59th out of 204 books
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801 voters
The Myriad (Tour of the Merrimack #1)
by
R.M. Meluch
The Barnes & Noble Review
R. M. Meluch's first novel in more than a decade, The Myriad, begins a series that is an amalgam of subgenres: military science fiction, space opera, time paradox, and alternate history.
On an Earth where the Roman Empire never fell (but instead existed in secret societies for millennia, finally reestablishing itself on the planet Palatine) and...more
R. M. Meluch's first novel in more than a decade, The Myriad, begins a series that is an amalgam of subgenres: military science fiction, space opera, time paradox, and alternate history.
On an Earth where the Roman Empire never fell (but instead existed in secret societies for millennia, finally reestablishing itself on the planet Palatine) and...more
Mass Market Paperback, 375 pages
Published
January 3rd 2006
by DAW
(first published 2005)
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The review I was mentally writing as I read the book:
The Myriad: Tour of the Merrimack #1 falls into the class of Military SF that borrows heavily from Age of Sail novels. I don't by and large enjoy Age of Sail novels, unless they're exceptional, and I don't much enjoy the Military SF that echoes it. I read David Feintuch's Midshipman's Hope, and enjoyed it, but I would not read it again. That said, I quite enjoyed this book. The action is mostly military, but with some very appealing character...more
The Myriad: Tour of the Merrimack #1 falls into the class of Military SF that borrows heavily from Age of Sail novels. I don't by and large enjoy Age of Sail novels, unless they're exceptional, and I don't much enjoy the Military SF that echoes it. I read David Feintuch's Midshipman's Hope, and enjoyed it, but I would not read it again. That said, I quite enjoyed this book. The action is mostly military, but with some very appealing character...more
U.S. marines and the reborn Roman Empire . . . in spaaaaaaace! Oh, and there's a creepy alien threat, but I'm mostly just thinking about the U.S./Rome thing. And I punctuate that very advisedly, by the way.
Compulsively readable space opera (I plowed through the entire four-book series in a week). They're that weird thing where they keep being smarter than expected, with interesting ideas and great dialogue, but then as soon as you're complacent about that some of the rampant misogyny comes aroun...more
Compulsively readable space opera (I plowed through the entire four-book series in a week). They're that weird thing where they keep being smarter than expected, with interesting ideas and great dialogue, but then as soon as you're complacent about that some of the rampant misogyny comes aroun...more
I just finished this book. Generally, I don't read science fiction. Maybe three SF books a year perhaps. And I have to say that when I started this one it took me a little while before I got into it. The beginning was a little rough. Part of this was the writing style, which is blunt and sparse, with very few details given in the way of description, and part of this was the writing itself (plot, character, etc), which I take to be the first novel syndrome--this is R.M. Meluch's first book.
But ....more
But ....more
I was hoping that this would be the book that would reunite me with SF; we're having a rather rocky relationship at the moment, and we've almost reached the stage where we return each other's gifts and can't be invited to the same party for six months.
Was this the big reconcilation of my dreams? I don't know. I read it, I enjoyed it, I only occasionally wanted to hit the author with something heavy. But this book is far from perfect.
First, the flaws.
This book feels vaguely first novelish, even...more
Was this the big reconcilation of my dreams? I don't know. I read it, I enjoyed it, I only occasionally wanted to hit the author with something heavy. But this book is far from perfect.
First, the flaws.
This book feels vaguely first novelish, even...more
Battleship Merrimack and its redoubtable captain discover three inhabited planets and some weird structures within a star cluster, and do desperate battle with the Hive. I thought this was fabulous military SF, with rousing battles, terrific characters and snappy dialogue (see below)--until a singularity suddenly came along about four fifths of the way through and blew away the storyline, leaving in its place an alternate history that, to judge from descriptions of the sequels, is either a crude...more
I started off not really getting into this novel. I actually put it aside, read a few other books and then for some crazy reason I ended up reading the second novel = which I loved enough to make me want to try reading The Myriad again. Having the second novel in my head was the impetous I needed to continue past where I left off, and this seemed to do the trick. I absolutely loved The Myriad.
I loved the dialogue, the characters and even those crazy plot twists - which, though at first I felt so...more
I loved the dialogue, the characters and even those crazy plot twists - which, though at first I felt so...more
Honestly, I am setting this book down having only read 1/4 of it, and at this time I don't anticipate picking it up and finishing it. I found myself drowning in a sea of stereotypes for the various characters, and the one female Marine was the worst of the lot, having been written as nothing much more than a play toy for the men on the ship and a token to be tossed out for the pleasure of the first alien leader they encountered. I found this treatment of characters, fictional or otherwise, to be...more
I do not understand why this book gets so many 4 and 5 star reviews.
The ending, which I know doesn't appeal to some people, do not disturb me that much but...
The author really has little understanding of science which makes the fictional science less believable. For instance openable gunports and manually loaded guns on, what is supposed to be, a futuristic space battleship. Come on!
She has absolutely zero military knowledge which makes the military action just plain dumb. To add to the latter...more
The ending, which I know doesn't appeal to some people, do not disturb me that much but...
The author really has little understanding of science which makes the fictional science less believable. For instance openable gunports and manually loaded guns on, what is supposed to be, a futuristic space battleship. Come on!
She has absolutely zero military knowledge which makes the military action just plain dumb. To add to the latter...more
3.5 stars! Despite a great deal of silliness, this was a fun read - if you like this sort of thing, which I do. It started off as a goofy military sci-fi novel, full of clichéd characters and not-very-alien aliens. But it’s well-written, particularly the dialog, so I was enjoying it anyway, and to my surprise the book improved steadily, right up to an extraordinary ending.
One reservation: there’s a lot of offensive sexism. The worst is focused on a young female marine who is the subject of many...more
One reservation: there’s a lot of offensive sexism. The worst is focused on a young female marine who is the subject of many...more
Based on the cover art and cover copy, there's nothing to distinguish this book from the 40 metric tons of mediocre-to-bad sci-fi out there. If I hadn't read Brownbetty's review, I never would have picked it up. But luckily I did, and now it's my duty to pass the news along: this is some fantastically fun space opera, right here. Not quite Lois McMaster Bujold good, but close--full of interesting characters, a believable first contact story, and insect-like space predators that are much scarier...more
I went from enjoying this book to compulsively picking it up to find out what happens next. But I can't whole-heartedly recommend this piece of military SF.
Most of the characters are annoyingly 2 dimensional. Which wouldn't be so bad except that they also reflect gender roles that would be more suitable to the mid-20th century rather than the 25th century. I don't know, maybe the author is suggesting that we'll regress or something.
The exceptions to the 2D characters are Farragut and Augustus....more
Most of the characters are annoyingly 2 dimensional. Which wouldn't be so bad except that they also reflect gender roles that would be more suitable to the mid-20th century rather than the 25th century. I don't know, maybe the author is suggesting that we'll regress or something.
The exceptions to the 2D characters are Farragut and Augustus....more
Sometimes I am pleasantly suprised by a book that I had low expectations for. This is just a well-written little space opera--probably the closest thing I can compare it to is the new Battlestar Gallactica TV series. Distinct characters. Interesting dialogue. Fun Cormac McCarthy-esque writing style. I love DAW sci-fi novels and purposfully searched Amazon.com for some DAW titles I had not read yet. This little gem came up and I ordered on a whim. Glad I did. just ordered the next 4 in the series...more
If you enjoy solid, exciting and well-crafted military sci-fi do yourself a favor and check out R. M. Meluch’s The Myriad. Honestly stop reading this review and check it out. The novel makes an interesting discussion piece, more on that later, and is definitely one of the more engaging military sci-fi novel I’ve read. The Myriad takes an interesting premise with characters whose personality’s are ratcheted way up to 11 and really runs with it right up until the heartrending twist at the novel’s...more
A muffin between the shoulder blades? That certainly had me laughing out loud!
When I first read the synopsis for The Myriad I thought “Hive? Insectoid alien menace? That sounds like it might have been done before? Once or twice or maybe a hundred times.” However, the novel comes highly recommended (read the reviews) and I do enjoy military Science Fiction, so I went ahead and bought it anyway. The fact that it has gladiators in space had absolutely nothing to do with it...
As it turns out I under...more
When I first read the synopsis for The Myriad I thought “Hive? Insectoid alien menace? That sounds like it might have been done before? Once or twice or maybe a hundred times.” However, the novel comes highly recommended (read the reviews) and I do enjoy military Science Fiction, so I went ahead and bought it anyway. The fact that it has gladiators in space had absolutely nothing to do with it...
As it turns out I under...more
Apr 17, 2011
Phillip Hall
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone who likes military science fiction or science fiction or action.
Recommended to Phillip by:
a. c. hall
I absolutely loved this book. The story was great but it's really the characters that drive it to a top notch rating for me. I must admit that I didn't like several of the main characters for the first 50 pages or so but the story was interesting enough I pushed past it and I sure am glad I did. The book was broken up into "parts". Which was used in a neat way because there were very distinct phases the story naturally went through and honestly during reading it flowed so perfectly from part to...more
This is straightforward science fiction--the Merrimack is one of the largest ships in the war of the humans against the Hive. They're trying to track the Hive (insectoid space-dwelling aliens that devour planets, destroy everything on it, and move on to the next) back to its planet of origin, to take the war to them. And they stumble across an alien species that travels by means of wormholes. The story seems to be more about the relationships amongst the humans than between humans and aliens......more
If you don't get hooked during the first conversation all alone between Captain Farragut and the Roman patterner Augustus, then maybe these aren't for you. I liked the first book until then; when I got to the end of that chapter, I was hooked, and when I got to the end of the first book, in which time and space and everything aren't so easy to define any more, I couldn't eat or sleep until I'd gotten my hands onto the next in the series.
These stories follow not just the captain and crew of the U...more
These stories follow not just the captain and crew of the U...more
My love for this book is complex, but enthusiastic.
On the one hand: it is *awesome* space adventure sashbuckling pulp. First-contact porn, scary voracious aliens, brave Kirk-ish starship captains overcoming desperate crises... all great, great stuff.
On the other: it is *batshit* *insane*. It feels in many respects like it was written in the '40s, with its politics and its gender roles, despite being published in... 2005? Sometimes it feels like it's cleverly subverting a lot of these issues, and...more
On the one hand: it is *awesome* space adventure sashbuckling pulp. First-contact porn, scary voracious aliens, brave Kirk-ish starship captains overcoming desperate crises... all great, great stuff.
On the other: it is *batshit* *insane*. It feels in many respects like it was written in the '40s, with its politics and its gender roles, despite being published in... 2005? Sometimes it feels like it's cleverly subverting a lot of these issues, and...more
This book honestly surprised me. I'd never heard of the author. I judged it by its cover, which shows a couple of space marines with swords and a cyborg in stylized Roman armor fighting entomoid aliens in outer space with no space suits. Which sounds awesome if it works, except I didn't think it would. But it does! The story is more thought-provoking, the characters more engaging, the writing better than I thought it would be. Yes, it's often silly, and the characters are all over-the-top, but i...more
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A confusing book! Not bad, but hard to read and tough to judge where it really wants to go. Seems to be a series which feels no compunction about heavy use of the reset button. Some good space combat and descriptions of technical issues, but often bogged down in excessive exploration of secondary characters when the primary characters don't see so much development.
Slighted over rated and juvenile but a enjoyable read. If this is a US military battleship, the captain is completely too forgiving and the Marine crew is too undisciplined. Interesting time concepts though. I hope the rest of the series grows up a little, since I picked up the entire series from the libaray and am starting the next book immediately.
That was surprisingly good. Kind of like Star Trek on steroids with sex and pseudo swearing.
The battles with the hive were amazing. The character interaction was great. The ending was an indescribable and unexpected kick to the privates; I'm still thinking about it, trying to figure out whether I liked it or not.
There were some quirky writing style issues that were bugging me toward the beginning. Either I got used to them, or they went away, IDK.
The battles with the hive were amazing. The character interaction was great. The ending was an indescribable and unexpected kick to the privates; I'm still thinking about it, trying to figure out whether I liked it or not.
There were some quirky writing style issues that were bugging me toward the beginning. Either I got used to them, or they went away, IDK.
I went about reading this series a bit backwards...I started with book #4, purchased from a bargain shop and jumped back to #1 a week ago. This was awesome Sci-Fi. Just the kind of adventure I needed. It was a cool look at some of the canon sci-fi staples. There characters are fimiliar but feel fresh and the pace was great. I was only mildly dissapointed by the ending. It basically jumps you back to the beginning of the story, but time paradoxes have a way of messing with a good story. But, it i...more
I really liked this, though I'm *still* puzzling over the twist in the end... mostly I think it's clever as all get-out and was totally unexpected, but there are parts of it I'm not sure make sense. Maybe I just need to read more military space opera! Would certainly like to read more books in the Merrimack series.
This book confused me at first. The entire novel follows a series of great characters in a pretty good adventure, and then, at the very end of the book . . . they do something with a blackhole that changes the universal timeline and all of the characters' lives get messed up. Some very satisfactory character plot lines get erased. This was VERY confusing and frustrating.
But fear not! Meluch uses this as a device to further your understanding of these characters in later books, as well as pursuin...more
But fear not! Meluch uses this as a device to further your understanding of these characters in later books, as well as pursuin...more
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Rebecca M. Meluch is an American science-fiction writer.
R. M. Meluch has been publishing science fiction for thirty years. She holds degrees in communications and classical civilization, and dabbles in speaking in various languages, including Greek and Latin. At one point she traveled through Greece, Israel, and Egypt on the track of Alexander the Great. Meluch also holds a second-degree black bel...more
More about R.M. Meluch...
R. M. Meluch has been publishing science fiction for thirty years. She holds degrees in communications and classical civilization, and dabbles in speaking in various languages, including Greek and Latin. At one point she traveled through Greece, Israel, and Egypt on the track of Alexander the Great. Meluch also holds a second-degree black bel...more
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