Off Armageddon Reef: A Novel in the Safehold Series (#1)

David Weber

Jan 2008 · Safehold Book 1 · Sold by Macmillan

About this ebook

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 David Weber's epic Off Armageddon Reef is can't-miss sci-fi.

Safehold Series
1. Off Armageddon Reef
2. By Schism Rent Asunder
3. By Heresies Distressed
4. A Mighty Fortress
5. How Firm A Foundation
6. Midst Toil and Tribulation
7. Like A Mighty Army
8. Hell's Foundations Quiver
9. At the Sign of Triumph

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Ratings and reviews

Good story, imaginative characters, probably worth reading. This book would greatly benefit from better editing. Its 800 or so pages could have been cut to 300 or 400 pages and the book would have been better. I noticed this with David Weber's "Honor" series; the first were really good, but the later ones were far too wordy with too much unnecessary detail.

So this is for the first 4 books. I actually like the book/series and it would be a solid 4 stars. But actual writing is only part of the book. There is an incredible amount of exposition filler that you can skip many pages before you get back to the actual writing that moves the story along. I really find it amazingly tedious to read pages and pages of what someone thinks of the drapes before I get back on point. So ok not drapes but I’m just making a point. Something that should take a few sentences or at most a few paragraphs goes on and on and on. Not sure if this is a cynical way of stretching 3 books into10 but I forced myself to finish the first 4 books that I paid for and I had enough. I really went back and forth on 2 vs 3 stars, (other then the massive amount of frivolous filler some of the plot elements seemed pretty weak. EX: the plan to expedite development seems pretty poorly planned and executed. Merlin should know that his introduced tech would leak and he should have a timeline of “releases” and use his means of production to meet demands) But at the end 3 it is.

This book was quite the complex roller coaster. Keeping soo many characters in check can be a daunting task but the story telling makes it all worthwhile in the end. The books character development and progression builds up to a massive climax that will keep you coming back for more. See you in the reviews for book 2!

About the author

David Weber is the author of the New York Times-bestselling Honor Harrington series and the Safehold series. His many other novels include Mutineers' Moon, The Armageddon Inheritance, Heirs of Empire, Path of the Fury, and Wind Rider's Oath. He lives in South Carolina.