by David Weber
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Product Description
Humanity pushed its way to the stars – and encountered the Gbaba, a ruthless alien race that nearly wiped us out.
Earth and her colonies are now smoldering ruins, and the few survivors have fled to distant, Earth-like Safehold, to try to rebuild. But the Gbaba can detect the emissions of an industrial civilization, so the human rulers of Safehold have taken extraordinary measures: with mind control and hidden high technology, they’ve built a religion in which every Safeholdian believes, a religion designed to keep Safehold society medieval forever.
800 years pass. In a hidden chamber on Safehold, an android from the far human past awakens. This “rebirth” was set in motion centuries before, by a faction that opposed shackling humanity with a concocted religion. Via automated recordings, “Nimue” – or, rather, the android with the memories of Lieutenant Commander Nimue Alban – is told her fate: she will emerge into Safeholdian society, suitably disguised, and begin the process of provoking the technological progress which the Church of God Awaiting has worked for centuries to prevent.
Nothing about this will be easy. To better deal with a medieval society, “Nimue” takes a new gender and a new name, “Merlin.” His formidable powers and access to caches of hidden high technology will need to be carefully concealed. And he’ll need to find a base of operations, a Safeholdian country that’s just a little more freewheeling, a little less orthodox, a little more open to the new.
And thus Merlin comes to Charis, a mid-sized kingdom with a talent for naval warfare. He plans to make the acquaintance of King Haarahld and Crown Prince Cayleb, and maybe, just maybe, kick off a new era of invention. Which is bound to draw the attention of the Church…and, inevitably, lead to war.
It’s going to be a long, long process. And it’s going to be the can’t-miss SF epic of the decade.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Pleasantly surprised....., 2008-11-22
I bought this book on an impulse, not really expecting to be too impressed with the storyline. And while it's not the BEST Sci-fi I've ever read, I still found it to be a good read. Compelling enough that I fully intend to purchase the rest of the series. I did find that there was a few weak points in the plot, but still overall, well worth the read.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 ARMEGGEDON REEF, 2008-11-13
I NEVER RECEIVED THIS BOOK EVEN THOUGH I PAID FOR IT AND I HAVE TOLD THE SELLER BY EMAIL TWICE. PLEASE TAKE CAREOF THIS.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 An excellent science fiction novel!!!, 2008-10-24
This book and its sequel are great works of science fiction right up there with 1632 and the ring of fire series. It is well worth the money.
David Weber really knows how to build well rounded characters who turn into people that you can care about.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Well worth the time, 2008-10-21
Off Armageddon Reef by David Weber.
Humanity spreads across the stars until meeting the Gbaba. The Gbaba are set on destroying all human life and make a good go at it. One colony fleet escapes and sets up on the planet Safehold. In order to avoid discovery by the Gbaba, advanced technology is forbidden in the new society. The colonists have all memory of their previous lives erased by their leaders who then establish an anti-technology religion with themselves as messengers from god. 800 or so years in the future we find a society dominated by the Church of God Awaiting, which has seen little technological development. Society remains in the pre-industrial era.
Into this society enters Merlin Athrawes, a Personality-Integrated Cybernetic Avatar (PICA), who was hidden away 800 years earlier by members of the ruling council who did not agree with the society that was being created. Merlin's goal is to advance Safehold's Renaissance-era society to one capable of defeating the Gbaba. To accomplish this he has to overcome the religious mandates against technology that have been ingrained for over 800 years.
To begin working towards his goal he travels to the Kingdom of Charis where he ingratiates himself with the King, Crown Prince, and other nobles through a variety of acts. Merlin has arrived in Charis in a time of troubles. A growing dispute between Charis and the Church points towards war and a vastly out numbered Charis is more then willing to accept the assistance of Merlin who begins introducing more advanced technology. Soon war begins and Merlin's new technology is put to the test.
Off Armageddon Reef is really two books in one. The first is a science fiction story involving a technologically advanced human race traveling through the stars with aliens and space battles. The second is almost a fantasy story set in a pre-industrial world where advanced technology takes the place of magic.
I found the man made religion in this book very interesting. I think it says something about the man made aspects of all religions. There were similarities between the Church of God Awaiting and the Christian Church of Earth's medieval period, particularly the corruption and the secular concerns and powers of high church officials.
While I enjoyed the there were a couple of issues I had with it. The first was the similarity of many of the names. On more then one occasion I had a hard time keeping track of who was who. Secondly, I started to get tired of Merlin's superhuman abilities and his advanced technology. Granted he is superhuman and nothing he does is outside of the given abilities of a PICA and the spy technology was necessary to the plot however it began to seem overwhelming. This was primarily evident in the middle of the book and was greatly reduced as time went on.
At 600+ pages this was a bit long however I thought it was well worth the time invested. Overall I thought this was a good read and I look forward to reading the sequel, By Schism Rent Asunder.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A good read, 2008-08-31
I had low expectations for this book, but once I got into to it, it is a pretty good read. Clearly the start of a new series from him, with lots of possibilities in the future books.
A fun read for a light weekend.
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