he Republic, an interstellar empire of human and allied alien planets, has been at war for many years with the alien Teroni Federation. Cmdr. Wilson Cole, a decorated but twice-demoted former captain, reports for duty on the Theodore Roosevelt, a ship of military misfits that has been assigned far from current action. Cole's military career has been replete with victories gained by bending or breaking orders to complete his missions successfully, earning him accolades from the public and the ire of military leadership.
On board the Teddy R, Cole finds a captain determined to avoid trouble, along with a mostly dispirited crew, with a few exceptions. One of those exceptions is an old alien friend, Cmdr. Forrice, who introduces him to another, chief of security Sharon Blacksmith. On his first command shift, Cole detects a battleship of a race newly allied with the Teroni on a nearby Republic world. He immediately orders the ship to leave for that world without notifying the captain, who he knows will not act. Before the captain can stop him, Cole takes a shuttle to the planet, where he allows himself to be captured to uncover the enemy plans, escapes, gets local assistance and manipulates the media to force the navy to act and destroy the ship. Cole once again earns a commendation and the ire of Teddy R's ranking officers.
The Teddy R is immediately reassigned to a new assignment considered even less likely to see action, and Cole meanwhile decides to crack down on the drug use that is incapacitating much of the crew, alienating some while earning respect from others. When they arrive at their new assignment, they find the other two Republic ships destroyed by a Teroni dreadnaught apparently guarding a high-level meeting somewhere in the system. Cole convinces the captain to act, and through subterfuge they manage to destroy the meeting site. Cole and the Teddy R escape unharmed, but the captain, in a final act of courage, sacrifices himself to assure the mission's success.
Both Cole and Forrice are passed over for promotion, and the rigid, order-following first officer Podok is promoted to captain. On their next assignment, to guard nuclear fuel depots, when it becomes clear that the Teddy R cannot stop the Teroni fleet, Podok orders the first depot destroyed, killing the millions of Republic citizens on the planet, and tries to destroy another before Cole relieves the captain of duty and negotiates a deal with the Teroni to take the fuel without further bloodshed. Facing court-martial with a certain guilty verdict, Cole and the crew loyal to him take the Teddy R and head for parts unknown.
A promising military space opera
Starship: Mutiny is classic military space opera, in the tradition of many works by Poul Anderson, Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Harry Harrison and many even earlier authors, a tradition successfully continued in David Weber's Honor Harrington novels and Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan novels. Starship: Mutiny is the first in a five-novel series, although it's actually more like the first fifth of a very long novel to be published in five parts—the story is barely started as the book concludes.
Like most of Resnick's novels, this book takes place in his Birthright Universe, with its centuries of history as humans spread throughout the galaxy, creating new frontiers among the many alien races they find. (This book has several excellent and useful appendixes that outline the future history and nature of Birthright Universe that Resnick has been chronicling now for several decades.) It has proven to be a highly versatile future history, allowing Resnick to tell many disparate types of stories, from thematically serious science fiction to pulp SF adventures, tales of western gunslingers and humorous tall tales. This is his first series of novels, however, to venture into the military space-opera subgenre.
Mike Resnick is a skilled craftsman, and he brings to this novel much of the same storytelling skill he has shown in many of his award-winning stories. Wilson Cole is an extremely likable protagonist, drawn with some of the characteristics we see in other popular science fiction adventure characters, such as Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan. Cole is a focused, dedicated and capable officer who must overcome dimwitted, self-serving military leadership to succeed—a situation that undoubtedly resonates well with many science fiction readers. Resnick does strain our credulity somewhat, however, when public opinion is manipulated to consider alleged alien prejudice a greater crime than actually killing millions of mankind's alien allies. But then again, we have seen equally nonsensical manipulations of public opinion in our own times.
Starship: Mutiny starts what promises to be a very enjoyable military science fiction adventure novel and could establish Wilson Cole as one of the more memorable characters in the genre. The difficult question: Should you begin reading now, or wait for all five books to be issued?
