Safehold Books In Order

Publication Order of Safehold Books

Safehold is a series of novels in the science fiction genre that was written by the noteworthy writer David Weber. The novels of the series are set in the future time period of the 31st century and feature a distant world known as the ‘Safehold’.

The Safehold hosts a group of human beings who have hidden from a dangerous alien race known as the Gbaba. The story shows the first meeting of the humans and the Gbaba, in which the aliens of the Gbaba race tried to exterminate the humans. They are nearly successful in destroying all of the human race in the galaxy.

The extermination process of the Gbaba aliens was also carried out on the humans on Earth. The human race on Safehold has managed to revert to a pre-historical, pre-electrical technology base which has helped them avoid detection by the Gbaba aliens. The technology base has also allowed humans to incorporate themselves into a common system of religious beliefs, which forbid the penalty of death for using higher technology and discourage scientific curiosity. All of the novels in the series are titled with the names taken from a hymn except the first novel of the series. The series was also translated into the German language and was called ‘Nimue Alban’.

The first novel of the Safehold series was titled ‘Off Armageddon Reef’. It was published in the year 2007 by the Tor Books publishing house. The plot of the novel deals with the encounter of the human race with the aliens of the Gbaba race in a distant world in someplace in the galaxy.

The time frame of the novel is set in the advanced era of the 31st century when the human race has made a lot of progress and reached various parts of the galaxy. On one such distant world named Safehold lives the race of the Gbaba aliens. They are considered to be extremely ruthless in nature. They once tried to wipe out the human race present on Safehold, but some of the humans managed to hide in a safe place where the aliens could not detect them. The Gbaba aliens have already finished the human population living on Earth in a huge extermination process and the only thing left on Earth is smoldering ruins. The few humans who survived the extermination by the Gbaba aliens fled to a distant Earth-like planet named Safehold where they have tried to rebuild their lives on the new planet.

The Gbaba aliens have the special power of detecting industrial emissions and hence they come to know of the place where the humans hide. However, the humans on Safehold have developed extraordinary measures to remain undetected by the Gbaba aliens. The rulers of the human race in Safehold have developed a common system of religious beliefs which is followed by every human living on Safehold.

The common religious system has helped the human race on Safehold to maintain a medieval society forever. As time goes by, the humans on Safehold begin to feel safe in the hidden chamber. After more than 800 years, an android awakens from the human past in the hidden chamber of Safehold. The rebirth of the android was initiated many centuries before by a section of human society which opposed the idea of a common religious system. The android is named Nimue and has the memories of the Lieutenant Commander named Nimue Alban, the android tells of the Lieutenant’s fate with the help of automated recordings. She was told to emerge into the society of the Safeholdian and begin spreading the idea of provoking technological progress, which was otherwise prevented by the Church of God Awaiting.

In order to work in a better way, she takes the new name Merlin along with a new gender. Now, the android is a man with formidable powers to access the hidden technology caches of the humans on Safehold. Merlin tries to conceal the technology and searches for a new country like Safehold for setting his base of operations, a place that is open to accepting the new changes. This search leads Merlin to Charis, a medium-sized kingdom with naval warfare. He intends to get the acquaintance of the King and the Prince of Charis in order to set off an era of new inventions. His efforts attract the attention of the Church, which eventually results in a war. The war seems to be a never-ending one as both sections of the Safeholdian society of humans are not willing to give their ideologies.

The second novel of the series was published under the title ‘By Schism rent Asunder’. It was published in the year 2008 by the Tor Books publishing house. The plot of the novel shows a changing world as the kingdom of Charis has emerged victorious in the war against the Church. The kingdom of Charis had better guns and sailing vessels as well other sorts of devices that helped them win the war against the combined navies.

Charis still stands as a free island with innovative technologies and a tolerant attitude despite the hostility of the Church of God Awaiting. The kingdom of Charis does not believe in the ideologies of the Church of God Awaiting have about keeping humanity away from the inventions of the new technologies for centuries. The men who run the Church are also equally powerful and are not going to let defeat come to them so easily.

Even though the kingdom of Charis controls the seas, it does not have a worthy army. King Caleb is aware of the fact that the recent fortune of his kingdom is due to the efforts of Merlin. Merlin has qualities better than humans and the freedom of humanity lies on his shoulders. The kingdom of Charis and its archbishop begin the explicit rift with Mother Church, which results in the gathering of a huge storm. Schism is about to join the world of Safehold and it seems that nothing is going to remain the same ever.

7 Responses to “Safehold”

1. Robert Bunce: 8 months ago

   I have all your books through “Fiery Trials.” When are you going to come up with one or more books that lead to a conclusion?
   I am a big SF fan, going back to high school. This is some of the best. It needs a conclusion!! How dare you leave us hanging?

   Reply
   • Jan: 3 months ago

     I actually wrote to and got a response from David Weber about three years ago. He said it wouldn’t be long before another book in the series came out. If you follow his him, you’ll see no further Safehold books and yet more than three new ones have pub’d.
     I tried writing to him again at the same e-mail address a year or so ago but didn’t receive a response this time.

     Reply
2. David: 11 months ago

   I too want just one more book in the Safehold series. Please, please finish it off for us. The last book left everyone on a cliffhanger.

   Reply
3. Ilan Wilde: 3 years ago

   I’ve been waiting for the next book in the Safe hold series for a long time.
   When can I expect the next book to come out?

   Reply
4. Mike Scott: 3 years ago

   Please don’t leave us hanging I have loyally followed the safe hold series Hoping to see a final conflict With the alien minutes
   Maybe Merlin could go into stasis or if in a few hundred years and come out and leave the new humans To star ferring future

   Reply
5. Ronald Leslie Weekes: 3 years ago

   David. Please use larger print in your novels.
   I am trying to battle through the Safehold series.
   But as an older man even with my reading glasses
   it is difficult.

   Reply
   • Bill: 2 years ago

     Switch to Kindle. You can make the print as large as you want then.

     Reply