War Maid's Choice

War God #4

by David Weber

In Wind Rider’s Oath, Bahzell became a wind rider—the first hradani wind rider in history. And, even if Bahzell is the War God’s champion, because the wind riders are the elite of the elite among the Sothoii, Bahzell’s ascension is as likely to stir resentment as respect. What’s more, Baron Tellian’s daughter, the heir to the realm, seems to be thinking that he is the only man—or hradani—for her. Now, War Maid’s Choice continues the story—and things really get complicated.

 

“. . . irresistibly entertaining. . . .” —Publishers Weekly

 

“. . . fun adventure full of noble steeds, fierce female fighters, dark sorcery, serious swordplay, and plenty of tongue-in-cheek banter.” —Locus

 

“. . . when Weber gets down to action, he’s hard to beat . . . a rollicking adventure that kept me turning the pages.” —SF Review Central

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Epic Fantasy, Military Fiction, High Fantasy, Science Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

608 pages, Hardcover

First published July 3, 2012

About the author

David Mark Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1952.

Many of his stories have military, particularly naval, themes, and fit into the military science fiction genre. He frequently places female leading characters in what have been traditionally male roles.

One of his most popular and enduring characters is Honor Harrington whose alliterated name is an homage to C.S. Forester's character Horatio Hornblower and her last name from a fleet doctor in Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander . Her story, together with the "Honorverse" she inhabits, has been developed through 16 novels and six shared-universe anthologies, as of spring 2013 (other works are in production). In 2008, he donated his archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.

Many of his books are available online, either in their entirety as part of the Baen Free Library or, in the case of more recent books, in the form of sample chapters (typically the first 25-33% of the work).

http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidw...

Reviews

[Jacob Proffitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

So here's the thing, I love David Weber's War God series. I reread all three books every year or so, even though I know that, objectively, they're not really that well written. I like the idealized fight between good and evil and that Bahzell kicks butt for justice while bantering with his friends. It's total wish-fulfillment fantasy but it just happens to be my favorite wish.

I noticed in the last book, Wind Rider's Oath, that some of my least-favorite of Weber's weaknesses seemed to be growing. The prose was a bit more purple. The adjectives were a touch more overblown. And the horses became magnificent creatures of beauty, style, and grace—and I don't mean just the coursers, either. And, worst of all by a long shot, the scenes detailing the activities and motivations of team evil were a much larger part of the story and took over a much bigger part of the book. Still, at least Leanne was interesting and there were very tiny hints that maybe Bahzell wasn't completely uninterested in women after all...

So why bring that up in a review of the next book in the series? Because in War Maid's Choice Weber blows everything that matters to me so very, very badly in the first half of the novel.

First, team evil makes up practically all of the scenes in that first half. I didn't like that Cassan and Varnaythus survived Wind Rider in the first place and finding them such a large part of the focus here was appalling. We not only got team evil wringing their hands on stage and chewing the scenery, it wasn't even a new team evil (although we get to see a council of the evil gods for added spice... ugh)!

Second, Bahzell's romance is completely mishandled. I'm a big fan of romance, so when a character I love and have followed for years has his big moment, I want sparks to fly. Or at least a moment or two that shows how deeply devoted these people are to each other. Or maybe even a bit about the foundation of their relationship—you know, the shared experiences that underscore their shared values that will glue them together in trying times that every couple (let alone one that includes an avatar of the God of Justice) face. But sorry, no. None of that happens. I'm not going to go into detail here (mostly because that could be a really long rant). Suffice it to say that Weber doesn't seem to have a romantic bone in his body and wouldn't know a love scene if one bit him in the junk.

Fortunately, things step up at about the mid-point. Indeed, once Leanne and Bahzell are married you're past the worst of the stupid and it's back to most of the things I love: good fighting evil, big battles, political intrigue, honor and justice prevailing in the end (even if they take knocks along the way). Plus, you get less of the machinations of the bad guys (because by then, it's all set in motion and you only get them when Weber can't resist showing their frustration as their plans fall apart) and the spoiler stuff above becomes completely unimportant to the story, really.

It looks like Weber still has big plans for Bahzell and friends at the end of this one, so the series is probably not over. For the first time, it's not a given that I'll be reading it. I'll wait for a review or two to let me know what to expect. I can always hope that Weber will come to his senses and realize that all that space taken up by team evil's plotting is not just unnecessary, it's actively breaking his pacing all to pieces and detracting from the enjoyment some of his fans derive from the books. Also: yes, that is an extremely generous three stars...

[Mike Briggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

David Weber is a frustrating author for me to read. He has developed over the years a need to bloat, to pad, to use a thousand words to describe something when ten would. Or, if it was there in the beginning of his writing career, I over looked it when I first started reading him long long ago.

Somewhere in the reading of his books I think to myself, no more, never again will I read him. He has slowly driven me from his series. I've read my last Honor Harrington book - holding out longer than many others. I've read my last Safehold book. Maybe. Probably. The bloat finally overwhelmed me in that one. I keep saying to myself that I'm done with Weber, but he keeps doing stuff that brings me back. I do not recall the order now, but several books back I was done with Weber. Then he released his next Honor book and I had to read it. Then he released his next Safehold book, and I had to read it. Then an extended version of his short work involving Stephanie Harrington. And I had to read that one as well. There, at least, finally, I found something worthwhile. Probably because he wrote it and released it as a young adult book. Maybe. That or the story was good enough to get past the massive overuse of words. Well, I figured I was done with Weber except maybe for his next Stephanie Harrington book. He kept releasing things in series I previously enjoyed, so I'd give him another chance. Which lead to War Maid's Choice. I rather enjoyed the previous books in this fantasy series.

The bloat? The need to write every bloody person’s thoughts, including parts where the person told himself to stop it? Yes, it was there. So tired of internal conversations. So tired of people berating themselves internally. bah. Ok, the book worked well enough for me to give it 3.4 out of 5 stars. Mostly the ending pulled the rating up. But I'm done with this series as well.

I'll probably get pulled into another Weber book; there are other series he wrote that I enjoyed. He could release something in one of those series. Entice me back. Though, in those series, he had a co-writer, just like his next Stephanie Harrington book has a listed co-writer. The bloat does seem to happen more often in his solo work. So I'm probably done with Weber as a solo author. Maybe. I should probably note somewhere that David Weber had, at some point, been on my list as a favorite author. It's the reason I keep giving him another chance, though he has long since fallen off the favorite author list.

Right. I would only recommend this book to those who previously read and enjoyed the series. Otherwise I'd advise to steer clear.

[Economondos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is a big mug of tea. Has some sweetener, but a bit astringent. And it takes a while to get to the bottom. The dregs might be bitter, but the overall flavor keeps one coming back for more. Of course, it may not be your cup of tea.

The metaphor out of the way, this book is typical of the high standard of Weber's work. The characters are interesting. The world well-crafted with a deep history. The action-filled climax is intense. However, there are a lot of personal introspection pages and scenes of political discussion between characters (sometimes both at once). At 840 pages it's a big time commitment.

Overall 4.3/5

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

While this book, unlike the others in the series, seemed at times to drag on, the last half made it all worthwhile. I look forward to another, and another in the series! 7/28/17 reread.

[Jeffrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weber's bloated War Maid’s Choice, the latest novel in his Oath of Swords series, is another bad addition to his oeuvre. Oath of Swords, which I recommend, was great light fantasy. Nothing too complicated. Great character, great concept. Each book in this series has gotten progressively worse as Weber has taken the simple fantasy action more seriously.

War Maid’s Choice has the makings of a decent story about vengeful evil gods and even a romance, but in order to find it, you will need to wade through 100’s of pages of info bloat and unnecessary information. Essentially, Weber spends hundreds of pages detailing that the evil gods and their magical minions want to kill Bazhell because its important in a confrontation between the gods. In fact, Weber spends a Clancylike 400 pages before the novel finally kicks into high gear. It’s a journey that only Weber's most devoted fans should make.

Basically, the story is pretty simple. Weber's Prince Bahzell is a Horse Stealing Hradni, a member of a group of giant barbarian warriors, who for years have terrorized this world because of the Rage, a berserker fit that made them excellent warriors, but made them lose sense. Bazhell was finally able to bring some control to his people, when he became a mystical champion of the god Tomanak in earlier books in this series. Bazhell and his father have now led the Hrandi into an alliance with their hereditary enemies, the human Sothoii. In addition, Bazhell has also befriended the dwarves, who are expert rock workers. The Hrandi, the dwarves and the Sothoii are joining together to build a giant project that will enhance commerce between their people. There is the making of a huge alliance between the Sothoii and Hrandi and a confederation between the various Hrandi people. It does not bode well for the evil gods.

The Evil God Phrobus, the enemy of his brother god Tomanak, needs to conquer this world, but cannot work directly in the mortal plane. Phrobus enlists his daughter Carnadosa’s wizards to aid in destroying Bazhell and stopping the alliance in its tracks. Carnadosa’s wizards plan an attack on the alliance by going after the King of the Sothoii with a traitorous Sothoii nobel and Phrobus goes after Bazhell and the other champions of Tormanak with demons. Meanwhile Leeana Hanathafressa, a war maid of Sothoii, plots her own campaign – she wants Bazhell and she is prepared to risk it all to win his heart. A little romance, evil Wizards, nefarious plots, traitorous nobles and battle scenes. It could have been a good 300 page novel. Too bad this novel is 600 pages.

[TinaNoir · Rating 2 out of 5]

The worst installment of what so far has been a pleasant series.

Truthfuly, the first book was the best and each succeeding book was a little less better. But none of them was this problematic. I found myself skimming whole chapters to get past some of the wordiness.

- Too long, or rather, too much 'inner thought' information from every single character as they ruminate over their plans and the personality of every single other character.

- Insta romance between Leanna and Bahzell that apparently has been simmering from the other book. What? Complete surprise to me. And I read romance novels.

- Even Bigger, badder demons for Bahzell & Co. to fight.

- The only good parts were the fights. The rest was boring and frustrating and too much exposition.

- Would have liked to have seen more fall out & reaction to Leanna becoming the only female wind-rider.

[Jeremy Preacher · Rating 3 out of 5]

(This is a review of the ARC. Spoilers to follow.)

War Maid's Choice was... fine, I suppose. It does a lot of things that Wind Rider's Oath did, and in much the same ways. The one really notable thing it did was widen the scope of the series - we've gotten mutterings that something is going down, but now we get to see some pretty broad hints as to what it actually is.

My main problem is, of course, that the hints are so broad, and so obvious, that they're almost insulting. And what they're hinting at just doesn't look that interesting. If I didn't know it was coming, it might work better, but... now I do.

My various lesser problems: the "epic battle" was sort of ludicrous on a number of levels. Much is made of this new enemy that was maybe named in passing once but never actually described, so they appear to pop out of nowhere. The main enemy deity had the potential to be the most interesting, for a number of reasons, but he never actually appears and his minions are disposed of quickly and efficiently. The political maneuvering managed to be both absurdly byzantine and laughably unsubtle.

And the romance. Good god, the romance. Look, you can't just say "Oh these two characters that we know intimately, who have had close-third-person viewpoints through the whole of the last book, have actually been in love that whole time and just didn't want to say anything about it." It doesn't work. It really doesn't. If Weber intended for those two to end up together when he was writing Wind Rider's Oath, he botched the job, badly. (Also? Much is made throughout the series of just how huge Bahzell is. 7'8", 400 pounds of muscle, etc etc yes-your-dick-is-bigger. Except... it apparently isn't? Because, proportionally speaking... I'm just sayin')

Also, just send Brandark offscreen on a mission or something, will you? He's too good a character to waste like that.

[Debrac2014 · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half of the story was a bit long winded but the second half made it well worth it!

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gah -- can't wait for the next book in the series. Cannot believe we still haven't learned why Brandark has been added to the 'must die' list. :p

[James Ellis · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I could, I'd give this book two ratings. The first two-thirds would rate a 1/5, whilst the final battle sequence(s), filling the final third of the book would get a 4/5.

I'm not sure whether it is a matter that David Weber's bad habits as a writer have worsened over the years, or whether my tolerance for them has diminished, but I think this book was the final straw for me. Whilst he is still capable of writing gripping action scenes and creating characters that you care about, by now the baggage overwhelms the good stuff.

The biggest problem I have is that first two-thirds of the book is little more than an extended infodump. Initially, a great deal of pages are wasted while the book cycles through the stable of villains and protagonists, with all concerned filling in the reader on the background for the current book by reminiscing about the key events in their lives (particularly since the events of the prior book) that led up to the current situation, as well as paying due consideration as to how awesome/terrible the protagonists are, etc, etc, etc. With all the mustache twirling by the bad guys and fawning over the protagonists by the good, I was hard pressed to push on to the point where things actually started, more than 100 pages into the book.

Even there, however, the pacing was atrocious. A plot development would take place, and then the next chapter or so would consist of various groups of people considering or discussing that development at interminable length. There was more talking in this book than in most soap operas. Were all this discussion necessary to the plot, it wouldn't be so bad but way too much is extraneous. I don't need to read about how the villains feel about the latest development, I want Weber to show me their response instead! Alas show, don't tell is not a lesson to be gleaned from these pages.

(The choice about what discussions to have is also oddly made. There was one significant development that a character underwent that would have been very interesting to see how she divulged and explained it to her superior. Instead the book skipped that conversation to instead reveal how it was explained to another individual, with the superior already on-side. Moreover, thise whole segment rated only about a single page, compared to several pages discussing, say, the marriage plans of an unimportant tertiary character.)

When the major fighting started, about two thirds of the way through the book, the pacing picked up to Weber's norm, and most of the unecessary exposition disappeared or was reduced to manageable levels, but by then it was way too late. I would never have pushed through to this point had this been my first Weber novel, and as it is I think it will be my last, nevermind that I valued many of his older works enough to have more than a dozen of them in my collection.

[Annette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I plodded through this just to finish the series. Mind-numbingly boring for the first 200+ pages as character after character is introduced and political or wizardly plot after plot is described in excruciating detail, moderately livable for the next 200 as a few of the plots start to possibly move a little (but at the same time you've forgotten 3/4 of the names and places), and finally a little action in the last 150. In other words, classic Weber!
Sure, the climax was decent and the wrap of moderately satisfying, but I wouldn't call this a strong closer. In many ways, he's written himself into a corner with this series, as every book follows the same basic cycle: Bahzel tromps around the countryside acting all heroic, gets visited by a god (or two, or three), and then defeats one (or two, or three) increasingly nasty demons or the like while taking minimal personal damage. (To accuse Bahzel's triumphs of Deus ex Machina would be, perhaps, disingenuous, as the whole Point of a champion in this world is to serve as a conduit for their god's power. Still, one cannot help finding them a wee bit anticlimactic.)
Locked into this plot, as it were, the only place to develop is in the politics, which are getting nearly as obtuse and arcane as those in Manticor or the People's Republic.
Anyway, I'm ranting and raving on it, but in all fairness I DID read it and it's really little worse than anything else he's written: you just have to be wary of ODing on Weber!




(Huh. I just noticed the book is actually only 18 months old, with the previous volume 8 years before. I guess it's possible he intends to continue the series. He did leave a few bits hanging... NO, I will Not be draw in again! Probably!)

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is not one that can be read out of order. Some series you can get away with that, this would not be one of that type. I love Weber, but I can see where some would not like his verboseness. I would say that if you have read his scifi and didn't like it, you might still want to give his fantasy a try.
I rated this book as high as I did because I have been waiting and waiting for my OTP to finally get together. If I weren't as invested in the pairing I probably would have knocked a star or two off because there is not enough Brandark or Wencit ;).
In all seriousness I would say that if you liked the first three books you will appreciate this one, but it's not quite as good. It wraps up a few storylines nicely, while leaving room for the (probable)next book in the series. The plot is not as self-contained as the others, I wanted a little more character development of some of the minor characters, but I still enjoyed it. There is a lot lacking in the book by itself, there's no denying that. However, it works well as a part of the overall series. I recommend the series to anyone who likes epic fantasy.

[Brad · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read all the previous books in this series within the previous 6 months to reading this and still couldn't keep track of all the characters that would pop in and out of the story. This made the extremely boring first half of this book almost unbearable. The action sequences later in the book were good but they seem to just kind of happen despite the hundreds of pages leading up to them. The amount of direct influence the gods can and can't have is problematic. More so, this theme of limited involvement from the omnipotent makes little or no sense regarding Wencit and the conclusion. Disappointing.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much better than the 3rd book in the series. Actually has some action in the first third of this book. Although I gave it 4 stars, it is more 3 1/2. The action was much better this book than last, but the continued complexity of explaining all of the different plot possibilities over and over versus letting the story play out was a bit much. And the lead character is slowly becoming less and less of the focus. I want the first book again!

[Barry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall good book but tough, slow read at the beginning. Slow because of myriad political and social machinations. Last part of book usual Weber bang up terrific battle scenes.

[Nic · Rating 3 out of 5]

And yet another fantasy series that suffers from spreading itself too thin by following too many characters. I blame Tolkien.

[Jon]

In this most recent book in the War God series by Weber, recently released, we see all of the traits that the author has become known for, especially in the Honor Harrington novels, but with some common threads with his Safehold series, as well. Weber makes a full shift to multi-threading of the plot lines, with Tomanak's Champion, Bahzell, not exactly taking a back seat, but getting nowhere near as much airtime as in earlier books. Interestingly, seven years have passed since the events in Windrider's Oath, and seven years have passed in our world, as well, since the last book was published.

The war maid in the title is Leanna, daughter of Baron Tellian, and one thread of the story begins with her returning home for her twenty-first birthday. She has slowly come to grips with the way that many of her old friends, fellow nobles, and her father's servants have treated her since she "disgraced" her family by becoming a war maid, and possibly the thing that has saved her from bitterness has been knowing that she has always had the unconditional love of her mother and father. One of her reasons for returning is to tell her mother about her desire to make her own love known to a very unconventional (for her culture) person, and let the chips fall where they may. Leanna also surprises us in some other ways; being chosen by a courser as a windrider and having her love affair blessed by a visit from gods Tomanak and Lillinara.

The evil wizard, Varnaythus, plays more than a cameo role in this story, as his incessant travels and plotting are highly detailed here. By the time we get to the climactic last 100 pages or so of the book, we begin to wonder how ever can our heroes escape his tightly woven web of treachery. And, indeed, some of our beloved characters pay a price at the end, though one of them puts in a strange Obi Wan Kenobi appearance after being killed by one of three devils summoned to this plane by one of the dark gods, Krashnark.

Varnaythus' plot to kill Baron Tellian and blame him for the simultaneous assassination of King Markhos, having sent a group of mercenaries to do the job, with a false trail laid leading to the Purple Lords, but Baron Cassan is scheduled to arrive just in time to kill all the witnesses and put his own spin on things, is enough to make your head spin. But Leanna, the War Maids, loyal Lord Trisu (who is a bit of a jerk in earlier novels, but demonstrates that personality traits don't necessarily override loyalty and competence), and the Quaysar Temple Guard manage to squish the pests in the end.

Another thing that really makes this a Weber-esque novel are the theme which we've seen before in Honor Harrington stories, is exploring the human telepathic bonding with other sentient species; tree cats vs. coursers. Also, we see the same sort of Connecticut Yankee development that he writes about in the Safehold stories, except that the source of technology there is the android Merlyn Athawres, and in this story it is the dwarves who are inventing newer, faster, weapons with better alloy technology and building canals and light rail to move goods more quickly - Oh!, and a funicular, as well. Also, it's LONG - 596 pages, a typical Weber trait these days.

The conclusion of this book leaves us with a strong alliance between dwarves, Sothoii and hradani, the forces of the dark gods seriously weakened for a time, and rising enemies from those in surrounding lands who see their own prosperity threatened by this new union between hereditory enemies. It will be interesting to see what develops next.

[Adena Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a peasant woman to step out of the expected woman's role in a medieval society is challenging, painful and socially difficult to accept. For a noblewoman who is expected to set an example, that kind of behaviour runs headlong into stigma, prejudice and many, many bigots. The author has brilliantly re-cast the suffragette movement into a medieval era to create strong female characters who feel like a combination of Bradley's Darkover Renunciates and DC Comic's Amazons. I applaud Leeana and Gayrfessa being the new example and really enjoyed the author's idea of what war maids are really capable of in battle!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fourth book in the War God series by David Weber. In this one Bahzell gets married! He marries Leeana Hanathafressa, who is a human, a War Maid and finally the disgraced daughter of one of the Sothoii's most important Baron's. Needless to say this doesn't sit well with a great many people. Add in three devils who have been summoned to kill Bahzell and the usual infighting among the Sothoii and this book is complex, action packed and a great read. It is a great addition to this series.

[Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite series

This is the third book in a series that I have read more than once and in over 50 years of reading it remains one of my favorites. Bazhell is a character bigger than life. His humor, nobility, and loyalty are as apparent as his great heart, moral superiority, and bad assedness. He is one of the best characters in literature and his story is written by one of the best story tellers I ever come across.

[Freyja · Rating 4 out of 5]

This looks to be another re-read. There are plenty of battles, a bit of romance, and more gods showing up than ever before. We even have a wedding, but I won't spoil the surprise by saying who gets married. I thought it wasn't possible, myself, and it shows how much I know. There is a clear cliffhanger as well, but I don't think it gets resolved in the next book as there is simply too much going on.

[Chris Gillies · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a good story in there, but Weber is slipping into the habit spending too much time setting the scene for the scene to be over in a few rapid pages. Nice to see character development of others who haven't been central characters before, but I would say that the fun of the first book was mostly in the banter that Brandark and Bahzell had, and that is sorely lacking as the series moves onwards.

[Ted Bade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall this book was enjoyable. There were some parts that were, in my humble opinion, a bit lengthy explaining background detail. While some of it did help to set up tension in the story, other parts of this made me feel as if I was slogging through thick mud.

That being said, there were some very entertaining and well written parts of this novel and the overall story was very good. I enjoyed the reading and am looking forward to the next and I believe last novel in this series.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the fallibility of the God's, but admit that while good finish you wish there was more.
Needing to see the story find a true conclusion instead of just hanging there with no real termination.
I'd give 3 stars for that point of frustration that leaves the story incomplete but it was still well written.

[Drew Ck · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Weber is a master at world-building. Every little nuance he adds in, makes it that much easier to be sucked into book. Because his characters are flawed, when they overcome their struggles, the impact is felt. When favored characters die, you feel the impact. That is the sign of a master storyteller.

[Jimmy Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent!!

I've read all four of these when they came out in paper, but rereading them on a tablet was better because I could adjust the print size. A marvelous world you enter when you open the first book in this story, the characters, action and political deals are in depth and great detail. Of course, if you want a long story, read Weber.

[Saumya · Rating 1 out of 5]

I loved this series, past tense. I absolutely hated reading this book - bloated, terrible prose, ridiculous plot lines. All of it combined to make one of my worst reading experiences ever. I hope Weber never comes out with another book in this series and just allows it to fade away.

[Robert Romberger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent story in this series. The characters are well developed and personable, there is plenty of action, and Weber finishes the story while leaving open the overall arc for more. I am looking forward to the next book.

[I. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book. The story rose and rose until the big bang at the end and it really detailed the characters. As well there was more detail about the world, which is something I like to see. Overall this might be the best of the four. Very good.

[Ray A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Long lead-in

Exceptional battle scenes, but there is so much of the book to slog through to get to them. I read author's rewrite "In Fury Born" concurrently with this book, and I found the pacing completely different between the two books