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Honor Harrington #3
The Short Victorious War
THESE PROLES ARE REVOLTING!
The families who rule the People's Republic of Haven are in trouble. The treasury's empty, the Proles are restless, and civil war is imminent.
But the ruling class knows what they need to keep in a "short victorious war" to unite the people and fill the treasury once more. It's a card they've played often in the last half-century, always successfully, and all that stands in their way is the Star Kingdom of Manticore and its threadbare enemies in the past who have always backed down.
Only this time the Peeps face something different. This time they're up against Captain Honor Harrington and a Royal Manticoran Navy that's prepared to give them a war that's far from short—or victorious.
The families who rule the People's Republic of Haven are in trouble. The treasury's empty, the Proles are restless, and civil war is imminent.
But the ruling class knows what they need to keep in a "short victorious war" to unite the people and fill the treasury once more. It's a card they've played often in the last half-century, always successfully, and all that stands in their way is the Star Kingdom of Manticore and its threadbare enemies in the past who have always backed down.
Only this time the Peeps face something different. This time they're up against Captain Honor Harrington and a Royal Manticoran Navy that's prepared to give them a war that's far from short—or victorious.
429 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 1, 1994
753 people are currently reading
2311 people want to read
About the author
David Weber
322 books4,547 followersDavid 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...
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...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 573 reviews
January 3, 2014
I think I've made up my mind about the Honor Harrington books. They are solid three star books. That doesn't mean that they are bad or that I won't read more of them. Three star books are good. They are fun. They just aren't great - and that is OK.
The Honor Harrington books are the book equivalent of big budget Hollywood action flicks. There are gargantuan space battles between the good guys and the bad guys. Think beam weapons, nuclear tipped missiles, and exploding space ships. The Short Victorious War delivers plenty of the stuff. And it is loads of fun. I enjoyed every minute of the action - especially the bluffs and counter-bluffs of the Manticore and Haven navies.
Like big budget Hollywood action movies, the Honor Harrington books lack meaningful character development and a true spark of originality. The Short Victorious War reintroduces Harrington's nemesis, Pavel Young, and there is some confrontation between the two because Young is technically her superior. Unfortunately when Young and Harrington came into conflict it felt formulaic. I was expecting Young to crack under pressure. I expected Harrington to have to save the day despite his cowardice. There is also a budding romance between Harrington and Paul Something-or-other, but it felt less than authentic to me. (I won't even go into the part where Mike (Harrington's female XO) had to teach Harrington how to apply make up. Really?!)
Even more aggravating is the author's shameless borrowing from history. To some extent this makes sense. The vast distances of space and the slow progression of interstellar combat as Weber envisions it is more akin to the age of sail than it is to the lightning strikes of modern navies (or even WWII navies). I can accept that. What I find really annoying is the shameless adaptation of the 1780-1800 period. "Rob S. Pierre" (a.k.a., Robespierre) as the leader of the People's Quorum against the Hereditary Legislaturalist families (a.k.a., nobility). The revolutionary "Committee of Public Safety." (Golly, the French Revolution had one of those too! Gee, what are the odds?) I fully expect that the next books will have a reign of terror and a resurgent Havenite navy along with a Napoleon-like figure. I expect more out of my authors. Borrow elements from the past to make a compelling and interesting world, but "Rob S. Pierre?" Really? Ugh!
I have no doubt that I will read at least a couple more of these books at some point but I know what they are now. They are solid three star books. Fun. Good. But not great.
The Honor Harrington books are the book equivalent of big budget Hollywood action flicks. There are gargantuan space battles between the good guys and the bad guys. Think beam weapons, nuclear tipped missiles, and exploding space ships. The Short Victorious War delivers plenty of the stuff. And it is loads of fun. I enjoyed every minute of the action - especially the bluffs and counter-bluffs of the Manticore and Haven navies.
Like big budget Hollywood action movies, the Honor Harrington books lack meaningful character development and a true spark of originality. The Short Victorious War reintroduces Harrington's nemesis, Pavel Young, and there is some confrontation between the two because Young is technically her superior. Unfortunately when Young and Harrington came into conflict it felt formulaic. I was expecting Young to crack under pressure. I expected Harrington to have to save the day despite his cowardice. There is also a budding romance between Harrington and Paul Something-or-other, but it felt less than authentic to me. (I won't even go into the part where Mike (Harrington's female XO) had to teach Harrington how to apply make up. Really?!)
Even more aggravating is the author's shameless borrowing from history. To some extent this makes sense. The vast distances of space and the slow progression of interstellar combat as Weber envisions it is more akin to the age of sail than it is to the lightning strikes of modern navies (or even WWII navies). I can accept that. What I find really annoying is the shameless adaptation of the 1780-1800 period. "Rob S. Pierre" (a.k.a., Robespierre) as the leader of the People's Quorum against the Hereditary Legislaturalist families (a.k.a., nobility). The revolutionary "Committee of Public Safety." (Golly, the French Revolution had one of those too! Gee, what are the odds?) I fully expect that the next books will have a reign of terror and a resurgent Havenite navy along with a Napoleon-like figure. I expect more out of my authors. Borrow elements from the past to make a compelling and interesting world, but "Rob S. Pierre?" Really? Ugh!
I have no doubt that I will read at least a couple more of these books at some point but I know what they are now. They are solid three star books. Fun. Good. But not great.
August 15, 2018
I have no real complaints about these books other than the fact that they're straight space opera that are entirely mil-SF. In the first book of the series, I was thrilled to get to know all the misfit characters and see how Honor won them over by being just plain awesome and win actual fights at super-long odds, but the same kind of formula doesn't quite work for me a second and third time.
She's already an established badass. Even when super-wounded in the previous one, she got up and led everyone to victory. In this one, she turns a whole predatory society that aimed for a short victorious war into a quivering embarrassed mess. Nothing short about it, and far from victorious.
I like the idea... in theory. Who doesn't like an underdog story? Uh... wait... the brass are contriving her into underdog positions. She's not an actual underdog now.
Still, she pulls a rabbit out of her hat again, so all's fair in love and war.
Except, I'm not quite sure I'm a big fan of the writing. I actually like a good amount of exposition, but not always about the same thing. In this case, it's all military and tech and how it all works together, spelled out in great detail and usually the reason why we get our big wins.
Fine, fine. But even I have limited patience for that kind of thing if that's almost all there is. You know, aside from getting some on the side or a petty vengeance from a jerk or the political machinations on either side of the war. They just aren't all that great.
I look at Bujold and then I look at Weber and I just can't compare the two with any justice. I think I'll always prefer Bujold. It's mostly just the writing, I think.
Alas.
I might have to stop the series here. Interest level just plummeted.
She's already an established badass. Even when super-wounded in the previous one, she got up and led everyone to victory. In this one, she turns a whole predatory society that aimed for a short victorious war into a quivering embarrassed mess. Nothing short about it, and far from victorious.
I like the idea... in theory. Who doesn't like an underdog story? Uh... wait... the brass are contriving her into underdog positions. She's not an actual underdog now.
Still, she pulls a rabbit out of her hat again, so all's fair in love and war.
Except, I'm not quite sure I'm a big fan of the writing. I actually like a good amount of exposition, but not always about the same thing. In this case, it's all military and tech and how it all works together, spelled out in great detail and usually the reason why we get our big wins.
Fine, fine. But even I have limited patience for that kind of thing if that's almost all there is. You know, aside from getting some on the side or a petty vengeance from a jerk or the political machinations on either side of the war. They just aren't all that great.
I look at Bujold and then I look at Weber and I just can't compare the two with any justice. I think I'll always prefer Bujold. It's mostly just the writing, I think.
Alas.
I might have to stop the series here. Interest level just plummeted.
May 22, 2011
The Honor Harrington books are excellent (so far anyway). This one is no exception. The characters are well drawn and the political situations if not deep and intricate are recognizable and told in a way that will either bring a nod of the head, a chuckle, or possibly tick you off if you disagree too strenuously with Weber.
Honor's career has moved forward in spite of a few glitches...like the enmity of certain powerful members of the Peerage and some of her superiors who think she's somewhat of a loose cannon...no big deal. Well painted though sometimes strained as a character Honor is becoming one of my favorite protagonists. All in all, the books tell a good story. Weber weaves the military aspects into the science fiction aspects well and works to make sure the science in the books is at least nominally within the realm of theory.
He works harder than he needs to for me. His last chapter/appendix on the FTL drives in this book did not get finished by "this reader".
Ya, I admit it, I'm more of a fantasy fan and space opera is fine with me. However these books will also please most of the "hard science fiction" snobs out there, not all of them, but most.
I would probably give these books a five star rating but there are times in each one, moments (if you will) where they seem to get almost silly, then they recover and seem to snap back into the series' own reality and move on. There are periods in each book where the "yawn factor" becomes a problem, but it never lasts and the story quickly becomes interesting again. But for now good reads that get a 4 star rating.
Mostly Recommended.
Honor's career has moved forward in spite of a few glitches...like the enmity of certain powerful members of the Peerage and some of her superiors who think she's somewhat of a loose cannon...no big deal. Well painted though sometimes strained as a character Honor is becoming one of my favorite protagonists. All in all, the books tell a good story. Weber weaves the military aspects into the science fiction aspects well and works to make sure the science in the books is at least nominally within the realm of theory.
He works harder than he needs to for me. His last chapter/appendix on the FTL drives in this book did not get finished by "this reader".
Ya, I admit it, I'm more of a fantasy fan and space opera is fine with me. However these books will also please most of the "hard science fiction" snobs out there, not all of them, but most.
I would probably give these books a five star rating but there are times in each one, moments (if you will) where they seem to get almost silly, then they recover and seem to snap back into the series' own reality and move on. There are periods in each book where the "yawn factor" becomes a problem, but it never lasts and the story quickly becomes interesting again. But for now good reads that get a 4 star rating.
Mostly Recommended.
November 24, 2022
3.5 stars
This was an enjoyable entry in this science fiction series. I didn't love it as much as the first two books but I definitely want to keep going.
This was an enjoyable entry in this science fiction series. I didn't love it as much as the first two books but I definitely want to keep going.
October 23, 2014
Honor continues to shine & this fairly short book opens several cans of worms that can really extend the series. This added to the depth of the series promising more fun in the future. I can't wait.
There are still some info dumps, but at least one was shoved into the back as an appendix. Much of the information was contained in the first book & shouldn't have been. I skimmed it, but it's not really needed.
The map in the front of the book is informative - too much so. Don't look at the legend too closely as it contains spoilers & is the same map that it contained in the following book. As you might guess from the title, there is a war & who owns what real estate comes into question. The map let's you know the outcome a bit too soon, not that it is any great surprise.
Again, Honor shines. She is still pretty close to perfect, but we get to see a side of her that hasn't been shown before & I enjoyed that. She's a little too central to the story in some ways, but she's always been a bit larger than life. It's one of the things that makes her such a good heroine. On to the next, Field of Dishonor!
(Screw the suggested reading schedule!)
;-)
There are still some info dumps, but at least one was shoved into the back as an appendix. Much of the information was contained in the first book & shouldn't have been. I skimmed it, but it's not really needed.
The map in the front of the book is informative - too much so. Don't look at the legend too closely as it contains spoilers & is the same map that it contained in the following book. As you might guess from the title, there is a war & who owns what real estate comes into question. The map let's you know the outcome a bit too soon, not that it is any great surprise.
Again, Honor shines. She is still pretty close to perfect, but we get to see a side of her that hasn't been shown before & I enjoyed that. She's a little too central to the story in some ways, but she's always been a bit larger than life. It's one of the things that makes her such a good heroine. On to the next, Field of Dishonor!
(Screw the suggested reading schedule!)
;-)
March 12, 2019
This is it—the big showdown! The war between the Kingdom of Manticore and the People’s Republic of Haven has come!
I’ve really been enjoying this series. Like I said in my review of On Basilisk Station, the Honorverse is what Star Trek wants to be when it grows up. Where Star Trek is campy, the Honorverse is polished. Where Star Trek is preachy, the Honorverse is nuanced. Where Star Trek relies on hand waving and technobabble, the Honorverse shines with complex, believable world-building and incredible attention to detail. And perhaps most importantly, where Star Trek characters do things that are head-shakingly stupid, the characters in the Honorverse all, for the most part, smart, capable people with very good reasons for everything they do.
In any case, while the third book wasn’t quite as good as the previous two, it did not disappoint. In terms of character development, this may have been the best book in the series so far. Honor Harrington confronts a bunch of her private demons in this book, including her near-rape at the hands of Pavel Yong, and Weber did a really good job of that. There was also no shortage of action, seeing as Honor commands one of the biggest and most ferocious RMN warships in the fleet, and goes head to head with the greatest existential threat to the kingdom itself.
That said, in some ways the ending felt… a little too perfect. There was very little of the underdog stuff that really drove the first book, and while the stakes were definitely high, and lots of people died, the way they pulled it off felt a little too flawless. Without getting into spoilers, this was especially true of the intrigue going on within the People’s Republic of Haven itself. There was definitely intrigue and subterfuge, but it didn’t feel complex enough, or messy enough, to really satisfy me. Everything lined up just a little too perfect.
That’s really my only complaint, though. There was no shortage of crowning moments, and some great come-uppances for the bad guys, especially Pavel Young. Quite a few tear-jerking moments as well, especially in the side stories and peripheral conflicts that didn’t involve Honor directly. More than just big guns and explosions, Weber really knows how to personalize a conflict and get you to feel deeply intimate with the characters. In that aspect, this was probably the best book in the series so far.
Great book, and immensely enjoyable, just like the previous two. I heartily recommend it.
I’ve really been enjoying this series. Like I said in my review of On Basilisk Station, the Honorverse is what Star Trek wants to be when it grows up. Where Star Trek is campy, the Honorverse is polished. Where Star Trek is preachy, the Honorverse is nuanced. Where Star Trek relies on hand waving and technobabble, the Honorverse shines with complex, believable world-building and incredible attention to detail. And perhaps most importantly, where Star Trek characters do things that are head-shakingly stupid, the characters in the Honorverse all, for the most part, smart, capable people with very good reasons for everything they do.
In any case, while the third book wasn’t quite as good as the previous two, it did not disappoint. In terms of character development, this may have been the best book in the series so far. Honor Harrington confronts a bunch of her private demons in this book, including her near-rape at the hands of Pavel Yong, and Weber did a really good job of that. There was also no shortage of action, seeing as Honor commands one of the biggest and most ferocious RMN warships in the fleet, and goes head to head with the greatest existential threat to the kingdom itself.
That said, in some ways the ending felt… a little too perfect. There was very little of the underdog stuff that really drove the first book, and while the stakes were definitely high, and lots of people died, the way they pulled it off felt a little too flawless. Without getting into spoilers, this was especially true of the intrigue going on within the People’s Republic of Haven itself. There was definitely intrigue and subterfuge, but it didn’t feel complex enough, or messy enough, to really satisfy me. Everything lined up just a little too perfect.
That’s really my only complaint, though. There was no shortage of crowning moments, and some great come-uppances for the bad guys, especially Pavel Young. Quite a few tear-jerking moments as well, especially in the side stories and peripheral conflicts that didn’t involve Honor directly. More than just big guns and explosions, Weber really knows how to personalize a conflict and get you to feel deeply intimate with the characters. In that aspect, this was probably the best book in the series so far.
Great book, and immensely enjoyable, just like the previous two. I heartily recommend it.
January 26, 2024
The series just keeps up the fast paced action and story line. Fantastic universe and characters. Very recommended
November 2, 2015
The Short Victorious War is the third book in the Honor Harrington series and covers the plans by the People's Republic of Haven's attempts to initiate a war with the Manticorians in order to distract their own internal political grumblings against a common enemy, as well as, hopefully, win the war to refill the republic's emptying coffers. For those who have read the previous two books in the series, there is little of surprise here. Honor and the surrounding cast remains the mostly the same. Her rise to power is still mistrusted by some and welcomed by others. Again, we expect Honor to be placed in an untenable situation, and yet, somehow, she will win through (at great cost) and be rewarded with more promotions (and hatred).
The first half of the book is scene setting and build up. Honor is returning to command, since her horrific injuries at the end of The Honor of the Queen , and is rewarded with both title - she is now Dame Honor - and the newest flag ship of the Navy - Nike. Having reached almost exactly 50% (I'm reading an ebook edition), it suddenly dawned on my that nothing had really happened. Not only that nothing had happened, but that I hadn't noticed and I was still eagerly reading. Maybe nothing had happened, but that nothing had been pretty well written. I was looking forward to the second half delivering on all this promise.
Sadly, it doesn't. The second half of the book feels a bit rushed. There are at least three battles going on, however we only get any real detail on one of them. Admittedly that's the battle with Honor in it, but the other two could have been interesting as well. Instead they are explained away with a brief section of self-remonstrating by the Havenite captains heading home with their tails between their legs. With that in mind, if you're going to concentrate on the battle that Honor is in at the expense of the others, why not actually make her a more central character in that battle. She feels to have been reduced to more of a bit-player in this book than the previous two.
While so much of military science fiction tends to have quite dictatorial politics, the almost lazy, and stereotypical, representation of the communist People's Republic of Haven as greedy, ill-educated, in-fighting, political players who will stop at nothing to gain power. I'm sure there will be exceptions, but we haven't seen them yet. Compared against the honourable (forgive the pun) Royalist Manticorians, with their strict codes of ethics and more trusting forms of power and government. There are exceptions - Lord Young the rapist being the prominent example. The obvious divisions of a 'good' society and a bad 'society' just seem a little lazy. That said, some of the political intrigue in the Havenite Republic are quite good fun to read.
The final 5% of the book is some kind of beginning of an Honorverse appendix - Honor Harrington's Navy. In it Weber describes some of the detail of the naval ships, technologies and relative fleet sizes of the Manticorian and Havenite fleets. It felt very 'tacked on' to me. I suspect that Weber had received a number of questions from readers and decided the easiest way to answer them was to rewrite some of his notes as an appendix. The information provided seemed to fall into two camps though - stuff I'd already worked out from reading the books (how impeller wedges affected the battle tactics) - and stuff I just didn't care about (average tonnage of a Manticorian or Havenite battle cruiser).
The book promised so much, and ultimately didn't live up to it's own hype. Throughout the first half it was going to be a solid 4, but the second half just seemed to slowly drag it down to a 3 that could have been so much more. I didn't hate any of it at all, but I think the book let itself down somewhat in the end.
The first half of the book is scene setting and build up. Honor is returning to command, since her horrific injuries at the end of The Honor of the Queen , and is rewarded with both title - she is now Dame Honor - and the newest flag ship of the Navy - Nike. Having reached almost exactly 50% (I'm reading an ebook edition), it suddenly dawned on my that nothing had really happened. Not only that nothing had happened, but that I hadn't noticed and I was still eagerly reading. Maybe nothing had happened, but that nothing had been pretty well written. I was looking forward to the second half delivering on all this promise.
Sadly, it doesn't. The second half of the book feels a bit rushed. There are at least three battles going on, however we only get any real detail on one of them. Admittedly that's the battle with Honor in it, but the other two could have been interesting as well. Instead they are explained away with a brief section of self-remonstrating by the Havenite captains heading home with their tails between their legs. With that in mind, if you're going to concentrate on the battle that Honor is in at the expense of the others, why not actually make her a more central character in that battle. She feels to have been reduced to more of a bit-player in this book than the previous two.
While so much of military science fiction tends to have quite dictatorial politics, the almost lazy, and stereotypical, representation of the communist People's Republic of Haven as greedy, ill-educated, in-fighting, political players who will stop at nothing to gain power. I'm sure there will be exceptions, but we haven't seen them yet. Compared against the honourable (forgive the pun) Royalist Manticorians, with their strict codes of ethics and more trusting forms of power and government. There are exceptions - Lord Young the rapist being the prominent example. The obvious divisions of a 'good' society and a bad 'society' just seem a little lazy. That said, some of the political intrigue in the Havenite Republic are quite good fun to read.
The final 5% of the book is some kind of beginning of an Honorverse appendix - Honor Harrington's Navy. In it Weber describes some of the detail of the naval ships, technologies and relative fleet sizes of the Manticorian and Havenite fleets. It felt very 'tacked on' to me. I suspect that Weber had received a number of questions from readers and decided the easiest way to answer them was to rewrite some of his notes as an appendix. The information provided seemed to fall into two camps though - stuff I'd already worked out from reading the books (how impeller wedges affected the battle tactics) - and stuff I just didn't care about (average tonnage of a Manticorian or Havenite battle cruiser).
The book promised so much, and ultimately didn't live up to it's own hype. Throughout the first half it was going to be a solid 4, but the second half just seemed to slowly drag it down to a 3 that could have been so much more. I didn't hate any of it at all, but I think the book let itself down somewhat in the end.
December 15, 2010
There are problems with this book. The mainly stem from the fact that there are no realistic characters in the honorverse. There is Honor who is the best that ever lived. She is always right, always perfect, and most important to David Weber, she has a vagina.
Then the rest of the cast is divided into 3 elements. 1) People who irrationally hate Honor. 2) People who irrationally love Honor. and 3) People who get their butt kick by honor to establish her perfection.
There are some Military Sci Fi elements, but most of the military protocol elements seem to exist and change mainly to create scenarios where Honor can demonstrate her greatness. The military strategy is likewise flawed. The enemy has to dedicate just enough forces to make it look hopeless for Honor, but not enough to actually beat her. The Objectives are defined, but the world is not. So it seems like if you are engaged in a war, and there is only one route between you and your enemy, you should station all of your forces there.
The Tactical Combat is well handled in space, and poorly handled planet side. However, all of the space combat is dependent on a series of weapons and technological abilities that are unbalanced, and seem to appear and disappear at need to serve the plot.
I recommend that everyone go read one of the Starfire books, and skip this one.
Then the rest of the cast is divided into 3 elements. 1) People who irrationally hate Honor. 2) People who irrationally love Honor. and 3) People who get their butt kick by honor to establish her perfection.
There are some Military Sci Fi elements, but most of the military protocol elements seem to exist and change mainly to create scenarios where Honor can demonstrate her greatness. The military strategy is likewise flawed. The enemy has to dedicate just enough forces to make it look hopeless for Honor, but not enough to actually beat her. The Objectives are defined, but the world is not. So it seems like if you are engaged in a war, and there is only one route between you and your enemy, you should station all of your forces there.
The Tactical Combat is well handled in space, and poorly handled planet side. However, all of the space combat is dependent on a series of weapons and technological abilities that are unbalanced, and seem to appear and disappear at need to serve the plot.
I recommend that everyone go read one of the Starfire books, and skip this one.
October 18, 2011
2.5 really.
This is the third Honor book that I've and I'm reading them in order. This book isn't bad, it's a little better than okay.
The second book in this series (The Honor of the Queen) looks at a female officer forced to work in a culture where women are second class citzens. In some ways, this book feels like he is going over something similar. This is because everyone who doubts Honor in this book is male and, therefore, either (a) dumb (b) evil or (c) both. Weber seems to want to talk about sexism without talking about sexism.
I can understand the reason. Talking about sexism, writing about sexism, is hard in a culture that is supposedly beyond it. (You get funny looks if you mention sexism and Star Trek. But honestly, why did all the women on ST:TNG were a one piece, and the guys two, hmmm?). There are ways, however, to deal with it. Take for instance, the UK and US versions of Prime Suscept. The original, the UK version, done many years ago dealt with sexism straight out. In the US version, the sexism is still there, but it is the subtle kind. Jane is disliked by some of her male collegues because she is new, and because she isn't a "soft" "girly" woman. She is too direct, she is too pushy, she isn't polite. She acts, in some ways, as how the male lead cop in a show should act (in essence, she is a less physical Steve Macgarret from the new Hawaii Five-0). If she was a man, it wouldn't be a problem, but because she doesn't act like a woman, it is. (BTW, it's a great show. I love the fact the fact she is tough and has a healthly personal life). Or if that doesn't work for you, think about Starbuck in the Battlestar remake, some people disliked her because she didn't act like a girl. A man doing all that is fine, but a woman, nope. It isn't quite the same as saying, "girls stink" but such thinking is still sexism. If Weber was dealing with this more sublte form, I could see it, and he seems to come close, but he doesn't hit it.
Another problem I had was Honor's prefection. Even her relationship with her tree-cat is extra special. In some characters, too, felt very flat.
Yet, there are parts of this book that are really good, in particular the space battle scenes. And it moves very quickly, yet there is something off about it.
This is the third Honor book that I've and I'm reading them in order. This book isn't bad, it's a little better than okay.
The second book in this series (The Honor of the Queen) looks at a female officer forced to work in a culture where women are second class citzens. In some ways, this book feels like he is going over something similar. This is because everyone who doubts Honor in this book is male and, therefore, either (a) dumb (b) evil or (c) both. Weber seems to want to talk about sexism without talking about sexism.
I can understand the reason. Talking about sexism, writing about sexism, is hard in a culture that is supposedly beyond it. (You get funny looks if you mention sexism and Star Trek. But honestly, why did all the women on ST:TNG were a one piece, and the guys two, hmmm?). There are ways, however, to deal with it. Take for instance, the UK and US versions of Prime Suscept. The original, the UK version, done many years ago dealt with sexism straight out. In the US version, the sexism is still there, but it is the subtle kind. Jane is disliked by some of her male collegues because she is new, and because she isn't a "soft" "girly" woman. She is too direct, she is too pushy, she isn't polite. She acts, in some ways, as how the male lead cop in a show should act (in essence, she is a less physical Steve Macgarret from the new Hawaii Five-0). If she was a man, it wouldn't be a problem, but because she doesn't act like a woman, it is. (BTW, it's a great show. I love the fact the fact she is tough and has a healthly personal life). Or if that doesn't work for you, think about Starbuck in the Battlestar remake, some people disliked her because she didn't act like a girl. A man doing all that is fine, but a woman, nope. It isn't quite the same as saying, "girls stink" but such thinking is still sexism. If Weber was dealing with this more sublte form, I could see it, and he seems to come close, but he doesn't hit it.
Another problem I had was Honor's prefection. Even her relationship with her tree-cat is extra special. In some characters, too, felt very flat.
Yet, there are parts of this book that are really good, in particular the space battle scenes. And it moves very quickly, yet there is something off about it.
April 2, 2010
I just finished The Short Victorious War by David Weber and I'm starting to notice a pattern here:
1. Honor Harrington thrust into difficult situation complicated by politics.
2. Honor thwarts an invasion while overcoming said politics.
3. Profit.
Now, I understand these have to be somewhat formulaic, and this book was in fact, enjoyable, so I can't complain excessively here. The real weakness of this book is that it's so short, and Honor plays such a minimal part in the action. I'd almost even call this an "interim" novel.
It's almost as if Weber painted himself into a corner temporarily by making the first two books give Honor such notoriety and career advancement, he had to pull back before it seemed too contrived. The Short Victorious War does provide some insight into where Haven may be evolving with the political and social unrest, and has some excellent battle scenes and tactics. It's fairly clear at this point that, while the main assaults featured here are critical at this point in the war, it's really all about Haven's attempt to pull the trigger and not take the blame; Honor's involvement is, at best, tangential.
I've started Field of Dishonor, and it's evident Weber is going to concentrate on Politics for a while and attempt to make Honor's character more resonant and sympathetic to the reader. We'll see if he succeeds.
1. Honor Harrington thrust into difficult situation complicated by politics.
2. Honor thwarts an invasion while overcoming said politics.
3. Profit.
Now, I understand these have to be somewhat formulaic, and this book was in fact, enjoyable, so I can't complain excessively here. The real weakness of this book is that it's so short, and Honor plays such a minimal part in the action. I'd almost even call this an "interim" novel.
It's almost as if Weber painted himself into a corner temporarily by making the first two books give Honor such notoriety and career advancement, he had to pull back before it seemed too contrived. The Short Victorious War does provide some insight into where Haven may be evolving with the political and social unrest, and has some excellent battle scenes and tactics. It's fairly clear at this point that, while the main assaults featured here are critical at this point in the war, it's really all about Haven's attempt to pull the trigger and not take the blame; Honor's involvement is, at best, tangential.
I've started Field of Dishonor, and it's evident Weber is going to concentrate on Politics for a while and attempt to make Honor's character more resonant and sympathetic to the reader. We'll see if he succeeds.
August 7, 2019
Pretty much the same as last time. Honor is a flagship captain & finally gets a love life which thrills everyone. Well done! Young shows up again & the PRH is being sneaky. Great fun!
2014 Review: I swear these books are as bad as chips. Can't eat (read/listen to) just one! Johnson read this one much better. The politics got better as did the war & personal situations. Made for a great story.
Weber is still a bit repetitious & tends to obscure rather than make points through his use of different units of measurement for acceleration. This is unfortunate, but I just went with it. On to the next after listening to another of London's stories.
2014 Review: I swear these books are as bad as chips. Can't eat (read/listen to) just one! Johnson read this one much better. The politics got better as did the war & personal situations. Made for a great story.
Weber is still a bit repetitious & tends to obscure rather than make points through his use of different units of measurement for acceleration. This is unfortunate, but I just went with it. On to the next after listening to another of London's stories.
June 16, 2020
The Peoples Republic of Haven mount their own version of blitzkreig, or shock and awe on the border with Manticore. They hope a surprise attack will bring a swift victory and then allow them to negotiate for peace from a position of strength.
As well as the obligatory and obvious ship to ship combat there is quite a bit in this one about the politics of the Peeps. Their government is fractured and in total disarray due to left wing policies that have bankrupted the empire and lead to widespread poverty.
For me this one was a bit to predictable so I am only going to give it 3 stars. A few things are left unresolved at the end and I enjoyed it enough to continuing the series.
As well as the obligatory and obvious ship to ship combat there is quite a bit in this one about the politics of the Peeps. Their government is fractured and in total disarray due to left wing policies that have bankrupted the empire and lead to widespread poverty.
For me this one was a bit to predictable so I am only going to give it 3 stars. A few things are left unresolved at the end and I enjoyed it enough to continuing the series.
January 11, 2022
The growing tension between the People's Republic of Haven and The Star Kingdom of Manticore form the basis for this novel's storyline. The previous novels have each described situations in which first Haven and then Manticore attempt to establish lines in the sand upon which to wage the coming war. Both times Haven's efforts were prevented in large part by the actions of Honor Harrington.
The primary aspect of this novel that I enjoyed was the way in which Honor's actions as a individual did not play so highly into the success of the "mission". She was important, but she did not actually make any major command decisions until the final roll of the dice at the end of the book. Instead, the book showed more of the structure of the military and the tactics involved in this imagining of space naval combat. I felt that this minor deduction in Honor's role did not in any way limit her character, but instead gave it a possibility of growing in another format. Plus, she was instrumental in sectors of the planning for the situations presented in the novels, which was also an enjoyable chance of pace.
A great deal of this book is based upon the anticipation of battle instead of any actual warfare, on both Haven's and Manticore's side of the storyline. During reading I have previously expressed a desire for a reduction in the amount that Haven's side of the story is expressed, because as I read about Manticore/Honor responding to situations I have at times felt as it is a little pointless to know the enemy's view point when your main character does not. So, narratively the main character is guessing, and you aren't brought into that with them. However, that said, I did enjoy some aspects of Haven's point of view during this book, and the throwbacks to the previous novels contained within those sections.
It does everything the blurb on the back says that it will and then gives you just a little bit more. A good read, and a good third book.
The primary aspect of this novel that I enjoyed was the way in which Honor's actions as a individual did not play so highly into the success of the "mission". She was important, but she did not actually make any major command decisions until the final roll of the dice at the end of the book. Instead, the book showed more of the structure of the military and the tactics involved in this imagining of space naval combat. I felt that this minor deduction in Honor's role did not in any way limit her character, but instead gave it a possibility of growing in another format. Plus, she was instrumental in sectors of the planning for the situations presented in the novels, which was also an enjoyable chance of pace.
A great deal of this book is based upon the anticipation of battle instead of any actual warfare, on both Haven's and Manticore's side of the storyline. During reading I have previously expressed a desire for a reduction in the amount that Haven's side of the story is expressed, because as I read about Manticore/Honor responding to situations I have at times felt as it is a little pointless to know the enemy's view point when your main character does not. So, narratively the main character is guessing, and you aren't brought into that with them. However, that said, I did enjoy some aspects of Haven's point of view during this book, and the throwbacks to the previous novels contained within those sections.
It does everything the blurb on the back says that it will and then gives you just a little bit more. A good read, and a good third book.
March 17, 2015
This is the weakest link in the series so far.
The clash in Yeltsin Star has started the conflict between Haven Republic and Manticore Kingdom. The Haven Republic, as always, denied any involvement. But nevertheless the tension is rising.
I am actually glad, because in this novel, we know more about what happened in the Havenite side. It brings more balance to the story, now we know what happened at the other side. The admiralty of Manticoran Navy is also troubled by the deployment of the task force. The protection of the allied nation is important, but also keeping the invading force at bay. The decision maker is torn between making a defense of an offense.
In this novel also, a full scale squadron battle is staged. The war is no longer a covert action, but a direct invasion. Unfortunately, the war, despite its bigger scale, fail to grasp the horror of war so well described in the second novel, The Honor of the Queen. This reason alone made me decreased the rating from 4 STARS to 3 STARS.
Don't let my review disappoint you. There are still a lot of good points. We have a full squadron manoeuvre, some interesting battle tactics (not just from the Manticore side). To be honest, this book is the beginning of the full scale conflict between Haven and Manticore. It is just somehow, the emotional tone is out-scaled by the Grayson-Masadan conflict.
So, only 3 STARS.
Note: I like it that the info dump is separated from the main part of the novel and put at the back, so that it does not disturb the flow of the story.
The clash in Yeltsin Star has started the conflict between Haven Republic and Manticore Kingdom. The Haven Republic, as always, denied any involvement. But nevertheless the tension is rising.
I am actually glad, because in this novel, we know more about what happened in the Havenite side. It brings more balance to the story, now we know what happened at the other side. The admiralty of Manticoran Navy is also troubled by the deployment of the task force. The protection of the allied nation is important, but also keeping the invading force at bay. The decision maker is torn between making a defense of an offense.
In this novel also, a full scale squadron battle is staged. The war is no longer a covert action, but a direct invasion. Unfortunately, the war, despite its bigger scale, fail to grasp the horror of war so well described in the second novel, The Honor of the Queen. This reason alone made me decreased the rating from 4 STARS to 3 STARS.
Don't let my review disappoint you. There are still a lot of good points. We have a full squadron manoeuvre, some interesting battle tactics (not just from the Manticore side). To be honest, this book is the beginning of the full scale conflict between Haven and Manticore. It is just somehow, the emotional tone is out-scaled by the Grayson-Masadan conflict.
So, only 3 STARS.
Note: I like it that the info dump is separated from the main part of the novel and put at the back, so that it does not disturb the flow of the story.
March 18, 2018
1/3 of the book: nothing happened.
2/3 of the book: only minor incidents. Some people who did appear in the book before died.
But we have nice battle at the end that makes reader feel happy.
2/3 of the book: only minor incidents. Some people who did appear in the book before died.
But we have nice battle at the end that makes reader feel happy.
January 17, 2018
Dans Une guerre victorieuse et brève, troisième tome de la saga Honor Harrington, David Weber nous projette un an après le joli carnage de Pour l’honneur de la reine. Notre héroïne a passé tout ce temps à se faire rafistoler et à se reposer parce qu’elle s’est bien faite amocher. Mais les vacances sont finies, c’est l’heure de la rentrée.
Honor Harrington est rappelée au service de Sa Majesté sur le croiseur de combat le plus prestigieux de la flotte, le HMS Victoire. Elle va donc faire ses bagages et repartir au boulot fissa, accompagnée de son chat sylvestre Nimitz et de l’intendant de la classe MacGuinness. Ils seront envoyés vers l’avant-poste de Hancock alors que la république de Havre, l’éternel ennemi, commence à faire des sienne en provoquant des escarmouches tout le long de leur frontière commune, ni vu ni connu. Est-ce que le royaume de Manticore va entrer dans une vraie guerre contre son rival ? Ça va péter pour de vrai ?
Dans ce troisième tome, Weber passe beaucoup de temps à nous expliquer tous les aspects politiques de son histoire, plongeant plus dans les conflits internes à Havre. On a ainsi une vision bien plus nuancée de ce grand méchant dont l’ombre plane sur Manticore depuis le début de la série. Cette guerre est d’ailleurs montée de toutes pièces par les politiques pour calmer ces bouseux de prolétaires qui arrêtent pas d’embêter les riches, au moins avec un bon vieux conflit patriotique ils seront distraits. Comme quoi on retrouve bien l’influence française derrière cet empire fictif… Heum…
Sur les deux premiers tomes, on avait à chaque fois un démarrage tout doux qui détaillait plein de trucs, et un basculement vers l’action et le gros suspense assez tard dans la lecture. Ici on a toujours cette construction en deux temps, mais on a l’impression que la première partie prend beaucoup plus de place, on arrive sur une seconde partie « badaboum » bien moins palpitante, limite anecdotique. Le passage de « bataille spatiale » est ainsi décevante, on ne retient pas son souffle pendant plusieurs centaines de pages comme le roman précédent, c’est expédié en quelques bordées et Honor ne fait finalement pas grand chose à part serrer les fesses pour que ça passe. Du coup il porte bien son titre en fait. On a même l’impression de relire le 2 en moins palpitant, vu que c’est globalement le même schéma depuis le début : Havre fait de la merde, Honor est dans un trou perdue et livrée à elle-même, elle doit résister jusqu’à ce que sa hiérarchie se bouge le popotin.
Et malgré ça, franchement, le bouquin passe très bien. Je l’ai dévoré en deux jours parce que David Weber gère toujours aussi bien ses personnages, les conflits internes dans la flotte et dans les deux « nations » rivales. On nuance un peu l’ennemi en les découvrant de l’intérieur avec un peuple en crise et une « résistance » qui se met en place. De son côté, Honor est en retrait dans le conflit mais on explore plus sa personnalité et ses rapports avec son entourage, à travers quelques personnages secondaires qu’on connaissait déjà, et aussi quelques nouveaux qui vont prendre de l’importance comme son ami Michelle Henke ou l’amiral Sarnow qui sera son supérieur sur cette mission. Et on a même la petite romance en bonus.
Honor Harrington est toujours une série très agréable à lire, qui détend mais avec assez de solidité pour ne pas tomber dans le divertissement décérébré. Cette relecture des grands récits d’aventures maritimes dans l’espace commence peut-être (un peu) à se répéter mais apparemment le tome 4 donne un bon coup de fouet à tout ça, donc vivement !
http://ours-inculte.fr/guerre-victori...
Honor Harrington est rappelée au service de Sa Majesté sur le croiseur de combat le plus prestigieux de la flotte, le HMS Victoire. Elle va donc faire ses bagages et repartir au boulot fissa, accompagnée de son chat sylvestre Nimitz et de l’intendant de la classe MacGuinness. Ils seront envoyés vers l’avant-poste de Hancock alors que la république de Havre, l’éternel ennemi, commence à faire des sienne en provoquant des escarmouches tout le long de leur frontière commune, ni vu ni connu. Est-ce que le royaume de Manticore va entrer dans une vraie guerre contre son rival ? Ça va péter pour de vrai ?
Dans ce troisième tome, Weber passe beaucoup de temps à nous expliquer tous les aspects politiques de son histoire, plongeant plus dans les conflits internes à Havre. On a ainsi une vision bien plus nuancée de ce grand méchant dont l’ombre plane sur Manticore depuis le début de la série. Cette guerre est d’ailleurs montée de toutes pièces par les politiques pour calmer ces bouseux de prolétaires qui arrêtent pas d’embêter les riches, au moins avec un bon vieux conflit patriotique ils seront distraits. Comme quoi on retrouve bien l’influence française derrière cet empire fictif… Heum…
Sur les deux premiers tomes, on avait à chaque fois un démarrage tout doux qui détaillait plein de trucs, et un basculement vers l’action et le gros suspense assez tard dans la lecture. Ici on a toujours cette construction en deux temps, mais on a l’impression que la première partie prend beaucoup plus de place, on arrive sur une seconde partie « badaboum » bien moins palpitante, limite anecdotique. Le passage de « bataille spatiale » est ainsi décevante, on ne retient pas son souffle pendant plusieurs centaines de pages comme le roman précédent, c’est expédié en quelques bordées et Honor ne fait finalement pas grand chose à part serrer les fesses pour que ça passe. Du coup il porte bien son titre en fait. On a même l’impression de relire le 2 en moins palpitant, vu que c’est globalement le même schéma depuis le début : Havre fait de la merde, Honor est dans un trou perdue et livrée à elle-même, elle doit résister jusqu’à ce que sa hiérarchie se bouge le popotin.
Et malgré ça, franchement, le bouquin passe très bien. Je l’ai dévoré en deux jours parce que David Weber gère toujours aussi bien ses personnages, les conflits internes dans la flotte et dans les deux « nations » rivales. On nuance un peu l’ennemi en les découvrant de l’intérieur avec un peuple en crise et une « résistance » qui se met en place. De son côté, Honor est en retrait dans le conflit mais on explore plus sa personnalité et ses rapports avec son entourage, à travers quelques personnages secondaires qu’on connaissait déjà, et aussi quelques nouveaux qui vont prendre de l’importance comme son ami Michelle Henke ou l’amiral Sarnow qui sera son supérieur sur cette mission. Et on a même la petite romance en bonus.
Honor Harrington est toujours une série très agréable à lire, qui détend mais avec assez de solidité pour ne pas tomber dans le divertissement décérébré. Cette relecture des grands récits d’aventures maritimes dans l’espace commence peut-être (un peu) à se répéter mais apparemment le tome 4 donne un bon coup de fouet à tout ça, donc vivement !
http://ours-inculte.fr/guerre-victori...
July 28, 2024
Brilliant. Recognizes and illustrates the truth of the interwoven balance of the masculine and the feminine. Also great philosophical, political, and tactical aspects as with the previous books.
"...And so she'd gone her own way, cool and disengaged, faintly amused by the romantic entanglements she saw about her but totally untouched by them...Her pulse had calmed—or perhaps simply raced for another reason—and, for the first time she could recall, she'd been glad to let someone else take charge. Someone who understood the mysteries which had always confused and frightened her...and tonight she was suddenly aware that she wasn't just "one of the guys" after all!"
God damn.
Mr. Weber, you are awake and most wise. If you somehow ever read this, I deeply appreciate your careful examination of these energies, and the inner battles for a woman who does not wish to be seen as weak due to her femininity, which was always a part of her strength even if she didn't know. I think a lot of women experience this.
Yes, it can plague us early in life when we are not so wise and only wish to succeed or survive independently when it seems like no one can be trusted. It is easier to take a psychological scalpel to ourselves, trying to control everything in a practical manner, only allowing doors to emotion to be half-opened, and even to avoid romance in youth. An open heart is still the most valuable commodity as it allows for optimal balance. When that synergy is realized, the magic of both nature and consciousness is visible. Trust is high risk, high reward. I learned a lot about myself and reality overall when I met my husband. I was terrified at first, but accepting his proposal and marrying him was the best thing I ever did. I really wish I knew how to say what I mean here, I hope some of it makes some sort of sense. We live in an era that has a disdain for traditional, baseline masculinity and femininity, and I feel like you understand how misguided total war against these aspects of human nature are.
"...And so she'd gone her own way, cool and disengaged, faintly amused by the romantic entanglements she saw about her but totally untouched by them...Her pulse had calmed—or perhaps simply raced for another reason—and, for the first time she could recall, she'd been glad to let someone else take charge. Someone who understood the mysteries which had always confused and frightened her...and tonight she was suddenly aware that she wasn't just "one of the guys" after all!"
God damn.
Mr. Weber, you are awake and most wise. If you somehow ever read this, I deeply appreciate your careful examination of these energies, and the inner battles for a woman who does not wish to be seen as weak due to her femininity, which was always a part of her strength even if she didn't know. I think a lot of women experience this.
Yes, it can plague us early in life when we are not so wise and only wish to succeed or survive independently when it seems like no one can be trusted. It is easier to take a psychological scalpel to ourselves, trying to control everything in a practical manner, only allowing doors to emotion to be half-opened, and even to avoid romance in youth. An open heart is still the most valuable commodity as it allows for optimal balance. When that synergy is realized, the magic of both nature and consciousness is visible. Trust is high risk, high reward. I learned a lot about myself and reality overall when I met my husband. I was terrified at first, but accepting his proposal and marrying him was the best thing I ever did. I really wish I knew how to say what I mean here, I hope some of it makes some sort of sense. We live in an era that has a disdain for traditional, baseline masculinity and femininity, and I feel like you understand how misguided total war against these aspects of human nature are.
November 24, 2016
The Short Victorious War is the third book in the Honor Harrington series by David Weber, and it is truly the book that kicks off the hostilities between The Star Kingdom of Manticore and The People’s Republic of Haven proper. This book is based around the initial stages of a war that neither space society wishes to fight, but one that both are expecting.
Haven is a society based upon conquest, or rather, it is one that is now reliant upon conquest to continue to function. It is an interesting case of a twisted welfare state gone mad in many ways—at least it appears so at this stage—where there are billions of people living off the state, supported by the government, but in no way giving back to society. It is of course an exaggerated situation, but the stark differences between it and Manticore are intriguing to read about. It also gives an insight as to why Haven has needed to conquer so much of the surrounding stellar real estate simply to continue to exist.
In the previous two novels a lot was made of Manticore superior equipment, and while their forces are still shown as superior, I was pleased to see that their belief in their own superiority made them complacent. It makes sense for Haven to understand their own position of inferior hardware, and with their slack population issues be unable to bridge the gaps themselves, but wish to exploit Manticore’s technological arrogance. However, once again, I was pleased by the way that Weber showed Honor, and her Admiral, working through how to make a bad situation in Hancock into something functional.
I also enjoyed the way that Weber gave more background to Honor’s character in this novel. The situation with Pavel Young was expanded upon in a manner that made complete and total sense, and a secondary situation further explained why Honor has the beliefs about herself that she does. Similarly, I was very pleased with Michelle Henke’s addition to the character pool. Honor’s past outside of Young hasn’t often been expanded upon, but the Henke gives an insight into the type of person that Honor has always been. It also greatly pleased me that someone was around for Honor during her academy days.
Finally, I believe the aspect of this novel that I’ve enjoyed the most in all my times reading it, is the manner in which Honor comes into her own during the course of it. We see it in both her personal interactions, and in her combat command. Honor has always been shown to have a knack for combat, but before it has always been on a small scale with at most three ships, this time it is an entire Division. Overall, this was a very enjoyable read, and Honor is a very interesting character to follow.
Haven is a society based upon conquest, or rather, it is one that is now reliant upon conquest to continue to function. It is an interesting case of a twisted welfare state gone mad in many ways—at least it appears so at this stage—where there are billions of people living off the state, supported by the government, but in no way giving back to society. It is of course an exaggerated situation, but the stark differences between it and Manticore are intriguing to read about. It also gives an insight as to why Haven has needed to conquer so much of the surrounding stellar real estate simply to continue to exist.
In the previous two novels a lot was made of Manticore superior equipment, and while their forces are still shown as superior, I was pleased to see that their belief in their own superiority made them complacent. It makes sense for Haven to understand their own position of inferior hardware, and with their slack population issues be unable to bridge the gaps themselves, but wish to exploit Manticore’s technological arrogance. However, once again, I was pleased by the way that Weber showed Honor, and her Admiral, working through how to make a bad situation in Hancock into something functional.
I also enjoyed the way that Weber gave more background to Honor’s character in this novel. The situation with Pavel Young was expanded upon in a manner that made complete and total sense, and a secondary situation further explained why Honor has the beliefs about herself that she does. Similarly, I was very pleased with Michelle Henke’s addition to the character pool. Honor’s past outside of Young hasn’t often been expanded upon, but the Henke gives an insight into the type of person that Honor has always been. It also greatly pleased me that someone was around for Honor during her academy days.
Finally, I believe the aspect of this novel that I’ve enjoyed the most in all my times reading it, is the manner in which Honor comes into her own during the course of it. We see it in both her personal interactions, and in her combat command. Honor has always been shown to have a knack for combat, but before it has always been on a small scale with at most three ships, this time it is an entire Division. Overall, this was a very enjoyable read, and Honor is a very interesting character to follow.
November 17, 2017
Close to three stars, but I hit such a block when reading the middle of this book. It took me a week to get through one chapter.
The Short Victorious War is an idea by the People's Republic of Haven to draw Manticore into a war, in order to distract their populace from the unrest and widespread economic and political issues on Haven.
In the beginning, Honor is recovering from a head wound, and is adapting to a new bionic eye. She is called back to duty, and assumes command of the ship Nike as the flag captain in her squadron under Admiral Sarnow. After some time, Pavel Young, her enemy, i.e. attempted rapist, also joins the squadron. However, Honor does find some romance with another officer, and surprisingly, she does have character development.
There aren't many battles in the beginning and middle. Much of the action is placed towards the end. The middle is so focused on the strategy, from multiple point of views, and I wasn't very invested in the merry-go-round of characters driving the narrative. It got so heavy I had a hard time getting through the middle. Once it got to the actual battle, it felt like a re-hash of the strategy portions.
I really liked Honor's character development. I was surprised that she got any development, and the beginning of the book was my favorite. Honestly, all the parts with Honor are really great, but I kept falling asleep with all the strategy talk.
Not to mention the seemingly hundreds of characters that are mentioned! It was definitely hard for me to keep track of the command structure. At one point I was making notes of the connections among all the characters.
The way Pavel Young was handled was a bit odd. Considering that he tried to rape Honor, I found it weird that another character (male) is trying to get her to see how bad Young's life is now after Honor beat him up. And that Honor truly considers this and has some sympathy. I guess if I were I Honor's position I would not care at all what happened to him.
I liked the French references with Haven. I found it amusing that there is a Rob S. Pierre in the narrative. If you know even a little bit of French history, you can guess what that character's about.
I preferred the previous book, but I think there is potential if the battles don't become such a copy of the strategy. It makes the reading very repetitious. This book was written over 20 years ago at this point, and I think it shows its age somewhat in its style.
The Short Victorious War is an idea by the People's Republic of Haven to draw Manticore into a war, in order to distract their populace from the unrest and widespread economic and political issues on Haven.
In the beginning, Honor is recovering from a head wound, and is adapting to a new bionic eye. She is called back to duty, and assumes command of the ship Nike as the flag captain in her squadron under Admiral Sarnow. After some time, Pavel Young, her enemy, i.e. attempted rapist, also joins the squadron. However, Honor does find some romance with another officer, and surprisingly, she does have character development.
There aren't many battles in the beginning and middle. Much of the action is placed towards the end. The middle is so focused on the strategy, from multiple point of views, and I wasn't very invested in the merry-go-round of characters driving the narrative. It got so heavy I had a hard time getting through the middle. Once it got to the actual battle, it felt like a re-hash of the strategy portions.
I really liked Honor's character development. I was surprised that she got any development, and the beginning of the book was my favorite. Honestly, all the parts with Honor are really great, but I kept falling asleep with all the strategy talk.
Not to mention the seemingly hundreds of characters that are mentioned! It was definitely hard for me to keep track of the command structure. At one point I was making notes of the connections among all the characters.
The way Pavel Young was handled was a bit odd. Considering that he tried to rape Honor, I found it weird that another character (male) is trying to get her to see how bad Young's life is now after Honor beat him up. And that Honor truly considers this and has some sympathy. I guess if I were I Honor's position I would not care at all what happened to him.
I liked the French references with Haven. I found it amusing that there is a Rob S. Pierre in the narrative. If you know even a little bit of French history, you can guess what that character's about.
I preferred the previous book, but I think there is potential if the battles don't become such a copy of the strategy. It makes the reading very repetitious. This book was written over 20 years ago at this point, and I think it shows its age somewhat in its style.
August 16, 2022
As much as I liked the two previous books, this one I struggled to enjoy. First of all, the plot lacked enough focus to me: on the one side, we have Havenites plotting their war, on the other we have Manticore basically being hight and mighty, and in the middle of this is Honor, who, despite having nothing really to do, is still the embodiment of virtue and perfection (which, I have to say, by this point it's starting to get a bit old...)
So while the previous books had actual reasons to actively engage the characters (or character...) in the plot, "The Short Victorious War" feels like it's just drifting in space with no direction. Maybe if I cared about Haven politics, I would be more thrilled, but since I'm not, I was pretty bored more than half the time. Even the final space battle didn't deliver, which is a dissapointing first for me.
And why is there so much focus on rape? I should imagine there are thousand other creative ways to inflict hurt upon female characters (if that is indeed the necessity), but resorting to rape or threats of rape over and over again feels cheap, looks like an easy way out, and, frankly, is insulting. I can hardly refrain from saying that this is exactly why I don't like reading books with female protagonists written by male authors...
I think the only positive thing I got here was seeing a different side of Honor, though it still was overshadowed by the simple fact that David Weber's writing about feelings, emotions and the feminine side of his protagonist is seriously awkward and clumsy. More than once I was actually embarassed for him.
All in all, I feel now is the time to take a longer break from the series.
So while the previous books had actual reasons to actively engage the characters (or character...) in the plot, "The Short Victorious War" feels like it's just drifting in space with no direction. Maybe if I cared about Haven politics, I would be more thrilled, but since I'm not, I was pretty bored more than half the time. Even the final space battle didn't deliver, which is a dissapointing first for me.
And why is there so much focus on rape? I should imagine there are thousand other creative ways to inflict hurt upon female characters (if that is indeed the necessity), but resorting to rape or threats of rape over and over again feels cheap, looks like an easy way out, and, frankly, is insulting. I can hardly refrain from saying that this is exactly why I don't like reading books with female protagonists written by male authors...
I think the only positive thing I got here was seeing a different side of Honor, though it still was overshadowed by the simple fact that David Weber's writing about feelings, emotions and the feminine side of his protagonist is seriously awkward and clumsy. More than once I was actually embarassed for him.
All in all, I feel now is the time to take a longer break from the series.
October 15, 2017
The third novel in David Weber's "Honor Harrington" series continues the story of Honor Harrington as she recovers from wounds received in battle and is given command of a new battlecruiser. Honor and her crew begin putting the ship through its paces, but we know that it won't be long before military action is required and Honor fights again against the forces of The People's Republic of Haven.
David Weber has done a fine job of directly transfering Napoleonic naval warfare stories into a science fiction setting, sailing ships becoming space ships. Think Patrick O'Brian and the Aubrey-Maturin series.
This transference is all well and good. All of the elements that make action sequences in O'Brian's world makes for fine reading in Weber's world as well. The problem is that, like O'Brian, Weber is sometimes a bit sparse in how much action he gives us. Echoing O'Brian, some of his books spend far too much telling the political backstory and far less time in giving us real action sequences.
"The Short Victorious War" suffers from this dilemma. Unfortunately, a great deal of the book is spent in explaining the global politics of the two empires and we're 80% of the way into the book before we finally get the action sequences that we're looking for. Worse, the political narrative includes far too many admirals, lords and politicians to keep track of. Happily, the battle sequences are engaging and exciting enough and Honor's character is painted richly enough that we almost forgive Weber all of the preamble once he finally gives us a little action. Almost.
David Weber has done a fine job of directly transfering Napoleonic naval warfare stories into a science fiction setting, sailing ships becoming space ships. Think Patrick O'Brian and the Aubrey-Maturin series.
This transference is all well and good. All of the elements that make action sequences in O'Brian's world makes for fine reading in Weber's world as well. The problem is that, like O'Brian, Weber is sometimes a bit sparse in how much action he gives us. Echoing O'Brian, some of his books spend far too much telling the political backstory and far less time in giving us real action sequences.
"The Short Victorious War" suffers from this dilemma. Unfortunately, a great deal of the book is spent in explaining the global politics of the two empires and we're 80% of the way into the book before we finally get the action sequences that we're looking for. Worse, the political narrative includes far too many admirals, lords and politicians to keep track of. Happily, the battle sequences are engaging and exciting enough and Honor's character is painted richly enough that we almost forgive Weber all of the preamble once he finally gives us a little action. Almost.
November 24, 2019
There are some issues I have with this book. It gets boring and tedious quite fast. And it shouldn't have. But David Weber adds characters and side-plots - and that would be awesome if he would've written a 900 pages book, but he does not. So we're left with a pretend French Revolution, with a Rob S Pierre, with a war in space that is described in gruesome detail.
He makes it up, however, by humanizing Honor a bit more. Finally, there's some real relationships at play: a friend, Heneke, and a boyfriend, Tankersley. And the point is that for once, this character makes sense, even if Weber cuts a lot of corners, and we really don't know why Honor starts a relationship with this Tankersley dude. But heck, suspension of disbelief!
Yes, it took me a lot of time to read this - mostly because it was so damned boring when he went into details on every single nook and cranny, that I thought of abandoning the book several times. I held on to it, though, and in the end it was a pleasant experience. Not as pleasant as I expected, but pleasant enough.
He makes it up, however, by humanizing Honor a bit more. Finally, there's some real relationships at play: a friend, Heneke, and a boyfriend, Tankersley. And the point is that for once, this character makes sense, even if Weber cuts a lot of corners, and we really don't know why Honor starts a relationship with this Tankersley dude. But heck, suspension of disbelief!
Yes, it took me a lot of time to read this - mostly because it was so damned boring when he went into details on every single nook and cranny, that I thought of abandoning the book several times. I held on to it, though, and in the end it was a pleasant experience. Not as pleasant as I expected, but pleasant enough.
October 1, 2021
Military Sci-fi that is blossoming into the series it was always intended to be. Military stats and casualty numbers are thrown around a lot, I tended to gloss over that stuff quite a bit. I really need to at least learn the relative sizes of the ships since it is essentially naval battles. The Horatio Hornblower series that this series emulates made that very easy, since each ships name was followed by the number of guns it had. But Webers ships have all sorts of different weapons, so such a simplistic method wont work. Ship sizes, acceleration, tonnage, the speeds and distances of engagement are supposed to lend a hard sci fi component to the normal space battles? I preferred to just follow along the general action and characters without thinking about the specifics. Its a good series, enjoyable plots, decent characters even if stereotypical. Some politics in that a liberal Monarchy and a Socialist empire are in conflict, with the liberal Monarchy protagonists getting the far better treatment.
May 15, 2014
Honorverse #3 sees the Big Show kick off, as Manticore and the People's Republic of Haven finally start the war that they've been dancing around-and as always Honor is right in the center, commanding the state-of-the-art Battlecruiser Nike in defense of critical forward base. Good intelligence on the part of the peeps and command errors above leave Honor's squadron badly outgunned by Dreadnoughts, and it's up to her tactical brilliance and guts to save the day.
That said, this is where the series starts to bloat. The main action is short, almost too short, and the narrative wanders between Honor commanding starships, falling in love, and facing down old enemies, and 'big picture' strategy discussions on Manticore and Haven. The Haven perspective, with it's tottering regime halfway between Communism and ancien regime France is pretty good, but Weber goes right for the obvious historical parallels, including one of the worst pun names in all of scifi.
That said, this is where the series starts to bloat. The main action is short, almost too short, and the narrative wanders between Honor commanding starships, falling in love, and facing down old enemies, and 'big picture' strategy discussions on Manticore and Haven. The Haven perspective, with it's tottering regime halfway between Communism and ancien regime France is pretty good, but Weber goes right for the obvious historical parallels, including one of the worst pun names in all of scifi.
February 4, 2018
Even though Nimitz didn't get to rip anyone's face of in this book, I think this was the most enjoyable one in the series so far.
The battle sequences and such were, as usual, brilliantly done. Honor was awesome. The Haven thing finals comes to some sort of head and Havenite butts are kicked (at the usual enormous cost).
Honor also gets some personal advancement (beyond her career) and while it's welcome, there comes the criticism: Weber seems unable to handle romance. Some people probably considered that a plus in military sci-fi, but it feels a bit like we're reading half the story. Something quite so monumental in her personal development could, maybe, have done with a bit more time.
Anyway, good read. I'm kind of dreading the next one after reading a couple of the reviews, but this was well worth it.
The battle sequences and such were, as usual, brilliantly done. Honor was awesome. The Haven thing finals comes to some sort of head and Havenite butts are kicked (at the usual enormous cost).
Honor also gets some personal advancement (beyond her career) and while it's welcome, there comes the criticism: Weber seems unable to handle romance. Some people probably considered that a plus in military sci-fi, but it feels a bit like we're reading half the story. Something quite so monumental in her personal development could, maybe, have done with a bit more time.
Anyway, good read. I'm kind of dreading the next one after reading a couple of the reviews, but this was well worth it.
December 25, 2019
Not quite as good as the first two books in the series, but still a rollicking adventure! Honor Harrington is one of the best female characters out there and she doesn't disappoint. The political machinations in Haven and Manticore are also a great asset to this series. Can't wait for Book #4.
October 17, 2011
Typical Harrington tale: by audacity as much as good sense Honor carries the day. Getting formulaic, but a fun read.
February 27, 2021
2018 re-read. Things get serious between The People's Republic of Haven, and the Kingdom of Manticore.
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