Crown of Slaves (1)

If you want Military Sci-Phi or Honor skip this book. If you want high action, intrigue, and great characters buy it last week. David, the last 2 books have dragged a little bit. It seemes that Eric has forced you to tighten up your story telling. Repitition is way down; the number of key characters in the book are down; and, action and story development are way up. Please keep this up. This is a spy novel. Most of the characters in this novel come from short stories written in the anthologies that accompany David's original series. On the other hand, this is a well thought out and scripted novel. The story parrallels the tail end of War Of Honor and expands the evil Manpower and Mesa story lines from those antholigies. I really love Thandi Palane (The Great Kaja) a totally new character introduced into this book and I am really looking forward to her continued story. As a political junky I love reading about a world government based on an Italian Mafia political structure. I wish some real exploraition of the politics of Mesa and Manpower had been explored in this book, but I am told that the Weber-Flint stories should go thru at least 2 more collabaritive novels. This series has alot of potential. I read this book in a day and a half, with time out for 2 ten hour shifts at work.

David Weber and Eric Flint have wrought yet another thrilling installment of the "Honorverse", which can be seen as a prequel to "War of Honor", setting the stage for Erewhon's defection from the Manticoran Alliance to the Republic of Haven. It is being advertised as the start of yet another series set in the Honorverse. Havenite secret agent Victor Cachat arrives on Erewhon to cultivate possible ties between it and the Republic of Haven, as the Erewhonese reconsider their relationship with Manticore, angered by the indifference shown them by Prime Minister Baron High Ridge's government. Hoping to bring Erewhon back into the fold, a Manticoran delegation led by Princess Ruth Winton, the Queen's adopted niece, former RMN captain Anton Zilwicki - who may be Manticore's best secret agent - and his daughter Berry, arrives for the state funeral of an important Solarian League politician. And a Manticoran heavy cruiser commanded by High Ridge's cousin, Captain Michael Oversteegen (His second appearance in the saga, about a year after the events of "Service of the Sword", a recent novella written by Weber.), is sent to "show the flag" in the Erewhon system. All of these Manticorans are soon drawn in Cachat's Machiavellian scheme to create a planet ruled by ex-slaves, a brand-new star nation devoted to ending slavery, along with, Thandi Palance, a dedicated Solarian Marine lieutenant who is as ruthless as Cachat. There are exciting battles aboard space stations featuring Masadan fanatics, members of the ex-slave terrorist organization Audubon Ballroom, and Mesan slavers. This is yet another splendid installment in the Honorverse, showing political brinksmanship involving Haven, Manticore, Erewhon, Mesa, and the Solarian League. Indeed, this book shows the importance of both Erewhon and the Solarian League as key star nations and empires within the Honorverse.

The universe in which Crown of Slaves is set is as epic and complex as any ever created for fiction. So far more than a dozen novels and short stories have been wrung out of it with no sign of slowing down. Fans will certainly hope the franchise keeps going. The fact that the founding character Honor Harrington has only a cameo role in Chapter 40 should not stop any fan of the series from thoroughly enjoying this story. Almost all the characters are flat out fun and the immersion in both global and galactic politics really works to make the story interesting. The action centers mostly on two young women: Berry, the adopted daughter of a superspy and Ruth, a princess of the Kingdom of Manticore are sent on a quasi-diplomatic mission with Berry impersonating Ruth and vice versa under the supervision of Berry?s father. The place they are going to is a star system?s whose leader was assassinated and whose alliance with Manticore is shaky. Another superspy who works for Manticore?s enemy is there, along with an ambitious naval officer from the Solarian league. To add to the fun a cadre of terrorist religious fanatics have designs on the princess and there are ex-slaves that are active in revolt.In short, a lot is going on. Yet none of it is too hard to follow, particularly if you are up to date on the Honor Harrington series. The authors are clearly as much interested in pontificating on political philosophy as space-opera action, which puts this on quite a few levels above something like the Star Wars potboilers. They are clearly knowledgeable, which helps, but I can see why some readers find it ?talky.?For this reader a few problems did manifest. Much in the plot depends on the ability of the Berry character (aged only 17) being able to form deep bonds with other characters very quickly. This charm seems a little forced, and is used over and over again to form the basis of alliances that otherwise wouldn?t exist. Overall, the two girls are just too savvy ? at one point mixing it up in lethal action with space marines and at other times ?oh no my dad is going to kill me!? mode when they realize he will find out what they?ve been up to. Of course that?s fun too.All of it is fun. Go get it.

Arthur Jordin's synopsis of "Crown of Slaves" is spot-on. However, all the characters and groups and kingdoms and planets he names make me want to echo the intro to an old daytime comedy soap opera from the 1970s: "Confused? You won't be, after watching this episode of 'Soap.' " What I like about this novel is the much-needed break from the career of Honor Harrington. The "Honorverse" has steadily become richer with development, and Honor's perspective, as wide-ranging as it is, simply isn't sufficient to do justice to the rest of the emerging story lines. Hence, the spin-off.Functionally, "Crown of Slaves" does two things. First: It sets in place another strategically vital setting for the ongoing battle between Haven and Manticore. This is the wormhole junction that eventually becomes the property of the Audubon Ballroom's quasi-terrorist society of freed genetic slaves. An ideal spot from which the Ballroom can expand it's anti-slavery operations in both Havenite and Manticoran space, this junction is so positioned that it will also inevitably become a place over which Haven and Manticore will HAVE to fight ... or compromise. In both struggles, Erewhon is caught firmly in the middle. Second: Erewhon suddenly becomes a real society with its own history. Think of a sort of Italianate, patronage-driven and family-governed Switzerland founded by mob money launderers with a sense of humor -- enough so to name their capital city Maytag! We now get to see contrasts and interplay among yet more political systems: (a) the Manticore parliamentary/constitutional monarchy; (b) the Havenite People's Republic welfare state attempting to return to its long-forgotten roots as a republic; (c) the purely militaristic hereditary dictatorship of the Andermani empire; (c) the theocratic, feudal, honor-driven (pardon the pun) state of Grayson; (d) the endless chaos of greed and disorder and bad government that is the confederacy of Silesia; (e) the end-stage capitalism and rule of money in the Earth-based Sol Federation -- and now, two new spanners in the works: (f) the Erewhon system of leading families and patronage, very Roman in its origins but with dynamics that make me think of numbered bank accounts and Swiss neutrality amid a Europe at war, with Switzerland the inevitable base of espionage for all sides; and (g) the newly emerging state founded by ex-slave, anti-slavery terrorists and several "cargos" of genetically engineered human beings freed from captivity who are not necessarily terrorists at all. The latter is starting out as a nominal constitutional monarchy, but it will (I predict) end up as something else entirely, something more personal and consensual and relational. That will be interesting to watch, because I suspect it will propose a new and useful role for monarchs in a constitutionally governed republic. If it works at all.Another side of this book that I appreciate is the further development of the character of Victor Cachat, Havenite spyma