Kris Longknife Defiant [Mass Market Paperback]

"Defiant," the third (and so far best) of the Kris Longknife books, goes down as smoothly as lemonade on a July afternoon, and you're likely to find it just as welcome. As before, the author fills a military story with wit and humanity--and with believeable characters. As before, this series is less tongue in cheek than Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles books, and less solemn than David Weber's Honorverse, the two series it most closely resembles.

Mike Shepherd portmanteaus two stories here. In the first part of the book Princess Kris ventures on a diplomatic mission to the planet Hikila, where she negotiates with a Pacific-island culture (and frees some hostages too). Then, she returns to Wardhaven while it's in the middle of a political election battle, the main fleet has been lured away, and six battleships are bearing down on her home planet.

Playing "the princess card," Kris--who'd previously been removed from her navy command--assumes command of the defense of the realm "by right of blood, by right of name, by right of title," and the rest of the book is an almost minute-by-minute description of the preparations for, and the execution of, the battle. As the countdown to contact with the enemy begins, the POV, so far all Kris's, now starts to shift around from the defenders to the attackers and back. You know what the plans are; you wait to see how they're going to be executed. Since at the moment three more books in the series have been published, there's little doubt who's going to prevail. But how? Finding out is what will keep you turning the pages.

In this book, Kris starts out assigned to a small but incredibly fast new type of ship especially made to be a low cost possible planet defense system solution known as the mosquito fleet. Kris is involved in a fun sequence of synchronized tests of the mosquito fleet, operating at 3gs, meant to out maneuver the large size slowly moving battleships in which many planets cannot afford. The project gets scrapped temporarily and Kris is assigned to a diplomatic mission to a series of islands on a planet that maintains old Earth Polynesian rights and customs. Kris dons her best grass skirt and charms her way into the new possible alliance with the paradise living locals. Out of no where, there is a terrorist attack on the modern side of the planet and hostages are at stake. Kris leads an all out anti-terrorist assault attack that rivals any Navy Seal hostage rescue mission in today's politics.

The book is fast paced at this point, alternating between fight scenes and bits of fun, if not awkward, cultural discoveries. Kris is suddenly called back to her home planet Wardhaven where all of the planet's defense ships have left to another planet to defend a possible threat. Kris alone must break out the mosquito fleet and lash together a defense fleet full of rag tag yachts and what not's that can fly into a fleet capable to defend the planet against a large incoming force of unknown war ships. This last battle preparation and fight sequence seemed a little too drawn out for me. It seemed to take up about 60% of the book so I've given this book 4 stars instead of my usual 5 stars.

Still a great cast of characters and a fun ready. Will we EVER find out who Abby really is?

Courtesy of Lost Art Audiobook Review

How many of them can we make die?
At the start of Defiant, I was expecting Down Periscope. Instead of giving Kris a real command, the Navy makes her commander of an experimental ship full of misfits no one else wants. I thought it was going to be funny and cheeky, just like the movie, except in space. That expectation was quickly squashed when Kris is arrested. The way Mike Shepherd described that arrest is worth a second listen. It's very, very well written. It's written with so much feeling, so much emphasis, that I expected the arrest and trial to be a focal point for the entire novel a la A Few Good Men. Again, this expectation was quickly dispelled when Kris is sent on a diplomatic mission to a planet Hikila (planet Hawaii), which turns into a hostage/terrorist situation. I was pretty shocked at how little time and energy Mike Shepherd spent on Kris's rehabilitation from the arrest. About 8 hours into the book, Kris returns from Hikila and maybe five minutes of the audiobook are dedicated to a summary recounting of how while she was away a few people from Olympia talked to the media and charges were dropped. I would have loved to hear this part in detail. Instead, we have Tom and Penny's wedding leading right into the major conflict of the book: the invasion.

Disjointedness aside, the invasion was wonderful. Mike Shepherd finally uses that third-person narration to get away from Kris and present us with the enemy. The enemy becomes much more realistic and the conflict more suspenseful. When Kris and her team start the plotting, the strategy talk, the prep work for the major conflict 6 hours to the end of the book, I wondered how it could be possible that anyone would expect a listener to hang in there for that long just for one fight. I was sure I'd get bored. Boy, was I wrong. Around 5 hours to the end of the book, a feeling started in the pit of my stomach, that feeling you get when you are a few hours away from giving a big speech - excitement and worry. Dread and anticipation. About 4 hours to the end of the book, I could not stop listening. I stay up until 2 a.m., on a Tuesday night, to finish the audiobook. Best part about listening to Defiant not in the car or at the gym, but on my computer? When Tom hits up the theme to the battle - "the March of Cambreadth" - I hit up youtube and listened along on repeat at a low volume.

On Narration:
I had found Dina Pearlman's reading of the first two boos, Mutineer and Deserter, enjoyable. Sadly, I had issues with her reading of this audiobook. It started on Hikila. When good narrators give any Native American (or sensei - don't ask me why) accents, they always slow down the speech. Unfortunately, Dina Pearlman didn't just slow down the speech for the Hikila natives - she slowed down Kris's speech, everyone's speech. Even Kris's internal dialogue became slow and over-emphasized from then on. It made the story sound insincere. That aside, what really killed it for me was her reading of "the March of Cambreadth." Mike Shepherd dedicates about 2 hours integrating that song to the major fight. He quotes all the lyrics. He has Tom discuss a false history of the song and lets the listener know that it's from the 21st century. He reiterates the chorus with Kris and her crew screaming along. They shoot on the song's command, for crying out loud! And Dina Pearlman reads the lyrics with the cadence you would use when playing "patty cake" with a toddler. Now, I know not everyone is Marguerite Gavin, who actually made up tunes in her reading of Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan/Hollows series and sang songs that never existed for the enjoyment of the listener and enhancement of the audiobook. And even fewer books are like the first few Anita Blake audiobooks produced by Penguin Audio that have sound effects (background music, shotgun sounds, footsteps, etc.). But this tune is integral to the most important part of Defiant, and the audiobook format provides an incredible opportunity that the text cannot. Moreover this song a simple Irish-like tune, very easy to hum, and very easy to find on youtube. I certainly never heard of it before listening to this book, and a google search got me everything I needed. The audiobook's treatment of "the March of Cambreadth" is lacking - it's an opportunity missed - and, sadly, Dina Pearlman read the song like a cheerleader spells "be aggressive."

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 16 reviews  3.6 out of 5 stars