Challenges

Worlds of Honor #8

by David Weber (Editor, Contributor), Jane Lindskold (Contributor), Jacob Holo (Contributor)

THE HOTTEST MILITARY SCIENCE FICTION SERIES OF ALL TIME CONTINUES WITH A COLLECTION OF TALES SET IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE STAR KINGDOM OF DAVID WEBER’S NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING HONORVERSE

In Honor Harrington’s day, the Star Kingdom of Manticore is the wealthiest star nation on a per capita basis in the entire galaxy. It is home to magnificent cities. Its planets’ oceans and seas—and skies—are open to its people, yet they have maintained the beauty and the magnificence of their natural habitats.

But that was not always true. Pioneers, especially interstellar pioneers, must be tough, smart, and self-reliant, and the people who built the Star Kingdom knew that. They prepared carefully for their enormous voyage, incorporated every measure they could think of, and even so, their new worlds did their best to kill them all. They very nearly succeeded, as the Plague Years pushed the human interlopers to the very brink of survival, forcing them to grow and change in ways they never could have anticipated.

In the process, they became the people who could one day produce Honor Harrington, Elizabeth Winton, and the remarkable people willing to stand in the path of the People’s Republic of Haven’s insatiable advance . . . and then to ally with the Republic, when both of them learned who their true enemy was. In many ways, that fortitude was the inevitable result of a star nation that learned early on that what truly matters is the way one faces the challenges the universe throws at one.These are the stories of people who learned that lesson, and met—and triumphed—over every challenge of their new homes.

All original stories David Weber, Marisa Wolf, Jacob Holo, Dan Butler, Thomas Pope, and Jane Lindskold.

Worlds of Honor
More Than Honor
Worlds of Honor
Changer of Worlds
Service of the Sword
In Fire Forged
Beginnings
What Price Victory?

At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).


Praise for David Weber and the Honor Harrington

“. . . everything you could want in a heroine. . . . excellent . . . plenty of action.” —Science Fiction Age

“Packs enough punch to blast a starship to smithereens . . .” —Publishers Weekly on Honor the of Queen

“Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant!” —Anne McCaffrey on Echoes of Honor

“Compelling combat combined with engaging characters for a great space opera adventure.” —Locus on Field of Dishonor

“Weber combines realistic, engaging characters with intelligent technological projection . . . Fans of this venerable space opera will rejoice . . .” —Publishers Weekly on Mission of Honor

“The plotting is as solid as ever, with smaller scenes building to an explosive, action-packed crescendo, and the authors strike a nice balance between technical details of space flight and the human cost of war.” —Publishers Weekly on A Call to Arms

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Cats, Space

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 4, 2025

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

[Nooilforpacifists · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Eighth volume of short stories in the Honorverse is disappointing. The first three stories are trivial, boring even. The fourth one isn’t bad—it’s the backstory of Ellen D’Orville, when she’s a Lieutenant Commander captaining a frigate. But the book stands—or, in this case, falls—on the sole story written by Weber himself, the fifth and last.

David Weber’s genius is raw emotion. It’s not battles; it’s not over-technical descriptions of starship designs; it’s not his habit of sliding back and forth between two simultaneous narratives which try to blow each other up at the end—although all his works have those elements. Rather, his novels and short stories work best at some pre-conscious level, where you can’t but help feel the thrill or, more often anguish, his characters experience.

It’s not to say the final 10 pages of “Crystal Singer’s Song” lack that. It’s a tearjerker in seven spades, redoubled. The problems are 1) it takes too long to get there; and 2) in so doing it undermines a prior, better story of Stephanie Harrington, Honor’s ancestor, being the first human to “discover” and name treecats (“A Beautiful Friendship”, in the first anthology); and worse still 3) gives it a different name than treecat that, if known, would have taken precedence.

No quantum of storytelling is worth that. And when you add the first three snooze stories, steer clear.

[eyes.2c · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think the Honor Harrington books and tree cat inclusions have always been amongst my favorites.
This tale is no exception.

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would like to thank Baen Books for an eARC of Challenges (Worlds of Honor #8) in return for an honest review. This is a collection of short stories within David Weber's Honorverse series, that focus on the early days of the Star Kingdom. They were also written in part to attempt to resolve some of the inconsistencies that have crept into the series over time. I believe that there are over 35 books in related series. I confess that I have only read one or two in the series.
Challenges has five short stories, all of top quality, and of varying approaches to the series.
One Controllable Step by Marisa Wolf is a story that describes the search for and development of a vaccine for the plague ravaging the early settlers of Manticore. It's a compelling telling of a group of scientists struggling to find a cure, under great personal risk.
Deadly Delusions by Jane Lindskold adds to the story of how the humans on the planet Sphinx discovered the existence of tree cats. (Apparently this story does a lot of the work in addressing continuity issues).
The Great Condiment Caper by Jacob Holo and Thomas Pope, is a fun story of missing barbeque sauce on a battlecruiser on a 3 month locked down mission, and the efforts made to find the sauce. The story in part is a procedural of mundane police work, with an insightful take on the workings of a naval vessel.
XO by Daniel Allen Butler may be the best in the book. It is the tale of an Executive Officer, unexpectedly thrust into the role of Captain. The story includes exciting cat and mouse in space, and the personal moral strength of the Captain who goes against her mission's orders to uphold a higher duty.
David Weber's contribution, Crystal Singers Song, is probably the actual best. It details the first contact between humans (a shipwrecked forest officer) and tree cats, that had been lost to time. [It takes place hundreds of years before the events of Deadly Delusions]. It is an extremely powerful emotional telling.
Even if you are not an Honorverse fan, these are all good stories. If you are, this is probably essential reading.

[Kathy Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This eighth collection in the Worlds of Honor series includes five stories by a variety of authors who play around in the world created by David Weber including Weber himself.

One Controllable Step by Marisa Wolf -- In the very earliest years of settlement on Manticore a plague nearly wipes out the population. This is the story of some of the doctors sent from the planet of Beowulf who need to find a cure.

Deadly Delusions by Jane Lindskold -- This story also occurs early in Manticore's history. Stephanie Harrington has bonded with her treecat and another young woman is jealous of her and wants a treecat of her own. She and her sister play dangerous pranks at a nearby research station with different goals. The older sister is angry that they fired her after getting the plant set up; the younger believes the station is interfering with her beloved treecats.

The Great Condiment Caper by Jacob Holo and Thomas Pope -- Even the greatest heroes of Manticore's history are ensigns at one time. This is the story of Ensign Edward Saganami on his first tour. He's assigned to Stores and needs to track down a missing case of barbecue sauce before Chicken Finger Friday is ruined.

XO by Daniel Allen Butler -- This is another story about the younger days of a character seen later in the series. Lieutenant Commander D'Orville assumes command of a ship when her captain is disabled by a medical emergency. The mission is to keep track of bad actors in nearby systems. When she spots pirates attacking a slaver, she has to decide which orders to follow - the ones she swore an oath to when she was commissioned, or the ones given her by the politically driven command.

Crystal Singer's Song by David Weber - This is also a story from the earliest years. In the early days of the Forest Service, a young woman is tasked with bringing emergency supplies to a remote homestead during a storm. Her ship goes off course and crashes into a remote island. There she discovers treecats and calls them treefoxes. She is marooned but not alone since the treecats befriend her. She spends the rest of her life there teaching the treecats to make effective tools, plant gardens, net fish and fire pottery. She would be lost to history if one of treecats' memory singers didn't recover that deeply buried memory and share it with Lady Dame Honor Alexander-Harrington, Duchess and Steadholder Harrington.

All of the stories were excellent. Crystal Singer's Song brought me to tears.

[Jim Gutzwiller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Challenges (Honor Harrington swirled of Honor Book 8)

All I can say, through the tears in my eyes as I finish this volume, is Magnificent!
I never thought the stories would make me cry, but they were so deep, so touching, that at the end my eyes were watering.

Thank you so very much with keeping the stories going, I can't tell how much I have enjoyed the complete series or truthfully multiple series. We met the genetically engineered, made peace finally with Haven, Conquered the Solarian League.

However, we still haven't found the Detwiellers or there new world!

Yeah yeah, I know, life gets in the way sometimes!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Challenges (Worlds of Honor #8) is a collection of short stories set in David Weber's "Honorverse". These stories are authored by David Weber, Jane Lindskold, Jacob Holo, Thomas Pope, Marisa Wolf, and Daniel Allen Butler. The stories are set in the very early days of the Star Kingdom of Manticore. They deal mainly with the plague years, which had been mentioned in passing in previous books, but this set of stories filled in unknown details of that time. These stories were all good reads, and it was nice to once again return to the Honorverse. A must-read for fans of this series.

[Dorothy Matheson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this book and I hope for more of the same type stories. I have read all the Honor Herrington stories several times.
While I did enjoy the last story the most and I cried at the ending. I worked well in the telling of a tale that happened early in the history. An alternative to the history that was know.
All the stories are solid but not to the level of the last one.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful Addition to the Honorverse

This has turned out to be one of my favorite anthologies in the Worlds of Honor series. The stories were all really good but my favorites were "One Controllable Step" and "Crystal Singers Song" perhaps because both have very emotional endings

[Suecul · Rating 5 out of 5]

outstanding

I have been addicted to David Weber’s books since I found them on the Baen website almost 40 years ago. But they have never touched me as deeply as the last story in this collection.

I must be getting old, but I read the last chapter with a box of Kleenex in my lap.

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

Subtitled "Tales from the Earliest Days of the Star Kingdom;" and being the eighth "Worlds of Honor" anthology of stories set in the Honor Harrington future history: but, as the subtitle suggests, deliberately set centuries before the birth of said character, with one sorta exception. There are only five stories, so let's look at them individually...

Marissa Wolf: "One Controllable Step." A medical drama set in the earliest days of the Star Kingdom of Manticore, shortly after it has become a Kingdom. The protagonist is Sofia Agbayani-Reyes, a brilliant young doctor from the planet Beowulf (a planet noted for its medical and biological facilities) who is part of a mission sent to Manticore to help out with a virus that has jumped from the local biosphere to humans: only the second time in the history of the explored Galaxy this has happened. The virus in question is highly contagious and very deadly, so the visiting medics are set up in an isolated, sterile lab where they can process samples without coming into contact with them.

This is a race against time, not only to save the people of Manticore, but also because another mission will arrive in eight months, headed by Sofia's professional nemesis, the one doctor of her generation whose genius has repeatedly overshadowed her own; by the time he does arrive, she is grateful to have his help.

It's a story intended to inspire us with the heroism of the doctors; due to Wolf's rather flat writing, it tends towards bathos, which is a pity, because with better line-editing it could have been a dynamite story.

Jane Lindskold: "Deadly Delusions." Set on Sphinx in the time of Stephanie Harrington, this is a clash between four main characters, whom Linskold depicts rather deftly. The first is an ex-policeman named Arvin Erhardt, now a mechanic at an experimental station on Sphinx, Manticore's high-gravity companion world. The station is basically grinding up a lot of trees to figure out what makes them tick.

Arvin, and the station, are being observed by True Stalker of the Bright Heart Clan of treecats, who want to know what is going on here and why they are destroying all these perfectly good trees. (If you don't know: an arboreal species of small, six-legged, telepathic sentients.) He has been cautioned to keep himself from being seen.

A young woman named Jennie Beauship, who sees herself as a guardian of nature, disapproves of the station, and believes that the station is damaging the environment of a clan of treecats. She convinces her older sister, Erica, to help her on a mission to observe, then sabotage, the station's machinery.

Things get tangled up in all sorts of interesting ways.

Jacob Holo with Thomas Pope: "The Great Condiment Caper." Ensign Edward Saganami (whose name any fan of the Harrington series will recognize; he later becomes a great hero and martyr of the Manticore Space Navy), on his first tour of duty on a real starship, is assigned to the ship's Stores Division. His first real assignment? A crate of Dempsey's Sweet and Spicey Barbeque Sauce has gone missing. It is critically important, because reasons, that it be found, and Saganami gets to go find it.

Some writers would use this as a scenario upon which to build boffo yoks, either of a slapstick, Three Stooges, variety; or of a more verbally clever, Marx Brothers, sort. Holo (with Pope) does neither; he takes the situation with complete seriousness, as a sort of mystery to be solved, and turns Saganami -- with the assistance of CPO Caroline Sykes -- loose to solve it. The story follows a pretty standard set of false leads and red herrings, to a conclusion as satisfying as it is unexpected.

The writing, while not not as smooth as Lindskold's, is nowhere near as flat as Wolf's: it serves.

Daniel Allen Butler: "XO." The only story in this book to feature a space battle is, oddly, not by Weber, but this one. Lt. Commander Ellen D'Orville, Executive Officer of the HMS Ulysses (an ill-fated name), is awakened from her sleep shift by an emergency call for, first, the ship's medical officer, and, then, herself to the bridge. The Captain has suffered an extreme medical condition, and D'Orville must take command.

Herrick, the medical officer, determines that the Captain must be returned to base if he is to survive. D'Orville is surprised to be appointed commanding officer of the Ulysses for purposes of completing the ship's mission -- which is to "visit" the Torgau System, rather stealthily, staying outside its hyper limit, and simply observe traffic for a while: then return to base and report. This borders on, but does not quite cross the border into espionage.

Meanwhile, on Torgau itself, we meet some Government officials who are frustrated because they know darned well that other officials are involved in the import and (ab)use of genetic slaves in the System's asteroid mines and refineries, but unable to do anything about it.

I can't say much more without getting into something really spoily, so I won't.

David Weber: "Crystal Singer's Song." In Honor Harrington's time, a treecat, a "memory singer" from an extremely isolated clan, comes to the Commission on Sphinx where human/treecat relationships are worked out, because she has something that belongs to Honor's "clan" and will tell no one else about it.

The main body of the story, then, is a flashback four hundred and thirty years, to a pilot carrying badly needed supplies to an isolated holding. Her plane is struck by lightning, disabling both her communications and her navigation. She crashlands by luck on an island capable of supporting life.

In fact, as she eventually learns, the island is home to a clan of what she comes to think of as "tree-foxes," a long-isolated and slightly genetically drifted group of treecats. Again, no spoilers here, so I'll shut up.

None of the writers of these stories is what you'd call a "brilliant stylist," but, with the exception of Wolf, all write serviceable, readable prose that gets the story across; and the saga of the Star Kingdom reaches its fortieth volume.

Six out of ten dead pirates

[The One True Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't generally review anthologies, but this one time I decided to make an exception.  There may be some who say that this is because there is a character in one of the stories who shares my given and surname combination, often referred to as a full name by most of us who deal with such things on a daily basis.  This assumption would prove false, because sometimes full name is constructed with a full first name and often with at least a middle initial, if the person has a middle name (which I do), but other times it is constructed with a preferred first name and no initial.  There are also several other common permutations that I will not bore you with, because my eyesglazingoverometer is shrieking like a harridan at a checkout lane who has just been told her coupon is expired and will not be honored.

Suffice it to say that my name is Rob, and I am usually in trouble when someone calls me Robert, so this is clearly paying homage to someone other than me.  There are also other small details that definitively point to this not be inspired by me.  Namely, he did not have a spring-loaded quickdraw taco holster that holds a dozen emergency tacos, and there was no mention of any reference guides for Anaconda, Espresso, Go Further, Hyperspace Pascal, C++++-++, or any other future versions of programming languages.  

Now that I have wholly discredited any accusations of bias, I will proceed with my review.

One Controllable Step, by Marisa "Purple Dynamite" Wolf, is a masterclass in  how to write about a subject that would generally bore normal people to tears, but instead makes them abandon the sweet crooning of their pillow and stay up to read it.  It needed more tacos and also was short on details about which cybersecurity suites and policies were used throughout the story, but this should not ruin your enjoyment by more than approximately 9.26913%.

Deadly Delusions, by Jane "Sweet Surname" Lindskold, is a fantastic story about automated harvesters, dressage horses, and why you should never, under any circumstances, trust someone named Jeannie.  "Now hold on a second!", you are most likely currently muttering in anger(especially if your name is Jeannie), "You cannot honestly be saying that someone having the name Jeannie would make them untrustworthy.", but that is exactly what I'm saying.  Every single scientific study has irrefutably shown that the double-n seems to make them pretentious and prone to delusions.  

The Great Condiment Caper, by Jacob "Spicemaster Supreme" Holo and Thomas "The" Pope, is the single greatest barbecue sauce, nay condiment, related story that has ever been, and likely ever will be, written.  There is nothing more of relevance that can be said.

XO, by David "Allen" Butler, is a heartwarming story of the origins of the comedy sitcom sensation "D'Orville", I'm assuming, and also details how Ellen started her commanding career that eventually led to her own talk show.  It is truly spectacular.

Crystal Singers Song, by David "The Grill" Weber delivers another example of why his books fill multiple shelves of my bookcases.  I am unashamed to say that the ending made me stop to dry my tears multiple times.  It makes me wonder exactly how awesome his next book in the Hell's Gate series titled "The Good Intentions of Scorned Women"(I'm assuming) will be.

In summary, if you have read any books in the Honorverse, you should probably buy this.  If you have not, this would be a great introduction to it and you should probably buy it, even though doing so will likely cause the accountants at Baen to chorttle with glee, high five each other, and exclaim "We've hooked another one.",  and then settle in to await your purchase of all 2,943,612 other books in the Honorverse.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! I had read the first six in the Worlds of Honor series AND I had purchased book seven What Price Victory?

I had FORGOTTEN that I had book seven and I just finished book eight.

Book Eight Challenges took my breath away.

Made me remember why I enjoyed reading David Weber books.

The Worlds of Honor series is a shared universe. David Weber lets certain other invited authors play in his sandbox.

In this book, five other authors (two together for one piece) have written short stories in the Stephanie Harrington / Star Kingdom time period. Meaning early days in Manticore’s history.

I got to see David Weber at P-Con last September. He is getting on in years (aren't we all by now?). So, he has been persuaded to think about who he wants to select to care for his different worlds. Like the military science fiction series Honor Harrington. Like the fantasy War God series. I remember David Weber telling us that Jacob Holo will be carrying on David's Honor Harrington & the Honorverse series.

At that time, I had not read a book by Jacob Holo. However, he has a ripping good yarn in Challenges. So, I now feel that the Honorverse will be in good hands indeed.

I especially have loved the Stephanie Harrington Star Kingdom books and the early days of humans meeting treecats.

So, I was very pleased that the last entry in Challenges is a treecat novella by David Weber himself!

As a librarian, I always tell people "Never apologize for your taste in reading. If YOU enjoyed the book, that's what is important." Not all books speak to all readers. And that is OK. But when you find an author you really enjoy, treasure him (or her)!

So, I am absolutely delighted to realize that NOW I can go back and read book seven What Price Victory?

What Price Victory had come out in 2023, and I was obviously overwhelmed with a lot of OTHER good books to read at the time. But I DID purchase the Kindle edition and when I looked for it on my device I found it right away.

I distinctly remember some years ago the bleak days when I was NOT finding the next NEW author. And the authors I did know about weren't writing and publishing books fast enough so that I did not run out of good books to read.

I am delighted to say that I now have the OPPOSITE problem. Too many good books available. But I would much rather, of course, have my current "problem"!

And I am especially delighted to have found the missing book (book seven) ALREADY in my Kindle account!

[Michael Rudzki · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Honorverse returns with the eighth volume of Worlds of Honor!

The stories in this installment focus on the early days of the Star Kingdom, and the only disappointment fans might have is its length - at 260 pages, it's shorter than all but the very first book. I would have liked to see one more story in there, or allowed one or two of the stories some more length.

"One Controllable Step" by Marisa Wolf follows the first group of scientists trying to deal with the early days of the Plague which decimated Manticore and Sphinx. It definitely brought back memories of the Covid lockdown for me. (1481-1484 PD)

"Deadly Delusions" by Jane Lindskold fills in some of the backstory of the much earlier short story "The Stray," by Linda Evans. (1520 PD)

Jacob Holo and Thomas Pope give us a story featuring the young Edward Saganami dealing with "The Great Condiment Caper." (~1636 PD)

In "XO," by Daniel Allen Butler, Ellen D'Orville is unexpectedly thrust into her first command, facing slavers and pirates in Silesia. This was the only story which I felt could have used some additional length, as the climactic battle felt a bit shorted. (~1681 PD)

And finally, David Weber goes straight for your heart with "Crystal Singer's Song," telling the moving tale of an early SFS Ranger's struggle to survive on an unexplored island. This features a framing story with our beloved Honor Harrington. (1496 PD, with the Honor portion in 1926 PD)

All in all another fabulous visit to the Honorverse!

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly the best David Weber book I’ve read!

I was excited to get some new novellas written by an author I knew before opening the book was a reliable source of material that isn’t just well written, but also wrote of people who exemplified the qualities of honor, duty and integrity. The various stories here add to the canon which justly valued the deeds and values of the forerunners of the people who make up the Honorverse.
However the last story brings us these qualities added to a deeply emotional story with a bittersweet yet satisfying ending.
I’m hoping that we will have the chance for Weber to continue his brilliant body of work for a while longer!

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

[22 Dec 2025]
Several pretty good stories here. The first one, about finding the cure for the plague which decimated the original Manticore colonists, was just okay. "Deadly Delusions" about treecats sabotaging the human enterprise which is destroying the net-wood, was just okay. "The Great Condiment Caper" was fun, but very short. "XO" was pretty good, about an early experience of Ellen D'Orville. "Crystal Singer's Song" by David Weber, was the best of the collection. About a lost treecat colony. And a lost human.

[MICHAEL BALLARD · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection of stories from early in the Honorverse

Be prepared to laugh, to share tough command decisions, perhaps to cry.
How much trouble can ensue when a pallet of barbecue sauce goes missing? When the commander of a small ship violates direct orders by attacking a much larger vessel because it is the right thing to do?
The last story in the book kept me up way past my bedtime and the last few pages got blurry because I had to keep wiping my eyes. Thank you David.
Different authors, different styles, one Honorverse.
Highly recommended!

[J Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

How it all began!

This amazing anthology fills in the backstory for the Honor Harrington series. Each story is imaginative and adds to the image of interstellar pioneers who built the Star Kingdom. Adversity, tragedy, death, and triumph make their world come alive. I received a free copy, but my review is honest and voluntary.

[Tad Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

More goodness from the Honorverse

A grand collection of very good short stories, set in the very beginnings of Sphinx and Manticore.

Worth every moment it takes to read them.

Herr Weber has overseen yet another masterpiece...and reaffirmed my decision back in the 1990's to read (and reread) everything he has ever published. I have never been disappointed.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love these short story collections set in the Honorverse, and Challenges is no exception. Seeing other authors explore this universe adds new depth and texture, while still capturing the spirit that first drew me in as a teenager. This series continues to be one of my favorite science fiction universes to revisit: rich, expansive, and endlessly engaging.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s been a while since I’ve read a Honor Harrington book or one set in her universe and this book with five stories has been a delight. Although only the last story was written by David Weber, they all seem to follow in his writing style (which includes a number of explanations, usually about technical things). It’s been a delight to live in that world for a couple of days.

[MAB LongBeach · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of long stories/novelettes set in the early days of the Star Kingdom of Manticore. The best are the ones by Weber, Lindskold, and Wolf, but all are worth reading for fans of Harrington and the Honorverse.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Judith A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting Stories

I enjoyed every story in this collection. All filled in gaps, added depth and were well written. David Weaver's however, was wonderfully emotional and I finished in tears. IMHO, it alone is well worth the price of the book!

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

More! but what a wonder...

Seems there is a lot more to tell about Manticore and its people (human and treecat)! All excellent stories, and the last pulls the heart.
Looking forward to the next.

[Te Kee · Rating 5 out of 5]

another great addition to the World’s of Honor

Totally enjoyable read. Would like these books to keep on coming… Moved my heart to read more about the early tree cat times, thank you😺

[R. Kent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

Another engrossing anthology set in the universe of Honor Harrington. All the stories are great stretching from after the first plague to the current time in this universe.

[Brent Hulsebus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome as expected!

David Weber is a true craftsman, if wordsmth isn’t a title it should be. It fits! He has mastered the art of drawing us into his characters lives and emotions. I delight in finding new stories and books he writes and reread his earlier work often.

[Steven Minniear · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read. I liked the last piece, “Crystal Singer’s Song,” the most.

[Elizabeth Lobdell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful collection of stories

Each one of the is a gem in its own right getting better with each turn of the page. The last story may cause wet eyes in its beauty

[Aqp]

Weber and cohorts always a good time.

[tom l adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic Weber. A fun romp through the Honor-verse answering some old questions and adding some new facts. It also has a huge tree cat storyline. Enjoy