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Starship: Mutiny by Mike Resnick
28/11/2005 . Source: Tomas L. Martin 
pub: Prometheus Books. 285 page hardback. Price: $25.00 (US). ISBN: 1-59102-337-8. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.pyrsf.com
Mike Resnick has a long and very successful career in Science Fiction both behind and ahead of him. The list of stories and novels nominated for major and minor awards are far too many to count, amongst the very highest of all writers in the genre, including four Hugo awards.
'Starship: Mutiny' starts off a new five novel series set, like many of his other books, in the 'Birthright' universe, an epic timeline covering twenty thousand years of mankind's expansion through the stars. Most of his forty-five published novels and many short stories fall into this broad setting, across many different times and places. This new novel and the ones that will follow are set some two thousand years in the future, amidst a rather chaotic galactic war between two loose federations. Some of the planets involved in the war change allegiance often according to which benefits them most and both sides feature large varieties of species.
Wilson Cole is a hero of the Republic, fighting against the (nominally) evil Teronians. He has a habit of using his initiative to turn a terrible situation into a victory. Unfortunately, that usually means he has to bend and break many of the Republic Navy's rules. His victorious but disobedient actions are tricky for his superiors to deal with, upset by his lack of respect for authority but forced by public opinion to reward him.
Usually, this means a medal and a demotion for Cole. At the start of the book, his superior decides Cole is too loose a cannon to have on the front line, undermining order. So Cole has his captaincy taken from him and is sent to a rundown old cruiser in the middle of nowhere, full of screw-ups and disobedients like him.
Stuck underneath two rigid, by-the-book officers and surrounded by incompetent and lazy underlings, Wilson Cole isn't happy just babysitting such a boring sector of space. So when he notices some little suspicious things, he acts and beats the enemy, without his superior's permission.
Resnick's writing is effortless, full of snappy dialogue and a fast moving plot. The real delight to reading this novel is the banter and jokes in the conversations between Cole and the crewmates he does get on with, the insults and sarcastic comments with those he doesn't get on with and the real feeling of camaraderie and society it creates. It's very easy to imagine this as a real world and setting because the characters act so naturally together.
This was my first time at a Resnick book, so I had no expectations coming in. Needless to say, I was impressed. This is high quality work. It feels a lot like if they made 'Star Trek' without all the campness and most of the scientific gaffes. There's a veneer of quality and above all believability that makes this heads above many space operas.
About the only thing I will say that could be said to be detrimental is that some people might say it's not particularly original, there's not much amazing science or fascinating new angle on the genre. Maybe not, I say, but it's damn good fun all the same.
Tomas L. Martin
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