It was soooo good at the beginning. And then the last 1/3 became a giant naval battle in which Weber constantly describes things like top gallants and reefed sails. I get it. He likes sailing. And naval fiction. And historically accurate battles. And gruesome depictions of cannonballs. The characters were interesting (if a bit engaging) and the world building was neat (if a bit heavy on the, as my friend called it, "spiritual but not religious" soapbox. Over and over and over again...) but the last third or so really wore me out. Don't get me wrong, Weber writes very well and I enjoyed reading the book. I'd also be interested to see where the story goes but not if I have to read endless chapters about lee shores and mizzen masts. An interesting concept that sort of disappeared as a thin excuse for writing sci-fi naval fiction. ( )

Off Armageddon Reef has a fascinating premise. From an outside perspective, the story is science fiction. It takes place centuries in the future after humanity has nearly been wiped out by an advanced alien threat. To preserve what's left, a human colony is set up at a much lower tech level (roughly 15th century?) and left to its own devices. A global religion reminiscent of the Catholic Church is set up to encourage control and keep this colony from advancing too far. Unbeknownst to some, an android¹--who goes by Merlin²--was also left with the colony and wakes up hundreds of years later and takes it in their mind to overthrow the aforementioned Church.

Sounds really cool, yes?

Unfortunately, after the prologue (which is set before the colony--Safehold--is set up), the book doesn't actually feel much like science fiction or even fantasy. Rather it feels like an alternate history set in the early Age of Sail. Some of the things Merlin does hint at the underlying SciFi roots, but other than that, it's a completely different sort of book. If you want to read that sort of book, perhaps you'll like this one. Not what I was looking for though.

On top of that, the middle half of the book is very slow. Honestly, you could probably cut 80% of it and have what could have been a much stronger book. The prologue and the battles in the last 25% are intense. The rest... takes a while.

Overall, cool idea; not the best book I've ever read. So it goes.

¹ It's more complicated than that, but that's good enough for a review.
² Not even kidding. And Merlin's original mind comes from Nimune. King Authur much? ( )

Another boiling pot from my favorite space opera cook! Warning though.. His books are getting a bit, errr.. long. Things that used to take a few paragraphs are starting to take chapters. ( )

Everyone snorts and chuckles constantly. It gets annoying fast. The later books gets better though. ( )

Interesting mix of sci-fi n medival times. Strong storyline that moves at a steady pace. ( )