War of Honor

Another fine addition to the World of Honor Harrington. Although the political intrique can bog down the story line, this book is a fine piece of work by David Weber. A pleasant surprise was the CD in the back of the book with loads and loads of information and if I counted correctly almost 80 books. The Baen Library method of dissemanation for these books and many other authors' books has no equal of shared prose. I also liked the ability to share these with my cousin. We have been sharing books for more than 50 years, and although not of the same sex, we have always enjoyed the same types of books. She introduced me to Honor Harrington several years ago, and we have rushed each time there is a new book to see who could read it first.

David Weber Strikes again. A wonderful addition to the Honor Harrington series, this book kept me up all night reading. A must read for any David Weber Fan or lover of Military Scifi.

Briefly, the author is (I think) setting up the next conflict, which will probably happen more in the interstellar politics arena than in the strict "shoot-`em-up" style of the last few books. There is only so many ways that someone can get grievously wounded while fighting a lonely last ditch stand against impossible odds... The book starts to develop the political tensions between Manticore, Haven, and the Solarian League. I expect (and hope) that the next book will deal with interstellar power politics with a touch of action. Granted, the villains are a bit shallow, and a little bit too simple. One expects them to twirl their mustaches while foreclosing on the homestead. As a counerpoint though, the whole political situation that they drive Manticore into is rich in possibilities and future action.

I liked David Weber's style in this terrific book even more than his 9 preceeding books in the Honor Harrington series. There is so much to grasp and remember as the reader is involved in a tremendously complex interweaving of challenging, fascinating plot lines. Weber's baste 'em and blast 'em battles were top notch nail biters.The following comments are not intented to diminish this book in any way. First, based upon my own bottomless contempt for all things politic, I found myself overwhelmed by the excessive, overwrought political machinations of both the Star Kingdom and the Peeps. I was surprised to find Honor being diminished by her childish bad-mouthing the current Manticoran government of the, albeit, spineless, corrupt incompetents like Baron High Ridge, Descroix, New Kiev, Admiral Janascek, etc. Yes, they deserved it, but Weber has created Honor as a verbally elegant, sensitive and conscious iconic being whose very professional impartiality has always spoken volumes in itself.Weber has clearly outlined how politics continues to sabotage foreign and domestic relations, create both wars and strange bedfellows even in futuristic worlds that some of us have daydreamed would be free of the contamination of greedy, power drunk politicians with their corrupt agendas. The Peeps Secretary of State Giancola and his Machiavellian manipulation of President Pritchart represent a dark mirror image of the behavior of the Star Kingdom's High Ridge, et al. This is scary to contemplate and to extrapolate into a possible context of our own nation. It stimulates all sorts of questions and concerns that fairly leap to mind.Secondly, I think that Honor deserves a meaningful relationship in her life. According to the timelines of this book, she is in her 60 T-years, and despite Prolong, her tortured yearning for the Earl of White Haven seemed a bit adolescent as presented. I think that Andrew La Follett, who is clearly obsessed with her, would be a better option for her. Unless David finds a truly sympathetic way to eliminate Emily White Haven from the love triangle other than through her approval of a covert affair between her husband and Honor the story line will continue to be frustrating for some of us female fans who want Honor to either get the guy or getthehelloutathere, all issues of morality aside.I am glad that Weber has made the Andermani and the Star Kingdom colleagues in the War against the Peeps. Plus, the additional tantalizing plot lines like the discovery of a new Junction Terminus leading to Lynx and its inhabited Talbott Star Cluster will, hopefully, provide at least a dozen more books for us to scarf up. As a guess, the next story arch could begin a move toward the long hinted at beginning of a confrontation with the Sollies, once the Manticore and Andermani slug the Peeps back into line for a time. This 10th book tantalizes us with the idea of new conflicts with the ConFeds over the territorial and governmental issues surrounding

OK, so this isn't a review for the book itself---but for the price of the hardback, you also get a CD-ROM of the books in the Baen Free Library. Sure, you could download them...if you have a highspeed connection, or a lot of time to kill while you watch grass grow. There's no tedious encoding, no passwords, nothing between you and a whole plethora of books by authors you might not otherwise have tried. These aren't 'who heard of thems' either---the books on the CD include the entire Honor Harrington saga and all of the Baen toplist authors. Worth buying the book just to get the CD!