Rating: 
Summary: Good sci-fi
Review:
There might be some weak spots, but I missed then and found it a good read. Not a sword or wizard in the darned thing which rates it high right from the start.
Rating: 
Summary: Pleasant read, avoids standard scifi pitfalls
Review: I enjoyed this book a lot, mostly because the characters are interesting and human. One of the most satisfying aspects of this book is the humor that crops up among the characters. So many novelists forget that in times of stress, people tend to crack jokes, and also when people who know each other get together, they josh each other. Sheperd inserts this into the novel, and it's like a breath of fresh air. Also, where some novelists have their characters twist and turn on a rope of their own guilt, Sheperd allows his protagonist to forgive herself and be rational about things that happen. I sure hope there's another episode in this series.
Rating:
Summary: Good Entertainment
Review: I found this book to be good entertainment and decent sci-fi military fiction. It kept me occupied for four hours.The main character, Kris Longknife, starts out as a fresh ensign. As the book goes on, Kris has many experiences. She learns more about herself and why she's in the Navy. Some things I didn't like about the story: In some places I found it hard to follow scene changes, and follow who was talking to who. I also thought the political and technological background were very generic. These characters and this story could have been placed in almost any timeframe and location. There wasn't anything about the story that makes it "sci-fi", particularly. I discovered one interesting thing after reading the book. I looked at the copyright statement on the first page and discovered Mike Shepherd is a pseudonym for Mike Moscoe, who has written other stories in the same universe. I don't know why he changed names, unless his previous stuff has a bad reputation, but I haven't read any of it.
Rating:
Summary: Good Entertainment
Review: I found this book to be good entertainment and decent sci-fi military fiction. It kept me occupied for four hours. The main character, Kris Longknife, starts out as a fresh ensign. As the book goes on, Kris has many experiences. She learns more about herself and why she's in the Navy. Some things I didn't like about the story: In some places I found it hard to follow scene changes, and follow who was talking to who. I also thought the political and technological background were very generic. These characters and this story could have been placed in almost any timeframe and location. There wasn't anything about the story that makes it "sci-fi", particularly. I discovered one interesting thing after reading the book. I looked at the copyright statement on the first page and discovered Mike Shepherd is a pseudonym for Mike Moscoe, who has written other stories in the same universe. I don't know why he changed names, unless his previous stuff has a bad reputation, but I haven't read any of it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Space Navy novel
Review: I kept saying to myself, 'this is really bad,' every page or so, but I finished the book anyway, so it does have something to recommend it. Good points:
- Good characters, well portrayed.
- Good action scenes.
- A neat technology, 'smart metal,' which lets ships change shape depending on what you need them for. Though we never really see how it happens--we just see before and after.
- The protagonist was probably an alcoholic as a child, something I've never seen done in literature before, but again the camera blinks and we later hear that 'maybe it was just the pills her mother made her take,' and she occasionally has a drink, and except for some angst it doesn't affect her.
- The Palm Pilot equivalents of the future with personalities. It's been done before, but it's handled nicely here. Bad points:
- The title is poor, since Kris is only a mutineer for a few pages, about 350 page into the book.
- The name Longknife is implausible enough, but a kris _is_ a long knife. That's just over the top...
- Enemies are sometimes straw figures. After an initially convincing setup they often roll over and play dead as needed. Allies too--why wouldn't her father, the Prime Minister of her planet, investigate attempts on her life?
- Technology often appears just to do some job, isn't explained, and then goes away.
- In a similar vein, her great-grandfathers are over a hundred and still active, but the longevity situation is never mentioned and there are no other old characters.
- Somewhat muddled politics, only explained gradually over the course of the book.
- The family relationships are also only explained hundreds of pages into the book.
- Both of Kris's paternal grandfathers are named Longknife. Either there's inbreeding going on or it didn't occur to the author how names are handed down.
- Quiet a bit of heavy-handed sermonizing, which I skipped over.
- Lots of minor errors, e.g.,
+ p.297 has Grandpa Ray storming Black mountain instead of Grandpa Trouble
+ we've been told it's the 24th century, but p.319 has a date in the 25th century
+ Kris is described as tall, but on p.364 we're told she weighs 123 pounds. In a nutshell, it's a fun enough read if you don't take it too seriously, but it needed more editing.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun but sloppily written military SF
Review: I kept saying to myself, 'this is really bad,' every page or so, but I finished the book anyway, so it does have something to recommend it. Good points:
- Good characters, well portrayed.
- Good action scenes.
- A neat technology, 'smart metal,' which lets ships change shape depending on what you need them for. Though we never really see how it happens--we just see before and after.
- The protagonist was probably an alcoholic as a child, something I've never seen done in literature before, but again the camera blinks and we later hear that 'maybe it was just the pills her mother made her take,' and she occasionally has a drink, and except for some angst it doesn't affect her.
- The Palm Pilot equivalents of the future with personalities. It's been done before, but it's handled nicely here. Bad points:
- The title is poor, since Kris is only a mutineer for a few pages, about 350 page into the book.
- The name Longknife is implausible enough, but a kris _is_ a long knife. That's just over the top...
- Enemies are sometimes straw figures. After an initially convincing setup they often roll over and play dead as needed. Allies too--why wouldn't her father, the Prime Minister of her planet, investigate attempts on her life?
- Technology often appears just to do some job, isn't explained, and then goes away.
- In a similar vein, her great-grandfathers are over a hundred and still active, but the longevity situation is never mentioned and there are no other old characters.
- Somewhat muddled politics, only explained gradually over the course of the book.
- The family relationships are also only explained hundreds of pages into the book.
- Both of Kris's paternal grandfathers are named Longknife. Either there's inbreeding going on or it didn't occur to the author how names are handed down.
- Quiet a bit of heavy-handed sermonizing, which I skipped over.
- Lots of minor errors, e.g.,
+ p.297 has Grandpa Ray storming Black mountain instead of Grandpa Trouble
+ we've been told it's the 24th century, but p.319 has a date in the 25th century
+ Kris is described as tall, but on p.364 we're told she weighs 123 pounds. In a nutshell, it's a fun enough read if you don't take it too seriously, but it needed more editing.
Rating:
Summary: action-packed outer space military science fiction
Review: In the twenty-fourth century, mankind has colonized other planets but since they went to war with the alien species, expansion has become slow and cautious. The rim planets have built their own space armadas to police the space lanes in the far reaches of the galaxy. Kris Longknife is the daughter of wealth and privilege, her father the prime minister of Wardhaven, her grandfathers were military heroes. Wanting to give something back to society, Kris joins the navy and her first assignment in a leadership position is to rescue a kidnapped child being held by men who have technology not available to the public. On her second command, she almost single handedly brings relief to the planet Olympia, falling apart due to volcanic activity and bad weather. Yet her greatest danger comes in a form she could never expect, one that will force her to take the road least traveled and faces the consequences. No one who has read KRIS LONGKNIFE MUTINEER will hope there with be further adventures starring this brave, independent and intrepid heroine. Mike Shepherd has written an action-packed, exciting space opera that starts at light speed and just keeps getting faster. This is outer space military science fiction is at its adventurous best. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Sloppy writing but a pleasent read none the less
Review: Kristine Longknife is your typical prime ministers daughter, billionaire in her own right, member of a extreamly weathy-powerful multi-generational family, and navy ensign. This books is the beginning of Kris's adventures as old family enemies come to try and finish what they started when Kris was a young girl.
The story itself in a interesting one and a fun read. But there are so many inconsistancies; name changes, tense changes, several places the word "a" or "an" is missing, there are spelling errors of the most basic sort and etc, that they take away from the punch of the story. Oh don't get me wrong this is a fun read but it could have used some serious proof editing.
Kris has spent much of her life trying to avoid her mothers plans to turn her into a lady, the usless sort of lady. So Kris joins the navy and carries on the tradition of being one of those "damn Longknives!"
Rating: 
Summary: Stupid!
Review: This is the stupidest thing I ever read! I quit reading at page 169, where a Navy officer and some of the other soldiers, all who have volunteered for the service and gone through training and are carrying rifles, express moral qualms against fighting back against an expected ambush and killing maurading thugs who kill and rape and steal food form starving children.
Rating:
Summary: Stupid!
Review: This is the stupidest thing I ever read! I quit reading a page 169, where a Navy officer and some of the other soldiers, all who have volunteered for the service and gone through training and are carrying rifles, express moral qualms against fighting back against an expected ambush and killing maurading thugs who kill and rape and steal food form starving children.
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