
* Connecticutt Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Anyway, it has the usual Weber weakness, of insufficiently brutal editing. Spurious Infodumps? We've got em. Weak and awkward sentence construction? Got em. Excessive use of passive voice, not to mention unnecessary italics? They're in there. But despite these flaws, and despite dragging in sections, It's still a pretty good yarn.Posted on
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Product ReviewA good book but the price is inexcusable. I would like to know what tor thinks they are doing. It gives webscriptions and especially David Weber a bad name.
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Product ReviewI am in agreement with all those before me. I love the sample chapters, and look forward to reading this book(as I have with many of his other ones), but not at $18. Tor can expect nothing but cold shoulders if it does not get with the program.
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Product ReviewPersonally I enjoyed this story. I liked the characters. I liked the rhythem that was there. Maybe it wasn't the most earthshaking litature out there but it engrossed me.
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Product ReviewBook good. $18 for an Ebook - you must be kidding. I already shelled out for the hardback once, I don't pay physical hardback prices for electrons. I can admit it, I am a bookaholic but even at my level of addiction, I can draw the line at $18 for an ebook. I can get my fix from somewhere else - like the local library.
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Product ReviewThe sample chapters are well written and set the story up nicely. I look forward to reading the rest of the book.
As for the price issue -- I agree that $18 is frankly way over priced for an e-book. In defense of Weber and Baen, from whom I've never seen anything but great support for e-books, I would venture to bet that TOR set the price for the book. I have seen few if any TOR books even available in any e-format, so my guess is that the book was priced regardless of format.
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Product Review4 stars for the book itself. I am a big Weber fan. In my opinion, the sample chapters are very well written. The idea behind the plot is not new by any stretch - either for Weber in particular or for SF in general. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to all the new twists and turns Weber will invent for this particlular iteration.
0 stars for Tor's pricing. I will seldom buy a hardcover for that price. I will most certainly, emphatically NEVER pay $18 for an e-book. Not unless Tor officially promises to donate $12 from this amount to my favorite charity. Therefore, I will wait until either the paperback comes out or Tor's e-book pricing gets adjusted to a minimally sane level - whichever comes first.
Hence, the average rate is 2.Posted on
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Product Review@the book: i wish weber would know more about economics, or research them, so he could get them even better and more fleshed out.
a side comment about patents I just hated. patents as they exist today are really not the best form one science fiction author could invent to boost the economy!
not the very best of weber but not the worst like the starfire series or somesuch with steve white.
(@tor get real, if some ebook sellers would adopt baen good pracices at pricing and no drm, they would sell MUCH more ebooks AND books)Posted on
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Product ReviewThe price is waaaaay too expensive for an e-book. I have read the dead tree version and it rocks, but I honestly cannot recommend the e-book version to anyone. It is joining a conspiracy to rob people.
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