The Mutineer's Daughter 2018 Chris Kennedy and Thomas A. Mays
Just finished reading this science fiction novel. Picked it up based on a recommendation. I found it to be a bit of an odd book. There is something about the writing style that I found a little unusual, and I can't quite put my finger on it. I got wondering if this was some sort of a hybrid YA novel (some of the writing reminded me of a YA story), or if the authors alternated chapters or something. (How do two people write a book anyway?)
The chapters alternate, following the story of the father (mutineer) and of his daughter back on their home planet. I'll put my comments (somewhat negative, I'm afraid) in a spoiler in case anyone coming across this post wants to read the book and make their own judgement.
One small side note: There is a very minor character named Ken Burnside that appears in the novel (very very briefly). I suspect that he was named after the space game designer Ken Burnside (Squadron Strike, Attack Vector: Tactical, etc.) because those simulations have the same type of tactical weapons as the novel. If you are interested in hard sf space gaming, check them out. But they might make your head hurt a bit.
I like single ship military SF (examples: Starhunt by Devid Gerrold, Passage at Arms by Glen Cook, etc..). Stories from the viewpoint of someone lower down the naval hierarchy get my interest as well (like the earlier Horatio Hornblower novels). So right away The Mutineers Daughter had potential in my eyes. How did it pan out? Although I found the combat sequences quite well done, the rest of the novel is somewhat disappointing. I see the potential there ... the setting for this book is quite interesting ... but it needed some fine tuning and better editing. But that's one persons opinion; your mileage may vary.
Will
Just finished reading this science fiction novel. Picked it up based on a recommendation. I found it to be a bit of an odd book. There is something about the writing style that I found a little unusual, and I can't quite put my finger on it. I got wondering if this was some sort of a hybrid YA novel (some of the writing reminded me of a YA story), or if the authors alternated chapters or something. (How do two people write a book anyway?)
The chapters alternate, following the story of the father (mutineer) and of his daughter back on their home planet. I'll put my comments (somewhat negative, I'm afraid) in a spoiler in case anyone coming across this post wants to read the book and make their own judgement.
I don't read a lot of science fiction novels, maybe normally three or four a year. But this is one of the rare books that I've read where I've actually cringed and had to stop reading. Several times. Then recover and carry on.
The setting of the story is interesting and the main plot is ok. The ship combat sequences are well done. Checked a lot of the boxes of what many view as possible future weapons technology: lasers, railguns, nukes, and armour. No artificial gravity! And heat radiators!! Finally!! Handwavium when it comes to the drives, but I'm ok with that.
The biographies of the two authors state that both have military experience and have written other military SF. And, accordingly, the descriptions of life on a ship are good, although I did get a bit lost with some of the acronyms.... WEPS for weapons officer, stuff like that.
The storyline of the mutineer, Chief Warrant Officer Benno Sanchez, is not bad. But I didn't think that some of his actions were that believable and I really wasn't on board with his decision to mutiny. A number of the antagonists were cardboard, and I'm not sure that it would be that easy to take over a military space vessel. I felt that with a little more work this storyline could have been developed better. Some of his interchanges with the captive exec officer Amanda Ashton were interesting (I found her a more sympathetic character), and I think it would have been far better to have had her as the captain, instead of the far more disagreeable Palmer. More tension, more grey, instead of black and white.
But it was the daughter's storyline, Mio, that had me wincing. First, she should have been older. I simply can't see a fourteen year old doing what she does in the book. And some of the dialogue...yikes. And there are mistakes in the story, which really annoy me. In the early part of her story, she has a bad leg (she fell into a cave and hurt herself). Then she is running away from Terran Marines. Later she is hiding in a tree. When the Marines come into the forest, she can't escape because she still has a broken leg. Yet two pages later the text says she 'broke into a quiet jog to chase down the adults'. Caramba.
How do things like that not get picked up by a proof reader or an editor? How does the writer lose track of what is going on? Any observations from some of the resident writers here?
As well, I couldn't help but wonder what the mutineers thought what was going to happen once they got back to their home worlds. Did they think they would then live happily ever after? I kinda think the navy is going to track them down and hang them from the nearest tree. So that was a bit confusing.
There's other stuff, but I've written enough.
The setting of the story is interesting and the main plot is ok. The ship combat sequences are well done. Checked a lot of the boxes of what many view as possible future weapons technology: lasers, railguns, nukes, and armour. No artificial gravity! And heat radiators!! Finally!! Handwavium when it comes to the drives, but I'm ok with that.
The biographies of the two authors state that both have military experience and have written other military SF. And, accordingly, the descriptions of life on a ship are good, although I did get a bit lost with some of the acronyms.... WEPS for weapons officer, stuff like that.
The storyline of the mutineer, Chief Warrant Officer Benno Sanchez, is not bad. But I didn't think that some of his actions were that believable and I really wasn't on board with his decision to mutiny. A number of the antagonists were cardboard, and I'm not sure that it would be that easy to take over a military space vessel. I felt that with a little more work this storyline could have been developed better. Some of his interchanges with the captive exec officer Amanda Ashton were interesting (I found her a more sympathetic character), and I think it would have been far better to have had her as the captain, instead of the far more disagreeable Palmer. More tension, more grey, instead of black and white.
But it was the daughter's storyline, Mio, that had me wincing. First, she should have been older. I simply can't see a fourteen year old doing what she does in the book. And some of the dialogue...yikes. And there are mistakes in the story, which really annoy me. In the early part of her story, she has a bad leg (she fell into a cave and hurt herself). Then she is running away from Terran Marines. Later she is hiding in a tree. When the Marines come into the forest, she can't escape because she still has a broken leg. Yet two pages later the text says she 'broke into a quiet jog to chase down the adults'. Caramba.
How do things like that not get picked up by a proof reader or an editor? How does the writer lose track of what is going on? Any observations from some of the resident writers here?
As well, I couldn't help but wonder what the mutineers thought what was going to happen once they got back to their home worlds. Did they think they would then live happily ever after? I kinda think the navy is going to track them down and hang them from the nearest tree. So that was a bit confusing.
There's other stuff, but I've written enough.
One small side note: There is a very minor character named Ken Burnside that appears in the novel (very very briefly). I suspect that he was named after the space game designer Ken Burnside (Squadron Strike, Attack Vector: Tactical, etc.) because those simulations have the same type of tactical weapons as the novel. If you are interested in hard sf space gaming, check them out. But they might make your head hurt a bit.
I like single ship military SF (examples: Starhunt by Devid Gerrold, Passage at Arms by Glen Cook, etc..). Stories from the viewpoint of someone lower down the naval hierarchy get my interest as well (like the earlier Horatio Hornblower novels). So right away The Mutineers Daughter had potential in my eyes. How did it pan out? Although I found the combat sequences quite well done, the rest of the novel is somewhat disappointing. I see the potential there ... the setting for this book is quite interesting ... but it needed some fine tuning and better editing. But that's one persons opinion; your mileage may vary.
Will
