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By Schism Rent Asunder | 
 enlarge | Author: David Weber
Publisher: Tor Books
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $14.90
You Save: $11.05 (43%)
New (37) Used (17) Collectible (4) from $14.20
Rating:  54 reviews
Sales Rank: 8932
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 512
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.1 x 1.7
ISBN: 0765315017
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780765315014
ASIN: 0765315017
Publication Date: July 22, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The world has changed. The mercantile kingdom of Charis has prevailed over the alliance designed to exterminate it. Armed with better sailing vessels, better guns and better devices of all sorts, Charis faced the combined navies of the rest of the world at Darcos Sound and Armageddon Reef, and broke them. Despite the implacable hostility of the Church of God Awaiting, Charis still stands, still free, still tolerant, still an island of innovation in a world in which the Church has worked for centuries to keep humanity locked at a medieval level of existence.
But the powerful men who run the Church aren’t going to take their defeat lying down. Charis may control the world’s seas, but it barely has an army worthy of the name. And as King Cayleb knows, far too much of the kingdom’s recent good fortune is due to the secret manipulations of the being that calls himself Merlin—a being that, the world must not find out too soon, is more than human. A being on whose shoulders rests the last chance for humanity’s freedom.
Now, as Charis and its archbishop make the rift with Mother Church explicit, the storm gathers. Schism has come to the world of Safehold. Nothing will ever be the same.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 49 more reviews...
 I have really enjoyed this series so far October 6, 2008
Mr. Weber has taken a bit of a left turn in producing this series but I have really enjoyed it so far. He has moved away from the space opera format that served him well in the Honor Harrington and Bug Wars but I have really enjoyed his character development and plot twists that he has in this series. I sat down and read book two in about 1 1/2 days and came away convinced that it is one of the best books I have read this year. I am eagerly awaiting #3
For someone looking at this series to read it is a combination of revolt in 2100 meets the day after tomorrow by Heinlein in a lot more detail. I think if you come into this series without any preconceptions of what a Weber book is you will enjoy the series
 please tell me there's a story in our future October 3, 2008
i was introduced to the genre of science fiction by the master of all time, robert a. heinlein. unfortunately, in his later years, the dean got caught up in extolling endless, wrangling debates about nonsensical points of view or miniscule, scientific errata. a darned shame really, but i did develop the ability to skim through multiple pages of drivvle until the story was reintroduced.
this skill has stood me in good stead with a great deal of david weber's stuff. the man has a terrible case of heinlein's disease.
"by schism rent asunder" is an obvious expansion of the co-plot from "heirs of empire" right down to the substitution of the five-day for a week. by itself this is not a downcheck. "heirs" was great fun and could stand revisiting.
the sad part is that both volumes of this series to date, if written in the style of the earlier honor harrington yarns, could be distilled down to half a dozen chapters. this isn't helped by the cast of thousands weber's employed. (i had to create a chart of characters to keep them all straight.)
the tale, by and large, is still enticing. i just wish he'd get on with it and cease indulging himself in the endless committee meetings. i'll probably read the next one that comes along, but my expectations are no longer very high.
 tedious... make that tedious squared October 2, 2008
This book starts out slow and goes downhill from there. I really wonder what happened to the Weber who wrote the early Honor Harrington books.
Gone forever I fear. Starting with the last few Harrington books and continuing with his current work he seems to have forgotten the cardinal rule of the fiction writer--show don't tell. This current book could easily be cut in half without losing a single important plot element or bit of action. I forced myself to get through it (don't ask me why) by skimming over the endless and repetitive and repetitive and repetitive (well you get the point) explanations of the various weapons, characters, situations, motivations, etc.
I have no idea how many books in this series Weber plans, but if he continues as he has been it will need to be a few dozen just to get Safehold to a mid-twentieth century level of technology. And he will lose quite a few reader along the way (me for one).
Do yourself a favor, if you think you must suffer through this book check a copy out of the library.
 great book September 30, 2008
Classic Weber. I believe i stayed up till 4am to finish this book. the mixing of classic era warfare with futuristic technology. I am eagerly awaiting the next books in this new and upcoming series.
Setting things up for the future September 29, 2008
I don't want to give any of the story line away (unlike others!), so I'll remain vague. The focus in this book moves away from Merlin and toward the developing schism between Charis and Zion. It reads like the midgame in chess in which the pieces are being moved around in order to set up the endgame. Although some in the Church (read: Clyntyn) seems to take the occasional shot with his queen deep into enemy territory, these moves don't pay off just like they rarely do in a chess game.
Cayleb is astutely arranging for the future which means that the story can appear a bit slow at times (as others have noted). But, I appreciated the growth of the characters from caricatures to full-blown individuals. It all has me wondering where this is all going to end up. I hope that David eventually takes us forward to the inevitable conflict with the Gbaba!
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