The title comes from where this collection takes us: back to the earlier years of the Star Kingdom, to include the plague years, and therefore to some of the challenges that the Star Kingdom face.

An important note: David Weber uses the stories in this book to help fix some continuity issues that emerged over the many novels that have brought us the amazing Honorverse. There’s a note at the beginning of the book that explains this, so please don’t skip over it—what’s contained in this note is important.

As originally published by Baen, “Challenges” arrived as a 272-page hardcover in November 2025.

The first story in the book is One Controllable Step, by Marisa Wolf.

The constantly mutating virus that has hit Manticore hard has just been declared a plague and has jumped from Manticore to Sphynx. A team of scientists have arrived from Beowulf to do what they can to help turn things around before the young Star Kingdom fades into history with the possible deaths of all. We’ve heard about this plague many times over the years; this story gives us some of the details about the efforts to save lives and to save the Kingdom.

Your hosts gave this story three ‘thumbs-up”.

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The second story, Deadly Delusions was written by Jane Lindskold.

In this very cool story, we see some of the early work being done by the company BioNeering, specifically work being done by Dr. Mariel Ubel. The featured point of view for the story are retired Sheriff’s Deputy Arvin Erhart and a treecat named True Stalker, but there are a few other important character perspectives, too. All this is happening around the time young Stephanie Harrington is about 11 years old—around the age we first meet her and she bonds with her treecat.

We gave this story three “thumbs-up”, as well.

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The Great Condiment Caper was the third story, written by Jacob Holo, with Thomas Pope.

While we’re back in the early years of the Star Kingdom, we get the chance to check in on the young Ensign Edward “Eddie” Saganami. A freshly minted junior officer, he’s serving onboard Manticore’s first completely home built destroyer, the Ad Astra as an engineering officer. When a palate of precious cargo goes missing, young Ensign Saganami is given the responsibility to solve the crime. The story is light-hearted and fun, although contained within are some wonderful lessons about officership, and some of the little things that actually impact a crew’s morale in addition to the direct impact of a ship’s commander, XO and the other senior leaders onboard. In this case, the little thing at the center of the story: Dempsy’s Sweet and Spicy BBQ Sauce. For real!

Your hosts scored this one with another unanimous three “thumbs-up” as well!

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XO was the fourth story in the anthology, written by Daniel Allen Butler.

We find ourselves onboard the HMS Ulysses as a medical incident removes the ship’s captain from command, and the XO, Lieutenant Commander Ellen D’Orville finds herself in command while they take the captain to the nearest medical facility. Upon arrival, LCDR D’Orville learns she will remain in command, and take the ship and crew on its next mission to conduct an intelligence mission as a part of Operation Long Winter. They are to remain undetected as they operate in another star nation’s space. Enter Manpower and slavers operating in the same volume of space. At the heart of the problem is the matter of dealing with genetic slavers. Obligated to act against these slaver pirates, but also to remain silent, LCDR faces a very real moral dilemma as she has to decide to break silence (and violate her orders) to address the slave ship or remain silent and neglect the competing moral obligation to act against the slavers. Both are required by Manticoran law. No matter what she does, she’ll have done the right AND the wrong thing, both of which will always come with consequences.

No specific dates are given in the story, but we know that these events also happen during Operation Long Winter, presumably putting us in the same timeframe that Ensign Saganami was onboard the Ad Astra.

This incredible story received unanimous thumbs-up from your three hosts, with two of the three declaring this was their favorite story within the anthology.

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As with the previous anthology, the fifth and final story was written by the man himself, Mr. David Weber, titled Crystal Singer’s Song.

A very interesting story occurs from 1496 to 1551, when an SFS Ranger named Aldona is flying supplies to a remote location on newly developing Sphynx. She encounters severe weather and crash lands on an uncharted island as a result.Surviving the crash, she sets herself up to survive, hoping once the storms pass, she’ll be able to make contact with the rest of the world, or perhaps be found during a search and rescue mission. Time passes, the hope of rescue diminishes, and she names the island “Castaway Island”. She also meets her neighbors: a treecat clan that was previously displaced and effectively lost on the island and referred to as “The Lost Nest Clan”. While a bonding never occurs, this becomes what was possibly the first and longest, continuous contact between a human and a treecat clan. Keep in mind, (if memory serves) Stephanie Harrington was born in 1507, meaning at the time of her birth, Aldona had been stranded and in friendly contact with the Lost Nest Clan for 11 years. It was obviously a bit longer before young Stephanie makes first contact and bonds with Lionheart. What a story and cool piece of previously unknown treecat-human history.

The story ends on a bittersweet note. Aldona is never rescued and dies on Castaway Island, old and happy. The main story, however, is bracketed by a visit made by a treecat named Crystal Singer to Honor Harrington in 1926. The story we’ve read is the story Crystal Singer relays to Honor. Even better, the significance of the story is much bigger than just treecat-human history.Crystal Singer reveals who SFS Ranger Aldona was: Aldona Zivonik, Karl Zivonik’s (Stephanie’s husband’s) aunt.

The story garnered another three thumbs-up from your hosts!

The overall rating for the anthology was a 5 out of 5 from each of us. We also shared our thoughts about the new authors we haven’t seen contribute to the Honorverse before. Be sure to listen in to hear what we said, and be sure to let us know your thoughts as well.

Next time we’re going to discuss “House of Steel” by David Weber and Bureau Nine. House of Steel contains a short novel from the early days of the Star Kingdom. It focuses on a biography of Roger Wynton III, his ascension to the Throne of Manticore, how he prepares Elizabeth for her reign, as well as the early days of the war with the People's Republic of Haven. Also included in this volume is an Honorverse Companion that covers a great deal of detailed information to aid in the understanding of the universe we all enjoy and love.

Special note: This is JP. I mentioned during the show that I thought the US Space Force motto is “Ad Astra”.Nope! I goofed that up. It’s “Semper Supra”. I stand corrected and apologise to our US Space Force friends and fans out there!

We truly appreciate all of you who take the time to hear our thoughts about these books. More importantly, we appreciate you as participants in the adventure, at times contributing your thoughts on social media and comments to us. Please keep those likes and comments coming, and if you’re enjoying the podcast, it’s never too late to invite others to join us.

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

The adventures of young Stephanie Harrington continue as she strives to ensure proper recognition of what the treecats are: not just sentient, but a sapient species. Steph’s personal life continues to grow as well, as her relationship with and love for Karl finally becomes apparent. No surprise to us as readers, but we see the point when Stephanie seems to realize (or embrace) that Karl is special in her life. The same is true for Karl, too.

We also meet Duncan Harrington, a relative of Steph’s and a brilliant scientist who also has an interest in the treecats. While Stephanie and Duncan each find joy in each other’s fondness for the ‘cats, what comes as a surprise is when we learn Duncan works for the Alignment. What we’re left hanging with are all the unanswered questions about Duncan’s true motives, which part of the Alignment he works for, and whether he’s associated with the benign or malign Alignment, where within the “onion” does he fall. We trust we’ll know more about this in the future.

We rated Friends Indeed with a 4.5, a 4.5 and a 5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of 4.67.

As always, thank you for listening and big thanks to those of you who also take the time to like and follow us on social media, to comment on our posts or even reach out to us with a longer note. At the end of this show we truly enjoy when we can read your comments and questions. Please keep them coming!

The next time we gather with you all for the Honorverse Today podcast, we’ll discuss the latest anthology “Challenges” by David Weber along with other select authors. This is the eighth anthology in the set. Friends, please note at the time we’re reading and discussing “Challenges”, it’s still a very new book. Consider this a spoiler warning if you haven’t read it yet. Along those lines, please read it soon and as always, invite a friend to join us on the continuing adventure through the Honorverse!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Featured in this novel are the events revolving around Honor’s duel with Pavel Young. As painful as the events were that ultimately brought the duel about, we get some more color here and it didn’t come across as simply filler material. Along these lines there’s some important and very touching storytelling about a key event or two tied to when Honor officially becomes a Steadholder on Grayson. We also learn a good bit about how the relationship between Horrace Harkness and Iris Babcock begins. This was a lot of fun and a wonderful way to balance the heaviness of Honor’s duel.

Related to all this, there’s an author’s note at the end of the book that’s definitely worth the time to read, so please don’t hit the end of the last chapter and shut the book.

Your hosts rated “Toll of Honor” with a trio of 5s (out of 5), resulting in an overall rating of 5.

Next time we’re going to cover “Friends Indeed”, the fifth novel in the Star Kingdom series by David Weber and Jane Lindskold.

For first-time readers, please grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again for our continuing voyage through the Honorverse!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

What Price Victory is 320 pages (hardcover), published in February 2023.

The first story in the book is Traitor, by Timothy Zahn and Thomas Pope.

It takes place sometime around 1528 PD and focuses on events surrounding a significant challenge to Andermani Emperor Gustav.  What initially appears to be quiet and professional concern that Gustav may not be fit to lead the Empire, as the concerned parties assemble, it becomes clear that the real intent is to stage a coup.  Things get wild!

Your hosts gave this story three ‘thumbs-up”.

The second story, Deception of Gryphon was written by Jane Lindskoldt.  

The last book we discussed was A New Clan which featured Stephanie Harrington and her friends.  This short story brings us back to Stephanie and Karl shortly after the events in A New Clan, but now these two heroes are on Gryphon with Stephanie’s parents.  While there, they find themselves involved in what initially looked like a suicide, but quickly questions surface about whether or not it may have been a murder.  As a credentialed law enforcement officer, Karl gets involved along with Probationary Ranger Harrington and the story unfolds.

We gave this story three “thumbs-ups”, as well.

The Silesian Command was the third story, written by Jan Kotouč.  

Now we find ourselves early in the days of what is usually called the Second Manticoran-Havenite War, probably in 1919 or 1920 PD.  The Star Kingdom of Manticore is growing and we’re seeing some of the struggles of the war spilling over into Manticore’s efforts to manage new territory gained when the Silesian Confederacy was split between the Star Kingdom and the Andermani Empire.  There’s intrigue, nuclear weapons, a rogue People’s Republic of Haven State Security officer, and pirates!

Your hosts scored this one with two “thumbs-up”, and a “neutral” vote.

If Wishes Were Space Cutters, written by Joelle Presby, was our fourth story.

Joelle takes us back to Grayson and a character named Noah Bedlam.  This young man dreams of bigger things in the future, then finds himself with a new job helping to build a space station.  He takes the job and leaves his mom (who he lives with) behind—hopefully the new work will pay him enough to improve both his and her standard of living.  High drama ensues when space debris hits the ship (a cutter) he’s stationed on, causing critical damage.  With the help of a new acquaintance, he works to stem the unfolding catastrophe and save many lives.  As a result, he’s recommended to attend pilot training.

We struggled with this one, scoring it with a “neutral” vote and two “thumbs-down”.

The fifth and final story is written by the man himself, Mr. David Weber, titled First Victory.

The events in the story unfold across a significant period of time between March 1846 and December 1877 PD.  Most of the story is at the front end of this window culminating with Honor’s birth, then there’s a leap forward to when she’s 17.

Lots of tension and love in this story.  Tension that is the relationship between Jennifer (Allison’s mom) and Allison (Honor’s mom) is broken when Allison decides to marry Alfred.  Even without the presence and support of Jennifer, the marriage of these two young doctors is a happy and prosperous one.  Years later, Honor is born, and what may be the heart of the story emerges—the family ends up coming together.  We won’t say how, but it’s pure storytelling gold.  Then the leap forward in time happens and we see Honor with an acceptance to the Academy at Saganami Island, preparing for what begins the adventure we all know and love so well.

When the dust settled, this story received three “thumbs-up” from us.  Whatever else we thought about the other stories in this volume, it ended strong with a great story from David!

Overall, we rated this whole seventh anthology volume with a 4.5, a 3.5 and a 4 (out of 5) for an overall rating of 4.

The next time we get together, we’re going back in time to discuss the novel Toll of Honor, which returns us to the events that lead to the culmination of the feud between Honor Harrington and Pavel Young.  You’re not going to want to miss it!

I know we say it every podcast, but it’s because it’s true:  we truly appreciate all of you who listen to our thoughts about these books.  More importantly, we appreciate you as participants in the adventure, at times contributing your thoughts and comments to us.  Please keep those likes and comments coming, and if you’re enjoying the podcast, be sure to tell others to join us.

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

Published in June 2022, we’re hit with 420 pages full of fresh, new adventures in the Honorverse.   As we mentioned in the podcast, there’s now also a fifth book in this series.  We’ll certainly cover that when the time comes.

While our treecat friends are a key part of the story, here we’re following Stephanie and friends as they find themselves involved in uncovering the details behind what may be an illegal drug ring.  Is this Forestry Service work?  Not necessarily, but this well-written story comfortably explains how Probationary Ranger Harrington along with colleagues and friends find themselves involved in determining if a new drug in what is the beginning of common use has ties to a number of accidents involving other youths.  Needless to say, things get messy and a little ugly, quickly.  These “kids” are growing up!

After seeing the Rangers and Stephanie involved in significant wildfires previously, this is an interesting adventure as forestry work takes a side seat to more traditional law enforcement business in what is revealed to be a somewhat gray area.  Like the others in this series, A New Clan is written with a young adult audience in mind, but still a good read for fans of any age.  As always, we discuss our pros and cons with this novel from our perspective as Honorverse fans and hope you join right in with us.

We rated A New Clan with a 4, another 4 and a 3.5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of 3.8.

As always, thank you for listening and big thanks to those of you who also take the time to like and follow us on social media, to comment on our posts or even reach out to us with a longer note.  At the end of this show we truly enjoy when we can read your comments and questions.  Please keep them coming!

Next time on the Honorverse Today podcast, we’re turning our attention to Shadow of Freedom by David Weber.  This book is the third novel in the Saganami Island sequence.  We hope you grab it, read it, and find a friend to join us on the continuing adventure through the Honorverse!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

As before, this novel is co-written with Timothy Zahn and Thomas Pope and published by Baen in January 2022.  We’re back in the fight with Travis Long, his wife Lisa and on an adventure following a recent attack on the young Star Kingdom.  What rests behind the recent attack is the speculation that the small and insignificant Star Empire might be sitting on something extremely valuable in the context of trade and commerce.  With the potential for a significant increase in economic power, someone is trying to ensure that increase is theirs and not Manticore’s.  However, Queen Elizabeth I and her government aren’t completely ignorant of what might be behind the attacks.  If they’re right, there is a real threat to the Kingdom looming, and therefore a real need for a stronger and more capable navy.  Enter the well-timed diplomatic contact by the Andermani Empire, and quickly we find Travis, Lisa and our other friends on what could be a well-timed adventure.  Or possibly a disaster.  There’s drama, tension, a bunch of mercenaries, and definitely some combat!

 As always, your hosts share their thoughts about the book, and in this case the story arc we know as “Manticore Ascendant”.  We even refer back to things David Weber shared with us about what may lie ahead for this part of the Honorverse (could there be more?), and a few thoughts and hopes of our own as the overarching Honorverse adventure continues.

 Our ratings for A Call to Insurrection were a 4.5, 5 and 4.5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of 4.7 from your hosts.

As always, thank you for taking this journey with us, listening, liking and commenting on the episodes, and sharing this podcast with other like-minded adventurers.  We always love your feedback and thoughts.  Like the three of us, every one of you is a part of the crew!

 Next time we’re shifting back to the Star Kingdom arc and looking at the fourth book there:  A New Clan.  If you like seeing the development of the treecat-human partnership, the early years on Sphinx for humans, and the further adventures of Stephanie Harrington, don’t miss this one!  Grab your copy, invite a friend, and please join us again next time.

 You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

Consistent with the title, this story arc ends with a lot of fire.  For the Babylon 5 fans who are also here with us, we can say there’s lot’s of BOOM.  It’s another hefty book, coming in at 704 pages if you read the print version, so there’s definitely room for a lot of fire (or boom), and a lot of action overall.  The focus of the story is tied to the continued dealing with the Mesan Alignment, with action taking place in several locations including Mesa and Earth.  Lots of threads from previous books are pulled together, and we get to watch the workings of the defeated Solarian League’s Constitutional Convention.  We also see the establishment of significant governmental reform on Mesa, with some pretty cool time and attention paid to several of our former Ballroom members, including Saburo X.

We continue to see Honor in action as combat ops have ended (paused?) and follow-on operations occur.  Oh, and Honor’s mother Alison (one of our favorite characters) gives birth to twins.  For those who read it, you know this is only a summary and there’s SO much more going on as well.

Your hosts rated “To End in Fire” with a 4, a 4 and a 4.5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of 4.17 from your hosts.

We hope you never get tired of hearing it because we don’t get tired of saying it:  thank you for listening and especially to those of you who take the time to interact with us, like and follow us on social media, and share this podcast with others.

Next, we’re back in the Manticore Ascendant series, looking at the fourth and final book:  A Call to Insurrection co-authored by David Weber, Timothy Zahn and Thomas Pope.  As with the others in this series/arc, we’re making a final trip back to the early years of the Star Kingdom of Manticore.  As we wrap this series up, be sure to grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again next time.

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

Other than the timing, a third interview was probably not a surprise to any of you since we openly mentioned having Mr. David Weber join us again after the second interview, as well as the interview with Jane Lindskold and David.

Most of the questions we asked were directly submitted by all of you, our friends who are with us on this journey through the Honorverse.  Several of them were summary / roll-up questions based on common themes that many of you have asked.

We don’t think we discussed anything that would constitute true spoilers, but David was very open with us about several things related to the continuation of the Honorverse, including one already-named anthology (Challenges), the mention of another possible anthology, as well as future novels.

Perhaps the most significant thing we talked about was when David gave additional details about something he mentioned in at least one of the previous interviews:  how the Honorverse will continue when the day comes to hand the reins (or not) to someone else.  We already knew he does intend to pass the torch to some extent.  In our discussion he mentioned more specifics related to his plans, to include a later implementation of the time jump he intended if Honor had died as originally planned.   

Mr. Weber, once again we owe you Honorverse-sized thank you for the amazing amount of time you’ve given all of us.  You’ve also trusted us with all kinds of wonderful information about the amazing world you’ve built, and where it’s going.  You certainly could do what many other authors have done and just let us all wait and see, but you’re shining a wonderful light on the future of the Honorverse (and a few other projects)!  Again, thank you kind sir.

On the next episode of Honorverse Today, we’ll resume our voyage as we discuss To End in Fire.

As always, we have to thank each of you for listening, and especially those of you who have found the time to send us comments.  As you’ve seen, we really do share those with Mr. Weber.  We still have a list of questions and comments we haven’t been able to ask him yet, but if you all join in with us at our request, I suspect we can lure him back into the studio for another session.

If you haven’t already done so, consider spreading the word to others you know are already Honor Harrington fans, and even to those who might enjoy the Honorverse!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

Uncompromising Honor brings the two (or three, depending on perspective) major and enduring story arcs together, culminating with the Grand Alliance and the Solarian League staring at each other across the battlefield.  The story in this book is huge, has plenty of action and emotion, and several surprises.

As those of you who have been with us from the start know, the story we’ve enjoyed isn’t quite what David Weber imagined early on.  Even so, as great authors do, he adjusted the plan and brought us a very satisfying (and significantly large) novel to discuss in this episode.  If you’ve read it and didn’t bother with the Afterward, please go back and read it.  It’s short and full of information directly from David himself.  There are nuggets in there that he touched on during his interviews with us, but this is more concise and focused primarily on the changes from his original plan that brought us what we’ve read up to this point.

Your hosts rated Uncompromising Honor with a trifecta of 5s (out of 5), resulting in an overall rating of 5.

We were able to cover (and I think catch up) with feedback we’ve received.  As always, thank you all for listening, but special thanks to those who take the time to further participate in the show through your comments and questions.

Next time we’re going to cover To End in Fire, the fourth and final novel in the Crown of Slaves series.

As always, please grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again for another voyage through the Honorverse!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

Co-written with Timothy Zahn and Thomas Pope and published by Baen in March 2018, this is another of David Weber’s lengthier novels, but with good reason. We’re watching a more mature Travis Long (and colleagues, including Lisa Donnelly) participate in operations of the maturing Royal Manticoran Navy. The Manticoran government continues to struggle with the roles, relationships and funding competition between the RMN and MPARS. In a subplot we see the establishment of the Special Intelligence Service (known quietly but openly as Delphi) and an associated struggle in terms of roles, responsibilities and authorities between the Office of Naval Intelligence and Delphi. As those pots simmer (or boil), Elisabeth works through a potentially significant political fight that manifests as a “Constitutional crisis”. This all sounds serious, right? It is, but there are definitely a few very funny events that occur within the pages within both plot lines.

Our ratings for A Call to Vengeance were a 5, 5 and 5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of 5.

As always, thank you for taking this journey with us, listening, liking and commenting on the episodes, and sharing this podcast with others. Don’t forget, it’s never too late to comment on previous episodes either. We love your feedback and thoughts. Like the three of us, every one of you is a part of the crew!

Next time we’re stepping back into the main story arc as we dive into Uncompromising Honor as things get very heated between Manticore and Mesa. As always, be sure to grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again next time.

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

This chunky novel weighs in at 756 pages and hit the streets in November 2016.  The story covers a date range from February 1921 PD through October 1022 PD.  For those tracking dates, you’ll realize this is one of those times when David covers events we’ve already seen, but from a different perspective.  There’s also some new info in here, too.

The major things that happen reflect the continuing exposure of, or for some, the revelation of, the Mesan Alignment.  These include the sneak attack on Manticore itself, destroying a significant segment of their economy and military infrastructure.  We also see Operation Janus, the Alignment’s effort to discredit Manticore by making false promises of military support to oppressed segments of other start nations if they decide to rebel.  Then there’s the horrific Operation Houdini.  These plans are diabolical, especially when taken together.  The false promises might embolden revolutions, causing the division and downfall of many when Manticore never shows up with the “promised” support.  It would also drain resources from the governments experiencing those revolutions.  Additionally, when Manticore appears to renege on promised support (that they never made), it paints them in a light that they can’t be trusted to keep their word internationally.  Finally, in the context of the hostilities between Manticore and the Solarian League (actually provoked by the Alignment!), Manticore looks like they’re acting consistent with the propaganda that paints them as improperly seeking to expand their empire by force, employing their military to engage the Solarians directly and indirectly.  There’s certainly a lot going on here.  

We’ll warn you now:  your hosts didn’t particularly enjoy this book.  Tune in to find out why and let us know if you agree or not. We rated Shadow of Victory with a 2.5, a 2 and a 3 (out of 5), for an overall rating of 2.5.

As always, thank you for listening.  Special thanks to those of you who take the time to like and follow us on social media, share this podcast with others, and to even comment on our posts.

Next time, we’re excited to discuss A Call to Vengeance, book three in the Manticore Ascendant story arc.  That’s right: we’re going to see what happens next with Travis Long, Lisa Donnelly and others as the young Royal Manticoran Navy continues to struggle against emerging mercenary threats to the Star Kingdom while the government struggles with how well to fund the Navy in light of possibly decreasing funds for the navy while increasing funds for the Manticoran Patrol and Rescue Service.  Yes, we’re about to enjoy some more great storytelling from the dynamic trio of David Weber, Timothy Zahn and Tom Pope!  As always, be sure to grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again next time.

In many ways Travis has grown and matured through the passage of time, the challenges of training, and more years under his belt as an officer.  Even so, we can still see the core of his ethical framework visible through the way he wrestles with the problems that life presents to him in naval service.  We also see his giftedness continue as someone who can think outside of his own personal boundaries.  While we’ve seen this result in some very positive ideas that allowed his ships (current and past) to successfully navigate some pretty difficult situations, thankfully he hasn’t become the one-man silver bullet that seems to be the magical solution to horrible problems.  In this regard, we were happy that the authors kept the story believable.  As this book ends, we found ourselves looking forward to the next book in this series.

Our ratings for A Call to Arms were a 5, 5 and 4.5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of 4.8.

As always, thank you for taking this journey with us, listening, liking and commenting on the episodes, and sharing this podcast with others.  Don’t forget, it’s never too late to comment on previous episodes either.  We love your feedback and thoughts.  Like the three of us, every one of you is a part of the crew!

Next time we’re stepping away from the Manticore Ascendant series and returning to the Saganami Island series to read and discuss Shadow of Victory.  If you’ve been missing seeing the dark and sinister ways of the Mesan Alignment—they’re back!  As always, be sure to grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again next time.

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

You’ll remember a while back we read a story by Timothy Zahn that took place early in the life of the Star Kingdom of Manticore, revolving around an interesting character named Travis Long.  In this series of books we finally get to read the rest of Travis’ story, beginning right here.  We also get a very interesting glimpse into the early and formative years of the RMN—essentially watching Travis and the Navy grow up together.

Travis’ military life begins, almost in desperation as a group of his friends use him as an unknowing wheel man while committing a crime.  Travis realizes too late that he’s going to be guilty by association and takes refuge in an RMN recruiting office.  The recruiter sees goodness and promise in Travis, revealed by his conscience, and signs him up for an enlistment.  As we follow him through training and his initial time in the operational fleet, his story reveals a lot about Travis’ ethical code, which is both a strength and a potential weakness in terms of his service.  The Navy causes Travis to realize and then begin to deal with the fact that while there may be moral absolutes and certain black and white issues, much of the world operates in a very gray space where problems are more complicated than he expected.  While he’s still immature, certain leaders in his chain of command realize he shows potential to become a commissioned officer and is selected to become a “Mustang”.

Your hosts rated A Call to Duty with a 5, 5 and another 5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of 5 from your hosts.

Once again, thank you for listening and to those of you who take the time to like and follow us on social media, share this podcast with others, and to even comment on our posts.

Next, we’re picking up the next book in this anthology set called A Call to Arms, where we get to see what happens next with Mr. Long.  Without interruption, we get to continue to enjoy the masterful storytelling of David Weber, Timothy Zahn and Tom Pope.  As always, be sure to grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again next time.

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

As a result, we’re still seeing events occurring in 1922 PD, now featuring our two super-spies:  Victor Cachat and Anton Zilwicki and dealing with what’s next for (and with) the Mesan Alignment.  Furthermore, we’re seeing the reality of the post-war alliance between Manticore and Haven.  The reality of this alliance seems to still be almost unbelievable to leadership within the Mesan Alignment as this wasn’t a part of what they were trying to orchestrate.  It sure seems one lesson in this regard we can apply to the real world is the “law of unintended consequences.”  This becomes acute as the new Manticoran-Havenite alliance strives to bring the Alignment out of its comfortable place in the shadows.  The overall storyline link here is that our heroes Cachat and Zilwicki are running around on Mesa, trying to help reveal the Alignment.  The book is definitely action-packed!

Your hosts rated Cauldron of Ghosts with a 5, a 5 and an unusual 4.75 (out of 5), for an overall rating of 4.92 from your hosts.

Once again, thank you for listening and to those of you who take the time to like and follow us on social media, share this podcast with others, and to even comment on our posts.

Next, we’re turning our attention to the Manticore Ascendant series, diving into the first book, A Call to Duty co-authored by David Weber and Timothy Zahn.  This book and the associated series take us back to the early years of the Star Kingdom of Manticore and a character we were previously introduced to named Travis Long.  We’ve been looking forward to this series!  As always, be sure to grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again next time.

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

We’re solidly in the year 1922 PD and Admiral Michelle Henke takes care of yet more trouble presented by the Solarian League.  This is tied to a scenario set up to make the Star Empire of Manticore look bad in a way that would cost them the trust of independent star systems moving forward.  She exercises her command authority in the absence of specific guidance about this unforeseen and non-standard scenario confronting her, and does so in a way that would allow Queen Elizabeth to distance the Star Empire from the actions if necessary.  Even so, the plot fails, the Star Empire succeeds, and the story ends in a cliff-hanger when Michelle is then able to turn her fleet’s attention toward an even more substantial threat.

The novel was long and there was so much to talk about that this became one of our lengthier episodes.  We also had quite a bit of listener feedback we were able to share as well.  Friends, heartfelt thanks to each of you who take the time to enjoy this adventure with us, and additional thanks to those of you who take a little more time to send us your thoughts!  We definitely enjoy it when you join us in the conversation around the (virtual) kitchen table.

We rated “Shadow of Freedom” with a 5, a 5 and another 5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of a 5 from your hosts.

Once again, thank you for listening and big thanks to those of you who also take the time to like and follow us on social media, share this podcast with others, and to even comment on our posts.

Next, we’re going to return to the Crown of Slaves series as we dive into the third book in that arc:  Cauldron of Slaves, co-authored by David Weber and Eric Flint.  If you’re a fan of the adventures of Anton Zilwicki and Victor Cachat, be sure to grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again next time!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

As you listen, remember Jane’s contributions to the Honorverse are significant, including several short stories and novels.  Her short stories include:

• "Queen’s Gambit" – a short story in the Worlds of Honor anthology (discussed in episode 10)
• "Promised Land" – a short story in The Service of the Sword anthology (discussed in episode 15) 
• "Ruthless" – a short story in the In Fire Forged anthology (discussed in episode 23)

She’s also co-authored four novels with David in the Star Kingdom story arc:

• Fire Season (discussed in episode 25)
• Treecat Wars (discussed in episode 28)
• A New Clan (scheduled for a future episode)
• Friends Indeed (available for purchase soon!)

Jane and David talked briefly about the soon-to-be-released Star Kingdom novel Friends Indeed, mixed in among some great banter and information about these two story-telling power houses:  how they met, how David brought Jane into the Honorverse, and how they’ve worked together since.  We had time to ask Jane several that came from you, our listeners and fellow travelers as well.  Not surprisingly, there were several questions we didn’t get to ask due to time constraints, but also because as the discussion unfolded, some were answered before we could ask them.  Schedules permitting, we hope to have Jane on again to cover even more ground with her work.

Be sure to visit Jane’s official website to find out more about the incredible volume of work she’s done, and more about what’s coming.  You can find her at https://janelindskold.com

On the next episode we’ll get right back to the normal schedule and discuss the novel Shadow of Freedom, no doubt invigorated by the exciting info and insights we’ve gained from our two most special of guests.

As always, genuine thanks to each of you for listening, and especially folks who have found the time to send us comments—please keep them coming.  If you haven’t already done so, consider spreading the word to others who you know are Honor Harrington fans, or to those who might enjoy the Honorverse!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

Very real and difficult friction emerges between several of these clans as the treecats who were displaced by the fires now struggle to find a new territory that will support them through the upcoming winter.  That friction culminates in a literal war between clans.  This is remarkable in that prior to this novel the treecats have appeared to us (and to the characters from Stephanie’s time in the Honorverse) as a very homogenous and peaceful people.  While they are when compared to humans, this is our first look into the politics of the interaction of treecat clans, specifically when those clans face challenges tied to survival.  We even get to see some stark differences in treecat personalities and how those personalities impact clan conduct.  In the podcast we even get to discuss the DIME model as we see how it applies to the treecats.

Related, we see some (much less deadly) strife appear among our set of four human friends.  While not a surprise, with Stephanie spending several months away from her boyfriend Anders and in training with Karl, her relationship begins to morph as their affection for each other appears to bloom beyond just friendship.  Meanwhile, Anders and Jessica are working closely together with the Forest Service to do what they can to address the consequences of the treecat war.  That proximity and shared mission results in their friendship also blooming into a much deeper relationship.  All this creates the potential for real conflict between these four friends when they’re reunited after ranger training ends on Manticore. There’s even more going on as well, but we’ll leave that for you to enjoy through the book itself.

We rated “Treecat Wars” with a 4, another 4 and a 5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of 4.3 from your hosts.

As always, thank you for listening and big thanks to those of you who also take the time to like and follow us on social media, to comment on our posts or even reach out through a longer note.  At the end of this show we truly enjoyed reading many of the comments and questions we’ve recently received.  Please keep them coming!

Next time on the Honorverse Today podcast, we’re turning our attention to “Shadow of Freedom” by David Weber.  This book is the third novel in the Saganami Island sequence.  We hope you grab it, read it, and find a friend to join us on the continuing adventure through the Honorverse!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

This collection of writings comes in at 377 pages and was first published by Baen in June 2013.

Charles E. Gannon brings the first story to us:  By the Book.

In this story we join the crew of Earth Union Customs Patrol ship Venerated Gaia commanded by Lieutenant Lee Strong in 250 PD.  Their mission:  board and recover a hijacked ship named Fragrant Blossom, a ship they’ve located and seized near the Sol System asteroid belt.  Once the ship is captured and under their control, a series of non-standard events results in Lieutenant Strong coming into contact with an administrator working for the Outbound Operations Administration, a somewhat quiet and shadowy man named Perlenmann.  Mr. Perlenmann seems to have been effectively benched professionally and is sent to his current post on Jupiter’s moon Callisto, primarily due to what those holding (somewhat authoritarian) political power deemed to be his radical views.  It’s from this position of relative obscurity we learn that Mr. Perlenmann is an influential member of an organization plotting to bring the current political elite and their parties to their knees by causing an economic collapse across the Earth Union and Sol system.  He recruits Lieutenant Strong to deliver the necessary computer program, causing a catastrophic collapse, which results in the related loss of power of the controlling political parties and the disintegration of the Earth Union.  With the passage of time, the collapse is eventually referred to as the Economic Winter of 252 PD.  When the economy recovered as a much freer and open economic system, it spawned powerful growth that enabled the remarkable beginning of the movement of humanity out of the Sol system and into the stars.

Your hosts gave this story two ‘thumbs-up” and one “neutral” vote.

Next we discussed Timothy Zahn’s short story A Call to Arms.  

We move forward in time now, over a thousand years, to 1543 PD.  Following the recovery from the Economic Winter of 252 and the subsequent expansion, we see a Solarian Axelrod Corporation plan unfolding to attack the Manticore System through the use of mercenaries.  At the same time, we join a young Lieutenant Travis Long onboard the HMS Phoenix.  When he writes up a subordinate for substandard performance, he finds himself the one who’s in trouble and he’s transferred to a different ship, the HMS Casey.  It turns out the poor performer is from a politically and militarily powerful family.  What appears to be bad news for Lieutenant Long turns into a blessing as the mercenaries arrive in the Manticoran system.  Now confronting the enemy, his strength as a tactician shines as he’s key in defeating the threat.  The “misstep” while onboard the Phoenix quickly and quietly moves to the background as his new captain nominates him for the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal.  He also learns a powerful lesson from Captain Heissman about being aware of and getting used to the existence of internal politics within the RMN.

Of note, this story is the beginning of more time we’ll spend with Lieutenant Travis Long.  Our introduction to him here sets up seeing a lot more of him in the “Manticore Ascendant” series of novels, by the dynamic writing duo of David Weber and Timothy Zahn.

This one received “thumbs-ups” from each of your hosts, with a bonus “two thumbs up” from Raul.

Beauty and the Beast is the third story in the set, this one written by David Weber.  

Taking place in 1842 PD, we see the beginning of Honor Harrington’s immediate family as we get to enjoy learning about how her parents Alfred and Allison met and fell in love.  This is definitely a significant beginning!

After arriving on Beowulf to begin his medical education, previously a Royal Manticoran Marine Corps NCO, Alfred Harrington received a commission, requested a transfer to the RMN, and is now pursuing a new career as a physician.  Upon arrival, Lieutenant Alfred Harrington fights a few battles of perception as he doesn’t quite fit what many believe is the necessary and appropriately prestigious background for medical students attending the school.  He weathers the attitudes without issue but has what turns out to be a significant encounter with a member of Beowulf’s somewhat secretive Biological Survey Corps, Captain Jacques Benton-Ramirez y Chou.  A day later, Alfred meets another student and his companion, Allison.  Not known to Alfred at the time, Allison is Captain Benton-Ramirez y Chou’s sister.  An initial friendship forms, followed quickly by an emerging relationship.  Unknown to each other, both are strongly attracted to one another in a way that defies their scientific mindset.

In an attempt to pressure Captain Benton-Ramirez y Chou into divulging BSC secrets, Mesan operatives kidnap Allison.  For the Mesans, the unknown factor now in play is Lieutenant Harrington, who has a compulsion to come to the aid of Allison.  A short, tense and violent time later, Alfred has freed Allison—perhaps demonstrating the adage:  once a Marine, always a Marine.  This shared trial firmly forges what both Allison and Alfred realize is an almost unexplainable love between them, and the rest is history.

So many beginnings here:  as mentioned earlier, the beginning of Honor’s immediate family; but also, the earliest manipulations we’ve seen Mesa attempt on a universal scale; and just as significant, the beginning of what may very well be the reason why Nimitz / Laughs Brightly and Honor form a bond.  It’s also apparently an insight into why the very first treecat-human bond was with a Harrington so long ago on Sphynx when Stephanie met Lionheart / Climbs Quickly.

Your hosts scored this one with a “thumbs-up”, a “neutral” and another double “thumbs-up”.

The fourth story, also by David Weber, is entitled Best Laid Plans.

The date is 1871 PD and we join a young (12 year old) Honor Harrington, scheming of ways to enjoy some independence by justifying traveling into a remote area to gather a bouquet of specific flowers to give to her mother as a birthday gift.  As if the previous short story might have been a tactical set-up, we quickly see the events occurring that resulted in Honor and Laughs Brightly meeting.  Laughs Brightly and a younger brother named Sharp Nose are gathering provisions when they see/sense/taste Honor’s mind glow.  Shortly after, the treecats encounter a pair of peak bears which are moving toward an unaware Stephanie.  As the treecats move to try and warn Honor, Sharp Nose steps on a bad branch and is badly injured when he falls to the ground.  That sound attracts the bears, Laughs Brightly moved to defend his brother and is wounded by a bear in the subsequent fight.  The sound of the fight attracts Honor to the scene and she ends up saving the treecats by shooting the bears.  As Laughs Brightly wakes up in Honor’s arms, their eyes meet and their bond is formed.

While Honor and Laughs Brightly’s (Nimitz’s) bond isn’t a first, this bond sets up the beginning of what we can call the treecats’ regular (or perhaps permanent) movement off of Sphynx as Nimitz eventually leaves Sphynx with honor as she begins her Naval career and subsequent life off world.

Three easy “thumbs-up” from your hosts for Best Laid Plans.

The fifth and final story in the anthology is Obligated Service by Joelle Presby.

This final story moves us back into “modern” times relative to the central Honorverse story arc, with events occurring in 1921-1922 PD.

In this interesting story, we see Claire Lecroix, a Grayson woman belonging to the Burdette Steading, shortly after her graduation from the Manticoran Naval Academy at Saganami Island.  Keep in mind two key pieces of history related to these events.  First, Honor was admitted to the Grayson Conclave of Steadholders in 1904 or 1905.  Just a year or two later, she killed the previous Burdette Steadholder (William Fitzclarence) in a duel and the key was passed to Nathan Fitzclarence.  Nathan is the one who nominated Claire and two other women to attend Saganami Island, believing that it would make him look good, however he also didn’t think any of them would graduate.  While Claire is working on a GSN ship as an officer candidate, her steading revokes her permit to work outside the home, presumably irritated by her emerging success.  While the Burdette Steading is still clinging to a more “traditional” past, Michael Mayhew and most of the rest of Grayson are steadily moving forward regarding normalizing the rights of women.  One of Mayhew’s legal councils, the wife of Claire’s commanding officer Commander Greentree, uses Burdette law to free Claire from her obligations to her steading.  Along with that new independence based on her status as a Naval Officer (and therefore a “gentleman”), that same law is used to allow her to gain legal guardianship over her younger brother.

There are a number of beginnings in this story, including the beginning of what can genuinely be called women’s independence within the Grayson society, at a much lower level than within the government itself.  We also see related practical rights and authority appearing for ladies...]]>Beginnings is the sixth (and second to last) book in the Worlds of Honor anthology set.  It contains five short stories, penned by four talented authors:  David Weber, Charles E. Gannon, Timothy Zahn, and Joelle Presby.  Each of these stories brings us to interesting and important beginnings for many events that we’ve become familiar with in the Honorverse but have often gone with little or no explanation.

This collection of writings comes in at 377 pages and was first published by Baen in June 2013.

Charles E. Gannon brings the first story to us:  By the Book.

In this story we join the crew of Earth Union Customs Patrol ship Venerated Gaia commanded by Lieutenant Lee Strong in 250 PD.  Their mission:  board and recover a hijacked ship named Fragrant Blossom, a ship they’ve located and seized near the Sol System asteroid belt.  Once the ship is captured and under their control, a series of non-standard events results in Lieutenant Strong coming into contact with an administrator working for the Outbound Operations Administration, a somewhat quiet and shadowy man named Perlenmann.  Mr. Perlenmann seems to have been effectively benched professionally and is sent to his current post on Jupiter’s moon Callisto, primarily due to what those holding (somewhat authoritarian) political power deemed to be his radical views.  It’s from this position of relative obscurity we learn that Mr. Perlenmann is an influential member of an organization plotting to bring the current political elite and their parties to their knees by causing an economic collapse across the Earth Union and Sol system.  He recruits Lieutenant Strong to deliver the necessary computer program, causing a catastrophic collapse, which results in the related loss of power of the controlling political parties and the disintegration of the Earth Union.  With the passage of time, the collapse is eventually referred to as the Economic Winter of 252 PD.  When the economy recovered as a much freer and open economic system, it spawned powerful growth that enabled the remarkable beginning of the movement of humanity out of the Sol system and into the stars.

Your hosts gave this story two ‘thumbs-up” and one “neutral” vote.

Next we discussed Timothy Zahn’s short story A Call to Arms.  

We move forward in time now, over a thousand years, to 1543 PD.  Following the recovery from the Economic Winter of 252 and the subsequent expansion, we see a Solarian Axelrod Corporation plan unfolding to attack the Manticore System through the use of mercenaries.  At the same time, we join a young Lieutenant Travis Long onboard the HMS Phoenix.  When he writes up a subordinate for substandard performance, he finds himself the one who’s in trouble and he’s transferred to a different ship, the HMS Casey.  It turns out the poor performer is from a politically and militarily powerful family.  What appears to be bad news for Lieutenant Long turns into a blessing as the mercenaries arrive in the Manticoran system.  Now confronting the enemy, his strength as a tactician shines as he’s key in defeating the threat.  The “misstep” while onboard the Phoenix quickly and quietly moves to the background as his new captain nominates him for the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal.  He also learns a powerful lesson from Captain Heissman about being aware of and getting used to the existence of internal politics within the RMN.

Of note, this story is the beginning of more time we’ll spend with Lieutenant Travis Long.  Our introduction to him here sets up seeing a lot more of him in the “Manticore Ascendant” series of novels, by the dynamic writing duo of David Weber and Timothy Zahn.

This one received “thumbs-ups” from each of your hosts, with a bonus “two thumbs up” from Raul.

Beauty and the Beast is the third story in the set, this one written by David Weber.  

Taking place in 1842 PD, we see the beginning of Honor Harrington’s immediate family as we get to enjoy learning about how her parents Alfred and Allison met and fell in love.  This is definitely a significant beginning!

After arriving on Beowulf to begin his medical education, previously a Royal Manticoran Marine Corps NCO, Alfred Harrington received a commission, requested a transfer to the RMN, and is now pursuing a new career as a physician.  Upon arrival, Lieutenant Alfred Harrington fights a few battles of perception as he doesn’t quite fit what many believe is the necessary and appropriately prestigious background for medical students attending the school.  He weathers the attitudes without issue but has what turns out to be a significant encounter with a member of Beowulf’s somewhat secretive Biological Survey Corps, Captain Jacques Benton-Ramirez y Chou.  A day later, Alfred meets another student and his companion, Allison.  Not known to Alfred at the time, Allison is Captain Benton-Ramirez y Chou’s sister.  An initial friendship forms, followed quickly by an emerging relationship.  Unknown to each other, both are strongly attracted to one another in a way that defies their scientific mindset.

In an attempt to pressure Captain Benton-Ramirez y Chou into divulging BSC secrets, Mesan operatives kidnap Allison.  For the Mesans, the unknown factor now in play is Lieutenant Harrington, who has a compulsion to come to the aid of Allison.  A short, tense and violent time later, Alfred has freed Allison—perhaps demonstrating the adage:  once a Marine, always a Marine.  This shared trial firmly forges what both Allison and Alfred realize is an almost unexplainable love between them, and the rest is history.

So many beginnings here:  as mentioned earlier, the beginning of Honor’s immediate family; but also, the earliest manipulations we’ve seen Mesa attempt on a universal scale; and just as significant, the beginning of what may very well be the reason why Nimitz / Laughs Brightly and Honor form a bond.  It’s also apparently an insight into why the very first treecat-human bond was with a Harrington so long ago on Sphynx when Stephanie met Lionheart / Climbs Quickly.

Your hosts scored this one with a “thumbs-up”, a “neutral” and another double “thumbs-up”.

The fourth story, also by David Weber, is entitled Best Laid Plans.

The date is 1871 PD and we join a young (12 year old) Honor Harrington, scheming of ways to enjoy some independence by justifying traveling into a remote area to gather a bouquet of specific flowers to give to her mother as a birthday gift.  As if the previous short story might have been a tactical set-up, we quickly see the events occurring that resulted in Honor and Laughs Brightly meeting.  Laughs Brightly and a younger brother named Sharp Nose are gathering provisions when they see/sense/taste Honor’s mind glow.  Shortly after, the treecats encounter a pair of peak bears which are moving toward an unaware Stephanie.  As the treecats move to try and warn Honor, Sharp Nose steps on a bad branch and is badly injured when he falls to the ground.  That sound attracts the bears, Laughs Brightly moved to defend his brother and is wounded by a bear in the subsequent fight.  The sound of the fight attracts Honor to the scene and she ends up saving the treecats by shooting the bears.  As Laughs Brightly wakes up in Honor’s arms, their eyes meet and their bond is formed.

While Honor and Laughs Brightly’s (Nimitz’s) bond isn’t a first, this bond sets up the beginning of what we can call the treecats’ regular (or perhaps permanent) movement off of Sphynx as Nimitz eventually leaves Sphynx with honor as she begins her Naval career and subsequent life off world.

Three easy “thumbs-up” from your hosts for Best Laid Plans.

The fifth and final story in the anthology is Obligated Service by Joelle Presby.

This final story moves us back into “modern” times relative to the central Honorverse story arc, with events occurring in 1921-1922 PD.

In this interesting story, we see Claire Lecroix, a Grayson woman belonging to the Burdette Steading, shortly after her graduation from the Manticoran Naval Academy at Saganami Island.  Keep in mind two key pieces of history related to these events.  First, Honor was admitted to the Grayson Conclave of Steadholders in 1904 or 1905.  Just a year or two later, she killed the previous Burdette Steadholder (William Fitzclarence) in a duel and the key was passed to Nathan Fitzclarence.  Nathan is the one who nominated Claire and two other women to attend Saganami Island, believing that it would make him look good, however he also didn’t think any of them would graduate.  While Claire is working on a GSN ship as an officer candidate, her steading revokes her permit to work outside the home, presumably irritated by her emerging success.  While the Burdette Steading is still clinging to a more “traditional” past, Michael Mayhew and most of the rest of Grayson are steadily moving forward regarding normalizing the rights of women.  One of Mayhew’s legal councils, the wife of Claire’s commanding officer Commander Greentree, uses Burdette law to free Claire from her obligations to her steading.  Along with that new independence based on her status as a Naval Officer (and therefore a “gentleman”), that same law is used to allow her to gain legal guardianship over her younger brother.

There are a number of beginnings in this story, including the beginning of what can genuinely be called women’s independence within the Grayson society, at a much lower level than within the government itself.  We also see related practical rights and authority appearing for ladies who aren’t Honor Harrington.  Honor was an outsider who found a place within the Grayson government.  She was a commissioned officer with all the respect and authority in place for anyone holding her rank.  That didn’t go away when she became a steadholder.  Claire is a Grayson from the start, and from a much more traditional steading.  She’s one of the first female Grayson officers to serve directly on a GSN vessel, setting up the beginning of the more “tactical” changes to Grayson society at levels far below where we find Honor Harrington.

Obligated Service garnered a “thumbs-up” from two of your hosts, and a “neutral” from the third.

Overall, we rated the anthology Beginnings with a 5, a 4 and a 3.5 (out of 5) for an overall rating of 4.16.

Next time we’ll discuss Treecat Wars, the third of four novels in the Star Kingdom story arc.

Friends, we genuinely appreciate each and every one of you who give us a little of your precious time each month to listen to our thoughts.  More importantly, we appreciate you as fellow travelers through the Honorverse!  Please keep the likes and comments coming, and if you’re enjoying the podcast, be sure to tell a friend or two.

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

Even though we’ve reviewed and discussed three other books since “Mission of Honor”, when we picked this one up, it was as if we had just finished “Mission” the day prior.  It took no effort to fall right back into the events that we left off with in the previous main sequence novel.  As a reminder for those who may be new to this journey, we’re reading all the Honorverse writings in their order of publication, knowing that the books and stories that are outside of the main sequence are truly not just side stories.  In fact, they constitute a significant building out of the main storyline and should be read as such.  If the Honorverse was a river, these other writings represent the places where the river widens.  They are not separate but related stories.

As we jump into “A Rising Thunder”, the war between Haven and Manticore is truly over and we see these two former enemies form a significant military alliance in order to face a new and shared threat together.  More accurately we should we say threats since the wolf closest to the sled appears to be the Solarian League, but the very real and greater danger is the Mesan Alignment.  In this story, Honor and the alliance do what they can to minimize or eliminate their vulnerability to another strike by the Alignment while specifically addressing the Solarians as the League violently maneuvers to take advantage of what they believe to have been a be significant and terminal blow to the military and economic health of Manticore and Haven.  Both nations are truly damaged.  It takes reading this novel to find out just how significant that damage is, and just how effectively they’re able to counter the Solarian threat.  To bring us back to the beginning of this summary and to leave you with a taste of the unknown, don’t forget we’re just one novel away from completing the main sequence.  We’ll leave it to you to read along with us to find out just how David Weber might be wrapping this part of the story up.

All three of your hosts rated “A Rising Thunder” with a 5 (out of 5), resulting in an overall rating of another perfect 5.

We continue to appreciate the support everyone who takes the time to join us in this voyage through the Honorverse—new listeners as well as the folks who have been with us early on.  Special thanks for those of you who like and/or comment on our posts, and even reach out and send us a note.  We truly can’t say how much the feedback means to us.

Next time we’re going to discuss the sixth anthology in the Worlds of Honor collection, entitled “Beginnings”.  It contains five short stories authored by David Weber and three others.  No doubt this collection is going to be a good read and time well spent.

As always, please grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again next time!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

While this is another “treecat novel” and the treecats are featured characters, the story really focuses on Stephanie, her schoolmates, her parents, and several other adults central to her life, and a team of scientists who arrive on Sphinx with a more official charter to study the treecats.  We learn a lot more about Stephanie and the changes she’s going through as she’s maturing from a child into a young adult.  Given she’s growing up on a frontier world, it’s exciting to see just how much she and some of her friends are trusted with and expected to do as they become contributors to the society around them.  Or perhaps “societies” would be more accurate since the events of the novel certainly include the treecats.  The combination of the impact of fire season along with the visiting scientists leads to an action-packed, dramatic story that adds some beautiful depth to several characters, as well as richness, history and complexity to the Honorverse.

One thing we reinforce in the podcast is that while this series is written for young adults, there are no punches pulled in terms of the story.  If you tend to shy away from “YA” novels, do yourself a favor and be sure to read all of them in the Star Kingdom series.  As you know from our second interview with David Weber, he doesn’t avoid complex, heavy or dark issues that need to be a part of the broader story just because some of his books are written for our young adult Honorverse family members.  These novels were written for the rest of the more “seasoned” adults out there, too.  We’re confident you won’t be disappointed.

We rated Fire Season with a 5, a 4.5 and a 5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of 4.83 from your hosts.

As always, thank you for listening and big thanks to those of you who also take the time to like and follow us on social media, to comment on our posts even reach out through a longer note.

Next time on the Honorverse Today podcast, we’re back into the main storyline, jumping into the novel A Rising Thunder.  As always, be sure to grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us!

And yes, the blooper reel this time is from a previous show. We'll let you figure out which one!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

The first third (or so) of the novel reprises the original 1998 short story.  For those who read “More Than Honor”, this is a quick and very good refresh of the events of Stephanie Harrington and Climbs Quickly’s first meeting, and their subsequent “adoption” of each other—the first human-treecat pairing.  For those who didn’t read the anthology, including the story here is an act of kindness on David Weber’s part, ensuring all readers have the necessary backstory to understand what happens after the news of the discovery of another sentient species spreads throughout the Star Kingdom of Manticore.  We watch Stephanie and Scott MacDallan (the only other human a treecat has adopted at the time) struggle with how to deal with local attitudes, questions, and curiosities.  I think it’s safe to say that Stephanie and Scott’s protectiveness not only comes from both being genuinely caring people, but also the influenced of their new relationships with their treecats.  This isn’t the caring or bond that a loving pet owner has with an animal.  What we see, and along with the characters don’t fully understand, is this relationship between the human people and the treecat people is unique and deep. As a result, they struggle to manage just how much they share about what they know about treecats with the significant influx of scientists visiting Sphynx.  Others come too, some with bad intent—and so the story unfolds.  As with the original short story, we get to see both sides of the human-treecat relationship as both societies / cultures struggle with how to move the relationship forward.  This dynamic would be interesting in general since we’re talking about two sentient species, but it’s made more complicated by the fact that two pairings have occurred.  Like the other story arcs captured within various series, the Star Kingdom storyline informs us about human-treecat relationship and how it sits as a unique and central part of the Honorverse.

 We rated A Beautiful Friendship with a 5, a 4 and a 5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of a 4.7.

As always, thank you for listening and big thanks to those of you who also take the time to like and follow us on social media, to comment on our posts, or to even reach out through a longer note.

Next time on the Honorverse Today podcast, we’re moving straight into the second book in the Star Kingdom series:  Fire Season.  As always, be sure to grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again next time!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

This 311-page collection was first published by Baen in February 2011.

The first story is Ruthless by Jane Lindskold.

Jane brings us back to the story of Judith, a Masadan refugee rescued by Michael Winton when he was a midshipman.  We promised you’d see more of Judith in the future, and here the promise is delivered.  Time has passed, Michael is now a young commissioned officer in the RMN, he and Judith are married and have a young daughter named Ruth.  There’s a plot afoot by George and Alice Ramsbottom, staunch Manticoran isolationists who object to the alliance Manticore formed with Grayson.  In an attempt to disrupt this new alliance, they kidnap Ruth with the intent to return her to her Masadan father.  They hope that Grayson will question their decision to enter an alliance with Manticore based on an assumption that if Manticore can’t even protect one child, they’re not a Star Kingdom worth allying with for broader and more significant defense issues.  As a bonus, if Michael will act rashly, this may also embarrass the Star Kingdom’s reputation broadly.  The events in this story take place in 1889 PD, two to three years after the events captured in Jane Lindskold’s short story “Promised Land”.

Your hosts all gave this one a “thumbs-up”.

Next we discussed Timothy Zahn’s short story An Act of War.  

This story takes place around the time as Honor escapes from Hades (approximately 1914 PD).  We saw those events in the novel “Ashes of Victory”.  When Honor’s escape becomes known, this story gives us a glimpse into an arms dealer named Charles who at the same time was trying to sell cloaking technology to Haven.  Events unfold when Oscar St. Just is convinced to install this equipment on a ship and for that ship to be used in an unorthodox manner to hopefully fuel a war between Manticore and the Andermani Empire.  This would be a good thing from the Havenite perspective.  Risky deeds are attempted and things get pretty tense, pretty fast!

This one received three “thumbs-up” from your hosts as well!

The third story is Let’s Dance, written by David Weber.  

As mentioned, this is more of a novella than a short story.  It takes us back to Commander Honor Harrington’s first hyper-capable command as she captains the destroyer HMS Hawking (sometime prior to 1900 PD).  We see events related to the Manticoran efforts to normalize relationships with Silesia, which have been somewhat tense.  She’s conducting anti-piracy operations in Silesian territory, intervenes and captures a vessel conducting piracy and in a good-faith gesture, turns the ship and crew over to the local Silesian system governor.  

A short time later she learns two unsavory things.  First, the ship and crew she handed to the Silesians has mysteriously disappeared.  Honor has no doubt they were released rather than prosecuted.  Second, she learns about a significant Mesan (Manpower, Inc.) slave-trading station through an interesting and unproven source.  That source quickly builds credibility by revealing a knowledge of Honor’s Beowulfian family and a shared hatred of the slave trade.  He quietly discloses he's also a member of the Audubon Ballroom, an entity formally designated as a terrorist organization.  Honor doesn’t reveal her source, but brings the information of the possible slave trade operation to the Silesian government.  She offers to lend her assistance by stopping by the suspected location on her way out of the system.  When that offer is all but dismissed, Honor takes the opportunity to ally with the Ballroom and visit the location anyway.  The outcome is violent.  This results in her RMN superiors learning of her decision to ally with a terrorist organization to conduct anti-slavery operations in a location that violated her orders and the Silesian government’s desires.  The story ends when we see just how the RMN leadership deals with her decision.

It was easy for us to give three more “thumbs-up” for this story!

The final “story” is a technical essay, written by the fictional character Captain Hegel DiLotorio (David Weber) and published in 1906 PD:  An Introduction to Modern Starship Armor Design.

It provides a level of detail related to deep space warfare (we’d know it as “blue water” naval warfare on Earth) from the mid 1200s PD until the time the essay was published.  This gives us a historical context to place the technology discussion within.  The essay is fascinating even though every reader has probably already gleaned much of what’s covered simply by reading the Honorverse books.  The essay focuses on the Star Knight-class heavy cruiser, confirms some of what we all have already gleaned, provides info that supplants incorrect assumptions we may have, and finally, provides a lot of interesting details as to how naval combat and the ships that fight are actually built.  The focus is on armor, although to understand that requires some awesome explanations of the weapons the armor is designed to defend against.  Even though it’s not a story, don’t skip this incredible technical explanation.  Treat this essay as a companion to an earlier technical digest we saw in the “More Than Honor” called The Universe of Honor Harrington.

Three more “thumbs-up” from your hosts to wrap up the final story in this anthology.

Overall, we rated “The Service of the Sword” with three 5s (out of 5) for an overall rating of 5.

Next time we’ll discuss “A Beautiful Friendship”, the first novel in the Star Kingdom story arc.  If the title sounds familiar, it is.  The first part of this novel was told in a previous short story we discussed a while back.  That story appears again here as the beginning part of the novel, followed by a bunch of new and exciting events.  If you haven’t read the novel already (or the short story), you have a little extra time to catch up.

As always, please keep those likes and comments coming.  If you’re enjoying this podcast, be sure to tell a friend.  Remember, two of your hosts are new readers, so new readers are just as welcome as those of you who are recent or long-time fans.

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

We covered somewhere between 15 and 20 questions, including quite a few listener questions.  Even so, it shouldn’t surprise any of you that we still have a list of questions we couldn’t get to this time.  If you’ve sent us questions that weren’t addressed in either interview, don’t give up hope.  We didn’t get all of our questions, either.  We’ll continue to gather them up with the hope and anticipation that Mr. Weber might give us time for another opportunity to sit and chat with him as we get further along in the Honorverse storyline.

Three important notes:

First, there are some “spoilers” contained in the interview if you have not read through Mission of Honor, and some teasers of things to come (David loves dropping little teasers!).  With two of your three hosts making their first pass through the Honorverse, we feel confident that there’s nothing here that’ll ruin the experience for any of you who are in the same boat.  However, if you’re particularly sensitive to hearing any spoilers, you’ve been gently warned.

Second, we had the chance to hear more about David himself, specifically how his perspectives as a historian influenced (and continue to influence) his writing.  We trust that each of you will find this interesting, and perhaps a little surprising in the best of ways.  David shared some of his thoughts with us, at times in depth, tied to long-standing questions and curiosities we’ve had about the Honorverse.  Specifically, we discussed how these novels and short stories seem to have very real relevance to today’s world.  Sometimes this was not surprising, while at other times it was quite unintended.  You’ll also hear some interesting and related political viewpoints. 

Get ready to be surprised.  Parallels some of us may have drawn to the relationship between the politics and political parties in the Honorverse, and how they track with modern (and domestic, for our U.S. listeners) political parties, may or may not survive contact with David’s thoughts and explanations.  Right when you suspect you have him figured out, he shares another perspective that may shatter your assumptions.  Some of this culminates with a renewed discussion about his relationship with his co-author Eric Flint, who we have mentioned several times on earlier episodes, including in David’s first interview with us.

Third, you’re going to get to hear a little bit about the new novel Toll of Honor.  We interviewed David just before publication, so don’t be surprised if you hear a discussion that suggests we’re talking about a book that hasn’t been published yet.  By now it will be out and available for all of us to enjoy.  For those who haven’t picked up a copy and read it, don’t worry, there aren’t any real Toll of Honor spoilers in the interview.

Mr. Weber, we owe you Honorverse-sized thanks once again for the truly generous amount of time you gave us, your fans, to sit and chat about the Honorverse!

On the next episode we’ll discuss the anthology In Fire Forged, as previously promised.  We’re confident getting to hear from David himself was more than a reasonable excuse to delay our discussion of the next book.

As always, genuine thanks to each of you for listening, and especially folks who have found the time to send us comments.  If you haven’t already done so, consider spreading the word to others who you know are Honor Harrington fans, or to those who might enjoy the Honorverse!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

Events continue to spiral in a manner quickly approaching out of control and absolutely not to the benefit of the Star Empire of Manticore.  The Solarian League has essentially declared war on Manticore through a direct attack on RMN assets.  Then they spun the events to convince themselves that they were the victims rather than the perpetrators.  Now they confront Admiral Henke’s fleet and demand Henke surrender herself into their custody.

However, all hope isn’t lost.  Henke’s 10th Fleet soundly defeats the challenging Solarian force.  Meanwhile Honor is on a diplomatic mission — a Mission of Honor — to establish terms of peace with Haven.  During this series of diplomatic meetings, Operation Oyster Bay executes, with the attacker’s identity remaining unknown.  The attack causes the near total loss of orbital industrial facilities in the Manticoran home system.  As a result, debris falls onto the planets below causing extensive damage and loss of life.

Back on Haven, Honor is meeting directly with President Pritchart and key cabinet members.  While talks begin in a cool but correct manner, Honor and Pritchart’s relationship warms and respect grows between them as time passes.  Between the two of them, they put several new pieces of the puzzle together which builds Manticore and Haven’s understanding of the Mesan Alignment’s secretive actions and intentions.  Unfortunately, diplomatic talks are suspended due to Oyster Bay and Honor is recalled to Manticore.  Even so, the diplomatic negotiations aren’t over, as we see by the end of the book.

This entire novel was non-stop excitement!

We rated “Mission of Honor” with a 5, a 5 and another 5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of another perfect 5 from your hosts.

We always say it (because it’s true!) we truly appreciate the support of everyone who takes the time to wander through the Honorverse with us.  Special thanks for those of you who like and/or comment on our posts, and even reach out and send us a note.

Next up:  a surprise prize!  While we told you in the episode we’re discussing the anthology In Fire Forged next, circumstances let us sit down once again with David Weber for a second interview.  Get ready to learn a lot more about this amazing world we’re moving through, featuring quite a few questions provided by you, our friends and listeners taking this journey with us.

Don’t worry though, we’ll pick up and discuss the fifth anthology in the Worlds of Honor set entitled In Fire Forged after the interview.  If you enjoyed Mission of Honor, catch your breath and get ready for a lot more action! As always, please grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again next time!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

This is another in what we’ll call the “stacked” novels, in that we are still looking at events that occurred around 1921 PD.  It’s actually the last one we’ll see as David completes his build-out of this significant turning point in the overarching Honorverse storyline.  The layers of events we see added here now span from 1919 through 1922 PD, but they address events we’re familiar with, now from the perspective of the still-new star kingdom of Torch and the associated Mayan sector.  A healthy amount of the story leans on the activities of Anton Zilwicki and Victor Cachat as they continue to investigate mysterious murder attempts on multiple people including Honor Harrington, Queen Barry and others.  It’s not exclusively Anton and Victor’s story, but quite a bit of what happens in the novel revolves around this investigative work they’re involved in.  We also have a heavy dose of the activities of the Mesan Alignment, and fuller attention is paid to the Detweilers.  We may have learned more about the Alignment in this novel than in any other so far.  Related, there are quite a few moral issues that come to the surface, or certainly come near the surface, that were previously only foreshadowed.  Most of them are directly associated with the connection between the Alignment and the genetic slave trade, but it’s not all about that.  We definitely get a lot more of the lives and intentions of Berry, Ruth, the broader leadership of Torch and how they’re doing in finding their place in the greater universe that we call the Honorverse.

Note this book is a bit of a slower read in that there’s so much going on.  You’ll see less combat action and a lot more of the weaving together of multiple storylines as this book (along with the several that preceded it) are turning us in a new direction related to the overarching storyline.

We rated “Torch of Freedom” with a 3, a 3 and a 4 (out of 5), for an overall rating of a 3.33.

As always, thank you for listening and big thanks to those of you who also take the time to like and follow us on social media, to comment on our posts or even reach out through a longer note.

Next time on the Honorverse Today podcast, we’re diving back into the “main sequence” to discuss “Mission of Honor”, the twelfth book in that set.  Get ready!  We’re back with Admiral Honor Alexander-Harrington as she finds herself serving as a diplomat as Queen’s Elizabeth’s direct representative and plenipotentiary during significant face-to-face negotiations with the President Pritchart and other senior government officials of Haven.  You’re not going to want to miss reading and discussing this one.  Grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again next time!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

Similar to the previous novel, this is another of several that cover certain key events in the 1921 PD timeframe, but from a different perspective.  This time a lot of what we see is through Admiral Michele Henke’s eyes. 

We made this point in the podcast and want to re-enforce it here:  this isn’t just a repeat of what we the readers already know.  Yes, certain key events are covered again, but we’re seeing those events differently as David Weber uses this technique to bring more richness or fullness to the story. 

And that’s not all this book brings us; there’s new material too, so don’t skip this one as David takes us down an important parallel path within the story.  Please consider it essential reading in the context of the greater story arc. 

 Perhaps most important, as anticipated we get to learn more about the emerging threat of Mesa, or more specifically of a body—a very quiet, or in some cases secret governing body—called the Mesan Alignment.  This is the third political entity we talked about in the previous episode.  The Alignment isn’t just a disruption to business as usual.  Rather, we’re learning just how powerful and manipulative they are as they’ve secretly and effectively orchestrated various events and outright hostility between Manticore and Haven.  It also appears that this manipulation isn’t the whole story, so strap in and hang on to your hats as we start to see just how an already ugly situation might get even uglier.  Much uglier.

We rated “Storm from the Shadows” with a 5, a 5 and another 5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of a 5 from your hosts.

Friends, we always appreciate your encouragement as we make this adventure through the Honorverse together. 

Once again, thank you for listening and big thanks to those of you who also take the time to like and follow us on social media, to comment on our posts even reach out through a longer note.

 Next, we’re going to return to the Crown of Slaves series as we dive into the second book:  “Torch of Freedom”, bringing our attention back to the planet of Torch and all the galactic maneuvering around this new star nation.  As a reminder, this is the series that David Weber brought in co-author Eric Flint. 

Grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again next time!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

The timeframe of this novel has us overlapping some of the events we saw in “The Shadow of Saganami.” Again, this is in no way a rehash of events. What David Weber is doing here (and in the next novel we’ll read) is to provide an incredible amount of fullness to a massive part of the Honorverse storyline. With so many threads of storyline happening on such a large scale, this was really the only way David could effectively fill in the incredible amount of story needed to give us the full picture of just how complex the events actually are. While there are things you’ll recognize, you’re not going to get bored. So, fasten your seatbelts and get ready for the ride.

The title says it all. We are witnessing the climax of the Manticoran – Havenite War. With a momentary pause in the fighting and a brief moment where peace talks might have happened, due to a series of truly unfortunate circumstances, both sides resume combat operations with a ferocity that represents conducting warfare in a manner that victory will come to one side or the other at all costs.

We see confirmed in this book the previous appearance of a possible third party involved in the war — a party that isn’t Manticore or Haven, or one of their allies. We definitely have some idea who it is, but what we know appears to only scratch the surface. This other actor on the universal stage has its own selfish interests and agenda. It wants to see Manticore and Haven continue to attrit each other’s militaries and economies down to a level that leaves them ineffective to deal with anything else. That party would then presumably be able to operate relatively freely and maybe openly, unopposed by either of these primary star nations.

When they sabotage the intended peace talks, war resumes, and with incredible scale and violence. We watch what is described as the largest naval battle in history. When the story ends, we see both Haven and Manticore having lost the preponderance of their navies, with Manticore only effectively retaining 8th Fleet under the command of Honor Harrington. The stage is set at the end of the novel for this semi-mysterious third party to become more fully known and begin to take advantage of the new “international” political and military landscape.

We rated “At All Costs” with a 5, a 5 and another 5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of a perfect 5 from your hosts.

As always, we truly appreciate the support of everyone who takes the time to wander through the Honorverse with us. Special thanks for those of you who like and/or comment on our posts, and even reach out and send us a note.

Next, we’re going to return to the Saganami Island series to read and discuss book two: “Storm from the Shadows”. It’s going to continue this wild ride we’re on, so grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again next time!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

Events in this novel overlap with and complement, to some extent, events we read about in “Service of the Sword”, “War of Honor” and “Crown of Slaves”. Don’t worry though, there is zero redundancy. What David Weber is doing is giving us more depth and breadth than what we already had. Your hosts all felt this could have been two novels on some level. That said, breaking it into two would have damaged what Mr. Weber does for us by keeping the multiple storylines within a single book. For that, we’re thankful for this lengthy and satisfying book!

With the resumption of hostilities between the Star Kingdom and Haven, the story shifts to the relatively new Lynx Terminus of the Manticoran Wormhole Junction. This junction is located in the economically poor Talbott Cluster. Manticore has offered the benefits of annexation to the systems in the Talbott Cluster, which would benefit all parties involved. It would not necessarily benefit other players on the Honorverse stage. It certainly causes issues and concerns for Mesa, and perhaps, to others. This novel captures the story of the resultant honorable (and less than honorable) maneuvering within the Cluster.

We’ve used the “DIME'' construct to analyze the story as it’s unfolded in the previous novels. That continues here, but now we see a very clear shift from a focus on the military instrument of power (the “M”) to a much heavier emphasis on diplomacy and economics (the “D” and “E”). For those of you who have been on this adventure for a while, you’ll remember we’ve anticipated this happening.

The book is aptly named. We experience a part of the fatal battle Edward Saganami is known for, and we see why he’s regarded as highly as he is within the Royal Manticoran Navy. We get to hear Honor’s words to a graduating class at the Academy at Saganami Island, and then we roll into political intrigue, diplomatic (and less than diplomatic) posturing and maneuvering, piracy, terrorism, and even a large and very significant naval battle. The naval operations and ultimately combat requires the RMN officers, women and men assigned to the ships involved to make comparably difficult decisions to those made by Edward Saganami. They’re inspired by what they know of him, strive to honor his legacy, and ultimately live in the shadow of this great man. It seems this book has something for everyone!

We rated “The Shadow of Saganami” with a 5, a 5 and another 5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of a perfect 5 from your hosts.

As always, we truly appreciate the support of everyone who takes the time to wander through the Honorverse with us. Special thanks for those of you who like and/or comment on our posts, and even reach out and send us a note.

Next, we’re going to return to the “main story line” with our discussion of “At All Costs”. Grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again next time!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

If you like placing each story into a chronological timeline, the events in Crown of Slaves happen while the High Ridge government is still in power, just before the main events captured in the novel War of Honor.  While there isn’t a lot of emphasis placed on High Ridge and others in the cabinet, Queen Elizabeth and some of the actions revolving around her play a little more of a prominent (but a relatively minor) role.  Crown of Slaves was first published by Baen Books in August 2003.  This is the series we have previously mentioned was written by the dynamic duo of David Weber and Eric Flint.

As we saw mentioned in earlier parts of the story, the Star Kingdom’s ally Erewhon has been grieved by the actions and attitudes of High Ridge and the cabinet.  Perhaps outside of Grayson, Erewhon may be the most neglected and offended of all of Manticore’s primary allies.  In an effort to quietly address the problem, and perhaps prevent the loss of a key ally, Queen Elizabeth sends a delegation led by Captain Zilwicki, along with his daughter Berry, and her niece, Princess Judith Winton, to Erewhon.  You’re going to see a small cast of other familiar characters as well.  Within this atmosphere of tension, and significantly amplified by competing agendas outside of the Queen’s control, nothing goes smoothly.

As suggested by the title of the series, and especially this novel, the focus of the events that unfold relate directly to Mesa and Manpower, Inc., and broadly to the ugly issue of slavery.  It shouldn’t be a surprise, but the theme is certainly heavy, and the events and language are not “kid friendly”.

We rated Crown of Slaves with a 3, a 4 and another 4 (out of 5), for an overall rating of 3.7 from your hosts.

We absolutely appreciate the support of everyone who takes the time to listen to our thoughts as we wander through the Honorverse.  Thank you!  And as always, thanks for those of you who like and/or comment on our posts.  Whether you agree with our thoughts, or hold differing viewpoints, your comments are genuinely appreciated and warmly received.   We truly enjoy hearing your thoughts on the Honorverse and the show.

Next up:  we’re making a visit to another related storyline as we jump into the first novel in the Saganami Island series:  The Shadow of Saganami.   Grab your copy and join us again next time!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

The first story in this anthology is Promised Land by Jane Lindskold, an author we’re already familiar with.  This key story within the Honorverse introduces us to the Grayson character trapped on Masada named Judith.  Along with several other ladies, she’s a part of a separatist group seeking to escape their oppressive culture.  As they execute their plan they come into contact with Michael Winton, Crown Prince and Midshipman, on his “Snotty” cruise onboard the HMS Intransigent.  The ship is on an official visit to Masada and takes place back when Manticore was weighing the pros and cons to an alliance with either Grayson or Masada.  The events in this story helped inform Manticore’s decision, especially as Michael, and the crew he’s a member of, ultimately come to the aid of Judith and her friends.  The story’s important because we’ll see more of Judith in the future.

Your hosts all gave this one a “thumbs-up”.

Next came the story With One Stone by Timothy Zahn.  We join our favorite heroine Honor Harrington, now a captain in the RMN, and the captain of the Heavy Cruiser HMS Fearless very shortly after the events in On Basilisk Station.  The story returns us to her work to address the problem of apparent piracy as ships are being attached in Silesian space.  Another old “friend,” Sonja Hemphill is also involved in the effort since it seems some sort of advanced weapon is being used in these attacks.  Due to apparent similarities to Hemphill’s past project called a “grav lance,” she and the Office of Naval Intelligence are also involved.  We watch events unfold that ultimately expose the real power behind the attacks with this new weapon:  the People’s Republic of Haven.  We also get to see a young Rafe Cardones continue his early growth as a Naval officer as he’s detailed away from Honor’s crew and onto another vessel conducting intelligence operations related to the same problem.

This one received three more “thumbs-up” from your hosts!

The third story is A Ship Named Francis, written by John Ringo and Victor Mitchell.  Our authors took a very different approach to the Honorverse in that it was essentially an outlandish story that brought a bit of comic relief to what has really been what we’ll call serious story telling so far.  In this short story, we follow the adventures of a medic (Sick Bay Attendant) Sean Tyler and see the adventures onboard the Grayson Space Navy’s Heavy Cruiser, Francis Mueller.  Nothing is quite right about this crew.  Antics and follies occur as we’re introduced to a whole host of unbelievable and larger than life characters who do their best to do everything badly.  You may or may not be amused, but regardless you’ll go on an adventure with this story!

Your hosts represented all the possible votes on this one, with a thumbs up, a neutral vote and a thumbs down.  (Be sure to let us know what you think after you read it.)

The next story was Let’s Go to Prague, by John Ringo.   This one is a solo effort by Mr. Ringo, who co-authored the previous story.  While this one has comedic moments and whit, with some similarities in the writing style and “feel”, this is truly its own story and not just more zany adventures in the spirit of the last one.  Here we join two Manticoran intelligence officers — Mullins and Gonzalves — who decide to remain under cover and visit the plant Prague (a part of Haven’s domain) for vacation.  Why?  We learn as we watch their planning unfold, Prague has the best beer!  (So why not?)  The story is corny on the surface, but there’s actually a more serious story unfolding as well.  Our main characters encounter a woman named Rachel who turns out to be a former lover of Mullins, and who is an agent under the control of Manticore’s Office of Naval Intelligence.  She, with the assistance of Mullins and Gonzalves, works to bring in a defecting Peep admiral named Mládek.  All of this unfolds right as Honor Harrington resurfaces after her escape from Hades.

Three more “thumbs-up” for this story.

The fifth story, written by the amazing Eric Flint, is called Fanatic.  It’s essentially a direct sequel to the previous short story From the Highlands (found in the previous anthology we discussed entitled “Changer of Worlds”).

The events in this one take place just before and right through when Oscar Saint-Just is killed.  The main character is Victor Cachat, but we see a strong accompanying cast of characters like Kevin and Virginia Usher.  We thought Victor was a bad person before, but now he seems to be truly evil in this story that focuses on his work in the La Martine Sector as a Special Investigator working directly for Saint Just.  He’s investigating the assassination of the local People’s Commissioner and dealing with what may be the consequences there of the failed coup attempt by McQueen on Haven.  Perhaps it’s housekeeping, reinforcing standards, or an attempt to reassert control where there’s fear it might slip away.  Regardless, Cachat is brutal, not having to follow the normal rules imposed on law enforcement and others.

Of note:  Eric Flint is the creator of the character Victor Cachat.  Your hosts are fans of Eric and appreciate the real depth of the character he created in Victor.  He’s absolutely a believable and terrifying bad guy.

Your hosts gave this story three “thumbs-up”.

The sixth and final story is the “title track” from this anthology:  The Service of the Sword, written by the creator of the Honorverse, Mr. David Weber.

As with the first story in this anthology, we’re joining another Academy “middy” on a “Snotty cruise.”  This time we’re riding along with Midshipwoman Abigail Hearns on the HMS Gauntlet, under the command of Captain Michael Oversteegen.  We watch as Abigail wrestles with her own cultural, mental and emotional baggage, primarily anchored to two pieces of critical information:  she’s the first Grayson-born female officer in the Grayson Space Navy, and she’s considered Honor Harrington’s protégé.  Regardless of how much truth is contained in those perceptions (hers and the crew’s), we watch a quietly tense but routine cruise quickly get ugly when Gauntlet and her crew find themselves in extremis as they discover Manpower, Inc. is using the system they’re visiting as a staging area for illegal activities.  Abigail, in command of a detail off the ship when things get violent, is told to take cover on the nearby planet Refuge.  When her party is discovered and ends up in direct contact with the enemy.  Her actions and decisions in this situation of unanticipated combat command let us, in fact, see shades of a young Honor Harrington!  Abigail, like so many other characters introduced or featured in the anthologies, will no doubt appear again in other parts of the Honorverse.

Your hosts gave this final story three hearty “thumbs-up” as well.

Overall, we rated the “The Service of the Sword” with a 5, a 4 and another 4, for an overall rating of 4.33.

Next up:  we’re diving into the first of four novels in the Honorverse associated series Crown of Slaves, called “Crown of Slaves”.   This is our first step into one of the “sidequels”, related series, spin-offs, or whatever you’d prefer to call these sets of books.  Please keep in mind, none of these related sets of novels should be considered anything less than canon.  They’re critical to the storyline and therefore are a part of the larger main series of novels.

Also, for those just joining us, we’re reading the books in the Honorverse in order of publication based on our understanding that these stories were written and published this way on purpose.  (Confirmed by the author himself!)

As always, please keep those likes and comments coming.  If you’re enjoying this podcast, be sure to tell a friend.  Remember, two of your hosts are new readers, so new readers are just as welcome as those of you who are recent or long-time fans.

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

For those who read this in the past, you may remember what the rest of us new readers discovered: we thought the previous novel was lengthy at 672 pages; this one buries that one and comes in at a substantial 869 pages! For story continuity, the events in this novel occur approximately three years after the events captured in the short story “From the Highlands'' (in the Changer of Worlds anthology). War of Honor was first published by Baen Books in October 2002.

With the war between Manticore and Haven in a pause, as both sides agreed to an armistice, affairs have been dragging along with no formal peace apparent. Both sides have their own agendas driving the desire for a permanent peace. Even so, the current Manticoran government (the Queen’s government, but not the Queen herself) quietly prefers to keep the nation in a technical state of war. This allows them to maintain the wartime taxes they’re currently gathering. At the same time, they don’t believe that delay will compromise peace, which they truly want to endure even though they’re (selfishly) refusing to negotiate with Haven formally and fully. They are inappropriately using the wartime tax revenues to fuel non-wartime domestic and essentially “partisan” social programs.

Meanwhile, the government of Haven (no longer the People’s Republic of Haven, having restored their original Constitution and the associated form of government) is growing increasingly frustrated with Manticore’s unwillingness to enter serious discussions about a formal peace. At the center of their desires rests the return of parts of Haven lost to Manticore in the war. More accurately, to allow those parts of their star nation to decide for themselves if they’d like to remain with Manticore, or to return to Haven as members of the restored old Constitutional government, or even have complete independence. The delay, fueled primarily by Manticore, causes concern (both real and contrived) that Manticore actually intends to continue the war. Within the government of Haven, there are those who quietly, if not secretly, desire to finish the war through a return to hostility so as to regain their lost territory and deliver a crippling and permanent blow to Manticore. There are also those who strongly support the idea of peace through strength. These agendas manifest through a secret program which is rebuilding the Navy.

We also see the impact of political changes on both sides, primarily on the Manticoran side with regards to allies—for better or worse. While several allies are a part of the story, the focus is on Grayson and their strained relationship with the Manticoran government.

In the end, hostilities resume and the pieces on the chessboard shift yet again within each star nation, and with several allies…

We rated War of Honor with a 5 and two 4s (out of 5), for an overall rating of 4.13.

As always, thanks for those of you who have liked and/or commented on our episodes so far. Your comments are genuinely appreciated and warmly received. Please keep those likes and comments coming! We truly enjoy hearing your thoughts on the Honorverse and the show.

Next up: we’re on to the fourth in the Worlds of Honor anthology set, entitled The Service of the Sword. This one’s a cool package of six short stories and six authors, including Mr. David Weber himself, along with a few familiar favorites like Jane Lindskold and Eric Flint. Grab your copy and join us again next time!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

Time is flying as we work our way through the Honorverse! Here we are on the third anthology in the Worlds of Honor set: Changer of Worlds. It was first published in January 2001, comes in at 469 pages and contains four short stories.

As with the previous anthology, the title is apt, given these stories capture key people and events at various times that truly changed the worlds we’ve grown to know and love in the Honorverse. Three of these stories were penned by David Weber and one by Eric Flint. This is significant for several reasons. Eric’s story is our first taste of what’s to come down the road. He also collaborated with David on the Crown of Slaves story arc. It’s a real treat to read what Eric wrote for us here. It definitely has us looking forward to his other contributions. (There’s more to the story behind David and Eric’s friendship. We’ll discuss this more in a future episode.)

An important note: this anthology is extremely important, if not essential, to the second half of the Honor Harrington saga, and particularly important to a full understanding of the upcoming novel War of Honor.

The anthology kicks off, and not in a slow way, with Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington, penned by David Weber himself. In this story, we join Midshipwoman Harrington as she and some of her classmates embark on what is traditionally called their “Snotty” cruise aboard the HMS War Maiden, commanded by CAPT Thomas Bachfisch. These cruises are when the Middies get to see the Navy they’ve been training for so long to serve in as commissioned officers, and for the Navy to see them and put these youngsters through a few trials of their own. Now they’re in the fleet, and not the classroom to learn.

As readers we see what goes into the formation of officer Honor Harrington about as early as possible. Along the way we see a somewhat familiar set of personalities and predispositions in those around her: toward her (and her youthful looks and her early ability to command); her reputation (through CAPT Bachfisch and an officer onboard who is friends with Pavel Young), and her treecat (with many biases and misperceptions still in place about these “pets” not often seen among the fleet), to name a few. We also get to see CAPT Bachfisch directly influence and shape what will become a part of Honor’s command philosophy as she deals with issues and problems—some small and some significant. In this one short story we see snapshots and examples of officership and leadership, command (and how it’s not formulaic or one-dimensional), and to some extent the role and place of midshipmen in the Navy.

Three “thumbs-up” from your hosts.

The second story also was written by David Weber: Changer of Worlds. This was an interesting tangent in that we get a relatively significant glimpse into the inner workings of treecat polity and inter clan relations. The events in the story take place when Samantha and Nimitz visit the Brightwater Clan. The main point of the story, at least on the surface, is to show us what appears to be the initial proposal and discussion that occurs about possibly ending the treecats’ “Great Deception” and showing the humans their true intelligence. This also involves a related discussion about establishing the first-ever treecat colony in the Harrington Steading on Grayson.

The pressing and unaddressed question related to this: what happens if/when treecats begin pairing with those who aren’t aligned with humans in the Star Kingdom? If they’re willing to consider colonies, then they must know there will eventually be contact outside of the Harrington Steading and more broadly, the Star Kingdom. The treecats know humans go to war with each other, and that some are deemed to be bad/immoral, not only by other humans, but also by treecats. We’re left to wonder how this might play out…for now.

Three more “thumbs-up” from your hosts!

The third story is From the Highlands and was written by Eric Flint. In it we see events that appear to unfold at the same time as the government on Manticore is still in flux due to the death of Prime Minister Alan Summervale. As you’ll recall, the “domestic” consequence of his death resulted in the formation of a coalition government that opposes Queen Elizabeth, and bringing what some might perceive as an abruptly reckless “end” to the war with Haven.

On its face the story is about Helen Zilwicki, daughter of RMN CAPT Anton Zilwicki and CAPT Helen Zilwicki. We were briefly introduced to these three in the novel “The Short Victorious War” when CAPT Helen Zilwicki gave her life defending a Manticoran convoy to save the lives of thousands of RMN uniformed and civilian technician and their families, including her husband and daughter. In this story, young Helen (the daughter) is abducted by a faction known as the Skrags, with the help of Manpower, Inc., and Mesa. This act of planned desperation was intended to ultimately prevent or discredit the Manticoran government (specifically Naval Intelligence, of which Anton Zilwicki is a part) that exposes the slave trade and industry, and highlights members of the Peerage who are silent participants in and beneficiaries of it. This story also sets up a future role for Countess Catherine Montaigne, suggesting she may eventually be a part of the downfall of the three key players in the current government: Baron High Ridge, Countess New Kiev and Elaine Descrois. She is ultimately the one, along with Anton Zilwicki, to successfully bring the evidence to Manticore. One thing to keep in mind: this story is the foundation for the Crown of Slaves series (also known as Wages of Sin) and Helen (the daughter) becomes a main character in the Saganami Island series. Behind the face of this story, it’s really a crossover point in that Manpower and Mesa, the associated genetic slave trade, and the Solarian League will take an increasingly important role going forward.

This was a long story, packed full of details and with deliberate ties to the main set of books in the Honor Harrington storyline, including “D”, “I” and “M” of the “DIME model we’ve talked about so much. Eric wrote the story so well that one of you hosts kept attributing it to David Weber. Again, we’ll see more from Eric as he participates in these other upcoming novels.

And you get three more “thumbs-up” from us for this story.

The fourth and final story is called Nightfall, by David Weber. Recently we saw the events that surrounded the coup on Haven and the destruction of the Octagon, the event that ultimately allowed or significantly influenced St. Just’s to establish an outright dictatorship. This short story lets us see just what happened behind the scenes, to include why ADM McQueen started her own attempted coup early. Many seem to have felt that the details of what happened should have been in the story; some have commented that this short story should have been included in the book. Regardless, we have it here and it should satisfy anyone who wants to know just what happened tactically. There isn’t really much more to say about it. It’s a quick read, and full of action.

Your hosts once again all gave “thumbs-up” to this story.

Overall, we rated the “Changer of Worlds” with 5s all the way around the table, for an overall rating of 5.

Next up: we’re reading “War of Honor”, bringing us back to the main series.

Please keep those likes and comments coming, and if you’re enjoying this podcast, be sure to tell a friend. Remember, two of your hosts are new readers, so new readers are just as welcome as those of you who are recent or long-time fans.

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

We had a list of questions of our own as well as some that several of you have submitted. In the interest of respecting David’s time, we paired the list down and took the opportunity to ask him about several things.

The conversation was fantastic. We were blown away by two things. First, David didn’t just give us simple or surface answers to our questions. Instead, he dove deep into what we asked and gave us very detailed and full explanations. Second, when our session was over, we realized he didn’t just give us thorough answers, but gave us an incredible amount of time! As a result, you’ll get to hear a lengthy and quality session with the creator of the Honorverse.

By the way, as with many of you, we’ve heard other interviews with David and can tell you he gave us equal or perhaps more time to talk with us. While there might be some ground he’s covered in other interviews, he definitely shared things we’d never heard before.

As we wrapped up, David offered to join us again sometime in the future when we’re a bit further into the Honorverse. We have more questions to ask him from our original list. This also means if you have more questions to ask, there’s time to send them to us to add to our list. We don’t know when, but our intent is to take him up on his very kind offer.

Mr. Weber, thank you again sir, for the incredible time you gave to all of us, your fans.

Next time: we will discuss the anthology “Changer of Worlds” — only this time we mean it. We think you’ll all agree, getting to hear from David himself was more than a reasonable excuse to delay our discussion of this book.

As always, genuine thanks to each of you for listening, and especially folks who have found the time to send us comments. If you haven’t already done so, consider spreading the word to others who you know are Honor Harrington fans, or to those who might enjoy the Honorverse!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

At 672 pages (the trade paperback edition), it’s slightly shorter than Echoes of Honor, but not by much and with no complaints from your hosts about the length. The story is large, requiring equally substantial books to capture all that’s going on, and it picks up right where Echoes left off. Ashes of Victory was first published by Baen Books in March 2000.

The war with Haven happens and as you can tell from the title, we’re going to see what emerges from the ashes of Honor’s apparent death (covered in the first half of the book), but also from the war (covered in the second half). As for Honor, it seems “The Salamander” is also a Phoenix!

As we’ve grown accustomed to, David Weber has seamlessly woven in references to historical events that provide good background to what’s happening: the Battle of Midway (4-7 June 1942), the Battle of Savo Island (9 August 1942) and Operation Bagration (23 June through 19 August 1944). Note: the first two were quick references, while Bagration is mentioned several times because it was the name of a military operation in the book. While knowing the history of these events isn’t necessary or covered, interested readers may want to take the time to learn why David made these references. They add a lot of color to the story.

Because the war we all saw coming occurs, the story in this novel brings quite a few things to culmination, and also exposes some new threads within the greater Honorverse storyline. This was done very well, too, given we all seemed to agree the action in this book wore us out at times. Yet it also left us eager to see what comes next. Related to that, consider and ponder just how the war with Haven actually ends…

A final thought: we mentioned in our discussions that this book makes it clear how important reading the anthologies can be. Remember, they’re not throw-away side stories. Instead, they very deliberately inform the reader of things going on that weren’t included in the novels. Call it what you want—backstory, amplifying info, sidequels, something else—but whatever you call it, understand we all saw important elements in this novel that tied directly back to select short stories in the anthologies. Do you have to read the anthologies to appreciate how amazing the growing Honorverse is? No. Is it worth your time to read them? Absolutely yes. They’ll make the incredibly mature universe David Weber is building even more robust than it would be otherwise. If you haven’t been convinced already, we encourage you to read (or re-read) the anthologies, and in the order of publication if you can.

We rated Ashes of Victory with three 5s (out of 5), for an overall rating of 5.

As always, thanks for those of you who have liked and/or commented on our episodes so far. Your comments are genuinely appreciated and warmly received. Remember, we’re fans of the series just like you and we’re honored to have a venue to share our experiences and thoughts as we work our way through the Honorverse with other, like-minded people. Please keep those likes and comments coming!

Next up: we’re back to another anthology, the third in the Worlds of Honor set, entitled “Changer of Worlds”. Grab a copy and join in!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

Aptly named, these stories are as much tied to Honor’s worlds, as to the characters we read about. Through the pens of several authors, we travel to Sphynx, Manticore, Gryphon, and Sylvestria.

First comes the story The Stray, written by Linda Evans. Linda brings us to Sphynx for the second bonding between a human and treecat: that between Dr. Scott MacDallan and Fisher, just 15 months after Stephanie Harrington is adopted by her treecat.

The story focuses on a stray treecat named True Stalker who, near death, finds Scott and Fisher. He leads them to the crash site of an aircar, located near a facility owned by BioNeering. There are essentially two storylines here. First, we gain additional insights into what humans and treecats experience as a bonded pair. We also glimpse into the treecats’ moral code as Scott and Fisher learn through True Stalker that the aircar crash wasn’t an accident. It was a murder to cover up what’s occurring in the related storyline.

In the second storyline, related to this case something has gone wrong at the BioNeering research site with the devastating result of killing off a significant section of Picket Wood trees. As we already know, this species of tree is a clonal organism (much like the Aspen tree on Earth). It is also a primary environment for treecat colonies. The murder of the aircar crew was an attempt to hide the significant damage that had been done to the forest. What wasn’t known or anticipated by BioNeering: one of the crew aboard the shuttle was paired to the treecat True Stalker — the same cat that found and brought Scott and Fisher to the crash site. Ultimately, the crime is revealed.

As a side note, we learn of Manpower Unlimited., a company which provides cloned and bio-engineered human slaves to corporate colonies looking for labor they wouldn’t have to pay to work in dangerous environments. This is a company that will play a large role in future stories.

All three of us gave this story a “thumbs-up”, with Raul sneaking a second “thumbs-up” in for good measure.

The second story was written by David Weber: What Price Dreams? We are introduced to Princess Adrienne and her father King Roger II. We see an estranged relationship which was the result of the assassination of Adrienne’s mother, Queen Solange. The damaged relationship between Roger and Adrienne is further fueled by the Princess’ fascination with treecats. When she makes a trip to Sphynx two important things happen: she’s adopted by the treecat Seeker of Dreams; and next, she’s target of an attempted assassination. The attempt is ultimately foiled by Seeker of Dreams and his clan.

Of note, these events occur not long after the first adoptions of Stephanie Harrington and Scott MacDallan. As a result, not much is known about treecats, adoptions are still very few, and as a result, opinions run strong. With Adrienne’s salvation coming through the hands of treecats, King Roger has a change of heart regarding treecats in general, and the rights of these sentient creatures.

One nugget of information we gain from this story is of a technique called a “psych adjustment,” with all its unresolved moral baggage. We get just enough information about it to see what happens when psych adjustments are used for malicious purposes where an adjusted individual is effectively programmed and used to attempt the assassination of Adrienne. Another nugget is more background on Manpower and Mesa and especially their attempts to get hold of treecats for “research” purposes.

Your hosts all rated this one with a “thumbs-up” as well.

Queen’s Gambit was the third story in the anthology. It was penned by the expert hand of Jane Lindskold. Here we move forward in time to the Manticoran reign of King Roger III. The story begins with his accidental death while skiing on the Indigo Salt Flats. Foul play is suspected by his daughter, Elizabeth, who becomes Queen Elizabeth III. This story directly connects to the main storyline in terms of time, as Elizabeth III is queen during Honor’s service. Here, Honor and her best friend “Mike” Henke are young officers, not long out of the Academy. This story brings additional information to us about the Earl of North Hollow and his family, also important within the primary Honorverse storyline.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway is when young Queen Elizabeth is ultimately convinced that to challenge her father’s murderers to a duel (rather than letting them walk) would be a disaster. This reinforces an ongoing storyline about the potentially negative consequences of exercising some rights when the individual involved is someone as senior and visible as the Queen. Or, to a tie back to Honor’s storyline, when a member of the nobility (Honor) challenges another noble (Pavel Young) to a duel. We learn just how well Elizabeth understands Honor feelings about justice.

Once again, your hosts all gave heartfelt “thumbs-up” for this story.

The fourth story is called The Hard Way Home, also by David Weber. In this story, we find ourselves in the company of Susan and Ranjit Hibson (sister and brother) on a ski trip to Gryphon. Through their loving banter, we learn that Susan has a strong desire to join the Manticoran Marines when she’s old enough. As they ascend the slopes in a lift car, a devastating avalanche buries hundreds of victims in the snow, including Susan and Ranjit.

Ranjit and another survivor are injured. From their position, trapped within the car, the kids realize their only possible chance to survive is for Susan to attempt to dig her way to the surface and signal for help.

Meanwhile, above the surface, we see a “young” Lieutenant Commander Harrington working for Commander Anthony Agursky (the 14th Baron of Novaya Tyumen and friend of Pavel Young). Agursky is a difficult officer to work with, but Honor has no real issue with him until the avalanche occurs. Honor is commanding the deployed pinnaces and begins to provide immediate search and rescue to the victims. Rather than provide immediate aid to those in need, Agursky tells Honor to stand down so they can take the time to make a plan to provide assistance. When Honor (who grew up on Sphynx and familiar with snow and avalanches) points out to Agursky that any delay will cost lives, he attempts to bench her. Instead, the Captain of their ship intervenes, pulls Agursky away from the scene, and puts Honor in clear command of the military contribution to the search and rescue efforts.

It's through this that Honor ends up on the ground. Nimitz detects and ultimately finds Susan as she’s digging her way to the surface from the buried lift car. Susan, Ranjit, and the other victims in the car are saved. In a heartwarming set of events, due to Susan’s tenacity, Honor arranges a place for her in Marine training — provided she keeps her grades up.

Your hosts once again all gave “thumbs-up” to this story.

The fifth and final story in Worlds of Honor was Deck Load Strike, written by Roland J. Green. Roland takes us to the planet Sylvestria at the end of the Erewhon Wormhole Terminus. This is a planet that’s strategically important to both Manticore and Haven. As a result, two warring factions on the planet are used by the greater powers against each other to posture for an expected future fight.

Putting it bluntly, none of us cared much for this story and would probably dare to say what you just read above is the entire story in a nutshell.

Your hosts characterized this story as “filler” and rated it with two “thumbs-down” and one “neutral” vote.

Overall, we rated the “More Than Honor” anthology with a 4.5, a 4, and another 4.5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of 4.3.

We also pondered some treecat names for ourselves, offered up by Jim. As we tossed these around, we also wondered if we should ask David Weber to assign us some names. I guess we’ll see what happens, but for now let us know what you think of these: <Flies High and Fast> for JP; <Talks Muchly> for Raul; and <Sits on His Ass and Drinks Coffee> for Jim.

Next up: we return to the main storyline again, this time to Ashes of Victory, where the story continues after Honor’s escape from Haven’s prison planet Hell. We sincerely hope you read along with us.

As always, genuine thanks to each of you for listening, and especially folks who have found the time to send us comments. If you haven’t already done so, consider spreading the word to others who you know are Honor Harrington fans, or to those who might enjoy the Honorverse!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

At 718 pages, this is the largest novel yet in the series, and was published by Baen Books in September 1998—a year after In Enemy Hands. The events in this book occur just short of a year (approximately 10 months) after Honor and her colleagues destroy the Tepes and head to the surface of Hell; not as prisoners, but as downed pilots surviving behind enemy lines. Some might think Behind Enemy Lines might have made a good title for this book. While it could have, the title David Weber selected has a much more significant relationship to the overarching storyline.

To everyone outside of Honor’s immediate party, Honor is understandably believed dead. Her public “execution” by the People’s Republic of Haven was broadcast for all to see — a deep faked piece of well-done propaganda. Because of this, the echoes of the impact Honor had on the RMN; on Grayson, its Space Navy, and the people of her steading; and specifically on her parents are heard and/or felt. At the start of this story, only we, the readers, know she is still very much alive and relatively well.

The novel was put together in a way that the two-pronged story presented itself through the length of the novel as alternating chapters, or technically “books”. Books 2, 4 and 6 were the events associated with Haven’s Operation Icarus, as they strike the Star Kingdom at key locations during a Manticoran operational pause. Honor’s parents and their stay on Grayson are also significant parts of these books.

Books 1, 3 and 5 revolved around Honor’s exploits on Hades. She and her people create what is essentially an insurgent movement and take over the prison planet’s command center at Camp Charon. Securing a sufficient number of transports, she liberates all who want to depart from Hades. At the end of the book, these two storylines merge when Honor appears at Trevor’s Star with her crew and half a million prisoners. The story ends, leaving us to wait and see just how all those who thought they lost Honor will react to the news of her survival. Exciting stuff!

We rated Echoes of Honor with three 5s (out of 5), for an overall rating of 5 from your hosts.

We extend our thanks and appreciation in the podcast for those of you who have liked and/or commented on our episodes so far, and we’d like to extend our thanks here as well. Your comments are genuinely appreciated and warmly received. Remember, we’re fans of the series just like you and we’re honored to have a venue to share our experiences and thoughts as we work our way through the Honorverse with other, like-minded people.

A special thank you to Mr. David Weber, who we’ve learned has been listening to us. We definitely appreciate your comments, sir. Please continue to let us hear from all of you!

Next up: we’re rolling right into the second book in the Worlds of Honor anthology set; the book for which the set is named entitled Worlds of Honor. This book contains stories written by David Weber, Roland Green, Linda Evans and Jane Lindskold. Grab a copy and join in the conversation and the adventure!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

You’ll notice our podcast format for the episodes that cover anthologies is slightly different.  We’ll discuss/review each story or part of the anthology, and each of us will rate it with either a thumbs-up, thumbs-down, or a “neutral” vote.  Then, at the end of the book, we’ll rate the entire volume with our standard numeric rating scale.  And so, here we go!

There are four entries in this anthology:  three short stories and one essay.

The first story is titled "A Beautiful Friendship," written by David Weber.  In this story we travel to Sphinx and join Richard and Marjorie Harrington, and their daughter, young Miss Stephanie.  This story is in the early years of the human settlement on Sphinx, and we learn of the very first treecat-human bonding.  Our main series hero, Honor Harrington (middle name Stephanie) is the descendant of Stephanie in this story.  You may recall hearing the briefest of references to this in the first novel, On Basilisk Station.  This is the set of events that constitute the first contact between treecats and humans, and specifically between a treecat named Climbs Quickly and Stephanie.

One of the more interesting aspects of the story is that it’s told from two perspectives.  We see the circumstances and many of the events through the treecats’ eyes, who view themselves as “the People” and view humans (referred to as “two-legs”) as an alien species.  We also see events through Stephanie and her parents’ eyes.  Ultimately Stephanie and Climbs Quickly meet, though not intentionally.  In that brief encounter, without warning or understanding, a bond forms between our two main characters.  As the story progresses, it seems the bond has strengthened.  Adversity and events bring them back together again, with both of their lives on the line.  This results in a broader meeting between Climbs Quickly’s people and Stephanie’s people.  As we already know, the relationship between humans and treecats grows and endures from there.

All three of us gave this story a “thumbs-up”, with Raul sneaking a second “thumbs-up” in for good measure.

The second story is titled "A Grand Tour," written by David Drake.  It was probably unfortunate that this story had to follow “A Beautiful Friendship.”  First, having to follow such strong and engaging story writing by the creator of the Honorverse puts you at a slight disadvantage.  Second, while Mr. Drake is an accomplished writer of military science fiction, we didn’t find his contribution here as particularly strong.  The story seemed out of place and didn’t support much of what we’ve read in the main series so far.  Across the fandom it seems to be the consensus that this story doesn’t have a strong relationship to the Honorverse.  This is what we saw in our own reading.  Instead, it was a bit disjointed and seemed to be more of a thought piece than an actual, integrated story.

 Your hosts each rated this one with a “thumbs-down”.

The third story was titled "A Whiff of Grapeshot," written by S.M. Sterling.  Sterling is another accomplished science fiction and fantasy author with multiple series to his credit.  Like the previous story, we have another guest author writing within the Honorverse.  Unlike the previous story, this one was well-received by all three of us. Here, we join on some familiar characters and events within the People’s Republic of Haven; specifically Esther McQueen and Rob S. Pierre.  The story occurs around the time of the Leveler’s Rebellion — something we’ve already seen references to in the main series.  The story pulled all three of us in, was extremely well written, and fit very tightly within the Honorverse.  There was a lot of content here, given the number of pages in this short story.  Consistent with what David Weber does so well, S.M. Sterling did a great job of weaving historical events from the real world (The French Revolution and actions Napoleon took in Paris in 1795) into the fictional story.

We all gave this one a “thumbs-up”.

The fourth and final part section of the anthology was the essay titled "The Universe of Honor Harrington," written by David Weber.  Rather than giving us a story, David very concisely walks us through a series of things that until now, we’ve only pieced together.  In this work, we learn about several important technological and political stages that the main story rests upon.  If you want to know more about the creation of and physics behind Warshawski Sails or gravity waves, read it.  If you want some focused background on how humanity set out and settled other systems, this is for you.  If you want to know how and why the Star Kingdom of Manticore, the People’s Republic of Haven, and the Solarian League came to be, this essay is for you.  There’s so much here — a surprising amount of very useful information somehow contained in what seems to be a short essay.

Once again, your hosts gave a unanimous “thumbs-up”.

Overall, we rated “More Than Honor” with a 4, a 4, and another 4 (out of 5), for an overall rating of 4.0.

Next up:  we’re back to the main storyline, reading the eighth book in the series:  Echoes of Honor.  If you’ve read it before, grab your copy and refresh your memory.  If you haven’t read it before, grab a new copy and dive in.

Heartfelt thanks to each of you who are on this adventure with us!  Thank you for listening, and a special thank you to everyone who has taken time to send us your thoughts and comments.  We truly enjoy hearing from you, whether you agree with our perspectives on things or not.  After all, we’re all fans of this cool place we call the Honorverse!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

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We’re officially halfway through the original set of Honor Harrington stories already!  How did we get here so quickly?  The individual novels are flying by, and the larger Honorverse story is unfolding.  It’s hard to believe just how fast it seems the story is developing, especially because there is incredible depth and complexity to this world—this universe—David Weber is creating.

 “In Enemy Hands” is book seven in what is regularly referred to as the main series, but your hosts will quickly caution you not to assume the content outside of that set of 14 novels is simply extra content in the form of sequels, prequels or “sidequels”.  More on that at the end of the summary.

 This novel is 530 pages, published by Baen Books in August 1997.  In the story, we see some great space combat (of course), but also get a lot smarter about matters like the role and importance of international law (what we’ll call the laws of war), the honor found among professional military members on opposite sides of a fight, loyalty (properly placed and also misplaced), and the influence of politics on military capability.  We see the impact of the war on Manticore and Haven as each manages strained or limited resources in the context of their national ideologies, technological advancements, and changes in military tactics.  It’s also driven home in this novel that war is ugly and dangerous, and in the end, everyone is vulnerable.

 We saw the impact of a lengthening war and limited resources in the previous novel, particularly frustrated by the impact and role pirates and privateers play.  Here we see a more traditional impact on military forces as forces spread thin find themselves in extremis.  In this case, the unit at risk is a squadron of traditional naval vessels commanded by Commodore Honor Harrington.  While time permits, her unit takes on an optional convoy escort mission:  one that should have been a “milk run,” with regular naval resources and not the Q-ships she was previously commanding.  Early in the mission, however, Honor is in the lead element of the escorting forces and discovers a trap set by Haven.  Consistent with her view of the roles and responsibility of an officer - a senior officer - she provides sufficient warning for the main convoy to flee to safety, using her lead element to lead the enemy away from the main convoy and escorting forces.  Out-gunned, Honor makes the decision to surrender her lead forces rather than simply sacrificing those assets and personnel for no real gain for Manticore.  Honor finds herself in enemy hands, along with her officers and crew.

What follows from this situation is the blatant immoral and unlawful treatment of her and her subordinates by the authoritarian Havenite government and the members of state security who had not been purged after the coup that brought Haven’s current government to power.  Even so, we get to see the risk some of Haven’s traditional naval officers take, as they work to do the right thing — the lawful, moral and honorable thing — for their Manticoran prisoners.  There is a lot to contrast with the previous novel, where we saw Honor (once again) demonstrate what the honorable and lawful treatment of the enemy’s military looks like when they’re prisoners of war.

We rated “In Enemy Hands” with a 4.5, a 5, and another 5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of 4.83 from your hosts.

Next up:  we’re going to step away from the core series of novels and read the first anthology in the Honorverse called “More than Honor”.  As we mentioned, the content outside of the core set of novels isn’t necessarily just supplementary text.  This is an example, with the material in this anthology adding to the “main” story.  It’s important to note the author also recommends reading the stories in this order, and so we’ll follow his sage advice.  Grab a copy and as always, join in the conversation and the adventure!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

“Honor Among Enemies” is a robust 544 pages, published by Baen Books in June 1996.  In some ways we return to some of the events that happened in “On Basilisk Station”, specifically Honor’s actions against an enemy Q-ship.  What’s a Q-ship, you ask?  Well, if you want to know more, this is your episode!  The purpose and use of Q-ships in combat abounds in this novel.

Two things come into play at the same time in this story.  First, the war with Haven has gone on long enough that as Manticore shifts resources to account for Haven’s evolving war plans, sections of space are left under-protected by the RMN.  This results in an increase of pirates and a significant increase in commercial freight losses.  Second, the Manticoran government realizes they need Honor back in uniform to help deal with the problem.  This isn’t just fueled by military necessity.  Two of Honor’s enemies, complaining to the Navy over the lack of protection, find this a good opportunity to advocate for her return to uniform and to command a special squadron of ships to help patrol the areas where piracy is causing the most harm.  These opponents view this as a win for them either way:  Harrington succeeds and quells the piracy, allowing for freer commercial navigation and trade; or Harrington dies in the process of doing her duty, viewed as a sufficient payback for the frustration she’s caused to these individuals.  Due to her personal growth over the past several years, she accepts the offer with full awareness of the politics and ill intentions woven throughout the problem.

The squadron Honor commands is composed entirely of armed merchant vessels, also known as Q-ships.  While heavily armed and deceptive in appearance (because they don’t look like warships), they’re also very lightly armored (because they’re not standard military vessels).  The squadron is assembled and sorties out to begin their mission to escort and defend merchant shipping.  

We see an assembly of familiar faces, as well as some new ones.  Among the new faces are a few troublemakers who aren’t mere annoyances.  One problem sailor has criminal intentions in terms of how he conducts himself as a member of the crew, but also has larger, bad intentions that show themselves as the story unfolds.  All of this happens, of course, in the midst of some more amazing naval combat.  Don’t worry, this isn’t more of what you’ve already seen.  War conducted by these Q-ships in the context of more traditional naval operations is what David Weber delivers to us.

In this novel we also see more detail about a different facet of leadership as Honor is commanding other commanders—a higher level of responsibility as she continues to grow and mature as a senior naval officer.  We also get to see how she handles the very internal and initially “tactical” disciplinary problem within her assembled squadron as the problem is also one that falls within the purview of one of Honor’s subordinate commanders.

The title of the book is reflected throughout the book, but primarily when the battle against piracy includes both Manticoran and Havenite naval resources.  While enemies at war, Weber does a great job of showing how there can be a shared sense of honor and professional duty between the military officers of opposing forces.  Moreover, when those officers find themselves in the hands of the other side, honorable conduct based on shared values and ideals across the profession of arms, we see what honor among enemies looks like.  In a final note, we also get a very good glimpse into the authority a ship’s captain possesses while “at sea” and especially while in combat.

Since they play a significant part of the telling of the story in this novel, during the show we referenced a few links to more information about the historic development and use of Q-ships in the real world, as well as information on Privateers.  If you’re interested, these are a good place to start your own research:

• The book “Q-ships and Their Story” by E. Keble Chatterton (1922), available for free through the Gutenberg Press at: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/54338/54338-h/54338-h.htm 
• If you want a non-html copy of Chatterton’s book for your shelves, it’s available through Amazon as a hardback, paperback or for the Kindle.
• Naval History and Heritage Command has a good paper covering Q-ships and their use during WW2, found here:  https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/q/q-ships-during-w orld-war-ii.html 
• Regarding Privateers, the U.S. Naval Institute has a good article to get you started on this topic: https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2020/april/us-priva teering-legal 

We rated “Honor Among Enemies” with a 4, a 4.5, and another 4.5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of 4.33 from your hosts.

Next up:  “In Enemy Hands”.  As always, we look forward to having you join in the conversation and the adventure!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

“Flag in Exile” is 443 pages, published by Baen Books in September 1995. I’m not sure it’s quite accurate to say Honor takes a break after her duel with Pavel Young. Our hero is forced into retirement from the Royal Manticoran Navy due to the political fallout and consequences of lawfully killing Young. Honor takes the opportunity to move to Grayson (sort of an exile) to fully establish and settle into her leadership and business responsibilities as a Steadholder. In this role, she’s the newest member of the government of Grayson, and first female to hold the office in Grayson’s history. It’s also a time to heal as she strives to move past the loss of Paul Tankersley. Things don’t go quite as planned or intended.

The People’s Republic of Haven’s attack on Manticore failed and set the stage for an authoritarian element to stage a coup (blamed on, but not conducted by Haven’s military). David Weber does a great job of keeping Haven a fictitious place, but draws from historic periods of time. It parallels the behavior of similar governments when they’ve seized power in the real world, such as the French revolutionary period, the Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany. Haven’s new government uses the false claim that their Navy attempted the coup, then purges much of their former civilian and military leadership as “enemies of the people.” It establishes the powerful “Committee for Public Safety” to ensure governance continues during the “crisis”. This Committee is supposedly temporary while the turmoil and danger of the coup fades and a new government is formed. Even so, it institutes draconian rules in the name of ensuring “safety” for the people, setting itself up to weaken threats to itself and the ability to maintain power rather than transition it to a form that supports a free society. The war with Manticore also continues, now rooted firmly in a conflict between the ideologies of freedom and authoritarianism.

While there’s a significant space battle that occurs, this book is also a strong part of Weber’s world-building. He lays big pieces of the ideological foundations for conflict between great powers. As a result, the book is as much an education in government, domestic, and foreign affairs as it is a military adventure!

Honor, with all her accomplishments and true talent as a military leader, is settling into her life on Grayson. Before the dust settles, the government of Grayson offers her a commission in its Navy. Not just any commission. They offer her the flag rank of Admiral and a position that would make her the second highest ranking officer in the Grayson Space Navy. While this would have been highly unusual within the RMN, Grayson’s Navy lacks the experience and leadership needed to defend itself and to fully participate as an effective ally of Manticore. Honor is hesitant, but ultimately accepts the position, driven by her sense of duty. In this position, she not only helps Grayson, but helps Manticore by presenting a more capable allied military to fight against the People’s Republic of Haven. She’s serving her new “nation” as a Steadholder and Admiral, and still serving her Queen by supporting Manticore’s war efforts.

Amid all this, Honor’s civilian responsibilities do not go smoothly. While she’s openly recognized as a hero of Grayson, and responsible for saving them, there are still many on Grayson who take offense at the power and position Honor holds because she’s a woman. Grayson society is changing, fueled by (but in no way forced) their exposure to Honor. Even so, elements loyal to past objectors take action to undermine and destroy Honor’s influence, wealth, and even take her life. While some of this begins while she’s on Grayson, the worst happens while she’s away on Naval duty, and therefore unable to defend herself and her honor. Through acts of sabotage and disinformation, innocent lives, including children’s, are lost and blamed on Honor.

Through the diligent research of those loyal to law and order, and specifically to Honor, the facts are uncovered and the truly guilty are exposed. This reinforces her previous loyalty and love for the Graysons, even though there are still significant cultural differences. The punctuation mark on it all is her honorable service in what may be the most epic space battle we’ve seen so far! Honor returns to Grayson a hero again, and she’s ultimately vindicated from the false accusations (including willful negligence and murder) that were levied against her by lawless and criminal elements.

In a final note: this book captures significant growth for, or the development and maturing of Honor Harrington. You see it for her personally, but also in terms of her military leadership and political savvy. Keep reading with us. Then be sure to tune in and join us around the kitchen table as we grab a mug of coffee, tea, or cocoa and chat about these awesome books.

We rated “Flag in Exile” with a 4.5, a 3.75, and a 4.9 (out of 5), for an overall rating of 4.38 from your hosts.

Next up: “Honor Among Enemies”. As always, we look forward to having you join in the conversation and the adventure!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

“Field of Dishonor” is 416 pages of pure military adventure. It was published by Baen Books in late 1994. Events in this book take place shortly after the events in the previous novel. This book is reportedly the only one in the original 14-book series that doesn’t contain any combat in space. Don’t be discouraged though; the story is full and satisfying.

The phrase “field of dishonor” appears once, in Chapter 13. This is when Pavel Young, Earl of North Hollow, is sentenced after his court martial, stripped of his commission, the symbols of his military status and authority, and must leave the proceedings in dishonor.

In this story, we see a dramatic growth in Honor Harrington after the People’s Republic of Haven’s sneak attack on the Start Kingdom fails. The “Peeps” are now distracted by what amounts to a hostile, authoritarian revolution; giving Manticore the time to deal with government problems of its own.

With the conclusion of combat in the previous novel, Honor returns home victorious and hailed a hero. Pavel Young faces a military court on five criminal counts, two of which carry a sentence of death: his cowardice and fleeing in the face of the enemy. The story isn’t without a good bit of tension and drama, but for those who have been following the saga, there’s significant closure.

As with previous novels, we’ve learned that David Weber doesn’t try to make complex things simple for the sake of readers. Instead, he uses the story to educate the reader about the complexities of life. Here Weber brings great depth and explanation to military tactics, operations, military life, and especially command. He addresses politics as they’re tied to the trial of Pavel Young, not only a Navy officer, but also a member of nobility holding the title of lord. He explores the intersection of those two worlds and the subordination of the military to civilian authority and control. In the end, Weber shows us just how complex and messy the concept and principle of honor can be: easy to define but not easy to live out in the real world. Through Honor Harrington, we see that doing what’s right (related to justice in this case) often results in undesirable consequences.

Pavel Young is spared the death sentence but is stripped of his commission and all respect and honor associated with his military service. He is disgraced as the consequence of his own dishonorable actions. Still, he refuses to accept that the results are due to his own deeds. Instead, he blames Honor Harrington and he seeks revenge by killing the man she loves to cause her pain, then killing her.

He hires an assassin who kills Paul Tankersly by taunting him into a duel. The assassin is a professional dualist, who has no problem ending Paul’s life. What the assassin didn’t expect: Honor is honorable and lives by this virtue. She finds him and publicly names him as Paul’s killer, obligating him to defend his own “honor”. In his arrogance, he sees the stage set to put finish the contract for Pavel Young and makes the challenge. Honor kills him, then announces openly that she seeks justice and is coming for Pavel Young as the one who hired the assassin. Young hides from Honor.

Until now, Honor had never formally taken her seat in the House of Lords. She uses this as an excuse to appear before the assembled Lords, including Young who had been in hiding. She openly confronts Young and demands justice, challenging him to a duel. He’s terrified but sees no other option than to accept. The day arrives, and Pavel Young’s cowardice is on display for all to see. The duel is heavily covered by the press. With the world watching, Young acts dishonorably again. This time when he turns early and shoots Honor in the back. Wounded, she returns fire and kills the coward Pavel Young.

Justice is legally served. Even so, the political ramifications are heavy and Honor, who was warned, is expelled from the House of Lords, stripped of her military command, and placed on half-pay. She is effectively involuntarily retired from active service. As a result, she decides to return to Greyson to assume her responsibilities as a new Steadholder.

One final note. While there’s been incredible action, excitement, and a lot of depth to the universe David Weber is creating, the series does not shy away from taking a darker tone than one might expect. There’s nothing pollyannaish in this book or the story so far. Weber pulls this off masterfully, ensuring the reader isn’t brought down. Instead, there are lessons to learn through these amazing characters that might very well help readers through real problems in their own lives.

We rated “Field of Dishonor” with a 5, a 5, and a 4.5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of 4.83 from your hosts. (We’re still not settled on a rating scale. Toss us your thoughts!)

Next up: “Flag in Exile”. As always, we look forward to having you join in the conversation and the adventure!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

“The Short Victorious War” is 376 pages of pure military adventure. It was published by Baen Books in 1994. The events in this story take place approximately a year after the events that occurred in “The Honor of the Queen”.

Of note, the title of the book is a historical reference to the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905. The quote the title originated with Russia’s Minister of the Interior V.K. Plehve, on the eve of the war, who stated, “What this country needs is a short, victorious war to stem the tide of revolution.”

For the history fans out there, at times it’s also attributed to Czar Nicholas the Second, although most references attribute it to Plehve. For fans of military history, you’ll see similarities to the war in this book as compared to the real war between Russia and Japan. Don’t look for a tight coupling though; Manticore and Haven aren’t directly mirroring Japan and Russia. This isn’t a history book. David Weber is clearly using Russia’s historical error to fuel the context of his own story. An authoritarian government manufactures a war to justify assuming a tighter control of the population, and to blame the crisis for the discomfort of the people, who may otherwise be poised for revolution. These people lack basic freedoms, they’re oppressed subjects rather than citizens, and things are going from bad to worse with their economy after hundreds of years of abuse by the authoritarian government.

In this story, the People’s Republic of Haven is suffering a self-inflicted economic disaster based on how they’ve set up their economy. We would recognize the economy as a picture of the old Soviet Union’s (or Russia’s) approach to their domestic economy’s role in how to handle their domestic population. In this case, Haven is a welfare state. With their inflation and debt causing domestic economic problems, unrest is erupting and growing worse among the people living on the government’s dime, or on the dole (bluntly called “Dolists” by their own government). With discontent on the rise, and the threat of domestic instability or even violence, the government decides what they need is a short (and assuredly victorious, because they’ll control the circumstances) war they can point at and blame for the economic crisis and related domestic problems the Dolists are experiencing. Easy! Problem solved.

Or is it?

This isn’t a new situation. Haven has been preparing for an eventual war with Manticore. However, for all the reasons major powers don’t go to war in the real world, they continue to work for the necessary advantage they feel they need to win. This includes some very discrete (and some not so discrete) military actions that the Havenites conduct to shape the posture of Manticore’s Navy, gather intelligence, and then provoke the Manticorans to strike. With Manticore throwing the first punch, they now have their justification for the short victorious war and believe they can stand on the moral high ground publicly. Manticore sees the Havenite posturing and sends a diplomatic mission in an effort to establish an alliance.

As the Manticorans and Graysons work through significant cultural differences while acknowledging they share a common problem, the war breaks out. Honor Harrington and her unit follow the direction and intent of the Queen and defend Haven at great expense, including the apparent death of Admiral Sarnow and Haven’s senior Admiral as well. In the midst of the battle, Captain Pavel Young, also a ship’s captain within the assembled task force, flees the battlefield against orders. As a result, Honor’s ship the HMS Nikeis severely damaged, and Honor almost loses her life. With Manticoran reinforcements arriving at the battle, Haven’s navy ultimately suffers unacceptably heavy losses and retreats.

Three important things wrap the book up, setting the stage for future stories within the Honorverse: First, Pavel Young will face a court martial resulting from his apparent dishonorable actions. Second, three Havenite revolutionaries take advantage of the domestic unrest, and now military losses, to stage an overthrow of their own government. They do so making it look like the Navy itself is responsible for the coup. They consolidate power and begin what appears to be a purge of other government and military leadership—removing the greatest threats to their seizure of power. Third, Commander Paul Tankersley (Honor’s new and genuine love interest) also survives the war. He is promoted to Captain and is appointed to be the deputy constructor of the Hephaestus Station in orbit around Manticore. HMS Nike will limp to this station for repairs.

If you want space combat and broad, sweeping fleet battles, this is a book you’re going to truly enjoy. Just remember, as amazing as the storytelling is in this regard, the story isn’t really about combat.

We rated “The Short Victorious War” with a 5 (Stealth Surveillance Platforms), a 5 (White Berets) and a 5 (Sticks of Celery) out of 5, for an overall rating of 5 from your hosts. (Yes, we’re trying to decide what our rating scale will be called. Feel free to contribute your ideas!)

Next, we’re reading “Field of Dishonor”. Read or refresh, and as always, we look forward to having you join in the conversation and the adventure!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

The second book in the series is titled “The Honor of the Queen”. Like the first book, it was also published in 1993 by Baen Books. This one ran 422 pages. The events in this story take place approximately three years after the events that occurred in “On Basilisk Station”.

After a strong setting of the stage in the first novel, David Weber tosses us right into the action in this second book—and that’s almost an understatement! Honor is selected to be the senior, uniformed military officer on a diplomatic delegation to Grayson, under the leadership of Admiral Courvosier, who serves on the delegation out of uniform and in a diplomatic capacity. He selects Honor to participate based on his knowledge of her abilities spanning her career back to her days at the Academy. He is not only Honor’s professional mentor, but also a father figure for her. There is also a career academic on the delegation—Reginald Houseman. He is a participant based on those credentials, but he has very limited practical experience, and as a result, a very narrow view of foreign policy, politics, leading to a somewhat different agenda than that of the Queen and her Foreign Office. He also holds the military in disdain, causing very real problems for Admiral Courvosier and the rest of his team. As you read the book, you’ll notice most of his criticisms of the professional military aren’t true and are in fact self-indictments.

The situation is this: the great opposing power to Manticore is the People’s Republic of Haven. In an effort to create a defensive buffer to Haven, Manticore works to influence Grayson to ally with them, essentially blocking a future invasion route into Manticoran space. At the same time, Grayson is engaged in a struggle with a radical and increasingly hostile neighboring system called Masada. Haven is supporting Masada in their attempt to conquer Grayson and secure the invasion route to Manticore.

To add a layer of complexity to the situation, Grayson is essentially a theocracy that had previously separated itself from humanity many centuries prior, finding society too secular. In an ironic turn of events, Masada separated itself from Grayson for the same reason, now viewing Grayson as apostate. The relationship between Grayson and Masada was abrasive to begin with and has only grown cooler as time has passed. To add one more layer of complexity to the situation Admiral Courvosier and Honor enter: the government of Grayson, based on their particular view of religious law, has placed women in their culture in a status that leaves them subordinate to men and essentially without rights. In practice, they’re more akin to beloved pets rather than equal humans. They have very few rights, especially when it comes to holding positions of power or responsibility within the government, including serving as officers in the military. When the delegation makes contact with Grayson, the culture of Manticore, and the senior commissioned female officer (also a ship’s captain as well as a squadron commander) finds herself at immediate odds with Grayson and the purpose of the mission.

In the midst of that friction, things begin to go badly when tension becomes combat. Hostilities break out with significant tactical (and possibly more significant) losses for Grayson and Manticore, Grayson cautiously (perhaps reluctantly) accepts the offer of alliance made by Manticore, placing their cultural views (biases?) on the back burner. Honor’s expertise, actions and leadership are on display for all to see as she represents the Queen’s intent when it comes to protecting Grayson and working to achieve a formal alliance. Honor also suffers a significant physical and personal loss as the result of her faithful and honorable service.

David Weber gives us an incredible follow-on to the first book. The combat scenes are detailed and pulled us in. We also continue to see what the burden of command looks like, especially when command authority during combat brings losses. We also get some insight into what professional military officers are expected to learn and know as a part of the practice of the profession of arms. We see this in an interesting way, as it’s revealed through the biases of Reginald Houseman.

We rated “The Honor of the Queen” with a 5, a 4 and a 5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of 4.67.

Next, we’re reading “The Short Victorious War”. Find yourself a copy and read it before the next episode. We look forward to having you join in the conversation and the adventure!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

The first book in the series is titled “On Basilisk Station”. Published in 1993 by Baen Books, it ran 458 pages and leads a series that David Weber originally thought might only be five books or so. For those not familiar, it grew into a 14-book series, with a number of related, spin-off sets of books. All that aside, “On Basilisk Station” is where the adventure begins. For a time reference, this story takes place sometime in the 41st Century (using our calendar). In the book there’s a primary timeline used, oriented on an event called Post Diaspora. Based on that calendar, the events take place from 1900-1901 PD.

We meet Commander Honor Harrington as the new captain of the HMS Fearless. Her first act as the captain is to take her Battle Cruiser and crew into fleet exercises, armed with a new type of weapon that has taken traditional (and proven weapons) off of her ship. Along with this new weapon, she attempts a new tactic that makes best use of its capabilities. This requires her to place the ship closer than would normally be acceptable to the “hostile” force but allows a great surprise advantage. It works…once, then the fleet quickly adjusts its tactics to account for the new threat. What follows is a successive set of losses for the Fearless, and a demoralized crew who loses confidence (or perhaps never establishes confidence) in their new captain.

Following the exercise, the Fearless is assigned to a relatively isolated part of the Star Kingdom, to support a place called Basilisk Station. The assignment is commonly considered a relegation to less-than-important duties, further demoralizing the crew. Making things worse, when Harrington and crew arrive, the local senior officer takes his ship and departs, claiming he needs repairs that can’t wait, and leaving Honor in charge. As a loyal and capable officer of the Queen’s Navy, she accepts the cards she’s dealt, and begins to address long-standing deficiencies in terms of what the Navy is supposed to provide to the local system.

She pushes the crew to their limits in many cases but begins to make a positive impact in the system, and with her crew. The result: her successes fuel the failures of a cartel that had grown accustomed to conducting illegal ops. What should have been a boring, quiet, and frankly horrible assignment quickly turned intense. With the relationships Honor had established within the system early on, she confronts the cartel, begins damaging their operations, and draws the attention of the wrath of the cartel’s leader, who attempts to intimidate Honor into submission. It doesn’t work. Her crew sees her professional loyalty to the Crown and her orders, how she leads, and also relies on her crew to accomplish what quickly became an almost impossible mission.

When the dust settles, Fearless has engaged in combat action. As they dealt with the cartel, they also exposed secret operations being conducted by Manticore’s enemy, the Peoples’ Republic of Haven, in an attempt to eventually take control of the wormhole junction (and therefore trade) through the area. Haven was hiding combat capability in the form of a significantly armed Q-Ship, which Fearless engages. The enemy ship is destroyed and Fearless is critically, perhaps fatally, damaged. Honor and crew receive recognition from the military, and from the Queen as the story ends.

In this first book, the stage is set for the epic story that follows. We learn a lot about Honor Harrington and her leadership. We also get insights into her weaknesses and flaws. While very capable, she’s not a fictional, perfect officer. We also meet a significant cast of characters, many of whom we’ll see in other books as the series continues. Don’t worry about memorizing who they are—within a few books, you’ll recognize the ones David Weber needs you to focus on and be familiar with.

In addition to some amazing descriptions of combat and what that’s like for the crew, we start to recognize and track “themes” that may continue through the series. In this book we see some clear lessons about civil-military relations and civilian control of the military; political influence on the military; the relationships between someone in command and their crew; the authorities and responsibilities of command; and finally, what could be “the big three”: duty, honor, and integrity.

We rated “On Basilisk Station” with a 3.5, a 4 and a 4 (out of 5), for an overall rating of 3.83.

Next, we’re reading “The Honor of the Queen”. Please grab a copy and read it before the next episode. If you’ve already read it, now’s the time to freshen up your memory. We look forward to having you join in the conversation and the adventure!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net , and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!

This series started in the 1990s, but it’s still as fresh and full of adventure today as it was when each novel was originally published. Your hosts (Jim, Raul and JP) are avid readers and science fiction fans who enjoy reading a good book, then sitting around the table to talk about what we read. We sincerely hope you’ll grab a copy of each of these books, read along, and then join in on the discussion.

The podcast isn’t necessarily a rehash of the story and is structured assuming you’ve read the book. Even so, if you haven’t, the discussion may fuel an interest in reading these wonderful novels right along with us!

The first novel in the set is “On Basilisk Station”. Grab a copy, and as Honor Harrington is fond of saying, “Let’s be about it!”

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you.