Kris Longknife: Mutineer

KRIS LONGKNIFE: MUTINEER begins a multibook series. It is space opera writ large. For me it was a combination of the Miles Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold and the Honor Harrington series by David Weber containing the best parts of each.

Kris Longknife is a newly minted Ensign in the Navy. She's also the daughter of the Prime Minister of a powerful Rim planet and a descendant of powerful and well-known people who were and are the political and economic movers and shakers of her world. She's very rich. She is an alcoholic who suffers from survivor's guilt because, when she was 10, she couldn't save her younger brother from kidnappers who murdered him.

As this story begins, Kris is serving about the Typhoon and about to take part show more in a rescue mission to save the six-year-old daughter of Sequim's General Manager. When something goes wrong with the sled taking her and half of the rescue squad from orbit to the site where the kidnappers are holding the child, Kris uses her experience racing skiffs to save her people. She and her people rescue the child and Kris becomes suspicious of the circumstances of the planned rescue making her wonder if it was an assassination attempt against her and making her wonder about the motives of her superiors.

In thanks for her quick thinking and successful rescue, she's assigned to Olympia where a volcano has erupted causing massive climatic changes which means that those on the planet are starving. She lands to find that things are a mess. Food isn't getting to those who are hungry. The command structure is being overseen by an officer who just escaped a political court martial. Kris uses the skills gained in helping with her brother's political campaigns to get things moving the right direction. However, a call for help from an isolated farm which is also sick with a contagious disease that can kill any of the remaining survivors on planet, sends Kris and her crew to try to save them. Things go wrong with the smart metal boat they are using which might just be a second or third assassination attempt.

Back home on Wardhaven, Kris goes to her trusted people - a great aunt and two of her great-grandfathers - to try to figure out who wants her dead and why. An Ensign, even a rich, politically connected Ensign, shouldn't be attracting assassins. But politics is playing a role. Many planets are looking to end their relationship with Earth and go their own way and are doing all sorts of underhanded and above-board things to make the outcome match their goals.

When Kris is recalled to her ship, their destination is where a meeting has been convened with Earth representatives to see if their relationship can end peacefully. Except, there is a faction in the military who want to start a war and it is up to Kris to mutiny and keep the ship she is on from starting that war.

This was an exciting and engaging story. I liked the worldbuilding and really liked Kris. She's smart and honorable. I am looking forward to reading more in this 19-book series. show less

In theory, I don't like this kind of book: pro-military, supporting the idea of elite family dynasties that keep the rest of us safe, a thinly built universe with good guys and bad guys. In practice, it turned out to be a solidly written, entertaining adventure with moments of reflection on the challenges of command and the real meaning of duty.

In this book, the start of the Kris Longknife series of military space adventures, Kris is a newly-minted ensign in her planet's navy. She has joined the navy to escape her family. This is a challenging thing to do: her father in the president of the planet and her grandfathers are both senior officers who're actions have shaped recent history.

We follow Kris as she grows as an officer, meeting show more challenges ranging from rescuing a kidnapped child, distributing disaster relief, through to her first space battle.

The action scenes are well done, the military situations are credible and clearly described. The weapons are perhaps better defined than the society using them. The characters are a little stereotypical but they fit the plot well and I slowly built an affection for them.

I was surprised and pleased to see that the book included some reflection on the challenges of command and how an officer grows.

I came to this book by following the narrator, Dina Perlman, who does a good job on Joel Shepherd's Cassandra Kresnov series. At the beginning of the book, I thought she might have been the wrong choice for the book because she was emoting heavily on what was quite low-key scene-setting. After the first couple of chapters, she got into her stride and did a good job with one big, almost painful, exception: her Scotts accents are so bad, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry but either way, I was seriously distracted.

Still, the book was good fun. The next time I'm in the mood for military sci-fi, I'll be picking up the next one in the series. show less

This is the first volume in what has become (as of this writing) a nine-volume military science fiction series. It follows the adventures of a twenty-two year old female space navy ensign named Kris Longknife, who happens to be the daughter of a high-ranking politician and heir to a vast fortune. Sadly, the protagonist is little more than a cardboard cutout, and worse, she’s a physical, mental, and most importantly, moral paragon who can do no wrong while all those around her are either lazy, weak, evil, or otherwise imperfect and have to be shown the error of their ways or soundly defeated by the heroine. She has one small defect and that’s that she abused alcohol as a teenager, but over the course of the novel discovers that show more she’s not really an alcoholic and has beaten her former alcohol problem through sheer willpower and can now drink again with no problems.

Mild plot spoilers below.

The book opens strongly with Kris leading a rescue mission of a kidnapped child that’s reminiscent of her own brother’s kidnapping as a child (though why exactly is a boot ensign with no combat experience leading a hostage rescue of a high-ranking politician’s daughter when a team of special forces specialists is clearly required? Better not to ask, I suppose). Kris does well, but is put out to pasture on half-pay then recalled to duty and sent to a colony world where the local government has collapsed and she must deal with a large refugee population. Fortunately, Kris Longknife possesses the moral courage, the common sense, and the vast wealth needed to save the starving colony, largely by dealing with bureaucratic obstacles and paying off locals to help her. She then gets involved in a painfully transparent attempt to instigate a war between Earth and Kris’ home world and its allies.

There’s clearly a major war brewing (I assume this is where the next sequel takes us), with lots of political (and presumably, military) fights going on, but the actual politics themselves of Earth, its colonies, and all the other places where humans have settled are only hastily sketched and introduced gradually and piecemeal. Imagine a typical American watching, say, the Indonesian equivalent of C-SPAN and you’d have a similar level of understanding and interest in the various political factions described in the novel. The politics are important, but are poorly described and just plain boring. And that’s really the book’s worst sin – even worse than the “Mary Sue” protagonist – is that it’s boring. It’s a trite storyline with cartoon villains and an unbelievable protagonist who can do no wrong while all those around her consistently fail or show weakness.

Also, while the book is nominally science fiction and set in either the twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth century (the text contradicts itself on this account), human society seems to have been not particularly affected by several hundred yeas worth of technological developments. In fact, other than faster-than-light spaceships and vehicles that are made out of “smart metal” and can change configurations, all the technology used in the novel could pretty much be found today or in the next decade. For a “science fiction” story, it sure is light on actual science fictional elements.

I can’t in good conscience recommend this one, and give it 2 stars out of 5. I realize that I’m in the minority here, based on the many positive reviews of this series floating around, but I didn’t like it and have no plans to continue the series. I enjoy military SF, so in some respects, I really am the target audience, but then again, I don’t care for the uber-protagonist-driven series like Honor Harrington and Miles Vorkosigan either. Fans of those series might very well enjoy this one far more than I did.

Review copyright 2011 J. Andrew Byers show less

I've read this several times before, though not for years. I remembered quite a bit and far from all of it. The skiff ride and the kid I remembered (though not all the details), bits of Olympia, not at all the last bit with the mutiny. I do like Kris - and the way the next step always makes sense. The one thing she can't do - that none of "those Longknifes" can do - is sit back and let things go wrong without trying to take a hand. It's interesting watching the world build up, as Kris fills in the holes in her knowledge - especially about Peterwald, and her own family.

Kris Longknife is the daughter of a distinguished political family. Her father is the prime minister of the planet Wardhaven, a member of the Society of Humanity, a union of nearly six hundred worlds. She's joined the navy rather than pursuing either a political or a social career because she wants to do something useful.

She's smart and capable and sincere, and she has no idea what she's in for.

Her first assignment as an ensign is rescuing a kidnapped six-year-old girl, the daughter of another prominent political family on another planet. And Kris is nearly killed by a shuttle malfunction that only affects Kris's shuttle.

Her next is a relief mission on a planet that is suffering the climate disaster following a major volcanic eruption. show more Relief supplies that include modifiable boats and bridges also malfunction even though no similar equipment from those companies have ever malfunctioned. These crises aren't a coincidence. Competing political forces are stoking a crisis that will produce a war.

The plot is solid and keeps moving. I like the characters.

But Kris Longknife is improbably capable. She keeps being the best at pretty much everything, right through at least three quarters of the way through the book. Around that point, she starts to have experiences in which she really learns things, including that being smart doesn't always mean being right.

All in all, it's fun and enjoyable, but it has some over the top passages that flirt with being really annoying.

Still, it is enjoyable, and a worthwhile light read or listen.

I bought this audiobook. show less

Kris Longknife can not escape the shadow cast by her family. While half of her relatives are military legends, the others form the political and economic powers running the planet of Wardhaven. Looking for a chance to prove herself though merit, and not connections, Kris decided to join the Marines. However, being one of those “damn Longknifes” often causes trouble. Mutineer opens with Kris leading a mission to rescue a kidnapped young girl. Next, Kris and her high tech computer Nelly are sent to the planet Olympia where a volcanic eruption has caused famine and a complete breakdown of the government. For a finale, Kris leads a mutiny and ceases control of the Typhoon to prevent a cohort of military hawks from turning a peaceful show more secession ceremony into a bloodbath harbingering war. The Kris Longknife series contain less soul search and historical parallels than David Weber's Honor Harrington series, but just as much action and political machinations.

Society of Humanity

More of an adventure story than David Weber's Honor Harrington series, but a good recommendation for someone who likes Honor. Also probably better for younger YA than Weber. Less technical/hard science, not as complex, less intricate politics, no need to parallel true history.

A direct parallel to David Drake's Daniel Leary series, but with a female lead. Would also be a good new direction for someone who liked John Ringo's Posleen War series, and wouldn't mind a female lead.

Science Fiction/Military/Naval vs. Adventure
Honor Harrington/David Weber : Tom Clancy
Kris Longknife/Mike Shepherd : Alistair MacLean show less

As I began reading this book, I wasn't sure I'd be able to finish it, but the pace picked up soon and got more interesting. Perhaps I just didn't care at first, or perhaps it was the writing, but it seemed to have a big lull after the first action scene. Anyway, the further I got the more interesting it became, and I ended up reading the last half of the book far more quickly then the first half.

The story is about Kris Longknife, a daughter of a very rich and powerful family who joins the space navy to both escape her parents and prove to herself what kind of person she is. Although only a boot ensign, she finds herself taking command in several situations, proving herself capable and competent despite whatever opposition comes her way. show more The story wraps up with her relieving the captain of her ship of duty when she finds he's about to start a war between the rim worlds and Earth forces.

For me, the next book will really determine how much I like this series. This one had its ups and downs, so I think the next one will prove whether Shepherd is a writer I would like to follow. show less