Off Armageddon Reef by David Weber (2007, Unabridged, Compact Disc)

Mr. Weber has here failed miserably in his attempted to squash together several different genres. The result is notable for its size, but in no way for quality, although I did find the bookbinding adequate. Characters come and go by the dozen, which is good, as it takes about a dozen of them to equal a single character in any other book. The alien Gbaba are easily the most sympathetic characters in the book. The have clearly gotten their tentacles on a pre-release copy of this book and are trying to wipe out the entire species that created it before it can spread, something this reviewer can only see as a case of overenthusiastic mercy killing.

This heap of disheveled verbiage spends a single chapter being a science fiction novel, then switches over to a medieval castles & intrigue sort of thing for a while, then shifts over to a sad, sad imitation of a Horatio Hornblower men & ships tale, spends a little time trying and failing to do the "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court", and closes up with a noble dead king scenario that was really done much better by Tolkien, even in the "Mad Magazine" version.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this loathsome creation is that the author, in reckless disregard of the Geneva Conventions, is clearly trying to make this a series. One can only hope that people around Mr. Weber, people who love and care for him, will step in and speak sense to him, perhaps get him into some kind of program long enough to for him regain his customary sense and authorial skill.

I will give this book a single positive point in that it is modestly suited for the relief of insomnia (and clearly not habit forming) and its sturdy and attractive binding will easily survive falling to the floor after each of its latest victims slides into fitfull and uneasy unconsciousness.