At the recommendation of one of my best friends, I made my first trip into the world of hardcore science fiction with David Weber's Mutineer's Moon.After hiding inside the moon for fifty thousand years, the abandoned imperial battleship controlled by the A.I. Dahak finally selects (abducts) a new captain in the form of Lt. Commander Colin MacIntyre who is conducting a test of a new sensor technology over Earth's moon. Dahak needs Colin's help in dealing with a group of bio-enhanced extra terrestrial humans that mutineered aboard Dahak thousands of years ago, and who have now clandestinely infiltrated the governments of Earth and are continuing their covert war against another group of "Imperials." As Dahak's new captain, Colin is given the best in bio-enhancements, and is assigned to return to Earth and figure out a way to defeat the mutineers and thereby finally resolve Dahak's fifty thousand year old dilemma. Many Sci-Fi stories seem to have the problem of not being able to "think outside the box" and go beyond the established templates, but Weber successful weaves a refreshingly original and intelligent story in this novel published by BAEN books. Now be warned. This is not your father's Star Trek tame brand of science fiction. Mutineer's Moon is rampant with R-rated language and graphic violence, which I found a bit distracting. And although the story is strong and fast paced, I found Weber's writing style a bit vague and at times confusing. In some areas of the narrative he seemed to neglect explanation and detail, except when it came to the descriptions of superior imperial weapons technology(I gotta get me some warp grenades). Overall the book is strong and in a way has the same military sci-fi flavor as Stargate SG1. I rate Mutineer's Moon a 7 out of 10. A good solid read.
