What Price Victory?

Worlds of Honor #7

by David Weber (Editor)

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

The hottest military science fiction series of all time continues. The mission: to boldly explore David Weber’s Honorverse; to deliver all the action, courage, derring-do, and pulse-pounding excitement of space naval adventure with tales set in a world touched by the greatness of one epic heroine—Honor Harrington.

New Honorverse tales by Timothy Zahn & Thomas Pope, Jane Lindskold, the Honorverse Czech translator Jan Kotouc, and Joelle Presby. Plus, “First Victory,” an all-new novella by David Weber!

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

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

Worlds of Honor anthologies:
More Than Honor 
Worlds of Honor
Changer of Worlds
Service of the Sword
In Fire Forged
Beginnings

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Military Fiction, Military Science Fiction, Space Opera

320 pages, Hardcover

Published February 7, 2023

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

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great selection of short stories set in-between & before the main events in the core series. Very nice read. Very recommended

[Barb in Maryland · Rating 3 out of 5]

For fans of the Honorverse. For newcomers, this is not a place to start exploring that vast world.

Five 'short' stories:

'Traitor' by Timothy Zahn and Thomas Pope features the founder of the Anderman Empire, Gustav I. Lots of action and political intrigue in this one.
'Deception on Gryphon' by Jane Lindskold features young Stephanie Harrington and her treecat Lionheart in a murder mystery.
'The Silesian Command' by Jan Kotouc takes place during the war with Haven, and features Eve Chandler in an action adventure involving space pirates.
'If Wishes Were Space Cutters' by Joelle Presby puts the reader on Grayson in Burdette Steading, with some peril in space during a salvage operation.
'First Victory' by David Weber features Honor Harrington's parents in a domestic drama.

All the stories were enjoyable, but none stood out. Weber's story was disappointing in that I was hoping to see Honor featured.

[Jonathan Koan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Over the last few months, I've been slowly getting into the Honor Harrington Universe. I am unfortunately still a relative novice, having only read 3 novels in the series thus far. However, I was contacted by Baen books who asked me if I'd like to be added to their reviewer list, and I wasn't sure which books I'd be interested in starting. I had most reason to start this one, as it was in a series I was sort of familiar with, and so I read part of it in E-book form and part of it in Hardcover. Thank you to Baen for the E-book in exchange for an honest review.

The problem with novella collection is that you have to ensure that all of the stories are interesting and engaging, or at least, that most of the stories are engaging. On that note, I think that 4 out of the 5 stories were well written and interesting to read. Here I'll breakdown what I thought of each novella and how I would rate it.

1. Traitor by Timothy Zahn and Thomas Pope: 10/10: This was an amazing story, what a way to kick off the anthology. This story follows Cutler von Tischendorf, the nephew of Emperor Gustav Anderman, who gets caught in the middle of a coup attempt. The action here was amazing, the way the story switched perspectives was ingenious, and it was really thought provoking. If I'm being honest, it was also a little scary how many real life applications there were.

2. Deception on Gryphon by Jane Lindskold: 6/10. This was a fun mystery story featuring Stephanie and Karl Harrington as teenagers as a neighbor dies suddenly and they try to find out why. It didn't blow my socks off, but it was a fun story. I'm not sure how I felt about reading part of the story from the perspective of the treecats. Some fans may love it, some may hate it. I kind of felt it wasn't great but wasn't terrible.

3. The Silesian Command by Jan Kotouc: 8/10: This story absolutely felt like the story promised in this anthology and universe. The military set up and pay off was fantastic. The action was well paced and I was on the edge of my seat to find out what would happen. It felt like an episode of Star Trek almost. However, some of the worldbuilding wasn't clear to me, and so it was hard to understand some of the significance to the story.

4. If Wishes Were Space Cutters by Joelle Presby: 3/10: I feel bad giving this story such a low grade, but I don't have much good to say about it. It follows Noah Bedlahm, a poor citizen of Grayson who tries to both get a job and also avoid his mother getting cut off from government subsidies. I'm sure there were worldbuilding reasons why Weber decided to include this story, but I didn't care for it sadly.

5. First Victory by David Weber: 9/10: This story is probably the most impressive because it has no "action", yet it is the story with the most heart and the one I was most invested in. That is partially due to the superb character work with all of the Harringtons and the Benton-Ramierez y Chous. The animosity created between mother and daughter was well written, the way the family around them reacted was well written, and the resolution of the story was realistic and well written. The values included here are really thought provoking. Overall, this story shocked me the most and I really want to keep reading David Weber's books to see if this kind of storytelling is kept up.

So I overall really enjoyed what I read, but not every story is top tier. If you're a Honorverse fan, or even a fan of any of these authors, you should pick this up. I'll give it a 7.2 out of 10! Well done David Weber and team!

[eyes.2c · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another highly enjoyable read. Battleships and personalities collide.

[Jim McKeown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not up to usual standards

I am an avid fan of the Honorverse. This book was just OK, the book I liked least in entire series.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

What Price Victory? is a collection of stories set in David Weber's Honorverse. These stories are as follows: Traitor by Timothy Zhan and Thomas Pope, Deception On Gryphon by Jane Lindskold, The Silesian Command by Jan Kotouc, If Wishes Were Space Cutters by Joelle Presby and First Victory by David Weber. Each of these stories is about different characters from the Honorverse and all are well-written and a pleasure to read. This book was fantastic. I read it in a day!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great new anthology

I'm a long-time fan of David Weber and his Honor Harrington series, so I was looking forward to this new collection of short stories. My favorite was probably "First Victory" by Weber, but the whole book was a great read.

[Ashutosh Sahu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three decent stories up front, two utter stinkers bringing up the rear.

Traitor:
Readable, entertaining story set amidst the internal politics of the Anderman Empire, featuring a protagonist who is close to Emperor Anderman himself. Does not require any familiarity with the Honorverse whatsoever and to be honest, any connection there might be escapes me. The Honorverse is incredibly vast and frequently incredibly boring. This story is the best of the five in this collection. Characters have believable motivation and there is a sense of suspense.

Deception:
It's interesting that Anne McCaffrey endorses this collection, because this story formulaically steals from her 'Pern' series. Two sprightly late-teenagers have to solve a murder mystery with the aid of their telepathic drag... er Treecats. It's not great, there are literally no plot twists (it's generally good form when writing a murder mystery to present at least two characters who could've done it), but it's okay for what it is, basically a teen romance with no kissy kissy.

Silesian:
We're getting pretty far afield into obscure, irrelevant space, but then again this is the 7th Worlds of Honor. A bunch of HH's comrades in arms have to deal with a rogue dude who blows shit up instead of fighting. I wonder if David Weber has some kind of computer algorithm for writing space combat or if the author is really this much of a fan of the series. It feels like a HH type story, but much less interesting since... there's no actual space combat nor stakes.

Wishes:
My eyes started to bleed within 3 pages. This reads like a twelve year old wrote it about things only a twelve year old would care about. I know that readers in general these days are pretty fucking dumb, but this story sets a new bar for foolishness. It's about sisters engaging in online drama about their diaries (apparently there's some element of the Grayson Space Navy buried in here that I didn't get to). If you liked this story, you are a complete and utter nitwit and Weber probably has you on speed dial as a superfan.

First Victory:
I assumed they saved the story written by David Weber for last because it was the best. But in actuality, the stories are presented in order of quality. Weber completely phones it in with a meaningless and uninteresting romance between grandparents(?) of Honor Harrington. Who gives a literal flying fuck? You know an author is firmly up his own ass when he pulls this kind of crap.

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

#7 in the "Worlds of Honor" anthology series.

Five novella-ish stories by six writers. The two absolute winners are Jane Lindskild's "Deception on Gryphon" and Joelle Presby's "If Wishes Were Space Cutters."

The first of these is a continuation of the "Star Kingdom" sub-series, about Honor Harrington's ancestor Stephanie Harrington, who discovered the treecats and became the first human to be bonded to one. She and her friend Karl travel (with her parents) to Gryphon, one of the three inhabitable planets of the Manticore system (where her homeworld of Sphinx lies). They befriend a geologist, who promises to take them out to see something special, and then apparently kills himself. Of course, they figure out it's a murder and, in the Hardy-Drew tradition of teenage detectives, uncover the murderer and the motive.

The other features Noah Bedlam, a new character. Noah is a teenaged member of the underclass in the Grayson system, which is run by the Church of Humanity Unchained. In a series of events remniscent of a Heinlein juvenile, he (to his own surprise) finds himself volunteering to work on a space station that is simultaneously being built around a gas giant, and clearing the rubble from the stations destroyed in an attack on the system a while back. He makes an unlikely friend, and survives a potentially deadly incident while saving some other lives. Curtain.

Of the other stories: two -- "Traitor," by Timothy Zahn and Thomas Pope, and "The Silesian Command," by Jan Kotouč, are fairly standard military-adventure-SF of the sort that is this metaseries's bread and butter; while Weber's own contribution, "First Victory," is a sort of origin story for Honor Harrington herself, and basically trivial (though pleasant enough).

The book is, overall, a decent read, but nothing to write a long post about.

[Leigh Kimmel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet again, we get a feast of events that previously been "far trees," only glimpsed through other events.

We have a story of the early days of the Andermani Empire. Was the original Gustav Anderman delusional, was he the victim of one or another bit of biological tinkering that fell under ban after the Final War, or was he truly the reincarnation of the Prussian King? One thing's for certain -- a great deal of crookedness can be hidden under an argument that a person needs to be evaluated mentally.

We have a murder mystery that Stephanie Harrington and her boyfriend must solve, with the help of their treecats -- but they can't let on about the input of these very special para-felines.

We have a story of the mess in the Silesian Confederacy, from the POV of the Havenites right after they restored their old Republic and aren't the Peeps any more.

And we have two stories that follow on from stories in the previous volume of anthologies.

One continues the story of the Bedlam family, part of Grayson's underclass. In the previous story, we saw the young woman who was trying to make a good life for herself in the Grayson Navy. In this one, we see her black sheep brother who was thrust into the role of Head of Household far too early. Although sad at times, it ends with hope of a happy ending.

The second continues the story of Honor Harrington's parents, now married -- but still getting static from her family. Although Alfred comes from yeoman stock (Stephanie Harrington's knighthood being pretty much the only distinction in their family tree), Allison comes from the elite of Beowulfan society, and her mother had Expectations for her. But Allison is a stubborn woman, and if anything, her PTSD is making her more determined to chart her own course with the man who saved her life.

In all it's a fascinating collection.

[Liviu · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the weaker Honorverse anthologies in the sense that there is little new and while enjoyable, most stories feel like filler to a large extent.

In (sort of) chronological order we have:

the story of Tamerlane and how he goes bad in the Andermanni empire (sort of without really meaning it so to speak); ok but we know how it ends, so no real drama

a story of Stephanie and Karl (the ancestor couple of the Harringtons who features heavily in the young adult series with treecats); a nice enjoyable mystery with a bit of peril for the couple (to be - here they are still in the YA phase) but of course treecats to the rescue

a story of the Silesian annexation and dealing with pirates - this was the best of the anthology by far, but still a typical Honorverse storyline with not that much new

a continuation of the (mis) adventures of the Bedlam clan in the Burdette steading from the previous anthology; not really fitting that much with the rest of the stories and kind of boring frankly

finally, the D Weber piece which continues the story of Honor's parents, but sadly lacks much of anything (as opposed to the one in Beginnings which was really exciting and fresh); pretty much a mother and daughter at odds for years storyline with some Franz Illescue is still a dork (we already knew this from a few other stories anyway) and a bit of space action in between; frankly not sure why this one needed to be written in this much detail

Overall one pretty good story, two decent ones but without much of interest, and two that could have easily not been written, or at least not in this much detail, so definitely a book for Honorverse completists like myself, but not really for anyone else

[Mistress OP · Rating 4 out of 5]

honestly, I wish that there was more honor. A complete moment for her to have more tree cat adventures to be honest. As she raises in rank she gets less and less hands on things she can do. That's why I enjoy her as a diplomat with battle ships behind her. But he never really as a writer took advantage of the opunitnity. Its like after the battle of manicore he almost shelved her from the storyline but at the same time hung the storyline off her. Which made two different missions that didn't work well together.

So, in the short stories I was hope'n for one honor one or more tree cat honor action. Which I realize is hard to do as nimtz is damage as a tree cat. I get how that could be hard and sam is hook on to alexander which means you'd have to bring him along on planet at the very least as he can't be far away from him. Nothing about any of that no honor at all. I don't mind honors mom though but it's not a late story of honors mom it's a before she was born. So...... again. I know The author gets a lot of flack from people saying that the series has over stayed it's welcome. I never agreed with that I think where it failed was not enough use for honor in action moments. The higher she got up the chain the more distant it felt and was. As that distance grew cast expanded but the new cast wasn't really used well. I'd probably focus more on truman, jackie, so on. But the author choose to create whole new folks and for me it fell flat except for ginger and aubery which aubery was barely used after that. and ginger not used enough.

as for the stories. They weren't bad I'd love to see more grayson stories. maybe some of the women so forth but I'm not mad at it at all. Just not insanely what I wanted so solid 3.4 willing to go and give it an even 4.

[Doug Sundseth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating anthologies is always tricky; the stories cannot be equally strong. But a few truly excellent stories can make the entire anthology very much worth reading. This anthology has three very strong stories, and I will unhesitatingly recommend it for those. Detailed notes below.

Traitor, Timothy Zahn & Thomas Pope - 3 stars. This short novella is well enough written, with an interesting plot and good characters. But it feels like the beginning of a novel, not a stand-alone story. It's good as far as it goes, but it's not especially satisfying.

Deception on Gryphon, Jane Lindskold - 2 stars. A relatively slight novelette starring Stephanie Harrington and company. This is a minor mystery story that didn't engage my attention much. The split between the treecats' POV and the humans' POV isn't managed well and the reactions of the humans really doesn't ring true.

The Silesian Command, Jan Kotouč - 4 stars. A solid novella set in Silesia, covering the response to a renegade peep admiral who is attempting to set himself up as an independent warlord. Good plot and decent characterization.

If Wishes were Space Cutters, Joelle Presby - 5 stars. This short novella is a truly excellent character study of a poor head of household on Grayson and his attempts to make a life for himself and help his dependents. The start of the story is a bit opaque and scattered, but once it reaches its stride, the plotting is strong and the characters develop an amazing amount of depth for such a short piece.

First Victory, David Weber - 5 stars. A very strong short novella covering the lives of Alfred and Allison Harrington from their marriage through the birth of Honor Harrington. It's not a kinetic action story, but as a character study, it's brilliant.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an anthology of stories set in the “Honorverse” in different periods of time, showing different members of the Harrington clan who came before Honor, with the last story set just before she leaves for her initial training at Saganami Island. There’s also a story set in Grayson after the Destruction of the Blackbird orbital facility that gives a glimpse into the life of common underprivileged citizens there, as well as one about Gustav Anderman and the early days of the Empire.

I found them all good, with the story of Stephanie Harrington quite interesting as we got to see the thoughts and feelings of several Treecats who figured prominently in the story as they became aware that their “two-legs” needed help. The other story was interesting as it gave more insight into a new character we might see in the future as she’s fairly early in her career as a ship’s captain in the period after Honor was crofted as Duchess Harrington but before the “current day”.

[Kevin K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read better Honorverse Anthologies.

Of the 5 stories presented, I quite enjoyed 3 of them, the story set in the Andermanni Empire, the murder mystery set on Gryphon and the redemption of a Mantacorian Captain operating in Silesia.
The remaining 2 stories presented (a story set on Grayson, and a story about Honor's parents) were lackluster for me.

The whole of the Honorverse seems to be winding down now, and I'm sad about it, but such is life.

TLDR - If you're a diehard fan, pick this up otherwise give it a pass.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a mixed bag, with several involving a bit of a slog. The slow-starting Andermani story was quite good! Tree cats: never unwelcome. Alfred-Allison… was a lot of fluff and not much substance. …The Grayson one I *so wanted to be better than it was, and it did pick up in the end, but the punchability of one of the characters was nearly a breaking point for reading the entire collection.

The fifth one… there was a fifth one… *edited to add* RIGHT, the Silesian one. That was fine- good plot, although the emotional arc, honestly, was kind of pasted-on/paint-by-numbers.

[Kalli · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m as big a fan of the Honorverse as anyone, but this installment was just lacking. There have been some truly outstanding short stories in previous anthologies, but the submissions this time missed on all marks. The characters weren’t relatable and only had the loosest relation to events in the main arch. Even Weber’s offering left something to be desired by jumping quickly through Honor’s parent’s early lives together. The family feud is much less interesting than the kidnapping that is only alluded to but is the catalyst for the relationship.

[Rhane · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Honor Harrington origin story

Several excellent stories set in David Weber’s Honorverse. These stories give us the beginnings of so many beloved governments. I would love to see more of Cutler von Tischendorf’s story and whether he grows to understand Gustav Anderman. I want to know what becomes of Noah Bedlam. There are seeds of many more stories.

[Jim Gutzwiller · Rating 5 out of 5]

What price victory?

Beautifully written and creative stories that fill in the time before Honor Harrington was around. The various authors have provided readers with vivid and imaginative tales that fit together perfectly to take our imaginations to places to leave us anticipating the next story with bated breath and a twinkle in our eyes.
Thank you all!

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

always good to get new stories

The Grayson story was excellent really felt I saw more about that world. The opening detective story was ok and the Final Story was decent. I like the deeper dive into her parents and please more on the BSC. Worth the time and hope we get more stories.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of this collection of five stories, I enjoyed three. I especially liked the detective tale where
Stephanie Harrington, Karl Zivonik, and the treecats manage to solve a murder. Then the story of Honor's parents getting together to create Honor was interesting as well. The stories help fill in the Honor Harrington Universe so read this title if you are interested in this series.

[LinHigley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honor to David and crew.

I can't help it if when I read this that tears squeezed out of my dusty old eyes. I fall onto this universe so easily and so completely that it's some times hard to shift back in to any semblance of reality.

[Bonny Fuller-Fells · Rating 5 out of 5]

Several stories to round out the Honor Universe

Learn why the Andermani were led by a crazy emperor. Find out how Silasia was invested with State Security types. Learn more about Stephanie Harrington .

[Eric Good · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Weber always produces

It was very good, but I would have liked it longer. I know his other books referred to honors time at th academy, but there is only a slight chance for a follow up. Would still like to see one.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Victory.

This seventh collection of short stories and novellas is a great read. These stories help develop the background of many characters from the Honorverse. I highly recommend this book.

[Ron Nurmi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five novellas set in the Honorverse. If you are a fan of Honor Harrington this book gives background into her world.

If you have not read any of the books in this series these are good interesting stories.

[Stephen Sobotka · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great trip into the Honorverse

Best stories were Tim Zahn's & Mr. Weber's. Was great to read about Honor's grandparents and the Andermani Empire. Highly recommend this anthology to any fans of Weber's universe.

[Per Frøbjerg · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few stories were interesting, the early Andermani dtory ruined by excessive use of silly ranks an having any kind of admiral commanding a single ship. What aggravates me most was the title, no connection to content.

[John K. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of unprofessional typos in here. A few B grade stories, but more B- and C grade stories. Disappointingly dull, overall. What’s worse, even Weber did a really dull short story. B- quality. I had no idea he could write that badly. I do not recommend this.

[R. Kent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

The stories in this book go back to the early years of the Honor Universe, giving some of the back stories of the development of this particular universe. It's very engaging and enjoyable.