Does War of Honor get better?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

Bu...bu.....I just wanted some battles and a tree cat .

There's 8 of those.
(Plus a few shorts.)

The best series end or evolve, or failing that, run on into self-parody.
(The Honorverse came awful close to the latter.)
Weber apparetly recognized it and intended to end the series with AT ALL COSTS.
Instead, he was talked into evolving it.
It may prove to have been a mistake--it may prove a success...
But so far the ride has been worth it.

One more thing: I wouldn't bet on the thing actually *ending* with SHADOW OF FREEDOM. (This aside from any further Saganami or Torch followups.) I think that will just reach a local "ending" with the bad guys stymied but surviving to fight another day, in another century. (Cockroaches always find a way to survive.)
At this point the milleau is simply too rich and too developed to simply ignore (too much money on the table, too) just because Honor herself has reached the end of her usefulness as a narrative tool. (At least for now.)

So fear nor, battles and treecats and, for that matter, battling treecats, will be with us for a while longer.
(I just wish he'd forget about Safehold and devote more time to the Mantieverse.)

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

(I just wish he'd forget about Safehold and devote more time to the Mantieverse.)

I just want him to write faster . I like both the Honorverse and Safehold, although if I'd have to pick the nod would go to the Honorverse.

[DrNefario]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

Bu...bu.....I just wanted some battles and a tree cat .

I didn't even want the treecats.

Can't really complain, though, since I barely paid for any of it.

[morriss003]

Basically you are going to pay for a lot more pages than you will read. It's interesting to see how the reviews at Amazon have steadily diminished. Still, a bad novel by Weber is better than most decent novels by other writers.

[mewmartigan]

I just noticed that the new book eARC is available now from Baen.

I am going to wait for the real release because I have a bunch of free books from Baen thanks to their web game.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by mewmartigan

I just noticed that the new book eARC is available now from Baen.

I am going to wait for the real release because I have a bunch of free books from Baen thanks to their web game.

Oh-kay...
It sounds like SHADOWS OF FREEDOM *isn't* the second half of A RISING THUNDER, but rather the Third installment of the SAGANAMI sub-series.

Queen Elizabeth of Manticore's first cousin and Honor Harrington's best friend, Michelle Henke, has just handed the "invincible" Solarian League Navy the most humiliating, one sided defeat in its entire almost thousand year history in defense of the people of the Star Empire's Talbott Quadrant. But the League is the most powerful star nation in the history of humanity. Its navy is going to be back—and this time with thousands of superdreadnoughts.

Yet she also knows scores of other star systems—some independent, some controlled by puppet regimes, and some simply conquered outright by the Solarian Office of Frontier Security—lie in the League's grip along its frontier with the Talbott Quadrant. As combat spreads from the initial confrontation,the entire frontier has begun to seethe with unrest, and Michelle sympathizes with the oppressed populations wanting only to be free of their hated masters.

And that puts her in something of a quandary when a messenger from Mobius arrives, because someone's obviously gotten a wrong number. According to him, the Mobians' uprising has been carefully planned to coordinate with a powerful outside ally: the Star Empire of Manticore. Only Manticore—and Mike Henke—have never even heard of the Mobius Liberation Front.

It's a set up . . . and Michelle knows who's behind it. The shadowy Mesan Alignment has launched a bold move to destroy Manticore's reputation as the champion of freedom. And when the RMN doesn't arrive, when the MLF is brutally and bloodily crushed, no independent star system will ever trust Manticore again.

Mike Henke knows she has no orders from her government to assist any rebellions or liberation movements, that she has only so many ships, which can be in only so many places at a time . . . and that she can't possibly justify diverting any of her limited, outnumbered strength to missions of liberation the Star Empire never signed on for. She knows that . . . and she doesn't care.

No one is going to send thousands of patriots to their deaths, trusting in Manticoran help that will never come.

Tempting... tempting... tempting...

[mewmartigan]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Oh-kay...
It sounds like SHADOWS OF FREEDOM *isn't* the second half of A RISING THUNDER, but rather the Third installment of the SAGANAMI sub-series.

I agree. Seems Michelle focused and it continues with the "shadow" theme of the Saganami series.

The Shadow of Saganami
Storm from the Shadows
Shadows of Freedom

[morriss003]

Originally Posted by mewmartigan

I agree. Seems Michelle focused and it continues with the "shadow" theme of the Saganami series.

The Shadow of Saganami
Storm from the Shadows
Shadows of Freedom

These "Shadow" books have been a lot better than the main story line.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by morriss003

These "Shadow" books have been a lot better than the main story line.

Weber enjoys them more.
He said he liked the smaller scale of the battles and dealing with characters that aren't quite the invincible paragons that Honor is.
One thing that helps is his use of Talbot characters in addition to the Manties.

[jgaiser]

I'm going to have to try the series again. I really enjoyed "On Basilisk Station", but just couldn't get into "The Honor of the Queen". Both the infodumps and Weber's politics got to be too much.

[fjtorres]

Politics?
He's modeled the various star nations on historical and contemporary states but his books aren't all that political...
Not sure there is much to annoy anybody...except the poor folks living in thhe present day equivalent of the Solarian League.

[jgaiser]

Ok .. Maybe not *politics*. Maybe my world view after 10 years in the Navy during a wasted war in Viet Nam. The main characters attitudes that the Navy's views are correct and those lefties are just naive tended to push some buttons.

As I said, I'll give "Honor of the Queen" another try. I did like Basilisk and if I can get through the infodumps, it may still work for me.

[PKFFW]

Well I haven't had much time to read the past week or so but I have started the first of the anthologies. Kinda fun to read the back story to the treecats. Am enjoying it so far.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Ok .. Maybe not *politics*. Maybe my world view after 10 years in the Navy during a wasted war in Viet Nam. The main characters attitudes that the Navy's views are correct and those lefties are just naive tended to push some buttons.

As I said, I'll give "Honor of the Queen" another try. I did like Basilisk and if I can get through the infodumps, it may still work for me.

Ah. *Those* "politics".
Well, yes; Honor and her peers do have strong opinions. Where they come from becomes clearer from the anthologies and future volumes.
Without them you may have to just take them as the result of group think and very long lifespans (which is something Weber makes very clear from the beginning is a major problem in PROLONG societies).
Mantie politics can be tricky in the early books because at first glance they *seem* to map onto a contemporary american spectrum but they don't. Not to give anything meaingful away, but the clueless pacificists aren't lefties, but rather extreme conservatives. The Navy types are actually centrists and Honor thinks she is apolitical but actually runs a bit left of center in the Mantie spectrum, with some friends that run in the extreme left. (And that is without factoring Grayson politics.)
Weber doesn't get deep into mantie politics early on but when he does you'll get your fill of it.
More important, the way HONOR OF THE QUEEN plays out the politics themselves don't matter. What matters is how Honor reacts to them. She is being tested by her "sponsors" who are grooming her for bigger and better things. The result isn't pretty. The term testing to destruction comes to mind.

In many ways, HONOR OF THE QUEEN is actually the best book of the series, although others may be more enjoyable. When Weber talks about his goals for the SAGANAMI ISLAND sub-series, HOTQ is what he is talking about.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by PKFFW

Well I haven't had much time to read the past week or so but I have started the first of the anthologies. Kinda fun to read the back story to the treecats. Am enjoying it so far.

Weber and Jane Lindskold are doing a precursor series starring Stephanie and co.