Toll of Honor

Honorverse

by David Weber

A NEW SOLO NOVEL IN DAVID WEBER'S NYT BEST-SELLING HONORVERSE

“It is our duty to pay for our liberty with our own blood. The freedom that we shall win through our sacrifice and exertions, we shall be able to preserve with our own strength.” —Subhas Chandra Bose

Lieutenant Brandy Bolgeo has come home from the Battle of Hancock station wounded in both body and spirit. She will need months to regenerate her lost leg, but how long will it take to heal her heart?

She’s come home to find that her wounds, her ship’s brutal damage, the deaths of so many friends, were the fault of an arrogant, aristocratic coward who broke and ran in the face of the enemy. Who left her ship to pay the price for his craven desertion under fire. And whose powerful political allies are determined to protect and preserve him at any price.

They have held hostage the declaration of war until Lord Pavel Young escaped the consequences of his cowardice. They didn’t care what it cost the Navy. They didn’t care what it cost the entire Star Kingdom of Manticore. Their tactics have cost the Royal Navy the priceless initiative as revolution and military purges wrack the People’s Republic of Haven, and that lost window of opportunity will cost the Star Kingdom seventeen years of bloody warfare and hundreds of thousands of deaths.

Now Young is free to seek vengeance on the people he feels have “wronged” him. People like Paul Tankersley and Honor Harrington. Paid duelists, smear tactics, hired assassins in public restaurants . . . nothing is beneath Pavel Young. But Captain Harrington can look after herself, and Pavel Young is about to face the fury of the woman the newsies call the “Salamander.” Yet who will save the Star Kingdom from the repercussions of his actions?

Women and men like Brandy Bolgeo are about to pay the toll for the Star Kingdom of Manticore’s honor.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Military Fiction, Space Opera, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy, Military Science Fiction

528 pages, Hardcover

Published April 2, 2024

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

[Liviu · Rating 3 out of 5]

A completely unnecessary book but with enough stuff to make it ok but not enough to make it a required reading; similarly the (new) characters are ok but nothing memorable and the old characters are pretty much the same as in the early Honor novels; as a novella in an anthology this would have been great but as a 400+ page standalone novel it's really not worth getting unless one is a series completetist.

[Barb in Maryland · Rating 4 out of 5]

This long-time fan had a good time with this latest entry in Weber's vast series featuring Honor Harrington.
Weber revisits Field of Dishonor, to look at those events from other points of view in the first half of this book.
The second half gives us a look at some of the Royal Manticore Navy's action that was off-page in Flag in Exile.
He gives us a few new (to me) characters to cheer for (and worry about), as well as a chance to revisit with some favorites who are given more page space than in the earlier books. Oh yeah, he throws in an exciting space battle or two!
I especially enjoyed the opportunity to see the blooming of the romance between Chief Petty Officer Horace Harkness and Royal Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Iris Babcock! Great fun.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too Much Rehashing Earlier Books

I'm a huge fan of the Honor Harrington series and it's various spin-off books and have read most of them more than once. The author at times has a bad habit of revisiting events already covered in previous books, however.

This book was particularly bad in this respect. Most of the first half of the book was just a retelling of events from Field of Dishonor and large parts of the second half are directly copied from the novella "Travesty of Nature" which leaves very little actual new material in this book. It's a shame as I enjoyed the purported main character of this book and would have really liked to have read more about her.

[Tree Abbott · Rating 1 out of 5]

Repetitive

Weber gets worse and worse.
Repetitive. Wordy.
Not many tension points. Did I mention repetitive and wordy?
Yup. I did.
Time he retires the HH franchise.

[Karsten Stiller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great retelling of "Field of Dishonor", (this time outside of Honor Harrington's point of view) in part one and all new material from the first months of the first Manticoran-Havenite war in part two. What's not to like? Fresh, humorous, exciting (even if you know the storyline) - great book!

[Dan'l Danehy-Oakes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book in a new side series to the Honor Harrington books, "Expanded Honor."

It is also a _very_ disappointing book.

For one thing, its blurb claims that its main character is one Brandy Bolgeo; and indeed, she seems to be so for the first few chapters: and then she disappears from the narrative for over a hundred fifty pages.

For another...

The book is in two parts. The first part is, to all intents and purposes, a rehash of the fourth book in the main series, _Field of Dishonor_. It gives some new viewpoints to the story, notably that of its two main villains; but, really, iti adds little if any actual actually significant incident to it. I am assuming that these extra points of view of an already-told story are what makes this side series "expanded." If so, I -- who have read all three dozen or so previous books in the "Honorverse" -- can honestly live without it. Essentially, it combines with _Field_ to bring the story up to the high verbosity levels of the later books in the main series.

The second part is, in fact, about Brandy Bolgeo, and largely concerns her deployment, as an engineering officer, aboard HMS _Prince Adrian_, to capture poorly-guarded star systems currently in the hands of the People's Republic of Haven, generally referred to by the Good Guys as the "Peeps." There are a few battle scenes, lots of people get killed, and the eeeevilness of the Republic's "People's Commissioners," political officers assigned to assure the political correctness of military personnel, and especially of military commanders. While this is exploring a new corner, it is still going over what is, at this point, ancient history in the series's continuity, and, again, I don't really see much point to it.

Based on the Author's Note at the end of the book, the "Expanded Honorverse" will consist of "novels dealing with earlier periods in Honor's life and, for that matter, her parents' lives. There are quite a few back story corners I've always wanted to paint in."

And that, I think, is the problem in a nutshell: a series needs to move forward. Going back and "painting in corners" risks losing forward momentum, and boring readers. I may not be a typical reader for Weber's books; I hope for his sake I'm not, because, if I am, he's going to start seeing sales numbers decline.

[Anne Szlachcic · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve never given an “Honorverse “ book such a poor rating

This book is 75% a rehash of Pavel Young setting up the murder of Paul Tankersly and Honor’s subsequent duel with Pavel - told from other viewpoints
The last 25% is the Manties attacks at the start of the war with the Havenites featuring old and new characters

So if you have read the original story (which was 5*) then this book is a waste of money
As this is a 1st book in a series I hope the 2nd book does not rehash another previous storyline because if so I for one will not be buying it

[Neeuqdrazil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Other reviewers have it right - this is a complete rehash of events from early in the Honorverse, from slightly different perspectives. Brandy Bolgeo shows up briefly at the beginning, and then again at the end, a bit, but this just hops around all over the place. It doesn't hang together at all - it's very disjointed, and probably should have been another Honorverse collection of short stories, rather than 'a novel'.

Recommended for Honorverse completists, and no one else (and possibly not even Honorverse completists, at that.)

[Illana Halliday · Rating 4 out of 5]

revisiting Pavel Young era

This felt like material he did not include in other books, loosely strung together with a new character.
Kind of weird reading it and knowing so much of the plot and outcomes.
However, I am addicted to the Honorverse so enjoyed it anyway. Probably got more enjoyment from reading-reading all the earlier books last year though.

[Jim Gutzwiller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Toll of Honor. BooK 20.

Yeah you read that right book 20! Introduces us to some new characters, flashes out some of the old ones, and picks up the story after Honors duel!

Thank you!

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a comfort to being back in the world of Honor Harrington as this greatest hits remix forgoes tension for the familiar and new for the already shown. The idea of going back to reinterpret events from earlier books could be interesting, if it did not feel like an old fashioned clip show filled with scenes left on the cutting room floor rehashed, repackaged and churned out.

One for the completionist

A

[eyes.2c · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honor faces desolation, death of her lover, sworn into office as a lady steadfaster and the fallout from a duel with the hated Pavel Young. Loved it.

[Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

EARC Version

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rehash of old stories, but the narration is top notch as usual

[Kevin K · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a colossal waste of time. This is essential Honorverse Booked 4b, and is essentially a retelling (from a different perspective) of Field of Dishonor, a book from '94.

It does not advance the meta-plot at all, and honestly doesn't provide new information.

Severely disappointed, even for Honorverse fans this one is skippable

[Thor Toms · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very little new content, much of the book was a repeat of Field of Dishonor.

[Sean Kelleher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having already read sixteen novels in the Honorverse, I expected to enjoy Toll of Honor but I did not expect to be surprised by it. Delightfully, however, Weber’s latest book is more than just surprising; indeed, it recasts how readers understand the Star Kingdom of Manticore from both a structural, and decision-making perspective.

A. Structural Critique

Toll of Honor makes three new points which together represent a structural critique of Manticore’s elites, its government, and Honor herself. To be clear, I don’t think that Weber intended to make these points, but I do think that they are clearly implied by the text.

First, the Manticoran system of government is fundamentally flawed because the aristocracy is corrupt, and has far too much political power. In a world where a competent Queen’s government consistently held the nobility accountable to the rule of law, degenerates like Pavel Young would find it much harder to prosper. Furthermore, in a world where political power was distributed more evenly across the entire population, disgruntled aristocrats would have a much harder time holding up generally popular government policies.

Second, regarding the Young family’s blackmail files, it seems clear that they include materials on aristocrats from across Manticore’s political spectrum, and that their breadth of coverage helps to explain the government’s failure to adequately address Pavel Young’s misdeeds, as well as Honor’s demotion after she legally kills Pavel in the duel. It just doesn’t make sense that serial blackmailers would limit their target set to people who shared their political outlook, and the idea that only conservative aristocrats would behave very badly behind closed doors is risible.

Third, by choosing to pursue justice via legal duels, and then accepting her demotion afterwards, Honor is operating within the framework of a corrupt system, and is implicitly endorsing it. Thus, unlike the earlier books, Toll of Honor offers a serious critique of our great hero. Of course Honor is still a giant, but now she is a flawed giant, and I think that makes her a better, and more realistic character.

B. The Manpower Angle

Toll of Honor revisits an episode from the Haven-Manticore conflict which Weber has already described earlier in the series. But now readers can re-examine those past events in light of some relevant information that we learned in later books. Notably, we now know that the entire Haven-Manticore conflict was caused by Manpower’s machinations, and that both sides were being manipulated. Consequently, while the anti-war faction in Toll of Honor looks bad relative to what the characters know at the time of the book, it looks positively prescient relative to the future knowledge possessed by the reader.

Overall this book is an excellent contribution to the Honorverse.

[Kathryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite part: having this book to remind me why I loved the original series.

What I would change:
It seems that the author's need to fill in the blanks has become necessary in this book. This one at least has characters that I cared about in the original series, unlike Shadows of Victory, where I didn't care enough about those characters to have finished that particular book.

There is a balance authors seem to need to find. Yes, some backstory or fill in some holes is okay. I certainly have enjoyed some of the novellas that filled in how Honor's parents met and various other parts that show what made Honor the person she was. Knowing the backstory of Manitcore meeting treecats brought an added layer and, of course, showed Honor definitely had some of Stephanie's attitude. But.. to go back and revisit from different points of view, didn't add anything deeply for me. IF David Weber had decided to write it 100% from Harkness' point of view or even Tremaine's point of view and stuck with one of them or McKeon's or.. Bolego's - pick 1. Simply pick 1 and create the book around the 1 character. This book is less likely to cause people who never read the original series to pick up On Basilisk Station. You HAVE to know the original series to care enough for the too many focus characters in this book.

David Weber even points to this in the author's note... "Mostly, though, I wanted the opportunity to go back and visit some of my favorite characters from Honor's world..."

I love visiting side characters when they become main characters in their own story. The way this book was created... It was smashing stories together that didn't need to be. Simply allowing the story to have news reports shared would have given a glimpse into the timing, but not drug the story through the muck of lack of focus.

[Kathy Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book in The Expanded Honorverse series which are novels dealing with earlier periods in Honor's life. Therefore, much of the first half is very much a repetition of events written about in other books in the long-running series. It deals with a critical part of Honor's life centering around her disputes with Pavel Young and the death of Paul Tankersley and the way Honor deals with it.

This first part of the book is also concerned with political issues regarding the declaration of war against the Peeps. None of this political maneuvering is helped by Honor's actions in the aftermath of Pavel Young hiring the murder of her lover. Lieutenant Brandy Bolgeo is watching these goings on mostly from outside as she is going through regeneration of her lost leg and rehabilitation after the events of the Battle of Hancock. She's an Honor partisan even though she's never met her.

The second half of the book focuses on Lieutenant Brandy Bolgeo who is an engineer on the Prince Adrian commanded by Alastair McKeon. Also on board are Scotty Tremaine, Horace Harkness and Sargeant Major Babcock. The Prince Adrian is part of the Sixth Fleet's mission to harass the Peeps and chip away at their superior tonnage while waiting for the Manticore industries to ramp up to war standing.

Around the raids and battles, we get a chance to see the courtship between Harkness and Babcock which has been something fans of the series have wanted since both characters were introduced.

I enjoyed this story especially the second half which contained mostly new material. It has, however, made me want to reread the whole Honor Harrington series of which this is book 20 so that I can go back and spend time in this world and with these characters.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toll of Honor is not a "normal" Honor Harrington book. In fact, the protagonist (if this book even has one) is newcomer Brandy Bolgeo.

Yes, Honor is "in" this book. But it is more like watching her one step removed. A typical example is a video call Honor makes to her good friend Alistair McKeon telling Alistair what has been going on recently in her life.

The first portion of the new book Toll of Honor recounts a VERY painful time in young Honor's life. It covers Pavel Young from when they first meet at the military academy to the infamous duel (which Honor wins).

This portion of the new book mostly deals with how Honor's friends feel seeing the grief/pain in Honor's eyes (if you had not read the entire Honor Harrington series, Pavel Young has Honor's first love killed in a duel and Honor never forgive him for this).
Book two covers more of the early RMN war against the Peeps.

I will admit that I did enjoy seeing well-loved characters from Honor's military career again, especially Scotty Tremaine and Horace Harkness. And I especially enjoyed seeing the beginning of Honor's time with Andrew LaFollet and her Grayson armsmen.

In the Author's note following the end of this novel, David Weber says this is "the first volume of what we will be calling The Expanded Honorverse series: novels dealing with earlier periods in Honor's life and, for that matter, her parents' lives."

I hope that we might see Brandy Bolgeo again and follow more of her career, but I won't be surprised if we don't.

Recommended for all Honor Harrington series fans who would like to also revisit earlier times in Honor's life. Just not with Honor as our primary protagonist (as was true with the books in her main series).

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

A digression to start. I really regretted replaying Breath of the Wild immediately before Tears of the Kingdom came out, since they ended up being on the same map. It ruined the exploration of Tears because there was so little new exploring to do.

The first half of this book is the same way - it's probably much better if you have not recently read the original Honorverse books covering the same time period (which, good for me, I hadn't). The first half is an extremely choppy collection of chapters surrounding the duel with Young. It read very well as popcorn reading from the perspective of "oh, yeah, I remember reading this 10 years ago", as a light "I know what is going to happen" but with, I assume, new perspectives. I will note that every character is Absolutely Certain They Are Right...which is supposed to make the antagonist characters look extra evil and stupid but sort of backfires when none of the protagonists ever consider alternate perspectives themselves.

The second half of the book is standard Manties vs Peeps fare. Lots of powered missile envelopes and hyper limits. Again, it's fine popcorn reading; since it's an interquel you either know "oh this person will survive" or if it's a new name you probably don't care anyway. I enjoyed it.

I don't really know why it's two separate books glued together. I'd guess it's a publisher length thing, like how Peace Talks + Battle Ground got mutilated over in the Dresden Files universe.

I'd absolutely recommend against this if you haven't read at least the first half a dozen main Honorverse novels.

[Clayton Falter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Way too much recycling -- anthology hammered into novel form

The last half of the book mostly focuses on developing the stories of a few tangential characters from the middle mainline stories. Simultaneously, adds to the stories of a few important support characters that were not previously fully developed e.g. McKeon). No really significant new events for HH personally or her universe of course. Would have made an OK Worlds of Honor type novella.

But the first 30 percent has very little new material. In fact much of it seems to be verbatim extracts of prior novels with a few opening summary recaps. Only a few scattered paragraphs and pages of introductory material are inserted to provide background context and timing for persons which are the focus of the later half of the book.

After the first third, the book phases more and more into newly published material. Until around the half way point, it's mostly new details and perspectives on events in Honors life that have already been well covered as for their long term impact. Basically more focus on fine personal detail and social trivia.

Really most the book seems like reprints or fleshing out stuff that did not make prior novels in the series -- either unfinished fragments and ideas from old author's notes or edited out of first draft for length or lack of impact. Works best if you read and remember the events of prior novels... Otherwise the continuity and logic between sections tends to be lumpy and disjointed as a standalone novel.

[Raymond · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bait and Switch! Get this straight! I love the Honor Harrington Series from the very first publication! I have collected and reread all the books! I am a huge Fan! But this sucks!
I found this "expansion" of the Honorverse to be Weber regurgitating Harrington's life. Yet at the beginning, he introduces a new character and situation that would have made for an engaging and worthy heroine in her own right! The introduction of wounded Lieutenant Bolego, as the first protagonist, then she disappears into long maunderings of material we already know about!.

Saying this book is a "Standalone" is a misnomer. I was expecting some NEW material. Weber has shown his age by being unable to offer his fans a new engaging character who could have shown the Honorverse from the Mid-deck viewpoint! I was so disappointed I scanned the novel through the 50% mark and closed out. I was unhappy, and now wary of engaging with the hope that we would see any new characters by Weber fleshed out in the Honorverse worth reading about!

[Tony Hisgett · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I first heard about this book it was titled ’ Honor Harrington 15 - Toll of Honor’. Another ‘proper’ Honor Harrington book was definitely worth looking out for, unfortunately this turned out to be a misnomer and wasn’t what was actually being published.
The book starts with the recovery of ‘Brandy Bolgeo’, I assumed her recovery and subsequent redeployment would be the main storyline and this might be interesting.
However what we got was big chunks of a previous book Field of Dishonor. I enjoyed that book the first time around, but I’m not sure renaming and selling it again was such a great idea.

The second half of the book did follow ‘Brandy Bolgeo’, but this didn’t turn out to be that interesting, I hoped the story would be about Brandy and her development, but she was hardly in the story and the reality was some fairly tedious space battles.
After I finished the book my overwhelming thought was, what was the point!

[Michael Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great reading. More needs to come

A good read
As ex-navy myself, I relate to the culture. A bit wordy at times. I like the personal intetactions eyween characters. Mr We er is a bit keen on wiping out job lots of some of my gavourite characters
Luckily he was the light when it came to Honor Harrington.
One of my gripes is that I will die before some of the series are completed. Sneaky 'finish' in the last Safe Hold series, still don't know of they ever defeat the alien species that wiped out humanity except for Safe Hold.
Ditto for the Honor Harrington series. What will be the out come of the 'evil' genetically enhanced super intelligent secret culture trying to take over the galaxy? It would be nice to have a 'happy ever after' adding to these two series. One could argue that the Honor Harrington series is finished, but the Safehold series definitely has at least another 20 books to go! 😀

[Doug Sundseth · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

This book is set during the events of "Field of Dishonor".

We get a much more in-depth description of Honor's duels with Denver Summervale and Pavel Young, including the events leading up to those duels. And in the period of Honor's exile, we get a description of early offensive operations by Manticore against the PRH, seen mostly from the point-of-view of RMNS Prince Adrian and starring SPO Harkness and Lt Bolgio.

The writing in these stories is up to Weber's usual high standard, with excellent characterization, pacing, plotting, and setting.

The only thing keeping this from being a true 5-star read is the disconnected nature of the stories being told. This reads more like two short novels with intermingled scenes than one coherent narrative.

That said, the extra information on this period in the Honorverse is very welcome, though this should not be read before the main line of the series.

With that caveat, this book is highly recommended.

[Phyllis Griffiths · Rating 5 out of 5]

I throughly enjoyed this visit with old friends.

The author takes another look, through fresh eyes and different perspectives of the events that took place in the time period of the duel between Honour Herrington and Pavel Young.

Not all the characters are names that avid Honorverse fans would be familiar with. Some new people are introduced. Some things that have been mentioned but not in any detail get fleshed out.

If you’re looking for fresh content for a story set after Uncompromising Honor you might not enjoy this book as much as I did. But if you’re up for a bit of discovery of “ I wonder if there’s more to the story “ then this book will help you spend an enjoyable time with old friends.

This is a book for my read again shelf, but not until my spouse finishes reading it.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got 74% through the book but then was forced to put it aside for a nearly seven week trip out of town before racing through the rest on the day I got back!

This is an excellent read that takes some of the major events in Honor Harrington’s journey from the POV of other people who were involved. DON’T READ THIS BOOK until you get caught up on the whole series or else you’ll have major spoilers!

I can’t say which events without adding spoilers myself so I’ll just say that we get to see quite a bit more background in several different events that have had a huge impact on Honor or her career that were originally wrapped up in just a few chapters of their respective books.

This is a definite treat for Honorverse fans, as long as you save it for dessert!

[Mack Ogilvie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say that as much as I am looking forward to some sort of conclusion to the entire war against the Mesan Alignment, I thoroughly enjoyed Toll of Honor. It was a new perspective on the classic tale of vengence. It brought a bevy of new characters, and some old favorites, into a story about how Honor's choices affected the lives of others, both associated with her and some unassociated with her. It also fleshed out the war between the Crown and The Peoples Republic while not rehashing her battle against that regime. We all know how that war ended, but as in all wars, there are a myriad of people who fight and die from all walks of life. That is one of the things I like about Webers writing of the Honorverse, so much happens in so many directions across their "Prolonge(d)" lives.

[Alistair Robertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first two thirds was a basic retelling of field of dishonor. This was done through different fields of view of the same events. It was a bit of a hard time getting through as i found it boring. The last third was better expanding into what follows for the white-haven fleet after the declaration of war. This is where it gets interesting.
If I could reccomend anything it would be to split this book and incorporate the first bit into an expanded and rewritten field of dishonor "what I would have written if I had then the skills I have now" sort of thing. Then take the 2nd part and expand it to include the battle taking Trevor's star and publishing it as an expansion of the harrington universe