By Schism Rent Asunder

The middle book of a planned space-opera trilogy is a complex story of politics, religion, and warfare. David Weber owes a debt to reader Oliver Wyman for making the many characters distinct in his narration, a challenge in a book with so many characters and plots. Wyman has a soft voice, which he uses to great advantage to give characters distinct accents or combinations of many familiar dialects. Some are clearly meant to be blue bloods. In Weber's futuristic world, humans use ships that sail the sea and space for commerce and battle, an interesting concept. The kingdom of Charis, with its mysterious counselor, Merlin, has defeated most its enemies, except the biggest one--the Church of God Awaiting. And therein lies the tale. M.S. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

May 5, 2008
In this eagerly anticipated sequel to 2007’s Off Armageddon Reef
, the sheer scale of the Kingdom of Charis’s naval victory against corrupt forces of the Church of God Awaiting has the Church newly wary of Charis’s technological innovations. These were introduced by Merlin Athrawes, bodyguard to King Cayleb II and actually an android imprinted with a human’s memories and personality who seeks to throw off the false religion that bars mankind from the stars. As Charis’s neighbors scramble to rebuild their shattered fleets and prepare for the inevitable reprisals, the Church lurches toward placing the entire nation under proscription and declaring holy war. The numerous characters are never reduced to stereotypes, and Weber’s portrayal of the social changes brought about by Charis’s bootstrap industrial and military revolutions ring true. If not as action oriented as the first volume, the descriptions of the rebirth of knowledge and the human spirit are at least as enthralling.