tiredKris Longknife: Mutineer by Mike Shepherd
This 2004 novel began the ‘Kris Longknife’ series. It filches wildly from other sci-fi sagas as a posh girl who harbours issues joins the space marines due to her obsessive personality and desire to escape from the banality of her powerful family. This is bity and full of philosophical soliloquies and everyone hates Kris. This culminates in a non-inspired ending. The core tenet of this saga is that Kris and her self-centred sentiments and nasty and toxic atmosphere she generates is never wrong.
This does not subvert expectations and no wrenching choices are made. This was not particularly inventive. The ‘heroine’ Kris has no ideological certainty in herself and no modicum of intelligence. The Longknifes feud with the Peterwald clan over something. There is no Vicky Peterwald; Henry says straight up that he is an only child. Kris has no ruthless command. The Vicky Peterwald existing retcon wouldn’t take place until book 4. Books 2 and 3 (‘Deserter’ and ‘Defiant’) were as equally shamefully inept as this one. I’m reasonably confident that the ‘Vicky Peterwald’ spin-off is better. I dislike and distrust Kris.
Best Lines:
“Everyone was your best friend, at least until the door closed behind them.”
“The knife-wielding wife of the farm owner had to be forcibly hauled from one of the trucks.”