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Honor Harrington #7
In Enemy Hands
Honor Harrington's career has its ups and its downs. She's survived ship-to-ship battles, assassins, political vendettas, and duels. She's been shot at, shot down, and just plain shot, had starships blown out from under her, and made personal enemies who will stop at nothing to ruin her, and somehow she's survived it all.
But this time she's really in trouble.
The People's Republic of Haven has finally found an admiral who can win battles, and Honor's orders take her straight into an ambush. Outnumbered, outgunned, and unable to run, she has just two see the people under her command die in a hopeless, futile battle...or surrender them - and herself - to the Peeps.
There can be only one choice, and at least the People's Navy promises to treat their prisoners honorably. But the Navy is overruled by the political authorities, and Honor finds herself bound for a prison planet aptly named "Hell"...and her scheduled execution.
Put into solitary confinement, separated from her officers and her treecat Nimitz, and subjected to systematic humiliation by her gaolers, Honor's future has become both bleak and short. Yet bad as things look, they're about to get worse...for the Peeps.
But this time she's really in trouble.
The People's Republic of Haven has finally found an admiral who can win battles, and Honor's orders take her straight into an ambush. Outnumbered, outgunned, and unable to run, she has just two see the people under her command die in a hopeless, futile battle...or surrender them - and herself - to the Peeps.
There can be only one choice, and at least the People's Navy promises to treat their prisoners honorably. But the Navy is overruled by the political authorities, and Honor finds herself bound for a prison planet aptly named "Hell"...and her scheduled execution.
Put into solitary confinement, separated from her officers and her treecat Nimitz, and subjected to systematic humiliation by her gaolers, Honor's future has become both bleak and short. Yet bad as things look, they're about to get worse...for the Peeps.
544 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1998
410 people are currently reading
1988 people want to read
About the author
David Weber
322 books4,551 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 343 reviews
October 22, 2014
While not the best book in the series, it certainly has its moments. As usual, the title is a spoiler, but that's OK. Unfortunately, it gives Weber a chance to make lots of people go all gooey over Honor until the heroine worship, already cloying, becomes just too much.
We definitely get a much deeper look into Haven's society & problems. Weber has done a fine job there & the book is worth reading for that if nothing else. He's done a fine job of drawing parallels to our current welfare system, Communist countries & the French Revolution. The abysmal stupidity & ignorance of generational dole recipients as a whole is perfect & his pointed remarks about where our educational system are heading were right on target. IOW, he's a bit preachy politically again, but it didn't bother me as much as in the last. While he explains as much, he showed more, which helped.
On to the next, Echoes of Honor.
We definitely get a much deeper look into Haven's society & problems. Weber has done a fine job there & the book is worth reading for that if nothing else. He's done a fine job of drawing parallels to our current welfare system, Communist countries & the French Revolution. The abysmal stupidity & ignorance of generational dole recipients as a whole is perfect & his pointed remarks about where our educational system are heading were right on target. IOW, he's a bit preachy politically again, but it didn't bother me as much as in the last. While he explains as much, he showed more, which helped.
On to the next, Echoes of Honor.
February 28, 2012
Jettison the debris, clear the missle tubes, abandon ship. Whatever it takes to stop my eyes from further bleeding.
This is a sad day. I've rated most of these books to this points with 4-stars, with one of them good enough to earn a coveted 5th star. Most of them have infodumps and boring spells, but this one has had nothing else for the first third.
Too many books out there I want to read, so no point in continuing to torturing myself.
I might pick it up again later, but for now I'm resigning my commission.
This is a sad day. I've rated most of these books to this points with 4-stars, with one of them good enough to earn a coveted 5th star. Most of them have infodumps and boring spells, but this one has had nothing else for the first third.
Too many books out there I want to read, so no point in continuing to torturing myself.
I might pick it up again later, but for now I'm resigning my commission.
October 1, 2024
*** 3.33 ***
Let me start by saying, I really enjoy this series and love some of the characters. What I like most are the political machinations on both sides of the military conflict. I don't mind the expositions and love the animal companions ❤️. However, there are some things that kind of bugged me previously, but the creation of absolutely lovable characters, specifically written for us the readers to fall in love with, only so our hearts would break 💔 when the author kills them, I just strongly dislike that type of meaningless manipulation... It was just one too many this time around. The plot is strong enough, the writing good enough, and the established characters likable enough for the author to resort to these cheap contrivances... Who knows, maybe it was my mood and at another point in time this small thing wouldn't have bothered me, but I felt it was a cheap shot and I hope we don't encounter those as we continue with the series. Which I am doing, because I am invested in the story 👍😊
Let me start by saying, I really enjoy this series and love some of the characters. What I like most are the political machinations on both sides of the military conflict. I don't mind the expositions and love the animal companions ❤️. However, there are some things that kind of bugged me previously, but the creation of absolutely lovable characters, specifically written for us the readers to fall in love with, only so our hearts would break 💔 when the author kills them, I just strongly dislike that type of meaningless manipulation... It was just one too many this time around. The plot is strong enough, the writing good enough, and the established characters likable enough for the author to resort to these cheap contrivances... Who knows, maybe it was my mood and at another point in time this small thing wouldn't have bothered me, but I felt it was a cheap shot and I hope we don't encounter those as we continue with the series. Which I am doing, because I am invested in the story 👍😊
July 1, 2019
I found this incredibly difficult to put down. While the action did take a little time to get under way, I was enjoying the build up of the story, and at around Chapter 12, I was wondering if the tile of the book would actually come around, and then it did, and the book took shocking turn after shocking turn. This series has no qualms about throwing incredibly hard and emotional punches, and that went double during the climax. There wasn't much of a resolution -- to anything, sadly, so I'm going to have to read the next one rather soon.
October 1, 2014
Not one of the best of this series. It takes even longer than usual for anything to happen, about 200 pages. The situation that puts Honor in a position to be captured seems contrived, as does the whole escape scenario.
I think Weber has introduced a Lady Barbara for his Horatio: Honor has fallen in love with the Earl of White Haven. I've been careful to avoid spoilers on this series, but if I had to guess, things don't look good for White Haven's wife.
I think Weber has introduced a Lady Barbara for his Horatio: Honor has fallen in love with the Earl of White Haven. I've been careful to avoid spoilers on this series, but if I had to guess, things don't look good for White Haven's wife.
April 28, 2024
This book swings between two extremes: really fascinating and really boring.
I'll start with the biggest problem with this book: the "bloat". There is entirely too much extra information, description, and character inner thoughts in this book. There are practically entire scenes in the book that are basically characters thinking about other characters or the political situation. It slows the book down too much, particularly in the first 200 pages, which should be hooking the reader. Weber falls into the criticism that authors like Robert Jordan had with his middle books of having too much bloat and not enough pacing.
That being said, once the story gets going around the 200 page mark, it gets very interesting.
The whole prisoner storyline seems like it was a combination of Horatio Hornblower (which every Honor Harrington book has felt like) and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. I thought it was very fascinating, especially because of what an odd situation Honor Harrington is in as a political and military leader.
The ending of the book is just fantastic, and serves as an excellent cliffhanger for the next one.
Honor Harrington's dynamic with White Haven Alexander Hamish takes an odd turn in this book. Its emphasized so much I can't help but expect we will see more from their relationship and see a more specific (or rather: explicit) turn in the future.
Overall, this book is both excellent and boring at the same time. Some intriguing elements, some really boring elements. 7 out of 10.
I'll start with the biggest problem with this book: the "bloat". There is entirely too much extra information, description, and character inner thoughts in this book. There are practically entire scenes in the book that are basically characters thinking about other characters or the political situation. It slows the book down too much, particularly in the first 200 pages, which should be hooking the reader. Weber falls into the criticism that authors like Robert Jordan had with his middle books of having too much bloat and not enough pacing.
That being said, once the story gets going around the 200 page mark, it gets very interesting.
The whole prisoner storyline seems like it was a combination of Horatio Hornblower (which every Honor Harrington book has felt like) and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. I thought it was very fascinating, especially because of what an odd situation Honor Harrington is in as a political and military leader.
The ending of the book is just fantastic, and serves as an excellent cliffhanger for the next one.
Honor Harrington's dynamic with White Haven Alexander Hamish takes an odd turn in this book. Its emphasized so much I can't help but expect we will see more from their relationship and see a more specific (or rather: explicit) turn in the future.
Overall, this book is both excellent and boring at the same time. Some intriguing elements, some really boring elements. 7 out of 10.
September 8, 2019
I'm addicted. Got home with In Enemy Hands and I just had to sit down and read to find out what happens next in the Alliance-Peeps war.
Jesus, talk about intense and very emotional...I hate having to wait until the next book.
Jesus, talk about intense and very emotional...I hate having to wait until the next book.
November 17, 2017
In Enemy Hands does not have the distinction of redeeming the Honor Harrington series. It is another installment that is long, drawn out and rather boring.
Honor is now a Commodore in the Manticoran Navy, rather restored compared to her situation a few books ago. While waiting for the next big engagement, she goes on an escort mission and is captured by the Peeps, along with some of her personnel, including Nimitz, McKeon, LaFollet, Harkness and a female character that I can barely remember.
The Peeps, overseen by Commissioner Cordelia Ransom, loathe Honor and aren't going to make any concessions or try to make nice and trade her for someone of importance. Things are looking really bad.
There's a small indication that White Haven and Honor are going to have some sort of romantic interlude, but it doesn't actually come to fruition in this novel. Kind of bummed about that, as some romance and scandal would shake up the drawn out plotting scenes.
So the space battles are limited, and the internal character dialogue is to the max.
The series is suffering from too many minor characters. With each new ship comes a new crew, and lengthy internal monologues of new characters that are supposed to serve as character development, but just put me to sleep. It's kind of like reading an encyclopedia.
Maybe about 10% of character development comes from actual character interaction and action. Which makes for a very boring story when each character is sitting in a chair and musing for a whole chapter.Don't introduce so-and-so if so-and-so isn't going to do squat in the book. Give them a few speaking lines, but I don't want their life-story.
It's just too long. The ending is full of action and intense, but it doesn't make up for before Honor's capture where everyone is sitting around. If it doesn't make any sense for the characters to be discussing the information than sitting in a room, just limit these scenes and the amount of knowledge the reader is privy to.
There are some treecat scenes. Samantha's clan basically invades Honor's home on Grayson. Miranda is adopted by a cat. I've always liked the treecats so I consider their scenes as a fun diversion to the long talking scenes.
Where the characters are at the end set up the next book nicely, unless it skips everything. Hoping these books shorten up and then they would be more enjoyable.
Honor is now a Commodore in the Manticoran Navy, rather restored compared to her situation a few books ago. While waiting for the next big engagement, she goes on an escort mission and is captured by the Peeps, along with some of her personnel, including Nimitz, McKeon, LaFollet, Harkness and a female character that I can barely remember.
The Peeps, overseen by Commissioner Cordelia Ransom, loathe Honor and aren't going to make any concessions or try to make nice and trade her for someone of importance. Things are looking really bad.
There's a small indication that White Haven and Honor are going to have some sort of romantic interlude, but it doesn't actually come to fruition in this novel. Kind of bummed about that, as some romance and scandal would shake up the drawn out plotting scenes.
So the space battles are limited, and the internal character dialogue is to the max.
The series is suffering from too many minor characters. With each new ship comes a new crew, and lengthy internal monologues of new characters that are supposed to serve as character development, but just put me to sleep. It's kind of like reading an encyclopedia.
Maybe about 10% of character development comes from actual character interaction and action. Which makes for a very boring story when each character is sitting in a chair and musing for a whole chapter.Don't introduce so-and-so if so-and-so isn't going to do squat in the book. Give them a few speaking lines, but I don't want their life-story.
It's just too long. The ending is full of action and intense, but it doesn't make up for before Honor's capture where everyone is sitting around. If it doesn't make any sense for the characters to be discussing the information than sitting in a room, just limit these scenes and the amount of knowledge the reader is privy to.
There are some treecat scenes. Samantha's clan basically invades Honor's home on Grayson. Miranda is adopted by a cat. I've always liked the treecats so I consider their scenes as a fun diversion to the long talking scenes.
Where the characters are at the end set up the next book nicely, unless it skips everything. Hoping these books shorten up and then they would be more enjoyable.
June 9, 2016
Yet again, terrific space stuff.
Dull, long-winded, repetitive political discussions and meetings.
Why write one book, when you can sell three?
Dull, long-winded, repetitive political discussions and meetings.
Why write one book, when you can sell three?
October 28, 2016
I enjoyed the second half of this book far more than the first. For the first 40 pages or so, the reader is treated not only to a recap of the rest of the series (understandable, most serieses do this), but also example after example of how "special" Honor, how everyones loves, how she is the most unique and amazing person every. If one person isn't thinking it, another and the reader gets both people's thoughts more than once.
Gag me with a spoon. Honestly, I would be saying this even if Honor was a male. One of the good things about Harry Potter was the fact that Rowling didn't make him the best at everything. Honor is the best at everything! She's great! (Question, would she be that great if Weber hadn't made her with strength, special treecat abilities and genetic enhancements?). If you don't like, you're a bad guy who meets a messy end.
However, once the book gets into space, it gets much better. Honor's imprisonment and escape are well done, and while there is a bit too much political lecturing (and one wonders why Honor couldn't make a mistake, why her capture has to be the fault of another officier), the action more than makes up for it.
Gag me with a spoon. Honestly, I would be saying this even if Honor was a male. One of the good things about Harry Potter was the fact that Rowling didn't make him the best at everything. Honor is the best at everything! She's great! (Question, would she be that great if Weber hadn't made her with strength, special treecat abilities and genetic enhancements?). If you don't like, you're a bad guy who meets a messy end.
However, once the book gets into space, it gets much better. Honor's imprisonment and escape are well done, and while there is a bit too much political lecturing (and one wonders why Honor couldn't make a mistake, why her capture has to be the fault of another officier), the action more than makes up for it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 6, 2012
This novel, IMO, is where Honor Harrington jumps the shark.
Honor is captured by the Peeps, who don't like her and execute her. Well, except for the part where... No, never mind, that would be spoiling.
This also contains the very start of the Lord-Nelson-approved affair with a married woman, er, man. Weber maintained he had to do it to be fair to "Nelson in Space". Many of his fans at the time replied, "No, you don't."
The first six novels are good space opera, although the sixth (Honor Among Enemies) is a bit longer than it should have been. No. 7 isn't a lucky number. The sheer weight of exposition buries "In Enemy Hands". I read it when it first came out and wasn't impressed. I recently tried re-reading it and couldn't. None of the subsequent main-thread novels have been better than the first five. A couple have been as good as the sixth. This one isn't the worst, but it's a clear plummet onto the downslope.
My one exception to the above generalization is the Flint/Weber "Crown of Slaves", which Eric Flint manages to pull out of the morass of Weberian infodumps.
Honor is captured by the Peeps, who don't like her and execute her. Well, except for the part where... No, never mind, that would be spoiling.
This also contains the very start of the Lord-Nelson-approved affair with a married woman, er, man. Weber maintained he had to do it to be fair to "Nelson in Space". Many of his fans at the time replied, "No, you don't."
The first six novels are good space opera, although the sixth (Honor Among Enemies) is a bit longer than it should have been. No. 7 isn't a lucky number. The sheer weight of exposition buries "In Enemy Hands". I read it when it first came out and wasn't impressed. I recently tried re-reading it and couldn't. None of the subsequent main-thread novels have been better than the first five. A couple have been as good as the sixth. This one isn't the worst, but it's a clear plummet onto the downslope.
My one exception to the above generalization is the Flint/Weber "Crown of Slaves", which Eric Flint manages to pull out of the morass of Weberian infodumps.
August 11, 2012
Wow.
The first half of this is AWFUL. Dreadfully, painfully bad. Middle-school romantic angst among middle-aged military folk? Thank you, no.
But then the adventure plot kicks in (after 200-ish pages of dreck), and that part of the story is very, very good. Honor Harrington gets captured by the France-during-the-Terror analog, and the bulk of the action happens around her, as she's sequestered due to being a high-value political prisoner. Even with her out of the action, the action is good fun, and ends on a promise that the next book may even be better than the good part of this one.
But that first half is a painful, painful slog.
The first half of this is AWFUL. Dreadfully, painfully bad. Middle-school romantic angst among middle-aged military folk? Thank you, no.
But then the adventure plot kicks in (after 200-ish pages of dreck), and that part of the story is very, very good. Honor Harrington gets captured by the France-during-the-Terror analog, and the bulk of the action happens around her, as she's sequestered due to being a high-value political prisoner. Even with her out of the action, the action is good fun, and ends on a promise that the next book may even be better than the good part of this one.
But that first half is a painful, painful slog.
February 27, 2012
It was good, even though I read it out of order--which can be agonizing on Harrington books.
The usual chapter-long recapitulations and data dumps early on finally gives way to a fun, interesting story.
The usual chapter-long recapitulations and data dumps early on finally gives way to a fun, interesting story.
July 22, 2025
Although an overall slower paced Honor book, it is my favorites to date. In this one, we see Honor setting back fully into the Manticorian Navy and coming to peace with being a Steadholder. On a routine convoy mission, she and her command staff are taken prisoner.
David Weber is not the best writer of science-fiction that there is. He tells far too much when he should be showing. He repeats certain things incessantly. All of his book are front-loaded with information dumps about the current political situation, updates on lives, and as that slowly develops, the story starts when all this could be easily integrated into the text other ways. But, it is the way Weber writes, and if that is a show-stopper, you should stop early in the series.
In this one, the main crux of the book, takes well over half to get there, but if you know this is how Weber writes, you get used to it. The Honor Harrington books are nothing like any other military sci-fi that I have read. Weber has created an interesting political and war story in this series that is highly detailed.
But, now on book 7, I feel I have a firm grasp on the political situation. Reading versus listening helps this series for me I think.
David Weber is not the best writer of science-fiction that there is. He tells far too much when he should be showing. He repeats certain things incessantly. All of his book are front-loaded with information dumps about the current political situation, updates on lives, and as that slowly develops, the story starts when all this could be easily integrated into the text other ways. But, it is the way Weber writes, and if that is a show-stopper, you should stop early in the series.
In this one, the main crux of the book, takes well over half to get there, but if you know this is how Weber writes, you get used to it. The Honor Harrington books are nothing like any other military sci-fi that I have read. Weber has created an interesting political and war story in this series that is highly detailed.
But, now on book 7, I feel I have a firm grasp on the political situation. Reading versus listening helps this series for me I think.
July 11, 2023
In this volume we learn so much more about the Peeps and their current government. The revolutionary spirit lives on. The Peep culture is not much changed from the previous government. On the other hand, the alliance side of the story is much more personal. What I find most intriguing is the internal dialog of the various characters. There are points in the midst of conversation where several pages of thought is described between a call and a response. These passages are the height of the writing and provide the best insights into the people, the nations and the cultures involved in the long struggle, which apparently, so far, will end in the annihilation of one of the combatants.
January 20, 2009
Just when Honor seemed to be back on track in the RMN, resuming her illustrious career there, the universe seems to turn against her. Caught in a surprise ambush, she manages to save the rest of her convoy, but the ship she is on is captured.
Now the Peeps have her, and and their queen of propaganda, Cordelia Ransom, has specific designs on Harrington's fate - and those plans don't include longevity of life.
In several of the more exceptional books of this series, the pace has gone from steady to urgent and then a climatic rush to the end. Here, it is more of a very long crash landing. The pace is pretty quick to start with, and then the initial military engagements are excellently written with a fast pace. As Honor's circumstances spiral out of control, Weber does an exceptional job switching viewpoints so the reader knows everything he/she needs to about what is going on, but he does not cross the line of coherency where the various viewpoints become more confusing than intricate.
This book delves even more deeply into Honor's character, specifically how her imprisonment (and treatment therein) affects her psyche. Her internal struggle is done pretty well, though Weber might have overdone the climax of her internal battle against hopelessness. Just a tad over the top...
I do highly recommend this book, though if you've never read any of the other Harrington novels, they would provide a great foundation for understanding many of the characters and the political setting Harrington is maneuvering within. I would also recommend getting your hands on a copy of Echoes of Honor, which is the novel which follows this one.
All in all I would call this one of the better Harrington novels, especially if you read this and Echoes of Honor back to back. Very well done.
Now the Peeps have her, and and their queen of propaganda, Cordelia Ransom, has specific designs on Harrington's fate - and those plans don't include longevity of life.
In several of the more exceptional books of this series, the pace has gone from steady to urgent and then a climatic rush to the end. Here, it is more of a very long crash landing. The pace is pretty quick to start with, and then the initial military engagements are excellently written with a fast pace. As Honor's circumstances spiral out of control, Weber does an exceptional job switching viewpoints so the reader knows everything he/she needs to about what is going on, but he does not cross the line of coherency where the various viewpoints become more confusing than intricate.
This book delves even more deeply into Honor's character, specifically how her imprisonment (and treatment therein) affects her psyche. Her internal struggle is done pretty well, though Weber might have overdone the climax of her internal battle against hopelessness. Just a tad over the top...
I do highly recommend this book, though if you've never read any of the other Harrington novels, they would provide a great foundation for understanding many of the characters and the political setting Harrington is maneuvering within. I would also recommend getting your hands on a copy of Echoes of Honor, which is the novel which follows this one.
All in all I would call this one of the better Harrington novels, especially if you read this and Echoes of Honor back to back. Very well done.
February 17, 2012
This book ends on more of a cliffhanger than previous installments int the Honor Harrington series, and Honor's companions play a more prominent role in much of the action than she does.
I enjoyed learning more about Honor's mother, the treecats, and several of the Peeps (Theisman, Tourville, Honecker, Caslet, and Foraker, especially). The defection by Harkness has me fooled for quite a while, too, and I am glad he survived his crazy plan! The injuries suffered by Honor and Nimitz will prove to be a challenge, even if she is treated eventually by her mother at the new clinic back on Grayson.
I did find the extreme depth of Honor's despair to be almost too much. I realize it was compounded by her link to Nimitz while he was so badly injured, but it still seemed so over-the-top, even for her. Yet, when she found her core of strength in the brig, that rang true!
Can't wait to move on to the next book in the series!
I enjoyed learning more about Honor's mother, the treecats, and several of the Peeps (Theisman, Tourville, Honecker, Caslet, and Foraker, especially). The defection by Harkness has me fooled for quite a while, too, and I am glad he survived his crazy plan! The injuries suffered by Honor and Nimitz will prove to be a challenge, even if she is treated eventually by her mother at the new clinic back on Grayson.
I did find the extreme depth of Honor's despair to be almost too much. I realize it was compounded by her link to Nimitz while he was so badly injured, but it still seemed so over-the-top, even for her. Yet, when she found her core of strength in the brig, that rang true!
Can't wait to move on to the next book in the series!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 21, 2019
This was a "strange" novel for my second reading of the same. It was so blasted slow starting out! The author spends well over two hundred pages setting things up (including a potential tryst between Honor and Lord Hamish Alexander that goes nowhere in this novel, but sets things up for future novels), and it is incredibly slow moving for the first three hundred pages of the book. The author brings in characters from former novels as well as introduces new characters to the mix (which does not necessarily mean "fan favorites" will be saved from being Redshirted). The character development is decent, I supposed. The author puts Harrington in a situation she has never faced before, and I guess it is to test her mettle and help her discover more about herself and the depths of her character than she thought possible. I would say the author does not "just" focus on Harrington in terms of character development, however; he tests the mettle further of other characters in the book (be they Peeps or Manties), and i would say the 'end results' are believable and reasonable on the other side.
The "Honor-worship" is just about as nauseating in this novel as it is in previous novels; I would almost say it is worse, in some respects, but that could just be an overreaction on my part. I know she is supposed to inspire those around her to greatness because of who she is and what she has overcome, because of her inner strength and character, which is fine. But sometimes the author feels like he is laying it on a leeeetle too thick and it distracts from the story. Still, though, it is interesting the number of characters who refuse to give up because they do not want to let her or McKeon down.
There were some amusing moments in the first half of the book (the one that stands out the most was the reference to how the entire planetary population of Grayson did not stand a chance against the 'coming onslaught' of Honor's mother coming to visit and get a genetic research hospital up-and-running (I forgot to mark down the page on which this is said). Another moment was a description of one of Citizen Admiral Theisman's failings as an admiral: A postgraduate degree in ass-kissing was required at Theisman's level, and the Barnett System CO lacked the ability to buff sufficient buttocks. (159) That sentence had me in stitches, to be honest. However, the latter half of the novel is a bit too serious to really have any humorous moments in it.
Speaking of Honor's mother, Allison Harrington, I did like the additional background information and current 'updates' on her and her life, about who she is and how she grew up. In prior novels, the author definitely sets up her home planet of Beowulf to be perceived a certain way in the reader's minds (which probably mirrors most of Manticoran society's view(s) of the planet and its population). In this novel, he somewhat blows away those preconceptions by expanding upon Beowulf and the general consensus (lifestyle?) of its citizenry. Allison Harrington seems like quite the gal and somebody worth meeting, as she is portrayed as being quite sharp intellectually and quick with her wit, which can make for a wickedly funny combination (unless, of course, you are on the receiving end of her tongue after offending her).
Some other random thoughts:
The following quote made me laugh a bit (from p 94): He'd had twice as many ships as his opponent but less than two-thirds the tonnage, and battleships and battlecruisers had no business fighting dreadnoughts even at two-to-one odds. Theisman, a Peep commander who has appeared in a few novels so far, has managed to 'win' some 'victories' and help boost Peep morale in the process. Yet, I cannot help but think of some of the victories that Honor has won with fewer vessels against substantially 'greater' enemies/forces. I realize surprise, Manticoran technological superiority, and the author's intentions have a lot to do with Honor's many victories, but I could not hep thinking that Honor would have 'won better', would have had a more substantial victory, of the situations were reversed. Plus, the description of the Manty "victory" made me wonder if readers were starting to complain at how easily the Peeps were constantly being defeated in the stories themselves despite claims to the contrary in reference to other battles.
Lord Alexander Hamish's justifications and prevarications about his 'newly-discovered attraction and feelings" for Honor took away from the story, in my opinion.
This book was quite different than the prior books .
I was surprised by how my feelings/emotions changed over the course of this novel. Had I stopped reading it about halfway through, I would have rated it either as a 1-star or a 2-star book (the whole potential tryst between Honor and Hamish really ruined things for me; I felt like too much of the book focused on that, on the emotions and feelings running rampant between these two officers, and it got to the point it was distracting and annoying). However, the latter half of the book elevated it to nearly 4 stars for me, it was 'so good.' It kept me very interested and i had a hard time putting it down once things got moving. So, yeah, it was 'funny' to me how the author's attempts at 'character development' in the first half of the book really fell flat for me (perhaps because half of a chapter could consist of Hamish or some other character carrying on an internal conversation with himself or herself?), but once the 'action' picked up, I became very interested in how it all turned out. The print size of the letters was similar to the prior book, where it was ‘largish’ and ‘spread out’ followed by moments where the spacing between letters was ‘tighter, closer together’ (which made the print look a little smaller as a result). There were some typos throughout the book as well; again, mostly spacing but some words misspelled (such as ‘she’ instead of ‘the’, for example). I decided to rate it as 3 stars (say, 2.7 - 2.9, rounded up) because of how 'satisfying' the ending was for me.
The "Honor-worship" is just about as nauseating in this novel as it is in previous novels; I would almost say it is worse, in some respects, but that could just be an overreaction on my part. I know she is supposed to inspire those around her to greatness because of who she is and what she has overcome, because of her inner strength and character, which is fine. But sometimes the author feels like he is laying it on a leeeetle too thick and it distracts from the story. Still, though, it is interesting the number of characters who refuse to give up because they do not want to let her or McKeon down.
There were some amusing moments in the first half of the book (the one that stands out the most was the reference to how the entire planetary population of Grayson did not stand a chance against the 'coming onslaught' of Honor's mother coming to visit and get a genetic research hospital up-and-running (I forgot to mark down the page on which this is said). Another moment was a description of one of Citizen Admiral Theisman's failings as an admiral: A postgraduate degree in ass-kissing was required at Theisman's level, and the Barnett System CO lacked the ability to buff sufficient buttocks. (159) That sentence had me in stitches, to be honest. However, the latter half of the novel is a bit too serious to really have any humorous moments in it.
Speaking of Honor's mother, Allison Harrington, I did like the additional background information and current 'updates' on her and her life, about who she is and how she grew up. In prior novels, the author definitely sets up her home planet of Beowulf to be perceived a certain way in the reader's minds (which probably mirrors most of Manticoran society's view(s) of the planet and its population). In this novel, he somewhat blows away those preconceptions by expanding upon Beowulf and the general consensus (lifestyle?) of its citizenry. Allison Harrington seems like quite the gal and somebody worth meeting, as she is portrayed as being quite sharp intellectually and quick with her wit, which can make for a wickedly funny combination (unless, of course, you are on the receiving end of her tongue after offending her).
Some other random thoughts:
The following quote made me laugh a bit (from p 94): He'd had twice as many ships as his opponent but less than two-thirds the tonnage, and battleships and battlecruisers had no business fighting dreadnoughts even at two-to-one odds. Theisman, a Peep commander who has appeared in a few novels so far, has managed to 'win' some 'victories' and help boost Peep morale in the process. Yet, I cannot help but think of some of the victories that Honor has won with fewer vessels against substantially 'greater' enemies/forces. I realize surprise, Manticoran technological superiority, and the author's intentions have a lot to do with Honor's many victories, but I could not hep thinking that Honor would have 'won better', would have had a more substantial victory, of the situations were reversed. Plus, the description of the Manty "victory" made me wonder if readers were starting to complain at how easily the Peeps were constantly being defeated in the stories themselves despite claims to the contrary in reference to other battles.
Lord Alexander Hamish's justifications and prevarications about his 'newly-discovered attraction and feelings" for Honor took away from the story, in my opinion.
This book was quite different than the prior books .
I was surprised by how my feelings/emotions changed over the course of this novel. Had I stopped reading it about halfway through, I would have rated it either as a 1-star or a 2-star book (the whole potential tryst between Honor and Hamish really ruined things for me; I felt like too much of the book focused on that, on the emotions and feelings running rampant between these two officers, and it got to the point it was distracting and annoying). However, the latter half of the book elevated it to nearly 4 stars for me, it was 'so good.' It kept me very interested and i had a hard time putting it down once things got moving. So, yeah, it was 'funny' to me how the author's attempts at 'character development' in the first half of the book really fell flat for me (perhaps because half of a chapter could consist of Hamish or some other character carrying on an internal conversation with himself or herself?), but once the 'action' picked up, I became very interested in how it all turned out. The print size of the letters was similar to the prior book, where it was ‘largish’ and ‘spread out’ followed by moments where the spacing between letters was ‘tighter, closer together’ (which made the print look a little smaller as a result). There were some typos throughout the book as well; again, mostly spacing but some words misspelled (such as ‘she’ instead of ‘the’, for example). I decided to rate it as 3 stars (say, 2.7 - 2.9, rounded up) because of how 'satisfying' the ending was for me.
November 12, 2022
Lors de l'escorte d'un convoi militaire d'une importance cruciale, Honor Harrington, désormais commodore d'une escadre, doit sacrifier son vaisseau afin de permettre au reste du convoi de s'échapper. Outre la honte de la reddition, Honor va devoir affronter la haine des Services de Securité de la République populaire de Havre. Les conventions interstellaires seront-elles respectées?
Si c'est toujours un grand plaisir que de replonger dans le Honorverse, je noterais ce tome une étoile en dessous, j'ai en effet un peu moins accroché.
Le livre n'est cependant pas dénué de qualités. On y retrouve en premier lieu le plaisir des batailles spatiales chères à mon cœur, le retour d'anciens visages connus et l'intrigue n'est pas sans intérêt, nous réservant certains moment émotionnellement forts avec la disparition de quelques personnages. De plus, la thématique du sort des prisonniers de guerre n'est pas inintéressante.
Malgré tout, certains élément m'ont un peu gêné. Premièrement, si j'aime bien les chats sylvestre et Nimitz, je me demande dans quelle mesure ces créatures ne risquent pas de faire tourner cela à la blague potache. En effet, il m'est difficile de lire sérieusement que l'on sonne à la porte pour y trouver des chats sylvestres venus jouer les nounous... Autre problème : Weber continue dans ses comparaisons vraiment trop grossières. Le Service de Sécurité est abrégé SS (en anglais aussi) et crée des camps de concentration. Comme pour Robert Pierre et Saint-Just, ces reprises sont toujours pour moi aussi maladroites puisque l'Allemagne nazi a existé dans le monde d'Honor (le traducteur allemand a d'ailleurs changé le nom et l'acronyme afin d'éviter ce parallèle). Enfin, si l'histoire est intéressante, il ne se passe en réalité pas énormément d'événement au final dans ce tome. On sent d'ailleurs bien qu'il s'agit plus d'une introduction au tome suivant!
Si c'est toujours un grand plaisir que de replonger dans le Honorverse, je noterais ce tome une étoile en dessous, j'ai en effet un peu moins accroché.
Le livre n'est cependant pas dénué de qualités. On y retrouve en premier lieu le plaisir des batailles spatiales chères à mon cœur, le retour d'anciens visages connus et l'intrigue n'est pas sans intérêt, nous réservant certains moment émotionnellement forts avec la disparition de quelques personnages. De plus, la thématique du sort des prisonniers de guerre n'est pas inintéressante.
Malgré tout, certains élément m'ont un peu gêné. Premièrement, si j'aime bien les chats sylvestre et Nimitz, je me demande dans quelle mesure ces créatures ne risquent pas de faire tourner cela à la blague potache. En effet, il m'est difficile de lire sérieusement que l'on sonne à la porte pour y trouver des chats sylvestres venus jouer les nounous... Autre problème : Weber continue dans ses comparaisons vraiment trop grossières. Le Service de Sécurité est abrégé SS (en anglais aussi) et crée des camps de concentration. Comme pour Robert Pierre et Saint-Just, ces reprises sont toujours pour moi aussi maladroites puisque l'Allemagne nazi a existé dans le monde d'Honor (le traducteur allemand a d'ailleurs changé le nom et l'acronyme afin d'éviter ce parallèle). Enfin, si l'histoire est intéressante, il ne se passe en réalité pas énormément d'événement au final dans ce tome. On sent d'ailleurs bien qu'il s'agit plus d'une introduction au tome suivant!
July 15, 2020
This is the episode when Honor is captured by the Peeps. Unfortunately, she isn't being treated as a military officer as the old charges from Basilisk have been resurrected and she is condemned to die.
Cordelia Ransom, who is the Peep's propaganda expert, is along and looks at Honor's capture as a terrific opportunity to gain positive publicity for her regime. No matter what her Naval officers try to convince her to do, she is determined. She has come to believe that her own skewed version of reality is actually reality. The Naval officers know that what she intends will have bad consequences for the Peeps in the form of bad publicity and lack of the secret support the Peeps have been getting from the Solarian League which is the only thing that is allowing them to keep up with the Manticorans and their allies. These actions will also have a bad effect on the Peeps' own navy too as shown by the two major Peeps military people who get swept up in Ransom's plotting.
Meanwhile, Honor is being badly treated by her captors from State Security. She has had her prosthetics disconnected which leaves her looking like a stroke victim and having vision in only one eye. She has been separated from Nimitz who was also badly injured.
But her own people aren't going to give up despite being prisoners themselves. And Horace Harkness finally gets to shine as he professes his allegiance to the Peeps and then subverts their computer system and plans the daring escape but not before they reach the prison planet known as Hell.
This was an exciting episode. I'm very glad that the next one is queued up for my next listening experience.
Cordelia Ransom, who is the Peep's propaganda expert, is along and looks at Honor's capture as a terrific opportunity to gain positive publicity for her regime. No matter what her Naval officers try to convince her to do, she is determined. She has come to believe that her own skewed version of reality is actually reality. The Naval officers know that what she intends will have bad consequences for the Peeps in the form of bad publicity and lack of the secret support the Peeps have been getting from the Solarian League which is the only thing that is allowing them to keep up with the Manticorans and their allies. These actions will also have a bad effect on the Peeps' own navy too as shown by the two major Peeps military people who get swept up in Ransom's plotting.
Meanwhile, Honor is being badly treated by her captors from State Security. She has had her prosthetics disconnected which leaves her looking like a stroke victim and having vision in only one eye. She has been separated from Nimitz who was also badly injured.
But her own people aren't going to give up despite being prisoners themselves. And Horace Harkness finally gets to shine as he professes his allegiance to the Peeps and then subverts their computer system and plans the daring escape but not before they reach the prison planet known as Hell.
This was an exciting episode. I'm very glad that the next one is queued up for my next listening experience.
September 28, 2018
One thing to like about this series.
A constant change in events and perils for Honor.
I was worried when starting this series. That it was going to be a stream.
Of same plot ideas, just worked different order.
So far it stays fresh, as the character evolves, through years of struggles.
Once again, she is placed in a different set of events and circumstance.
This one also seems to work, growing some of the other characters.
Not just spotlight mainly just on Honor.
Things do NOT go well for her here.
In fact for the first time.
Honor must look into herself.
To see when she had been afraid for others.
To now being honest and afraid just for her own well being.
Do not care for the way, author. Seems to think it important.
To maim and injure her over, and over.
Think that kept it from 5 stars for me.
Still good pacing.
Keeps the pages turning.
Also this time unlike before.
Starts a story arc. Not all things resolved by end of this book.
Looking forward to the next one.
A constant change in events and perils for Honor.
I was worried when starting this series. That it was going to be a stream.
Of same plot ideas, just worked different order.
So far it stays fresh, as the character evolves, through years of struggles.
Once again, she is placed in a different set of events and circumstance.
This one also seems to work, growing some of the other characters.
Not just spotlight mainly just on Honor.
Things do NOT go well for her here.
In fact for the first time.
Honor must look into herself.
To see when she had been afraid for others.
To now being honest and afraid just for her own well being.
Do not care for the way, author. Seems to think it important.
To maim and injure her over, and over.
Think that kept it from 5 stars for me.
Still good pacing.
Keeps the pages turning.
Also this time unlike before.
Starts a story arc. Not all things resolved by end of this book.
Looking forward to the next one.
February 17, 2024
Big sigh
The only good scenes were the ones involving the tree cats, Harrington steading, and the last 15% of the book. The rest was a waste of time.
I don't understand why the series is playing out the way it is. Weber has made so many creative mistakes that they are uncountable.
Remember how for the last number of books, ever since the war broke out, it's been hammered into us that taking Trevor's star is the most important objective of the war? Yeah, we don't see any of that. All of that happens off page, and all we get on it is a passing blurb about it in the PROLOGUE. Like, that should have been its own book and could have been a major climax point for the series. But nope.
Anything after the 4th book in this series has been an unmitigated disaster, and it just seems to be getting worse
The only good scenes were the ones involving the tree cats, Harrington steading, and the last 15% of the book. The rest was a waste of time.
I don't understand why the series is playing out the way it is. Weber has made so many creative mistakes that they are uncountable.
Remember how for the last number of books, ever since the war broke out, it's been hammered into us that taking Trevor's star is the most important objective of the war? Yeah, we don't see any of that. All of that happens off page, and all we get on it is a passing blurb about it in the PROLOGUE. Like, that should have been its own book and could have been a major climax point for the series. But nope.
Anything after the 4th book in this series has been an unmitigated disaster, and it just seems to be getting worse
April 9, 2019
The mindset of the enemy is portrayed predominately in this novel. The cracks in their government and their military are becoming more pronounced and like any wounded animal they may lash out wildly against anyone that ventures too close. Then, they are offered a boon when a successful strike nets them a victory without significant losses and the major prize, Honor Harrington. The ensuing drama leaves little doubt as to the danger any Manticorian soldier is in and the evil that leads their secret service branch. It gets pretty dark, but with Honor and the dedication of the men and women who follow her there is always hope.
August 24, 2025
In Enemy Hands ( Honor Harrington book 7)
Riveting story! Grabs you by your shirt tails and pulls you in. Developes faster than a One Hour Photo. Come on admit it some of you reading these are old enough to remember!
The author loves to toy with all of our emotions, and gets us to laugh, cry, love, and hate.
Darn! I wish I could write like that!!
On to book 8. Again. !!
Riveting story! Grabs you by your shirt tails and pulls you in. Developes faster than a One Hour Photo. Come on admit it some of you reading these are old enough to remember!
The author loves to toy with all of our emotions, and gets us to laugh, cry, love, and hate.
Darn! I wish I could write like that!!
On to book 8. Again. !!
February 25, 2024
all i wanna read is honor harrington fuck everything else
October 11, 2022
Honor Harrington has recently been promoted to Commodore of a newly formed fleet. Unfortunately, she is captured, by her enemies. Duty, honor, and integrity are lovely values in a vacuum, but when they may cost your life that is when they will be tested truly. This is an excellent novel filled with sadness, strength, and virtue.
April 27, 2010
Am I done with David Weber's Honor Harrington series yet? Sadly, no. After finishing In Enemy Hands, I still have many more to go, but it's not a struggle I dread.
Fittingly, this particular installment is more about Haven than Honor or Manticore. The first half of the book is almost purely setup, and considering the title, it's not exactly a surprise that our heroine is eventually captured. But that's fine in this context, because Haven has historically received the short end of the stick. Haven's society is a precarious testament to unchecked power, the potency of directed propaganda, and delusions of grandeur. Weber paints a portrait of a society on the verge of another revolution, desperately scrabbling for scraps to maintain a war now required for public opinion.
And yet the war is currently at a lull. Sure, Haven captures a star system and transforms it into a dangerous lure, much to the chagrin of Honor and her squadron, but the political unrest threatens to revert this progress, and the Socialistic fervor of Cordelia Ransom certainly complicates matters. The point isn't that Honor is going to a prison planet, or even why this is the case, but that Haven's long obscured prison must be revealed, and all the implications involved when the Galaxy at large—including the Solarian League—discovers their duplicity.
It's clear this isn't just a war of military maneuvers, and that politics play a significant part, and the deeper insight that Weber introduces with his summary of Haven's social woes is impossible to ignore. Honor's involvement is a foregone conclusion, and the only real mystery is how she'll escape. Considering the length of the series at large, having a number of universe-building entries is necessary to maintain ambiance without it turning into a mere transcription of erratic space battles from the perspective of a somewhat empathetic heroine.
It's an interesting conundrum Weber has introduced this time, and I can't wait to see how it turns out.
Fittingly, this particular installment is more about Haven than Honor or Manticore. The first half of the book is almost purely setup, and considering the title, it's not exactly a surprise that our heroine is eventually captured. But that's fine in this context, because Haven has historically received the short end of the stick. Haven's society is a precarious testament to unchecked power, the potency of directed propaganda, and delusions of grandeur. Weber paints a portrait of a society on the verge of another revolution, desperately scrabbling for scraps to maintain a war now required for public opinion.
And yet the war is currently at a lull. Sure, Haven captures a star system and transforms it into a dangerous lure, much to the chagrin of Honor and her squadron, but the political unrest threatens to revert this progress, and the Socialistic fervor of Cordelia Ransom certainly complicates matters. The point isn't that Honor is going to a prison planet, or even why this is the case, but that Haven's long obscured prison must be revealed, and all the implications involved when the Galaxy at large—including the Solarian League—discovers their duplicity.
It's clear this isn't just a war of military maneuvers, and that politics play a significant part, and the deeper insight that Weber introduces with his summary of Haven's social woes is impossible to ignore. Honor's involvement is a foregone conclusion, and the only real mystery is how she'll escape. Considering the length of the series at large, having a number of universe-building entries is necessary to maintain ambiance without it turning into a mere transcription of erratic space battles from the perspective of a somewhat empathetic heroine.
It's an interesting conundrum Weber has introduced this time, and I can't wait to see how it turns out.
June 21, 2024
I dropped my review on On Basilisk Station on January 27th, 2023 and I've been working my way through this series ever since. And if you, like me, have started this series and have stuck with it, this is the novel that you have been waiting for. I speculated in my review of Honor Among Enemies that it felt like a bridge novel to something else in the series (and a bit of a disappointing fallback to the formula that Weber successfully broke out of after the first two volumes in the series-- namely, Honor, confronted with a problem and handed an impossible mission, solves it, kicks ass and generally rules.) In Enemy Hands proves my prediction was right and then some.
The book begins with a promotion for Honor, who is back in her steading on Grayson. She is now a Commodore and during a party celebrating her promotion, she gets into a heated debate with Earl White Haven, her superior and the two of them realize that there is a spark between them. This is awkward, to say the least for both of them: Honor has no wish to be entangled with a superior, especially one whose fealty to his wife-- crippled in a land car accident for decades now-- is legendary. White Haven for his part is horrified: he has had affairs over the years, of course- discreet ones, but they have been just that: affairs. His love for his wife, despite her injuries and confinement to a wheelchair, has remained unchallenged-- until now.
(In addition to Honor's return to Grayson, the Treecats have decided to come too and then some, founding a veritable colony along with them- ostensibly to care for Nimitz and Samantha's kittens, but Honor and others wonder if there's more to their decision than meets the eye.)
Honor, wanting to escape the awkwardness, heads off early on convoy duty with Alistair McKeon to the Adler System-- which, unbeknownst to them, has been captured by the Peeps Citizen Admiral Lester Tourville acting on the orders of Citizen Admiral Theisman to capture and destroy Manticoran shipping. Honor and Alistair spot the ambush and salvage the convoy from the Peep attack before Honor orders McKeon to surrender.
Hearing of the capture of Honor, the People's Republic Secretary for Public Information (the nice way of saying, 'head of the Secret Police') demands that all the captured Manticorans be turned over to her- Tourville and Theisman do their best and object loudly when Cordelia Random, the Secretary, attempts to circumvent the Deneb Accords (their version of the Geneva Conventions) about the treatment of prisoners. Unfortunately for Honor, the old government of Haven had tried her in absentia and sentenced her to death for the events described in On Basilisk Station (excellent, excellent callback) and thus she is guilty of a civilian crime and therefore, the Deneb Accords do not apply. She resists, intending to go down fighting with Nimitz, but eventually, the two are separated and while Nimitz is severely injured, he's still alive and left to the care of the prisoners. Honor is placed in solitary but somehow manages not to break.
Shockingly, Senior Chief Petty Officer Harkness takes up the offer made by Cordelia Ransom to defect, but it turns out that Harkness has other plans and hacks into the security and communication systems, disabling them and causing enough chaos on the ship to enable the prisoners to get Honor and break out, destroying the State Security ship and Cordelia Ransom in the process. They land on the prison planet of Cerberus B.2 where nothing that humans can ingest grows save on the well-armed and provisioned island prison camp where unknown amounts of State Security forces wait. Despite being traumatized, and injured, with one less arm and one functional eye, Honor is ready to figure out how to go home.
Y'all with this book: shit gets real. There's no other way of putting it-- it ties together events as far back as Book 1 and puts it into a beautiful bow. (And yes, I immediately started the next book in the series, Echoes of Honor, and holy shit that's good too and I'm not even done with it yet.)
What I like about this book is that we get to see more of the 'behind the scenes' tensions and fault lines in the People's Republic of Haven. Weber has shown us Honor's domestic enemies and troubles- whether it's Pavel Young (dead) or Klaus Hauptman who also isn't a fan of Honor's at least until his daughter calls him out on it. So we know the domestic fault lines on Manticore and on Grayson- we've seen that plenty of times. We know about the coup on Haven, but we haven't seen a lot of what's going on behind the curtain there and now we have.
The coup plotters (Rob Pierre, Cordelia Ransom, and Oscar St. Just) staged their coup but pinned it on the Navy leading to massive purges of their officer corps and a lot of their most capable commanders. Now, with the war bogged down, they're bringing in an Admiral- Esther McQueen, who just put down a radical rebellion for them, to be Secretary of War. They're worried about her ambition but recognize that in order for their fortunes to be changed on the battlefield, they need to go on the offensive again.
On a more macro level, individual naval officers confront Ransom for her actions and treatment of the prisoners-- knowing that any ill-treatment on their part and failure to comply with the Deneb Accords will have an impact on their own people on the front line of the war. Even some of the People's Commissioners (assigned to keep tabs on potential 'suspect' elements of the Navy) quietly agree with the stand taken and even individual officers like Warner Caslet and Shannon Foraker put their reputations, careers, and lives on the line to face down State Security. So many interesting seeds are planted on the Haven side of the ledger in this book and it's very interesting (because I've read ahead) to see some of them start to sprout in the next book.
Honor's torture at the hands of State Security and the trauma she goes through feel vivid and real. Her primary concern is Nimitz and once she realizes that Nimitz is safe, even though he is in pain due to broken limbs and ill-treatment of his own, she finds an inner core of strength she didn't know she had and then when State Security makes the mistake of threatening to rape her, she turns the tables on them with brutal efficiency and tells them if they're going to do that, they're going to need to bring more than just a couple of their goons.
The breakout and landing on the prison planet is the perfect cliffhanger to this book. And you will immediately race to pick up the next volume. I sure did. It feels like this is the arc of the series we've been waiting for. If you start this series and stick with it, the payoff is so unbelievably satisfying. My Grade: **** out of ****
The book begins with a promotion for Honor, who is back in her steading on Grayson. She is now a Commodore and during a party celebrating her promotion, she gets into a heated debate with Earl White Haven, her superior and the two of them realize that there is a spark between them. This is awkward, to say the least for both of them: Honor has no wish to be entangled with a superior, especially one whose fealty to his wife-- crippled in a land car accident for decades now-- is legendary. White Haven for his part is horrified: he has had affairs over the years, of course- discreet ones, but they have been just that: affairs. His love for his wife, despite her injuries and confinement to a wheelchair, has remained unchallenged-- until now.
(In addition to Honor's return to Grayson, the Treecats have decided to come too and then some, founding a veritable colony along with them- ostensibly to care for Nimitz and Samantha's kittens, but Honor and others wonder if there's more to their decision than meets the eye.)
Honor, wanting to escape the awkwardness, heads off early on convoy duty with Alistair McKeon to the Adler System-- which, unbeknownst to them, has been captured by the Peeps Citizen Admiral Lester Tourville acting on the orders of Citizen Admiral Theisman to capture and destroy Manticoran shipping. Honor and Alistair spot the ambush and salvage the convoy from the Peep attack before Honor orders McKeon to surrender.
Hearing of the capture of Honor, the People's Republic Secretary for Public Information (the nice way of saying, 'head of the Secret Police') demands that all the captured Manticorans be turned over to her- Tourville and Theisman do their best and object loudly when Cordelia Random, the Secretary, attempts to circumvent the Deneb Accords (their version of the Geneva Conventions) about the treatment of prisoners. Unfortunately for Honor, the old government of Haven had tried her in absentia and sentenced her to death for the events described in On Basilisk Station (excellent, excellent callback) and thus she is guilty of a civilian crime and therefore, the Deneb Accords do not apply. She resists, intending to go down fighting with Nimitz, but eventually, the two are separated and while Nimitz is severely injured, he's still alive and left to the care of the prisoners. Honor is placed in solitary but somehow manages not to break.
Shockingly, Senior Chief Petty Officer Harkness takes up the offer made by Cordelia Ransom to defect, but it turns out that Harkness has other plans and hacks into the security and communication systems, disabling them and causing enough chaos on the ship to enable the prisoners to get Honor and break out, destroying the State Security ship and Cordelia Ransom in the process. They land on the prison planet of Cerberus B.2 where nothing that humans can ingest grows save on the well-armed and provisioned island prison camp where unknown amounts of State Security forces wait. Despite being traumatized, and injured, with one less arm and one functional eye, Honor is ready to figure out how to go home.
Y'all with this book: shit gets real. There's no other way of putting it-- it ties together events as far back as Book 1 and puts it into a beautiful bow. (And yes, I immediately started the next book in the series, Echoes of Honor, and holy shit that's good too and I'm not even done with it yet.)
What I like about this book is that we get to see more of the 'behind the scenes' tensions and fault lines in the People's Republic of Haven. Weber has shown us Honor's domestic enemies and troubles- whether it's Pavel Young (dead) or Klaus Hauptman who also isn't a fan of Honor's at least until his daughter calls him out on it. So we know the domestic fault lines on Manticore and on Grayson- we've seen that plenty of times. We know about the coup on Haven, but we haven't seen a lot of what's going on behind the curtain there and now we have.
The coup plotters (Rob Pierre, Cordelia Ransom, and Oscar St. Just) staged their coup but pinned it on the Navy leading to massive purges of their officer corps and a lot of their most capable commanders. Now, with the war bogged down, they're bringing in an Admiral- Esther McQueen, who just put down a radical rebellion for them, to be Secretary of War. They're worried about her ambition but recognize that in order for their fortunes to be changed on the battlefield, they need to go on the offensive again.
On a more macro level, individual naval officers confront Ransom for her actions and treatment of the prisoners-- knowing that any ill-treatment on their part and failure to comply with the Deneb Accords will have an impact on their own people on the front line of the war. Even some of the People's Commissioners (assigned to keep tabs on potential 'suspect' elements of the Navy) quietly agree with the stand taken and even individual officers like Warner Caslet and Shannon Foraker put their reputations, careers, and lives on the line to face down State Security. So many interesting seeds are planted on the Haven side of the ledger in this book and it's very interesting (because I've read ahead) to see some of them start to sprout in the next book.
Honor's torture at the hands of State Security and the trauma she goes through feel vivid and real. Her primary concern is Nimitz and once she realizes that Nimitz is safe, even though he is in pain due to broken limbs and ill-treatment of his own, she finds an inner core of strength she didn't know she had and then when State Security makes the mistake of threatening to rape her, she turns the tables on them with brutal efficiency and tells them if they're going to do that, they're going to need to bring more than just a couple of their goons.
The breakout and landing on the prison planet is the perfect cliffhanger to this book. And you will immediately race to pick up the next volume. I sure did. It feels like this is the arc of the series we've been waiting for. If you start this series and stick with it, the payoff is so unbelievably satisfying. My Grade: **** out of ****
August 4, 2019
I decided to write one summary review for books 1-9 in the HH series. I guess that what I write down below could be considered as very mild spoilers.
What I liked:
* the action scenes
* they were very well described, especially the space battles, the author found the exact mix of describing the situation, engaged forces, the thinking on both sides and the execution, best parts of the books for me
* I didn't bother to check the numbers though but I believe the author put some effort into them
* the other action scenes, like the duels, hand-to-hand combat and ground ops were also fine
* the world
* I liked the world, its rules but I'd like to get more details
What I hated:
* the constant jumping around, it didn't flow naturally, in the later books, I found myself skipping whole chapters to get to the "good stuff", when I finished the book, I back tracked and I read the parts which I skipped (I usually read books from cover to cover without jumping over something)
* moreover, while the look from the other side is always interesting, I couldn't stand the walls of text which were presented as thoughts of any given character, you are forced to read about some global rules/laws/customs/expectations which help you to understand what motivated the character to act in such a way, this feels a really crude way of story telling because it repeats itself all the time
* another problem, at least for me, is the fact that these auxiliary characters have very short lifespan, you get to know them a bit and then they get killed within the same book or at most in the next two books, there is such a high turn-over of characters that you have almost zero interest to read about them after you find out this fact
* in the same vein, the characters which are key for the story and you meet them again and again, you have not so much info about them, the politicians, the admirals, the queen, the protector, etc.
* also as the customs, laws and rules of the society are introduced purely as needed to move the story in certain direction it feels unnatural, I'd have very much preferred more background, history, explanation in one place, which is then referred to later
* Honor is perfect leader, perfect martial artist, perfect pilot, perfect tactician, perfect officer, perfect duelist, dutiful, honorable, etc. I like heroes and heroines but if you give them supporting cast of characters who are also perfect in their area of expertize were she is not perfect like the financial wiz, the regent, the maid, the armsmen and arguably her superiors it just creates very very unreal setting and there is nothing to improve, no character development
* the books follow the same template, introduction, fight with some arch-enemy on personal level, couple of battles and the final battle, Honor gets usually promoted and is wounded in some way
/
* especially these enemies, who you meet for the first time, have the nasty habit of jumping out of the woodwork, scheming for a bit, failing to impact Honor in any meaningful way and they are ultimately dealt with only to be replaced by someone else
* I also didn't get the author's taste for Honor's mutilation, it doesn't make any sense when the state of medicine is at such a high level that she is patched up and as good as new afterwards
* the conversations between Honor and her superiors as well her subjects, the sense of familiarity, goodwill, light-heartedness, I guess the author can say that she is basically an empath making it easy to blend with other people but I still find it hard to believe that she would trade jokes with the queen and the protector in such a way especially when she had the chance to talk to them only on several occasions
* then there are several highly suspect twists in the story and the situation which lead to them, I'll describe just two of them which are really spoilers and both are from book 9
* the assassination, Honor was able to protect the heads of states with brilliant maneuver but the prime minister and the chancellor (among others) got killed to promote the next story twist; considering the fact that the LACs or yachts were military-grade ships and their personnel were highly trained navy professionals (the author presents these facts throughout the books anytime he discusses security), then I simply have no idea why they couldn't have performed the same maneuver as Honor themselves, makes no sense, especially when she had plenty of time to tell them what to do in case they couldn't have figured it out
* the next is the meeting between the queen and the opposition representatives I really don't understand why she invited them all at the same time when she wanted to bully them into different decision and quite frankly their best interests to stop the war when the allies could easily achieve enemy's capitulation in six more months is rather suspect too, they could have created new coalition while the war was ongoing and get even more dividends in six month
* but the fact that the queen could've invited them separately and bully them individually, promise them anything so that at least one of them supports her and as the situation was described, she would have been successful IMO, after all these politicians were from different parties and they'd have loved to crush their peers
* and of course the support of unaligned lords and ladies, I find it highly doubtful that the queen wouldn't have got their support back if she at least tried to persuade them; if they supported her prime minister, I see no reason why she couldn't have negotiated their continual support for the next 6 months
So all in all, I enjoyed the books but the storyline got too patched up at the end and it was quite obvious that the author simply forced the twist in very rude way so that the story could continue. In other words, some parts were too overdone and the other underdone. A pity. The author made me lose interest in reading the sequels.
One last comment. Given the fact that she is bright and hard-working person and that she dedicated more than 40 years of her life to the uniform, I can very well accept the fact that she actually achieved the perferction in all areas which were important to her. Being in peek physical shape for more than 100 years will make it inevitable for dedicated people. However, it is hard to relate to it in our less than perfect reality.
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