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Honorverse: Saganami Island #4
Shadow of Victory
The Mesan Alignment is revealed, and, for Honor Harrington and the Manticoran Star Kingdom, this means war!
Unintended Consequences
Sometimes things don’t work out exactly as planned.
The Mesan Alignment has a plan—one it’s been working on for centuries. A plan to remake the galaxy and genetically improve the human race—its way.
Until recently, things have gone pretty much as scheduled, but then the Alignment hit a minor bump in the road called the Star Empire of Manticore. So the Alignment engineered a war between the Solarian League, the biggest and most formidable interstellar power in human history. To help push things along, the Alignment launched a devastating sneak attack which destroyed the Royal Manticoran Navy’s industrial infrastructure.
And in order to undercut Manticore’s galaxy-wide reputation as a star nation of its word, it launched Operation Janus—a false-flag covert operation to encourage rebellions it knows will fail by promising Manticoran support. The twin purposes are to harden Solarian determination to destroy the Star Empire once and for all, and to devastate the Star Empire’s reputation with the rest of the galaxy.
But even the best laid plans can have unintended consequences, and one of those consequences in this case may just be a new dawn of freedom for oppressed star nations everywhere.
At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).
About Shadow of Freedom:
“This entry is just as exciting as Weber’s initial offering . . . The result is a fast-paced and action-packed story that follows [our characters] as they move from reaction to command of the situation. Weber builds Shadow of Freedom to an exciting and unexpected climax.”—Daily News of Galveston
About Mission of Honor, #13 in the Honor Harrington series:
“Weber combines realistic, engaging characters with intelligent technological projection and a deep understanding of military bureaucracy in this long-awaited Honor Harrington novel . . . Fans of this venerable space opera will rejoice to see Honor back in action.”—Publishers Weekly
“This latest Honor Harrington novel brings the saga to another crucial turning point . . . Readers may feel confident that they will be Honored many more times and enjoy it every time.”—Booklist
About David Weber and the Honor Harrington series:
“. . . everything you could want in a heroine . . . Excellent . . . plenty of action.”—Science Fiction Age
“Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant!”—Anne McCaffrey
“Compelling combat combined with engaging characters for a great space opera adventure.”—Locus
With over eight million copies of his books in print and twenty-nine titles on the New York Times bestseller list, David Weber is the science fiction publishing phenomenon of the new millennium. In the hugely popular Honor Harrington series, the spirit of C.S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower and Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander lives on—into the galactic future.
Unintended Consequences
Sometimes things don’t work out exactly as planned.
The Mesan Alignment has a plan—one it’s been working on for centuries. A plan to remake the galaxy and genetically improve the human race—its way.
Until recently, things have gone pretty much as scheduled, but then the Alignment hit a minor bump in the road called the Star Empire of Manticore. So the Alignment engineered a war between the Solarian League, the biggest and most formidable interstellar power in human history. To help push things along, the Alignment launched a devastating sneak attack which destroyed the Royal Manticoran Navy’s industrial infrastructure.
And in order to undercut Manticore’s galaxy-wide reputation as a star nation of its word, it launched Operation Janus—a false-flag covert operation to encourage rebellions it knows will fail by promising Manticoran support. The twin purposes are to harden Solarian determination to destroy the Star Empire once and for all, and to devastate the Star Empire’s reputation with the rest of the galaxy.
But even the best laid plans can have unintended consequences, and one of those consequences in this case may just be a new dawn of freedom for oppressed star nations everywhere.
At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).
About Shadow of Freedom:
“This entry is just as exciting as Weber’s initial offering . . . The result is a fast-paced and action-packed story that follows [our characters] as they move from reaction to command of the situation. Weber builds Shadow of Freedom to an exciting and unexpected climax.”—Daily News of Galveston
About Mission of Honor, #13 in the Honor Harrington series:
“Weber combines realistic, engaging characters with intelligent technological projection and a deep understanding of military bureaucracy in this long-awaited Honor Harrington novel . . . Fans of this venerable space opera will rejoice to see Honor back in action.”—Publishers Weekly
“This latest Honor Harrington novel brings the saga to another crucial turning point . . . Readers may feel confident that they will be Honored many more times and enjoy it every time.”—Booklist
About David Weber and the Honor Harrington series:
“. . . everything you could want in a heroine . . . Excellent . . . plenty of action.”—Science Fiction Age
“Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant!”—Anne McCaffrey
“Compelling combat combined with engaging characters for a great space opera adventure.”—Locus
With over eight million copies of his books in print and twenty-nine titles on the New York Times bestseller list, David Weber is the science fiction publishing phenomenon of the new millennium. In the hugely popular Honor Harrington series, the spirit of C.S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower and Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander lives on—into the galactic future.
756 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2016
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1056 people want to read
About the author
David Weber
328 books4,561 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 276 reviews
September 26, 2016
I normally don't bother with negative reviews, but the last book from DW has earned one.
It appears that since "At all costs" the author has lost his way, and is continuously rehashing old content from different point of views, trying to tie down loose ends.
I found myself skimming over the first half of the book which is badly bogged down by complex scheming in planets we don't really care about, and events which actually have already happened in the main storyline, which is barely advanced if at all. Also, the book can't actually be understood unless one has read the whole series.
I am fairly discouraged but I hope that DW will find in himself the energies to give the HH series the ending it so richly deserves.
It appears that since "At all costs" the author has lost his way, and is continuously rehashing old content from different point of views, trying to tie down loose ends.
I found myself skimming over the first half of the book which is badly bogged down by complex scheming in planets we don't really care about, and events which actually have already happened in the main storyline, which is barely advanced if at all. Also, the book can't actually be understood unless one has read the whole series.
I am fairly discouraged but I hope that DW will find in himself the energies to give the HH series the ending it so richly deserves.
February 11, 2018
What a disappointment, Honorverse stories are usually ones that I enjoy the most, and David Weber is one of my favorite authors. Alas, in the case of this book, its only real value was the wrapping up and tying together of story lines. There were hundreds of pages of extra exposition, barely parseable non-English names, that bogged readers down, and not a lot of "action" by comparison. The very best parts of this book are those that deal with the personalities, and interaction between, the major characters, those saved it from being a 2 star experience. 2018 re-read. I've down graded it to two stars. Having read the entire series, in about 40 days, I realized just how much wasteful overlap and repetition of the previous two novels there is in this one. I skipped over about 75% of the entire book.
September 26, 2016
Wish I'd read some of the earlier reviews complaining about the lack of story progression and unforgivable recycling of material from previous books. The heavy use of recycled material was irksome but tolerable in 'A Rising Thunder'. To see the SAME material used a THIRD time in a 'new' novel is just... well it's just abusing the trust of the readers. The new material should have been included in Shadow of Freedom, Rising Thunder and Cauldron of Ghosts, instead of recycling parts from all three and sprinkling new material on top. If Basilisk Station was Filet Mignon, this book is Hamburger Helper Casserole.
September 11, 2016
I love David Weber books and the Honorverse in particular, with that said this books was painful for me to read. I found myself skimming / skipping many of the chapters in the first half the book (This is something I never do), they were filled with characters with unpronounceable names. A rediculous number of words are spent setting up revolts in star systems we don't care about, against "stereotypical" corrupt governments. All stuff we have seen before in the previous three Honorverse books. By seen before I mean the he plot of the Honorverse is not advanced at all, we knew all the outcomes of the plot before starting this book.
The last main line Honorbook was released March 3, 2013 in a little over 3.5 years that story line has had NO forward movement. This is an insult to fans who have read and collected all David Weber's works. He started this alternate viewpoints a few books back in the "The Saganami Island" series I thought this was just to start a new branch in universe but that doesn't appear to be the case as that branch's characters are front and center in the main line book "Shadow of Victory"
I was very disappointed in this book.
The last main line Honorbook was released March 3, 2013 in a little over 3.5 years that story line has had NO forward movement. This is an insult to fans who have read and collected all David Weber's works. He started this alternate viewpoints a few books back in the "The Saganami Island" series I thought this was just to start a new branch in universe but that doesn't appear to be the case as that branch's characters are front and center in the main line book "Shadow of Victory"
I was very disappointed in this book.
December 7, 2023
Full review to follow. Meanwhile, this is a truly awful book. Both redundant and repetitive. If you have read the first books of the series, just skip the first half of this one or better yet, skip the whole thing.
September 29, 2016
OK, this book was the final straw for me regarding the Honorverse. I've now officially given up. This is yet another complete rehash of things that have already happened in at least one other, and frequently two or more previous novels, with absolutely *no forward movement*.
Worst of all, it's completely, irredeemably *boring*.
I'm done. I won't buy another in this series.
Note that this review is based off the eARC, but I really don't expect that suddenly the final release will magically not suck.
I wish David Weber would go back to writing relatively simple stories about characters you could care about, and which were exciting to read.
These days, he's gone the late Robert Jordan's path of writing all about massive political tapestries, full of characters you are mostly ambivalent about, and which are an utter bore to read.
Worst of all, it's completely, irredeemably *boring*.
I'm done. I won't buy another in this series.
Note that this review is based off the eARC, but I really don't expect that suddenly the final release will magically not suck.
I wish David Weber would go back to writing relatively simple stories about characters you could care about, and which were exciting to read.
These days, he's gone the late Robert Jordan's path of writing all about massive political tapestries, full of characters you are mostly ambivalent about, and which are an utter bore to read.
October 9, 2016
This review is based on the unedited e-book ARC copy.
For the first third of this book I felt fairly sure that I wasn't going to bother with a review at all. I love the sheer scope of this series, but on this occasion I began to wonder if the negatives were starting to outweigh the positives. Events are being seen from multiple perspectives at different times and the consequent need to tie up loose ends is leading to a lot of rehashing and repetition. The main reason for this is that 'Shadow of Victory' straddles the events of 'Mission of Honor', 'A Rising Thunder' and 'Cauldron of Ghosts'. This does little or nothing to advance the overall story and is starting to grate with even the most die-hard fans.
The story opens in the run-up to the Alignment's attack on the Manticore Binary System. Attempts to implicate Manticore in the growing unrest across the Verge move into high gear. Elite Mesan operative Damien Harahap dangles the promise of Manticoran military aid in front of freedom fighters/terrorists in at least three separate systems. All are ripe for unrest, having unpleasant oligarchical hierarchies (in thrall to corrupt Solarian trans-stellar corporations) that both exploit and oppress the majority of the population. This part of the book takes too long. Other than questions of colonial heritage, there is little to distinguish each star system and the pace of the story is slowed massively by page after page of exposition.
Fortunately, things do pick up in the second half. Harahap's machinations come to grief through a combination of growing respect for the people he is deluding and these same plots and plans reaching the ears of the real Manticorans. The resolution of matters in each of the three systems soon follows and is done particularly well in the case of the Czech planet. By this point, we're running parallel with the events of 'A Rising Thunder' and 'Cauldron of Ghosts'. The remainder of the story continued to improve and my faith that Weber can still deliver was restored. Mike Henke's arrival in Mesan orbit is fully fleshed out, even as the Alignment takes prompt and ruthless advantage of it.
In the end, I've decided not to bin this series - the final twenty-five percent of the book was Weber at his best. That said, he needs to draw together the disparate threads of the storyline for the final showdown with the Alignment. If he doesn't and things continue to drag on, then I can see readers becoming increasingly less forgiving.
For the first third of this book I felt fairly sure that I wasn't going to bother with a review at all. I love the sheer scope of this series, but on this occasion I began to wonder if the negatives were starting to outweigh the positives. Events are being seen from multiple perspectives at different times and the consequent need to tie up loose ends is leading to a lot of rehashing and repetition. The main reason for this is that 'Shadow of Victory' straddles the events of 'Mission of Honor', 'A Rising Thunder' and 'Cauldron of Ghosts'. This does little or nothing to advance the overall story and is starting to grate with even the most die-hard fans.
The story opens in the run-up to the Alignment's attack on the Manticore Binary System. Attempts to implicate Manticore in the growing unrest across the Verge move into high gear. Elite Mesan operative Damien Harahap dangles the promise of Manticoran military aid in front of freedom fighters/terrorists in at least three separate systems. All are ripe for unrest, having unpleasant oligarchical hierarchies (in thrall to corrupt Solarian trans-stellar corporations) that both exploit and oppress the majority of the population. This part of the book takes too long. Other than questions of colonial heritage, there is little to distinguish each star system and the pace of the story is slowed massively by page after page of exposition.
Fortunately, things do pick up in the second half. Harahap's machinations come to grief through a combination of growing respect for the people he is deluding and these same plots and plans reaching the ears of the real Manticorans. The resolution of matters in each of the three systems soon follows and is done particularly well in the case of the Czech planet. By this point, we're running parallel with the events of 'A Rising Thunder' and 'Cauldron of Ghosts'. The remainder of the story continued to improve and my faith that Weber can still deliver was restored. Mike Henke's arrival in Mesan orbit is fully fleshed out, even as the Alignment takes prompt and ruthless advantage of it.
In the end, I've decided not to bin this series - the final twenty-five percent of the book was Weber at his best. That said, he needs to draw together the disparate threads of the storyline for the final showdown with the Alignment. If he doesn't and things continue to drag on, then I can see readers becoming increasingly less forgiving.
September 10, 2016
I enjoy this series but I didn't enjoy the fact that it was an 800 page rehash of events revealed in earlier volumes. It was nice to see what a few old favorite characters were up to but it was mostly a disappointment.
September 9, 2016
Normally I'm a big fan of the Honorverse and David Weber in general, this book though was a disappointment. This is a review of the E-arc version.
To begin with if you're looking for any advance in the timeline or plot and have read the previous novels you can skip three-quarters of this book as all it does is expand on the events that happened in the last few novels. Now I'm used to David's writing being very in depth and slow moving, usually I enjoy this as it lays a solid foundation for the rest of the story. However, as I've already mentioned the vast majority of this book is essentially a recap of the previous novels that, while interesting in some cases, could have easily been chopped in half if not more. There was really no need to go back to the Loomis or Mobius systems at least beyond a few paragraphs and Indie's story was also at least partly covered already yet we needed to go over that again as well.
To me this book feels like it's pieces of the previous novels that were cut for length or other reasons that have been glued together with the actual timeline advancement tacked on at the the end. Maybe in the future I'll enjoy this book as a more detail oriented summary of the previous novels with a few extra bits but for now it simply seems a waste. It deviated so far from my expectations regarding plot advancement that that might have been part of the problem.
The last few books in the Honorverse have also suffered from a sense of repetitiveness but this is the worst one so far. I understand that this is largely caused by splitting the series into Talbott and Manticore focused but if you are this far along in a series I think it's fairly safe to assume people will have read both and be caught up on events, there is no need to spend so much of one book recapping previous novels. So for me this is only two stars.
To begin with if you're looking for any advance in the timeline or plot and have read the previous novels you can skip three-quarters of this book as all it does is expand on the events that happened in the last few novels. Now I'm used to David's writing being very in depth and slow moving, usually I enjoy this as it lays a solid foundation for the rest of the story. However, as I've already mentioned the vast majority of this book is essentially a recap of the previous novels that, while interesting in some cases, could have easily been chopped in half if not more. There was really no need to go back to the Loomis or Mobius systems at least beyond a few paragraphs and Indie's story was also at least partly covered already yet we needed to go over that again as well.
To me this book feels like it's pieces of the previous novels that were cut for length or other reasons that have been glued together with the actual timeline advancement tacked on at the the end. Maybe in the future I'll enjoy this book as a more detail oriented summary of the previous novels with a few extra bits but for now it simply seems a waste. It deviated so far from my expectations regarding plot advancement that that might have been part of the problem.
The last few books in the Honorverse have also suffered from a sense of repetitiveness but this is the worst one so far. I understand that this is largely caused by splitting the series into Talbott and Manticore focused but if you are this far along in a series I think it's fairly safe to assume people will have read both and be caught up on events, there is no need to spend so much of one book recapping previous novels. So for me this is only two stars.
September 5, 2016
If I could give half stars on Goodreads, this would probably be a 4.5 star review, because there were some problems with this book. Instead, I'll round up and use this review to talk about those problems.
First of all was the structure. Like several of the recent books in the series, Shadow of Victory covers territory that, chronologically speaking, was covered in previous books. It begins just after the Battle of Monica (note that The Shadow of Saganami, where the Battle of Monica actually happened, came out in 2004, when I was a high school freshman), and provides fleshed-out backstory for some of the revolutionary characters from Shadow of Freedom. The latter part was what I was most concerned about, because I felt it was largely unnecessary. These are characters who were introduced in medias res in the last book, and most of the new stuff in here was alluded to in their introduction.
Secondly, there's the language. There are two new planets that we see a lot of in this book, one of which is the Polish planet, and the other of which is the Czech planet. And the Polish planet, in particular, gets a lot of Polish words thrown in to provide authenticity. The problem with that is that I don't know shit about Polish. And when significant governmental positions or movements are described using words that I can't begin to even pronounce, this poses a slight problem. I can kind of gather what they mean from the text, but it's still a bit jarring.
Thirdly, there's the pace of the series as a whole. As I mentioned previously in this review, the first book in this side series of the Honorverse came out in October 2004. That's twelve years. In that time, I went from high school freshman to the third year of graduate school. This book did move the plot forward, but I feel like Weber has been getting bogged down a lot in side plots. In this book, we have a side plot in the Solarian League that is very similar to another side plot from previous books, and in fact brings in some of the characters from that other side plot. Was that necessary? I appreciate that he's trying to be very meticulous about world-building, but I kind of want to get to the ending at this point.
Aside from those criticisms, I felt like this was a fairly decent entry in the series. We got some added definition to some characters who have previously appeared, and there were some pretty decent action scenes. I'm still on board with the series, I'm just hoping that we see some resolution before any children I might have become old enough to read this series.
First of all was the structure. Like several of the recent books in the series, Shadow of Victory covers territory that, chronologically speaking, was covered in previous books. It begins just after the Battle of Monica (note that The Shadow of Saganami, where the Battle of Monica actually happened, came out in 2004, when I was a high school freshman), and provides fleshed-out backstory for some of the revolutionary characters from Shadow of Freedom. The latter part was what I was most concerned about, because I felt it was largely unnecessary. These are characters who were introduced in medias res in the last book, and most of the new stuff in here was alluded to in their introduction.
Secondly, there's the language. There are two new planets that we see a lot of in this book, one of which is the Polish planet, and the other of which is the Czech planet. And the Polish planet, in particular, gets a lot of Polish words thrown in to provide authenticity. The problem with that is that I don't know shit about Polish. And when significant governmental positions or movements are described using words that I can't begin to even pronounce, this poses a slight problem. I can kind of gather what they mean from the text, but it's still a bit jarring.
Thirdly, there's the pace of the series as a whole. As I mentioned previously in this review, the first book in this side series of the Honorverse came out in October 2004. That's twelve years. In that time, I went from high school freshman to the third year of graduate school. This book did move the plot forward, but I feel like Weber has been getting bogged down a lot in side plots. In this book, we have a side plot in the Solarian League that is very similar to another side plot from previous books, and in fact brings in some of the characters from that other side plot. Was that necessary? I appreciate that he's trying to be very meticulous about world-building, but I kind of want to get to the ending at this point.
Aside from those criticisms, I felt like this was a fairly decent entry in the series. We got some added definition to some characters who have previously appeared, and there were some pretty decent action scenes. I'm still on board with the series, I'm just hoping that we see some resolution before any children I might have become old enough to read this series.
November 2, 2016
I have been reading Honor Harrington books for over two decades, and for at least the past five years I've looked at every new one with trepidation. Am I going to get this one? Or is this finally going to be the time I walk away from what used to be a wonderful series?
I'm glad I got Shadow of Victory, but I'm even more glad I got it through Baen's monthly bundles and didn't pay the new release price. It's good, but it's not "buy in hardcover" good.
The big failing of Shadow of Victory is too many plots. In an effort to show us the extent of Mesa's plot to stir up trouble in the Verge, Shadow of Victory has us following rebellions on a half dozen different plants, some of them planets readers have never heard of before. Then there are the events on Mesa as the Alignment adjusts to the way Manticore is forcing changes on their centuries long plans, the politics and skullduggery on Earth as the Mandarins and people who are starting to smell a rat learn about and react to events in the Verge, personal plot developments for several recurring characters...
A lot of the plots and characters would have been fascinating to follow if given more time. But I really think Weber could have stuck with three rebellions--the ones introduced in the last book--and had the same effect without the overwhelming kaleidoscope of new characters to keep track of, new political systems and rebellions to follow.
I was also disappointed in the amount of repetition. Why did we need to see the start of rebellions that we had already been introduced to? Why take us back several years and two books to show us things that yeah, interesting, but not stuff we really needed to know, or could have been conveyed in a few paragraphs of summary?
The only explanation I can see is that for some reason Weber needs all this as set up for another book. But if so i can't see how or why.
Weber's fantasy continues to contain the spark and enchantment that once drew me to his sci-fi. I hope to see more of it soon.
I'm glad I got Shadow of Victory, but I'm even more glad I got it through Baen's monthly bundles and didn't pay the new release price. It's good, but it's not "buy in hardcover" good.
The big failing of Shadow of Victory is too many plots. In an effort to show us the extent of Mesa's plot to stir up trouble in the Verge, Shadow of Victory has us following rebellions on a half dozen different plants, some of them planets readers have never heard of before. Then there are the events on Mesa as the Alignment adjusts to the way Manticore is forcing changes on their centuries long plans, the politics and skullduggery on Earth as the Mandarins and people who are starting to smell a rat learn about and react to events in the Verge, personal plot developments for several recurring characters...
A lot of the plots and characters would have been fascinating to follow if given more time. But I really think Weber could have stuck with three rebellions--the ones introduced in the last book--and had the same effect without the overwhelming kaleidoscope of new characters to keep track of, new political systems and rebellions to follow.
I was also disappointed in the amount of repetition. Why did we need to see the start of rebellions that we had already been introduced to? Why take us back several years and two books to show us things that yeah, interesting, but not stuff we really needed to know, or could have been conveyed in a few paragraphs of summary?
The only explanation I can see is that for some reason Weber needs all this as set up for another book. But if so i can't see how or why.
Weber's fantasy continues to contain the spark and enchantment that once drew me to his sci-fi. I hope to see more of it soon.
October 4, 2016
I love David Weber's writing and I'm a huge fan of the Honor Harrington series, which makes it very disappointing that this book is so far from the ideal of his writing and the rest of the series.
Lots of Weber books are slow burners, I'm fully prepares for that and the anticipation of the final payoff makes it worth the weight; but this book could likely have 50% of the word count removed and still be a slow burner.
I understand attempting to draw a full back story, I understand trying to show the scope of the efforts being made to attack Manticore, but this was a great many steps too far away from a cohesive story.
Too many characters, often with unpronounceable/unrecognisable names, too many settings and too much jumping through time and between locations without properly framing the next scene. I spent way, way, to much of my time at the start of each chapter trying to figure out what planet we were now dealing with and if I the mess of names were ones I recognised (or if this were yet another new set of disposable characters being added into the mix), if we have jumped a few days or weeks forward in time or if it were months or even years.
Are there good parts? Yes. The expansion of the story line of a shadowy player from previous books is good and the core characters are well written and their interactions are rich and enjoyable, but you have to wade through such masses of near meaningless prose to find the interesting bits that the book can only be called an exercise in frustration for a fan.
Lots of Weber books are slow burners, I'm fully prepares for that and the anticipation of the final payoff makes it worth the weight; but this book could likely have 50% of the word count removed and still be a slow burner.
I understand attempting to draw a full back story, I understand trying to show the scope of the efforts being made to attack Manticore, but this was a great many steps too far away from a cohesive story.
Too many characters, often with unpronounceable/unrecognisable names, too many settings and too much jumping through time and between locations without properly framing the next scene. I spent way, way, to much of my time at the start of each chapter trying to figure out what planet we were now dealing with and if I the mess of names were ones I recognised (or if this were yet another new set of disposable characters being added into the mix), if we have jumped a few days or weeks forward in time or if it were months or even years.
Are there good parts? Yes. The expansion of the story line of a shadowy player from previous books is good and the core characters are well written and their interactions are rich and enjoyable, but you have to wade through such masses of near meaningless prose to find the interesting bits that the book can only be called an exercise in frustration for a fan.
February 7, 2017
It is important to have read the prior books in this series. Unfortunately, the first two-thirds of the book is a rehash of the prior situations, but if you have not read, the prior books even the rehash will not help you understand.
The Mesan Alignment has set its plan into motion to destroy Manticore. The series is full of interesting characters, lots of battle action, spies and political intrigue. Weber is one the of the best writers of military science fiction even when he gets bogged down into too much detail. The book goes back and forth between Manticore, Mesa and planets in the Talbot system such as Montana. Honor Harrington is mentioned but I wished she had even a small part in the story instead it was her husband who showed up at some of the meetings. The book was too long at over 37 hours. Glad I read this as an audiobook as it contains lots of unpronounceable names and places.
Kevin T. Collins did a good job narrating the book. Collins is an actor and audiobook narrator.
The Mesan Alignment has set its plan into motion to destroy Manticore. The series is full of interesting characters, lots of battle action, spies and political intrigue. Weber is one the of the best writers of military science fiction even when he gets bogged down into too much detail. The book goes back and forth between Manticore, Mesa and planets in the Talbot system such as Montana. Honor Harrington is mentioned but I wished she had even a small part in the story instead it was her husband who showed up at some of the meetings. The book was too long at over 37 hours. Glad I read this as an audiobook as it contains lots of unpronounceable names and places.
Kevin T. Collins did a good job narrating the book. Collins is an actor and audiobook narrator.
September 12, 2016
arguably the top release of 2016 for me, Shadow of Victory was partly a disappointment as it basically ends where Cauldron of Ghosts does so it doesn't advance the story line, but rehashes events from the previous several years from different perspectives; once i got over that, the book had lots of fun moments and a superb ending indeed (with a really cool twist), so I guess after the last book of the Honorverse will be released who will supposedly use this essentially, maybe the book will look as the masterpiece its author thinks it is arguing powerfully on his forums as "you'll see..." (and most fans think it's not)
October 7, 2016
Shadow of Victory kicks off hopping all over the Galaxy from Manticore through to The Solarian League, back to Mesa and then with events taking place in the Talbot Cluster and then in the soon to liberated section of Maya! :D This gives the book a great look at the overall situation that is developing all over the known galaxy as Manticore flexes it's military refusing to sit still but at the same time we also get POV that really show things on a personal level such as with Harahap up to trouble in the neighbourhood and then Gold Peak and Tourville, who make a very different team and seem to be leading some 'disturbing' lines, all add to the personal stakes that are at stake throughout the book! :D
As ever the Manties are going all out to defend everyone and the extent that they are willing to to accomplish this is staggering as their opponents are constantly wrong footed though not for wont of trying! :D The situation within the Solarian League is very clearly displayed with ruthlessness of The Mandarins on full display not to mention their sheer arrogance one such example being where they receive Beowulf secession announcement then promptly create a legal fiction to ignore and attempt to invade! :D
The book really does a great job portraying the characters you love to hiss at and at the same time you cheer for! :D Though as every George R R Martin disease strikes all over the place as Weber is very prone to let you get to know a character before they come down with affliction! :D Which of course is one of the books big strengths as you get to see all the sides and how their perspectives are shaping events! :D It is really hard to guess which way the plot is going to go even with a lot of the chronology of the book really established and does give the book a real edge of mystery and adventure which page turning away when you should have gone to bed a long time ago! :D
Shadow of Victory kicks off sometime back in the chronology of the Honorverse back before the first battle of Manticore and once you realise this the you get to see where the plot is going and how many threads are still being weaved through the events that have transpired in the previous books! :D The plot of the book then runs through to past the latest events featured in Cauldron of Ghosts catching up and overtaking that books plot line and setting up events for things to come! :D I would heavily suspect that the next book is in the works by the author as plot threads are left all over the place and Shadow of Victory has the dramatic feeling of events waiting to happen! :D
Characters though throughout are clearly being developed for use in further adventures such as Harahap and the relationship with Gold Peak and Tourville is clearly being set up for something but this adds to the adventure as really are set guessing as to what is going to develop with the characters as the whole book is brewing with potential showdowns! :D We also see that within The Solarian League the honourable elements in it are really starting to cotton on to the fat they are being being manipulated and this adds to the palimpsest of plot lines which may result in some type of internal Solarian action to support the Manties! :D
The action though amongst all the political manoeuvring is thick and fast with Manticore charging in to save the day but thanks to the multiple POV there is still a major tension as for starters you don't know whether the Manticorians will pull it off and the on the flip side how many of the enemy with be left at the end, especially as the Manticorian Empire does have a habit of making friends out of enemies and POV has been from the opposition side as well! :D This has always been in the books as well which always goes a long to stop the faceless enemy syndrome which makes for a very balanced and the three dimensional feel to the book overall! :D Though it has to be pointed out that throughout many of the characters have the most incredible escapes that could be managed but this add to the humour that runs through events as well! :D When the Manties actually cotton onto what Mesa has been up to their solution (including catching up with Harahan! :D ) is brillaintly portrayed Givens and Caparelli is brillaint! :D
Shadow of Victory is a book that bounces around brillaintly letting you get to grips on a Galactic scale, featuring multiple guest appearances (Honor ad Nimitz included! :D Lol ) but at the same time fills in a lot of existing plot holes, shows how insidious Mesa can really be, is full of character moments that continues brilliantly characters arcs and as a lot story to others but at the same time brilliantly sets up things for future events as the book set things on even more of a point of arrow than the previous book! :D There are plot points all over the place but at the same time they all fit together brilliantly and book sets things up amazingly for the breakneck adventure with reall could go anywhere though I supect The League and Mesa may have to watch out! :D Brilliant and highly recommended! :D
As ever the Manties are going all out to defend everyone and the extent that they are willing to to accomplish this is staggering as their opponents are constantly wrong footed though not for wont of trying! :D The situation within the Solarian League is very clearly displayed with ruthlessness of The Mandarins on full display not to mention their sheer arrogance one such example being where they receive Beowulf secession announcement then promptly create a legal fiction to ignore and attempt to invade! :D
The book really does a great job portraying the characters you love to hiss at and at the same time you cheer for! :D Though as every George R R Martin disease strikes all over the place as Weber is very prone to let you get to know a character before they come down with affliction! :D Which of course is one of the books big strengths as you get to see all the sides and how their perspectives are shaping events! :D It is really hard to guess which way the plot is going to go even with a lot of the chronology of the book really established and does give the book a real edge of mystery and adventure which page turning away when you should have gone to bed a long time ago! :D
Shadow of Victory kicks off sometime back in the chronology of the Honorverse back before the first battle of Manticore and once you realise this the you get to see where the plot is going and how many threads are still being weaved through the events that have transpired in the previous books! :D The plot of the book then runs through to past the latest events featured in Cauldron of Ghosts catching up and overtaking that books plot line and setting up events for things to come! :D I would heavily suspect that the next book is in the works by the author as plot threads are left all over the place and Shadow of Victory has the dramatic feeling of events waiting to happen! :D
Characters though throughout are clearly being developed for use in further adventures such as Harahap and the relationship with Gold Peak and Tourville is clearly being set up for something but this adds to the adventure as really are set guessing as to what is going to develop with the characters as the whole book is brewing with potential showdowns! :D We also see that within The Solarian League the honourable elements in it are really starting to cotton on to the fat they are being being manipulated and this adds to the palimpsest of plot lines which may result in some type of internal Solarian action to support the Manties! :D
The action though amongst all the political manoeuvring is thick and fast with Manticore charging in to save the day but thanks to the multiple POV there is still a major tension as for starters you don't know whether the Manticorians will pull it off and the on the flip side how many of the enemy with be left at the end, especially as the Manticorian Empire does have a habit of making friends out of enemies and POV has been from the opposition side as well! :D This has always been in the books as well which always goes a long to stop the faceless enemy syndrome which makes for a very balanced and the three dimensional feel to the book overall! :D Though it has to be pointed out that throughout many of the characters have the most incredible escapes that could be managed but this add to the humour that runs through events as well! :D When the Manties actually cotton onto what Mesa has been up to their solution (including catching up with Harahan! :D ) is brillaintly portrayed Givens and Caparelli is brillaint! :D
Shadow of Victory is a book that bounces around brillaintly letting you get to grips on a Galactic scale, featuring multiple guest appearances (Honor ad Nimitz included! :D Lol ) but at the same time fills in a lot of existing plot holes, shows how insidious Mesa can really be, is full of character moments that continues brilliantly characters arcs and as a lot story to others but at the same time brilliantly sets up things for future events as the book set things on even more of a point of arrow than the previous book! :D There are plot points all over the place but at the same time they all fit together brilliantly and book sets things up amazingly for the breakneck adventure with reall could go anywhere though I supect The League and Mesa may have to watch out! :D Brilliant and highly recommended! :D
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 14, 2019
This book is not about Honor Harrington. It's not about Aivars Terekhov. It's not even about Mike Henke or either of the series' Zilwickis.
This book is about Sinead Terekhov. It's about Grezegorz Zielinski and Tomasz Szponder. It's about Adam Siml and Zdenek Vilusinsky. It's about Mackenzie and Indy Graham. It's about the Allenby family. And above all, it's about agent provocateur Damien Harahap, a.k.a. "Firebrand."
Firebrand, you know, if you've been reading the Honorverse. Sinead you've met briefly, because she is Captain Terekhov's wife. The rest are new, and with the series being so deep in, it's confusing people, I think.
So who are all these people? They are folks who have been hurt by tyrannical Verge planet governments whose regimes have been propped up by the Solarian League's Frontier Security. They want to overthrow those regimes, but know they also have to fight Frontier Security in order to do it. And they are the ones approached by Firebrand on behalf of the Mesan Alignment's shadowy false flag operation to pretend to offer that support... from Manticore.
There's only one problem. Firebrand actually sympathizes with the movements he's been "pretending" to assist. And Mike Henke - and now, Aivars Terekhov - intend to deliver on the promises that someone else has been making on Manticore's behalf.
On its own, this would be a fantastic space opera book. I chewed it up in about three days, and it's a big, BIG book.
This late in the series, it's not what people expected. It goes back in time and seems to cover ground that's already been covered (and it some places, it does do that.) And yet, it's absolutely necessary to get the whole picture of the story that Weber is trying to tell in this vast, epic conspiracy.
By this time, I had given up the initial expectations that soured me towards The Shadow of Saganami when I first read it, because I think I had finally absorbed what it was that Weber was trying to do. As a result, I thought this book was excellent.
The loss of a star is simply because it's so complex that it becomes difficult to keep track of which characters are which if you're not paying close attention, especially with the plethora of unfamiliar Polish names (I have Polish ancestors, but I am Canadian, and I had to make a list.)
Definite plus: all of these tyrannical governments were tyrannies in different ways. No cookie-cutter regimes here, as would have been all too easy to do, especially with the similar cultural milieus. I can only imagine the brain-wracking worldbuilding that would have required!
I'm also a bit staggered by the enormity of the timeline Weber would have had to shuffle! Keeping track would have been a nightmare! As a result, it suffers occasionally from pacing problems, but nothing that I think is a deal-breaker.
A definite must for fans of the series, and if you're up for a chewy space saga that's as complex as A Song of Ice and Fire, well worth it for the discerning space opera fan as well.
I'm doing a True Chronological Reading of the Last 10 Honorverse Books, as I said I would in the last couple of Honorverse reviews I did. You can check it out at the link above!
This book is about Sinead Terekhov. It's about Grezegorz Zielinski and Tomasz Szponder. It's about Adam Siml and Zdenek Vilusinsky. It's about Mackenzie and Indy Graham. It's about the Allenby family. And above all, it's about agent provocateur Damien Harahap, a.k.a. "Firebrand."
Firebrand, you know, if you've been reading the Honorverse. Sinead you've met briefly, because she is Captain Terekhov's wife. The rest are new, and with the series being so deep in, it's confusing people, I think.
So who are all these people? They are folks who have been hurt by tyrannical Verge planet governments whose regimes have been propped up by the Solarian League's Frontier Security. They want to overthrow those regimes, but know they also have to fight Frontier Security in order to do it. And they are the ones approached by Firebrand on behalf of the Mesan Alignment's shadowy false flag operation to pretend to offer that support... from Manticore.
There's only one problem. Firebrand actually sympathizes with the movements he's been "pretending" to assist. And Mike Henke - and now, Aivars Terekhov - intend to deliver on the promises that someone else has been making on Manticore's behalf.
On its own, this would be a fantastic space opera book. I chewed it up in about three days, and it's a big, BIG book.
This late in the series, it's not what people expected. It goes back in time and seems to cover ground that's already been covered (and it some places, it does do that.) And yet, it's absolutely necessary to get the whole picture of the story that Weber is trying to tell in this vast, epic conspiracy.
By this time, I had given up the initial expectations that soured me towards The Shadow of Saganami when I first read it, because I think I had finally absorbed what it was that Weber was trying to do. As a result, I thought this book was excellent.
The loss of a star is simply because it's so complex that it becomes difficult to keep track of which characters are which if you're not paying close attention, especially with the plethora of unfamiliar Polish names (I have Polish ancestors, but I am Canadian, and I had to make a list.)
Definite plus: all of these tyrannical governments were tyrannies in different ways. No cookie-cutter regimes here, as would have been all too easy to do, especially with the similar cultural milieus. I can only imagine the brain-wracking worldbuilding that would have required!
I'm also a bit staggered by the enormity of the timeline Weber would have had to shuffle! Keeping track would have been a nightmare! As a result, it suffers occasionally from pacing problems, but nothing that I think is a deal-breaker.
A definite must for fans of the series, and if you're up for a chewy space saga that's as complex as A Song of Ice and Fire, well worth it for the discerning space opera fan as well.
I'm doing a True Chronological Reading of the Last 10 Honorverse Books, as I said I would in the last couple of Honorverse reviews I did. You can check it out at the link above!
August 31, 2021
I finally finished Shadow of Victory. The first half of the book seemed to drag on forever. Endless time was spent on planets and people I could not force myself to care about, or revisiting events that already happened in other books in the core and spin off Honor Harrington series. Honestly, if I wasn't a huge fan of the series already I probably would have given up after the first twenty chapters. In my opinion, the first forty plus chapters could have been trimmed down to four or five and the book would have been better for it.
When it finally reached the half way point, the book began to pick up and concentrate on the main characters of this spin off series. While it became more readable, the book seemed to lack any tention. Every naval battle was a walk over for the good side, and even the climactic "battle" of the book, something that has been building up over several books and even more years was a huge disappointment.
In the end, I probably would not recommend this book to anyone but the most rabid fan of Weber's sprawling Honorverse saga.
When it finally reached the half way point, the book began to pick up and concentrate on the main characters of this spin off series. While it became more readable, the book seemed to lack any tention. Every naval battle was a walk over for the good side, and even the climactic "battle" of the book, something that has been building up over several books and even more years was a huge disappointment.
In the end, I probably would not recommend this book to anyone but the most rabid fan of Weber's sprawling Honorverse saga.
March 26, 2018
This book was kind of an odd one, a conspiracy plot that is going on behind the scenes or in other locations for a number of other books in the Honorverse. Thus battles sometimes happen off screen because they were covered in different novels. Do not try to read this as a stand-alone, you will be hopelessly confused.
The closest thing to a main character that we have is the bad guy, who links most of the plot threads. Also, I really missed having an index for this one: revolutions on five or more different worlds, all with different casts of character, associated with different transstellars... every time we switched POV (which Weber does a lot--he has to because of the epic scope) it would take me a page or so to figure out which plot thread we were following.
I did enjoy it, but it took some effort.
The closest thing to a main character that we have is the bad guy, who links most of the plot threads. Also, I really missed having an index for this one: revolutions on five or more different worlds, all with different casts of character, associated with different transstellars... every time we switched POV (which Weber does a lot--he has to because of the epic scope) it would take me a page or so to figure out which plot thread we were following.
I did enjoy it, but it took some effort.
June 11, 2017
I am just glad I borrowed this book and didn’t buy it, I feel sorry for anybody who wasted there money on one of the most boring books I have read for a long time. This book takes hundreds of pages to go nowhere, the story chops and changes with very little flow making it tedious to read. There are too many characters that appear then just die, too many irrelevant sub plots, too many things that have already appeared in previous books and finally what might have been new and interesting was either so long winded or buried within masses of boring rubbish.
However, what really annoys me is I love the Honor Harrington Universe and I can’t believe the mess the author is making of these great books.
However, what really annoys me is I love the Honor Harrington Universe and I can’t believe the mess the author is making of these great books.
October 12, 2016
skimmed it. To be honest, I like Mike, Helen, Aivars, the hotdog Peep admiral, and all the rest okay but... Honor, Victor, Berry, Thandi are LARGER THAN LIFE and completely freaking amazing so the other characters become like the adults in a Charlie Brown movie "mwamwamwamwamwa"
There were some touching scenes that I caught though. Maybe one day I'll read the Talbott Cluster part of the series, but that day is not today!!!
There were some touching scenes that I caught though. Maybe one day I'll read the Talbott Cluster part of the series, but that day is not today!!!
September 26, 2016
I was hoping for a continuation of the series, but the is a rehash of what happened over the past two books from the perspective of secondary characters. It also has entire chapters from the previous book copied into it.
September 8, 2016
Didn't care about any of the characters at all. Most of the story is repeats. Slogged through it, but didn't enjoy it.
February 10, 2017
Let me start by confessing that I am a big fan of David Weber’s books. I have read his Honor Harrington series several times and I’ve read just about all of his other books as well. However, Shadow of Victory was so frustrating that it’s making me reconsider my commitment to Weber’s novels.
First off, he made us wait four years for this sequel. Four years is a lot of time when the author has left the reader in the middle of a crisis and seen fit to write several other books in the intervening time. So when I learned that the new Honor Harrington book was finally coming out and that we would finally see how the war between Manticore and the Solarian League would progress, I was very excited. So imagine my crushing disappointment when the book arrived on my phone and I learned that it starts way back in time and by the end advances the storyline only about a day beyond where we had been four years ago. But things get worse…
Shadow of Victory appears to be all of the padding from A Rising Thunder (the previous novel) that the editor cut out because it was unnecessary. (Note: I don’t know that Weber’s editor cut anything out of the previous book.) That is to say, that we have more examples of how nefarious Manticore’s enemies are but nothing that substantially evolves our understanding of them or their machinations. Put bluntly, the tiny smidgeons of new material in this book could have been included in a half dozen pages of the next novel and the reader would have lost nothing. There was absolutely no point to this novel and as a reader I am insulted that the author published it. I now have a sour taste in my mouth when I think of this series and frankly, I’d have rather never seen another book in it than to have my enjoyment of the previous novels dampened in this way.
So it’s with great pain and the aforementioned crushing disappointment that I award this book a single star. It’s too bad we can’t go lower. Weber is far too good a writer to produce this drivel. One Star.
First off, he made us wait four years for this sequel. Four years is a lot of time when the author has left the reader in the middle of a crisis and seen fit to write several other books in the intervening time. So when I learned that the new Honor Harrington book was finally coming out and that we would finally see how the war between Manticore and the Solarian League would progress, I was very excited. So imagine my crushing disappointment when the book arrived on my phone and I learned that it starts way back in time and by the end advances the storyline only about a day beyond where we had been four years ago. But things get worse…
Shadow of Victory appears to be all of the padding from A Rising Thunder (the previous novel) that the editor cut out because it was unnecessary. (Note: I don’t know that Weber’s editor cut anything out of the previous book.) That is to say, that we have more examples of how nefarious Manticore’s enemies are but nothing that substantially evolves our understanding of them or their machinations. Put bluntly, the tiny smidgeons of new material in this book could have been included in a half dozen pages of the next novel and the reader would have lost nothing. There was absolutely no point to this novel and as a reader I am insulted that the author published it. I now have a sour taste in my mouth when I think of this series and frankly, I’d have rather never seen another book in it than to have my enjoyment of the previous novels dampened in this way.
So it’s with great pain and the aforementioned crushing disappointment that I award this book a single star. It’s too bad we can’t go lower. Weber is far too good a writer to produce this drivel. One Star.
December 16, 2016
It has been a long time since I posted something on this site. I have had quite a few personal problems including being hospitalized for several months. Thus both my book reading and my ability (motivation) to write have been next to non-existent. My Goodreads reading challenge from the beginning of the year is shot to hell with about 27% of the books read.
Fortunately things are slowly returning to something that at least resembles normality. I have begun to read again and today I managed to motivate myself to start writing and posting reviews in PG’s Ramblings and Goodreads again.
Unfortunately this, the first book I review after coming back, was a bit of a disappointment. As usual the book is very well written as one should expect with David Weber as the author. However, the book is very long, slow, longwinded and downright boring for a lot of the time.
There are lots and lots of long passages with discussions between people, political plotting, treacherous manipulations etc. etc. There are also a lot of plots going on at once, jumping back and forth, and there is never really a main character or hero to really get attached to. The book also recycles a lot of plot elements found in previous books in the series. I know it is a Honorverse and not a Honor Harrington book but I really miss Honor Harrington’s presence.
It is not until the last third, or even last fourth, of the book that it starts to get interesting when some real space action starts to take place and Manticore starts to unravel the mess that the Mesan Alignment have created. In this part of the book we get some examples of David Weber’s excellent writing of space battles and tactics.
It is unfortunately not enough to save the book from a rather mediocre rating.
Fortunately things are slowly returning to something that at least resembles normality. I have begun to read again and today I managed to motivate myself to start writing and posting reviews in PG’s Ramblings and Goodreads again.
Unfortunately this, the first book I review after coming back, was a bit of a disappointment. As usual the book is very well written as one should expect with David Weber as the author. However, the book is very long, slow, longwinded and downright boring for a lot of the time.
There are lots and lots of long passages with discussions between people, political plotting, treacherous manipulations etc. etc. There are also a lot of plots going on at once, jumping back and forth, and there is never really a main character or hero to really get attached to. The book also recycles a lot of plot elements found in previous books in the series. I know it is a Honorverse and not a Honor Harrington book but I really miss Honor Harrington’s presence.
It is not until the last third, or even last fourth, of the book that it starts to get interesting when some real space action starts to take place and Manticore starts to unravel the mess that the Mesan Alignment have created. In this part of the book we get some examples of David Weber’s excellent writing of space battles and tactics.
It is unfortunately not enough to save the book from a rather mediocre rating.
January 5, 2017
Oh man. Typically I really like David Weber, but this book was just a disappointment. It's pretty much exactly the same as Shadow of Freedom, but with several of the scenes told from different POVs. It's been almost 4 years since I read Shadow of Freedom, so it took me a while to realize that I was rereading the same book. Don't get me wrong - it's nice to get multiple perspectives, especially out of a war novel, but I was really looking for something that advanced the plot more than half an hour.
Overall, I'd call this a pass, even for hardcore fans of the series like myself. It wasn't poorly written (although the edition that I read [I ordered the hardcover from Amazon] had several typos and was inconsistent about Mr. Harahap's first name), but it felt like slogging through already-captured territory. It's a revanchist book in that regard. And, no exaggeration, the main plot of the series (which, at this point, spans decades) was advanced by about thirty minutes (possibly a full hour but I doubt that) over the course of this book, and I fully expect that scene to be lifted whole cloth and put into another book in the "main" series.
I am disappointed, because I know that Mr. Weber can do better. His editor is perhaps to blame here - if we'd gotten the full perspective on planets A and B in Shadow of Freedom and planets C and D in Shadow of Victory, I'd have been much happier. As it is, I feel like I wasted my money buying this book (which was directly competing with his other book released around the same time, At The Sign of Triumph, which I did not buy because I had to choose).
Overall, I'd call this a pass, even for hardcore fans of the series like myself. It wasn't poorly written (although the edition that I read [I ordered the hardcover from Amazon] had several typos and was inconsistent about Mr. Harahap's first name), but it felt like slogging through already-captured territory. It's a revanchist book in that regard. And, no exaggeration, the main plot of the series (which, at this point, spans decades) was advanced by about thirty minutes (possibly a full hour but I doubt that) over the course of this book, and I fully expect that scene to be lifted whole cloth and put into another book in the "main" series.
I am disappointed, because I know that Mr. Weber can do better. His editor is perhaps to blame here - if we'd gotten the full perspective on planets A and B in Shadow of Freedom and planets C and D in Shadow of Victory, I'd have been much happier. As it is, I feel like I wasted my money buying this book (which was directly competing with his other book released around the same time, At The Sign of Triumph, which I did not buy because I had to choose).
August 15, 2017
LONG spells of tedious repetition interspersed with usual, full-marks fun of the Honorverse stories
It doesn't really matter, I suppose. It doesn't even matter for me. If you've read this far along in the Honor Harrington books, then you have to read this one and you'll have to read – as I will have to read, and happily – the book or books to come. But be prepared: Weber spends a….great deal of time introducing characters who ultimately don't matter, in fact, introducing four or five complete sets of characters who other than their names and some details of their circumstance are essentially interchangeable. He does it for a purpose, but didn't need to spend anywhere near the amount of time on them that he did. It's not laziness (except in the editing). It's just unnecessary, and therefore somewhat annoying. Whenever the main – long-standing – characters appear, all is well with the narrative. They are just as much fun as they have always been and the story except Pace and moves along jauntily. And, as I say, the book must be read in order to understand events that are to come, so this simply must be endured. I just hope that whoever edits for him will get rid of much more of the "filler" in the next book then she or he did in this one.
It doesn't really matter, I suppose. It doesn't even matter for me. If you've read this far along in the Honor Harrington books, then you have to read this one and you'll have to read – as I will have to read, and happily – the book or books to come. But be prepared: Weber spends a….great deal of time introducing characters who ultimately don't matter, in fact, introducing four or five complete sets of characters who other than their names and some details of their circumstance are essentially interchangeable. He does it for a purpose, but didn't need to spend anywhere near the amount of time on them that he did. It's not laziness (except in the editing). It's just unnecessary, and therefore somewhat annoying. Whenever the main – long-standing – characters appear, all is well with the narrative. They are just as much fun as they have always been and the story except Pace and moves along jauntily. And, as I say, the book must be read in order to understand events that are to come, so this simply must be endured. I just hope that whoever edits for him will get rid of much more of the "filler" in the next book then she or he did in this one.
July 28, 2025
Oczekiwałem więcej. Zwłaszcza że jest to moja kolejna książka z serii Honor Harrington. Tytułowej bohaterki prawie nie ma.
June 7, 2017
2.5 stars I was extremely disappointed in this book. David Weber's Honor Harrington series has always been one of my favorites. I didn't feel this one met the high standards of previous books in the series. I expected this book to take place after the events in the third in the Shadow of Saganami series. Events from the beginning of the series were rehashed from different points of view. The storyline kept jumping between various planets and starships. I've always enjoyed the diversity of backgrounds in this series. The use of extremely long Czech language terms and names was detrimental to smooth and fluid reading. I read very quickly and usually devour Honorverse books in one or two sittings. Tedious and a slog are better descriptors of my reading this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 27, 2018
Military space opera at its best.
September 4, 2024
A one star for half the book. I am sure I already read 80% of this already.
Some nice resolutions and some really cool stuff on the alignment at the end. Bringing it up to a possibly generous three stars.
Some nice resolutions and some really cool stuff on the alignment at the end. Bringing it up to a possibly generous three stars.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 276 reviews