Kris Longknife: Redoubtable [Mass Market Paperback]

So much happened in Kris Longknife: Undaunted, the previous book about Kris' adventures, that I expected those events to be the foundation for major changes and action in this latest installment. On the first page, an immediate mention of Kris' still-healing injuries appeared to be an indication of continuity and Good Things To Come; unfortunately, Shepherd largely ignores her injuries for the rest of the book, and makes only minor reference to previous events.

This series is a must-buy for me, but Kris Longknife: Redoubtable is a disappointing mish-mash of filler and off-putting characterization. We've seen the 'save the settlers from the invading bad guys' plot before, when Kris fought the thugs in Resolute (Kris Longknife) and Peterwald's forces in Mutineer (Kris Longknife). It was a lot of fun when we were getting to know Kris and her crew, but this time even the characters are commenting how they've done this before.

I can forgive a lot if the characters are likable and the dialogue is sharp, but I wasn't feeling the camaraderie or wit this time around. I don't know if they are supposed to be tired of being in space -- or maybe Shepherd is just tired -- but a lot of dialogue between Kris and her team lacked the usual undercurrents of friendship and respect, and personalities seemed altered to suit various plot points. Penny is petulant, Vicky Peterwald blurts out sensitive information in crowded rooms, Kris is indecisive and bored and loses control of her emotions. Also confusing is the fact that Jack's revelations from the previous book are not merely ignored, Shepherd included several scenes that make it appear he is backpedaling furiously from that storyline altogether.

This is the first book in the series that I haven't immediately started to re-read on completion, so I'm not giving up, but I hope the changes in tone and character aren't here to stay.

Kris Longknife is on a mission. Unfortunately, it's not quite the mission she wants to be on. What she would like is to accompany Ron, a four-legged, four-armed and four-eyed Iteeche, to investigate a mysterious star system which his people's scout vessels have attempted to visit several times -- only to disappear without a peep. The Iteeche are traditional enemies of humanity dating back some 80 years, but Kris and Ron have managed to become friends. We learned about this in last year's Longknife novel, "Undaunted".

However, at the end of "Undaunted", Kris is denied permission to embark on the Iteeche mission. Her great-grandfather, King Raymond I of Wardhaven, has more pressing business for her: Reining in a bunch of pirates, slavers and other vagabonds who are preying on a swarm of refugees out beyond the Rim, on the Sooner worlds. It's a delicate situation. Wardhaven is part of a stellar confederation called the United Sentients. However, a lot of these Sooner planets are likely to be claimed by the Greenfeld Empire. The empire's rulers, the Peterwald family, are old enemies of the Longknifes, hence aren't likely to take kindly to Wardhaven ships poking around on their borders. Kris Longknife's mission, should she choose to accept it, is to wipe out the riffraff and feed the starving without starting a costly interstellar war. Please. Pretty please.

At the start of Mike Shepherd's latest novel, "Redoubtable", Kris, newly promoted to Lieutenant Commander, is leading a small squadron of warships disguised as merchants, all the better to lure pirates into a trap. Her ship, the Wasp, sees action quickly, and it's not pretty. An agricultural world called Kaskatos is overwhelmed by hungry refugees, and has been taken over by nasties who use human shields and stick severed heads on spikes as lawn ornaments. There were a few gruesome episodes in this early part of the book which made me cringe. I had just reread "Undaunted", which was much lighter and more humorous than "Redoubtable" -- to the point that I briefly considered setting the new book aside for some lighter fare. I wasn't really in the mood for "gruesome".

However, I stuck with it, and the tone of the novel began to change. The challenge for Kris took on a new dimension: Figuring out how bad things must be in Peterwald territory to produce such a flood of millions of refugees, and dealing with the Peterwalds directly, once they learn of the activities on Kaskatos.

Soon, Kris will be meeting face-to-face once more with her counterpart, Vicky Peterwald. Will lots of people end up dying again as in earlier books, or will Kris and Vicky (and their advisors) cement a working relationship? And when a certain well-known 12-year-old character goes missing, captured by slavers, how will they go about rescuing her? Will they cooperate? Will someone figure out how to eliminate them both in one fell swoop with concealed weapons? Can they trust the roast pig, prepared according to an ancient Earth recipe with an apple in its mouth?

Without giving away too much of the plot, I can say that I enjoyed the way the various people interacted in the story. All of our favorite characters are back. First, there's Jack Montoya in his perennial quest to keep Kris from getting fatally shot, sliced or blown up. Kris is still limping from the last assassination attempt, and one of her near-escapes this time around is a real doozy. Next there's Abby, the maid who is also a heavy-duty bodyguard, along with her niece Cara. Then there is the quasi-sentient computer Nelly, along with her frighteningly precocious "children" like Mimzy, Dada and Trixie. All of these machines have quite a bit of attitude, which provides the usual comic relief along with the banter of the regular human characters. I'm half expecting the computers to stage their own mutiny in a future Longknife novel, but time will tell.

All in all, I can say in the end that I enjoyed "Redoubtable", and am looking forward to next November's installment, to be called "Daring". Maybe we'll get to learn a bit more about that Iteeche mystery.

Considering how the Longknife books are basically a serial novel, you'll probably want to read all the others in order before you take "Redoubtable" on. It can be very challenging to remember, in the middle of Book 8, references to events which took place in Book 2. I just might start re-reading the whole bunch before too much longer.

This isn't the best book in the series. It didn't go where I thought it would based on the lead in with the previous book. The characters seemed to stall from the strides in development that they took in the last Longknife novel. And I still am mentally screaming for something to happen between Kris and Jack, one way or the other. The unending longing between them needs to break.

All that aside, this was a good read. It kept me guessing, I kept turning pages. Kris is great, even as she's forced to face some facts about her own ability and her role in leadership. She is drawn into Peterwald territory and learns her nation's galactic rivals have a lot of big ugly secrets. Of course Kris is put in the position of fixing what is in front of her.

Redoubtable is a good book overall, but feels like a setup all to get a certain individual on board with Kris. However, even as a book to set up forthcoming novels, I really enjoyed it.

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