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Mutineer (Kris Longknife #1)

3.79 of 5 stars 3.79 · rating details · 1,695 ratings · 91 reviews

Kris Longknife is a daughter of privilege, born to money and power. Her father is the Prime Minister of her home planet. Her mother the consummate politician's wife. She's been raised only to be beautiful and marry well. But the heritage of the military Longknifes courses through Kris's blood-and, against her parents' objections, she enlists in the marines.

Paperback, 389 pages

Published January 27th 2004 by Ace Books

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Nov 10, 2008 Kiri rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

I found a lot to like in this book, but unfortunately a lot that jarred me out of my enjoyment. Perhaps this is Shepherd's first book; that would explain the imperfections of his writing. A decent effort but no masterwork. I'm becoming more of a snob as I get older, and even in escapist genre fiction I want some competent writing with events well thought out. This book did not always succeed on that level. The reactions of characters did not always jibe; some elements did not seem like their ram...more

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Feb 28, 2008 Brownbetty rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who like Feintuch

Comes under "if this is the sort of thing you like, then this is the sort of thing you'll like." I would call it "Patrick O'Brian in space," but not having read any Patrick O'Brian, I might get myself in trouble that way. From this, however, you can probably gather it's not quite the sort of thing I like. (My rating may be a bit low for that reason.) I picked it up though, because it had a female protagonist and I remembered hearing the name somewhere.

Kris Longknife is likable enough, although a...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Andrea J rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

Quite a few of the reviews on her have listed the same issues I had with the book: sloppy writing, inconsistencies, logic issues, etc. The big problem for me is that the whole space scenario is completely wasted. This really didn't need to be set on another planet. The names, people, technology, etc., all felt like it should have been a hum drum medieval fantasy type piece instead: kidnapping plot foiled, politics aplenty, the king (er prime minister) is playing a double edged sword, heroine has...more

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Jan 16, 2013 Laura Ownbey rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: rated-rpr

The quick and dirty:
Rating: 2.5 stars
Length: On the high end of average (389 pages)
Publication: January 27, 2004 from Ace Books
Premise: The book opens with Kris Longknife, a Navy ensign fresh out of officer training, commanding a frantic hostage rescue mission. She struggles to balance her own doubts and the shadows of her own past with her drive to succeed and prove that she's deserving of her family's oldest histories. As soon as the mission ends, she's put on leave. She thinks that going home...more

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Apr 13, 2012 Kathy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Fabulous New SF Series!

Since all the Scifi TV shows, except for Doctor Who, I have watched up until May 2011 have been cancelled (my beloved Stargate Universe, SG-1, SGA, The Event, Outcasts, Caprica, Farscape, BSG, etc.) I have been cruising around, looking for a good SF book. This new series [well new to me] totally satisfied my huge SF appetite.

This book had all the essential features that makes a great SF series. The story begins with Kris in the middle of a dangerous rescue scene and the ac...more

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Oct 19, 2011 Andreas rated it 3 of 5 stars

Ensign Longknife is the scion of a great family. Her father is the Prime Minister of an important world. Her grandparents and great grandparents are equally exalted. She tries to defy family tradition, only to find that she is following it in her own way. Most of the book sets up her character for the final part where she forestalls a serious crisis by becomeing the book’s titular mutineer. Longknife is definitely a rich girl, and she has had all the advantages and disadvantages of that heritage...more Ensign Longknife is the scion of a great family. Her father is the Prime Minister of an important world. Her grandparents and great grandparents are equally exalted. She tries to defy family tradition, only to find that she is following it in her own way. Most of the book sets up her character for the final part where she forestalls a serious crisis by becomeing the book’s titular mutineer. Longknife is definitely a rich girl, and she has had all the advantages and disadvantages of that heritage. She is not perfect, and therein lies much of her charm. Shepherd takes pains to explain how she has become who she is. And it is important since her character shapes the story greatly.

The backstory is very dense, but Shepherd only gives it to us from Longknife’s perspective. The volume of information about politics, family history and human history coming at the reader is at times almost overwhelming. I was half tempted to start taking notes. It is a fine line that Shepherd walks. On the one hand the backstory is important to the main action. On the other hand he risks alienating the reader. Still, it is refreshing to see an author avoid the dreaded datadumps that Weber and even Flint are using nowadays. Now those will bore a reader. At least here the action keeps moving forward as the author correctly assumes that the reader can handle the flood without needing his hand held through painstaking and tedious exposition of half a dozen arguments and counter-arguments. Kudos to Shepherd.

The technology is very space operatic with nothing very surprising. The quirks are really in service of the plot. Shepherd treads a fine line as deus ex machina threatens but he avoids breaking the rules of his own oniverse once he has set them.

While this isn’t exactly the beginning of the Honor series, it is quite an auspicious start. Kris Longknife is a fascinating and engaging character.

Note: Shepherd has previously written about our heroine’s great-grandfather Raymond under his real name, Mike Moscoe.

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Mar 12, 2011 Dharma Kurlind rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book has some really wonderful elements. First of all, it's sci fi/high fiction, so we're in the 24th century, on a few different planets. Even so, it's more a military novel, following the Navy career of Kris Longknife and the political structure of the Society among something like 100 planets that have human expansion. We don't see any aliens, and most fantastic elements have to do with computers and technology. I should mention that the book was written in 2004, meaning that Nelly - Kris...more This book has some really wonderful elements. First of all, it's sci fi/high fiction, so we're in the 24th century, on a few different planets. Even so, it's more a military novel, following the Navy career of Kris Longknife and the political structure of the Society among something like 100 planets that have human expansion. We don't see any aliens, and most fantastic elements have to do with computers and technology. I should mention that the book was written in 2004, meaning that Nelly - Kris's personal AI computer - is probably a bit less powerful than the newest Android.

Be it as it may, the story is excellent, and very, very military. If you're into the politics of internal command hierarchy, or about how rescue and humanitarian distress mission work out, it's a fun read. It's also interesting to hear a man - Mike Shephard - write a story where the heroine is a 22-year-old female. He gets a lot of things right, but I think it's more because she's a soldier, and Mike Shephard was Navy himself, so he knows a thing or two in the regard.

The other things I didn't quite enjoy in this book was a lack of cohesion - it seemed to be separated in three parts: rescue mission & return home (very well done; we really understand Kris's history from the mission, and we get a good understanding of her family - the prime minister family of an entire planet - from her return home); humanitarian mission on Olympia (this part sags. It tells us a lot of Kris's character and leadership abilities, but it gets too bogged down in the moral implications and reflections on a soldier's duties); and mission to attack (this is the crowning moment and the name-sake of the book). The thing is though, these three parts don't meld too well. I would have liked to see a bit less soldiering, a bit more politicking, and maybe even a love interest beyond one guy asking Kris out to lunch.

On Narration:
Dina Pearlman is excellent. If you are familiar with Jeanne C. Stein's Anna Strong series, or Rachel Caine's Weather Warden series, you know what I mean. She does a wonderful Irish accent, which takes up a good half-hour of reading when the Highlanders visit Olympia. She also does a great job with internal dialogue versus external dialogue. At times in the book, Kris makes comments basically to herself. Since the book is written in third-person, the way Dina Pearlman reads these lines versus external dialogue is very important to the listener, and she does it successfully.(less)

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Apr 14, 2013 David rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Rich girls who join the navy

Shelves: science-fiction, space-opera, female-protagonist, military-fiction, audiobook

I wanted very much for this to be better than it was. But while it was not bad, neither was it particularly good. It's a Big Mac of a space opera, a perfectly average, standard, processed serving delivering a pleasant if unexceptional taste but no nutritional value. Mike Shepherd seems to be trying to imitate David Weber or Lois McMaster Bujold, and since I am not particularly a fan of either of them (I know, sacrilege), this story did little for me. It was entertaining enough for the time I spe...more I wanted very much for this to be better than it was. But while it was not bad, neither was it particularly good. It's a Big Mac of a space opera, a perfectly average, standard, processed serving delivering a pleasant if unexceptional taste but no nutritional value. Mike Shepherd seems to be trying to imitate David Weber or Lois McMaster Bujold, and since I am not particularly a fan of either of them (I know, sacrilege), this story did little for me. It was entertaining enough for the time I spent listening to it, but I don't really care about Kris Longknife and her future military career and whatever political shenanigans will continue through the next few books, nor was I even lured by the promise of the aliens repeatedly mentioned in this book but never seen.

Kris Longknife is a daughter of privilege in this far future where Earth is a corrupt, decadent old world at the center of a union spanning hundreds of colony worlds. Her father is the Prime Minister of Wardhaven, and he's been a cold, political creature since Kris's little brother was killed following a botched kidnapping when she was ten. Kris, following years of guilt and a bit of teenage alcoholism, was inspired by her war-hero grandfather to join the Navy, much to her parents' horror.

In the first part of the book, we are introduced to Kris as a boot Ensign in charge of a bunch of space marines who are on a rescue mission to save a little girl who's been kidnapped by terrorists. Of course this dredges up all of Kris's issues, and already she was trying me, because the whole time it was "OH, the angst! I'm coming, Tommy! I won't let this little girl die like you did! Oh, how can I focus on the job when I keep remembering my dead little brother angst!angst!angst!"

I'm sure something like that will haunt you for your entire life, but it happened when she was a kid, and now she's an adult and a naval officer. One would think she'd have developed some coping skills by now. But saving the little girl was clearly meant to be the point where she finally is able to put her brother to rest.

Then we get more family background, Kris takes a lot of crap from fellow officers because of course she's one of "those Longknives" and everyone knows she's a rich girl who decided to join the military for whatever reason. She is assigned to a humanitarian mission on a nearly-abandoned colony world where people are starving and facing floods and plagues, and since she's so exceptional, she manages to whip the green, bottom-of-the-barrel unit she's assigned to into kick-ass troops who beat off bandits and save the starving farmers, etc.

In the meantime, there's some kind of plot where political enemies of her family are trying to set her up to be killed, which introduces the main bad guys and a dubious romantic interest for future books.

The "mutiny" of the book's title does not take place until nearly the end of the book, and like all the things Kris does, it's an act that requires a certain amount of bravery and competence, but no hard moral choices — throughout the book, the reader is never left in doubt that Kris is absolutely doing the right thing and anyone who opposes her is wrong.

If you really like military SF and female protagonists, this may be worth checking out, but I'm unlikely to pick up the rest of the series unless I'm starved for something better.
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Jun 29, 2011 Vincent Wood rated it 2 of 5 stars

If I am going to rate a book, I try to get at least half way through it before I might give up upon it. Even if I think every moment I am with that particular book is a moment of life wasted, I still will not give the book a 1 star rating until I feel that I have given the book a good attempt.

That is almost what happened to me with this book. I just had trouble getting into the book and almost gave up about a third of the way through. I decided to trudge along to the half way point and by that p...more

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Sep 05, 2010 Vanessa rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-you-should-avoid, sciene-fiction

The daughter of a governor to a settled planet, Kris enjoyed a life of luxury and prestige--but she felt it was more of a prison than anything. In an effort to make her own way in the universe, she joined the marines. Unfortunately, the military of the outer rim planets lacks the support it needs to continue operations, as there isn’t much conflict like there used to be.

After a spectacular rescue of a little girl from terrorists on a neighboring planet, Kris is relegated to humanitarian duty on...more The daughter of a governor to a settled planet, Kris enjoyed a life of luxury and prestige--but she felt it was more of a prison than anything. In an effort to make her own way in the universe, she joined the marines. Unfortunately, the military of the outer rim planets lacks the support it needs to continue operations, as there isn’t much conflict like there used to be.

After a spectacular rescue of a little girl from terrorists on a neighboring planet, Kris is relegated to humanitarian duty on a planet whose environment has gone haywire from man-made interference. She realizes that her assignment may not be coincidence, and that her brush with death on the kidnapping rescue mission may not have been coincidence, either.

When I picked up Kris Longnife: Mutineer off Amazon, I did it because a lot of people seemed to like the book, the cover is cool, and it’s about a woman military type and I think it’s cool for a woman to be able to fight. Not very good reasons to choose a book, as I found out. It’s not a poorly written book, but neither is it stellar writing, and after coming off the high after reading Bujold’s Curse of Chalion, it was hard not to compare the flat prose and boring characters.

The opening chapters are slow and pedantic. It’s supposed to be this exciting rescue mission, but we’re instead jerked out of the here-and-how with too many flashbacks from not only when her brother was kidnapped and murdered, but her troubled teenage years.

Shepherd's prose is basic, rife with cliché and not descriptive beyond the required setting elements and sci fi technological details. This story is all about plot, no doubt, as one event after another occurs, strung along as we follow Kris’s travels from one planet to another. You’d think that all this information was to build up for a spectacular ending. But…the climax events have little direct relation with Kris’s actions in the rest of the book, which, as a plot-based book, should have tied more directly into the main body of the story.

The characterization is little more developed than the setting. Shepherd attempts to give Kris flaws, but this 21-year-old woman is a know-it-all with better solutions than her more experienced senior officers. It goes so far beyond reality it suspends belief. She always knows the right thing to do. I don’t remember being that mature and smart when I was 21. Shepherd tries to write Kris as a woman, really he does, but in essence she’s a man in a woman’s body with a few irrational emotional episodes tucked in for good measure. I had a hard time identifying with this woman on any level. Kris does have issues she struggles through, it's just that Shepherd isn't very subtle about it.

If you like a good adventure, perhaps compared to Gemmel's books, where your hero is a truly heroic, then you will probably like this book. Otherwise, I probably won't read the rest of the books in this series, just because I can't care enough about Kris to do it.
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Feb 10, 2011 Eric rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans fo space navies

Recommended to Eric by: Watch the Skies

I'm giving this one three and a half stars for a couple of reasons. First, I like books with a fair amount of action. This book has action. Second, I liked the writing pace and style. It was easy to read and flowed very easily from one thing to another. I did read it quickly (or at least relatively so) and wasn't disappointed in it. If you like space navy style stories then you'll do just fine with this book.

I wasn't sure how certain aspects of this book really worked. There were a significant n...more

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Jul 30, 2012 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction, military, space-opera

Promising story line in the genre of military space opera, but ultimately this debut of a long series (9 and counting) was disappointing to me. Ensign Kris Longknife, daughter of a planetary prime minister seeks a career in the space navy as a means to achievement and adventure away from family politics. But her family connections and privileged background either prejudices people against her or raises unrealistic expectations. The scenarios on planets and shipboard provide interesting challenge...more

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Oct 10, 2012 Caressa rated it 1 of 5 stars

Tried to read this novel on a cross country flight. I'm always on the hunt for a good scifi series, but this ain't it. I couldn't make it through the first hundred pages before I was skimming paragraph after paragraph. Mike Shepherd spent pages describing Kris' gear, memories, superiority in all things, but skipped over the action. I didn't realize the first fire fight had even happened until some minor character talked about the bodies strewn about. What? How'd I miss that? Well, it was over in...more

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May 19, 2011 Elecampane rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: do-not-recommend, military-sci-fi

I love military sci-fi, but this book was overall a disappointment. I should have had my first warning when the back cover said that she "enlists in the marines [sic]" and yet it's made clear by page 7 that Kris is, in fact, in the Navy. The entire book is like this, riddled with typographical errors (apostrophe errors, to/too and its/it's errors, incomplete sentences) to a degree that made me wonder if it had had an editor at all.

There are a number of enjoyable elements, including a promising o...more I love military sci-fi, but this book was overall a disappointment. I should have had my first warning when the back cover said that she "enlists in the marines [sic]" and yet it's made clear by page 7 that Kris is, in fact, in the Navy. The entire book is like this, riddled with typographical errors (apostrophe errors, to/too and its/it's errors, incomplete sentences) to a degree that made me wonder if it had had an editor at all.

There are a number of enjoyable elements, including a promising opening: Kris has been placed in charge of a Marine drop-mission to rescue a hostage. Flashbacks to the kidnapping of her younger brother, when she was ten, gives us the basic story behind why she joined the Navy against her parents' wishes, and why this mission is so important to her; a bit of an obvious ploy, but the actual mission parts are nicely tense reading, as several things in a row go wrong and Kris has to improvise her way to success. Essentially the same thing happens on her second mission, a rescue-and-relief mission on a planet overwhelmed by a volcanic eruption; it's a bit reminiscent of Miles Vorkosigan at Kyril Island, in fact, with the intrepid Ensign faced with a demoralized, ineffective, slovenly outpost she resolutely jump-starts into effectiveness.

At the end of her first mission, the Chief asks Kris why she's in the Navy. Kris responds that she wanted to "do some good" and get away from her family's restrictive attention. The Chief tells her that's "enough reason to join. Not good enough to stay. Let me know when you figure out why you want to be Navy," and this is essentially what ties the book together: we're watching Kris figure out the answer.

The main reasons for my disappointment were the pacing, which was rough and laggard at times, and the handling of Kris's character.

The pacing of the novel is awkward, even jarring. It almost reads as three missions separated by filler, like short stories that were roughly joined together into a novel, given the vast differences in the situations, from hostage extraction to humanitarian aid to a major interstellar battle (or at least the start of one). In between these sections are stretches of dull nothing - Kris visits her aunt for a computer upgrade, talks to her parents, and all the narrative tension built up during the action becomes motionless. The pacing also feels very uneven: by page 300, I was starting to wonder why the subtitle of the book was "Mutineer" -- three-quarters in, there was no sign of any mutiny, and in fact Kris was still stuck on Olympia, wrapping up the aid mission. The entire mission wherein the "mutiny" occurs takes up only the last 63 pages, hardly time to build the tension needed.

As for Kris, she was far less enjoyable when she wasn't on a mission. I do not read military science fiction novels for the joy of seeing an adult woman whine about her small bust or try to buck her security detail after there have been three attempts on her life. Nor do I expect a character who has been in the military to be so sexually clueless that she panics at the mere possibility of a slightly flirtatious joke from a friend.

I read a review that called Kris an "unintentional" man in a woman's body, and this does seem true at a few points -- most notably, the state dinner where the men are all dismissed in one clause as "ignorable" and the next five paragraphs are about the women's dresses (specifically, how much breast the dresses display). However, most of the time, I felt Kris was a woman as written by a man with no female friends: when she's being a Naval officer, she's a person, but whenever the subject veers onto personal ground, she becomes "a girl," which is to say a cheap copy of every teen-movie character of the last century: insecure about her body and attractiveness, but completely nonsexual; rebelling against her mother's attempts to make her fashionable/attractive, but analyzing what all the other women wear. It's as if Shepherd has no idea what women think or do, so his characterization of Kris leaps from one pole to the other, rarely touching the middle ground where real people tend to be.

Overall, I suggest skipping this novel in favor of something by Tanya Huff, Lois Bujold, or even David Weber -- all of them write more convincing and entertaining military sci-fi with female leads, and they don't make me grind my teeth every other chapter.

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Dec 14, 2010 Patrick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Good read. Well thought out protagonist. Not a genetically altered super wolverine sex kitten but a reasonable herion. Other than the personal computer all her advantages that she starts with are "yeah that could happen" and what she makes of herself is right in the " sure I can see that" range too. She's lucky but not all the time, she is smart, but not percipient. I am hoping that NELLY is part of some build up in the next book(s). It doesn't seem that too many people have the wearable and non...more

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Sep 12, 2011 Sho rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

Stated reading the series and finding myself liking it a lot. It's a space military/ coming of age/ hero making story but not as serious as Honor Harrington series. I still don't get what is SO bad about Longknifes except that they are just really really famous. I love the characters especially the ones surrounding the main character Kris. I think my favorite so far is the long suffering head of security Jack and her independent computer Nelly. I have read up to 6 so far in about a week. I am sa...more

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Jul 16, 2011 James rated it 4 of 5 stars

I didn't know what to expect when I went into this book. With it being likened to Honor Harrington I was more than willing to give it a go, but the cover design and the mixed reviews of fellow GoodReads members made me more than wary - especially seeing as I had just stopped reading Hunting Party by E.Moon, which had seriously let me down.

The book though was a great success in my eyes. My experience with Sci-Fi military has been more or less restrained to navy officers captaining ships to begin...more I didn't know what to expect when I went into this book. With it being likened to Honor Harrington I was more than willing to give it a go, but the cover design and the mixed reviews of fellow GoodReads members made me more than wary - especially seeing as I had just stopped reading Hunting Party by E.Moon, which had seriously let me down.

The book though was a great success in my eyes. My experience with Sci-Fi military has been more or less restrained to navy officers captaining ships to begin with and then moving on wards, and as such I was a little bit nervous when it seemed that it would be taking more of a hands on route. However, there was little need for this 'fear', while it is not clear to me that she will be going on to captain ships, the way that it was written makes this a moot point anyway, I will read the rest regardless.

The story progressed quickly in that amazing way that all the great books do that make you forget how much time has passed. It never let up and was captivating throughout; giving us a fair share of action, intrigue and even humanitarian work. There were slow parts - but then again name me a good book that doesn't - and in the first few chapters I found it painfully obvious that this author, despite being published under other names, had still not found his feet. Yet, this soon changed as the book progressed and the writing flowed easily and I found myself captive in the world he had created.

The characters themselves I found interesting and worth the attention, though there were characters that I felt were a tad underdeveloped - but I am willing to admit that is probably because this is first in a series, and their development will come later. The technology on show - such as the wrist computer and smart metal - was fun to read about and its applications interesting.

There were very few low points in this book, nothing worth truly mentioning in fact, and it entertained me in a way that I did find reminiscent of Weber's Honor Harrington. It not only managed to be 'visually' great, but managed to involve me emotionally towards some of the questions raised - such as loyalty to Earth.

Overall this is a very good book, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good action sci-Fi, and would suggest it to any one looking to ease into the genre from action orientated books.

Have fun reading. (less)

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Mar 29, 2012 Ben rated it 4 of 5 stars

Just got into this series over the course of a couple of weeks while on vacation.

Like the Honor Harrington Series, we have a strong, young female character who seems to persevere regardless the odds or the circumstances. A fine example to young women everywhere to emulate.

Kris is the female scion of a powerful and influential family who have attained near mythical status due to the military exploits of both her great grandfathers who were soldiers in a war against an alien race. Humanity was ne...more

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Mar 17, 2011 Tom Rowe rated it 3 of 5 stars

There must be a whole sub-genre of sci fi called "rich girl joins space navy" because this is the third series I've found that would fall into that category. This is fun fast read that consists of a bunch of stuff that happens and which is really not held together by much until the end. Even the title, "Mutineer," doesn't mean anything until the climax of the book. In fact, the title is actually a spoiler. A better title would be "Kris Longknife: Yet Another Rich Girl Joins Yet Another Space Nav...more

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Aug 02, 2011 Deana rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-books-read

A very disappointing book. It tried to be like the David Webber Honor Harrington series, but is suffers from poor writing, unnecessary, awkward stage business to move characters from point A to point B 95% of the time. There is not enough sci-fi detail to explain Longknife's universe, the technology that supports it nor the social climate that 'seems' to play a part in driving activity. Here and there, during battle scenes, Shepherd gets it right, but that is not often. Instead, Longknife, a car...more

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Aug 24, 2012 Jeffrey Grant rated it 3 of 5 stars

The series gets high praise, and this one wasn't bad, but it feels very derivative at first; as if the author read David Weber's Honor books or any of Elizabeth Moon's sci-fi but decided to cut out all of the politics. It makes for a fast-paced story, but one that's very cliched in many places and doesn't do a lot to develop any characters. There are also references made to elements in that world that are never explained but probably relate to the author's "Ray Longknife" series.

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Jul 05, 2009 Steven rated it 3 of 5 stars

Young woman from rich and powerful family makes her way in the Navy, discovers secession plot. I liked the fact she wasn't perfect, wasn't immediately tossed into bed with either possible romantic lead and that everything wasn't neatly wrapped up. It's also nice to see an SF tech novel where tech screws up or can't be used, and the avoidance of a cliched character in Hancock was welcome.

I'm less thrilled with her supercomputer or her l33t hacker Aunt, but overall enjoyable.

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Mar 02, 2013 Grass_Roots Books and Music added it

Shelves: _tami

This is military SF with a strong woman character who seems to fall into and is sometimes pushed or maneuvered into no-win situations. She always comes out on top much to the disappointment of those who want to see her fail. It’s just fun reading. It has great supporting characters. This is book one in the series. You may also like the Honor Harrington series by David Weber, the Heris Serrano trilogy by Elizabeth Moon, and The Gate to Women’s Country, Sheri Tepper.

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Jun 21, 2011 Caralee rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

In my mind the general definition of an amazing book is one that you cannot put down; however, what takes the book beyond that level is the feeling that those hours you spent reading the book were not wasted and in addition leaves you thinking or considering ideas or possibilities raised by the book. I feel that Shepherd accomplishes this in this book, as well as every subsequent book in the series that I have read. He creates a likeable and strong heroine who has the reader living each moment o...more

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Jun 25, 2012 Tim rated it 3 of 5 stars

I can read this kid of stuff till the cows come home, and this book certainly seems to have some good ideas. Unfortunately, the writing is often clunky, characterisations inconsistent, and during the opening action scenes there are massive blocks of back story right in the middle of the action, which serve only to pull you right out of it. It took me a good long time to get through the first part of the book, but once through those early scenes, the pace picked up.

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Feb 23, 2011 Jason Miller rated it 4 of 5 stars

This turned out to be a really fun book and I was said that I took so long to get to it, even though I had it downloaded for several months from Audible. It is military themed, but not about the military, it is about a girl whose father is the prime ministry of a group of planets (which want to succeed from Earth) and the girl's grand parents (most of which are still a live) are all in the history books, yet she is trying to become her own person. I look forward to more of the books in the serie...more

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Mar 10, 2011 Charissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, sci-fi, watch-the-skies

This is the first book in a couple months that I've read for my book club and actually enjoyed reading (the next one we're reading is pretty good as well). I really liked Kris, the main character, which made it much easier to read (so many of the titles we've read lately had really awful main characters - awful as in you just could not like them, not that they were written awfully). Until now I haven't really read many space novels, but I have a feeling I'll be reading the rest of this series.

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Jun 19, 2009 Annie rated it 4 of 5 stars

An enjoyable series that follows the formula of rich girl makes good on her own merits.

While ex-Navy Shepherd can get bogged down in details that are difficult to follow for readers unfamiliar with military strategy and tactics, these details also keep his plots just complicated enough to make reading each book a cover-to-cover event.

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Jul 19, 2012 Catherine rated it 4 of 5 stars

This series is an enjoyable read that you would like if you liked the Honor Harrington series. But it isn't as good. There are booboos and slow parts and the characterizations aren't quite as good but it's still a fun light read. But as the books progress, they rehash a lot and don't have the later highs that the HH series did.

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Mar 23, 2013 Rachel rated it 4 of 5 stars

It took me a really long time to read this book because I had trouble getting past the first handful of chapters, but I'm glad I stuck with it. Shepherd has done a great job of creating his own unique world, with a female protagonist I really want to read more about. Looking forward to the next book in the series.

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About Mike Shepherd

This is a pseudonym for Mike Moscoe.

Mike was born in the Philadelphia Navy Yard Hospital -- and left that town at the age of three days for reasons he does not presently recall. But they had to draft him to get him back there. He missed very little of the rest of the country. Growing up Navy, he lived about everywhere you could park an aircraft carrier.

Mike was one of those college students who d...more This is a pseudonym for Mike Moscoe.

Mike was born in the Philadelphia Navy Yard Hospital -- and left that town at the age of three days for reasons he does not presently recall. But they had to draft him to get him back there. He missed very little of the rest of the country. Growing up Navy, he lived about everywhere you could park an aircraft carrier.

Mike was one of those college students who didn't have to worry about finding a job after graduation. In 1968, his Uncle Sam made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Two days into boot camp, the Army was wondering if they might not have been a bit hasty. Mike ended the day in the Intensive Care Unit of the local Army hospital. Despite most of Mike’s personal war stories being limited to "How I flunked boot camp," he can still write a rollicking good military SF yarns.

Mike didn’t survive all that long as a cab driver (he got lost) or bartender (he made the drinks too strong) but he figured he could at least work for the Navy Department as a budget analyst. Until he spent the whole day trying to balance the barracks accounts for paint. Finally, about quitting time, a grinning senior analyst took him aside and let him in on the secret. They'd hidden the money for refitting a battleship in that little account. Slowly it dawned on Mike that there were a few things about the Navy that even a kid who grew up in it would never understand.

Over the next twenty years, Mike branched out into other genres, including instruction memos, policies, performance standards and even a few labor contracts. All of those, you may notice, lack a certain something. Dialogue ... those things in quotes. In `87, Mike’s big break came. He landed on a two year special project to build a digital map showing where the trees, rivers, roads, Spotted Owls and other critters were in western Oregon. The list went on and on with no end in sight and two years became ten.

Since there was no writing involved in his new day job, Mike had to do something to get the words out. He signed up for a writing class at Clark Community College and proudly turned in a story ... Star Wars shoots down the second coming of Christ.

Two years later, Analog bought "Summer Hopes, Winter Dreams" for the March, 1991 issue. Four years later he sold his first novel. In the ten years since then, Mike’s turned in twelve novels and is researching the next three.

Mike's love for Science Fiction started when he picked up "Rocket Ship Galileo" in the fifth grade, and then proceeded to read every book in the library with a rocket sticker on its spine.

Mike digs for his stories among people and change. Through his interest in history, he has traces the transformations that make us what we are today. Science launches us forward into an ever changing universe. Once upon a time, the only changes in peoples lives came with the turning of the seasons and the growing wrinkles on their brows. Today, science drives most of the changes in our daily lives. Still, we can't avoid the pressure of our own awakening hormones or hardening arteries. Mike is happiest when his stories are speeding across thin ice, balanced on the edge of two sharp blades, one anciently human, the other as new as tomorrow's research.

Trained in International Relations and history, salary administration and bargaining, theology and counseling, Mike is having a ball writing about Kris Longknife ... coming of age while the world her grand parents built threatens to crash down around her ears. These are books I think you’ll love ... and my granddaughter and grandsons too!

Mike lives in Vancouver, Washington, with his wife Ellen, his mother-in-law and any visiting grandkids. He enjoys reading, writing, watching grand-children for story ideas and upgrading his computer -- all are never ending.(less)

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Quotes from Mutineer

“God, you don't just barge in on my father, and definitely not my mother."
No way. You check with their personal secretaries first. Check out their moods. Then you make an appointment to slip in. There are basic things you learn when your parents run a planet.” — 6 people liked it

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Mutineer (Kris Longknife #1)

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