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Honor Harrington #8
Echoes of Honor
BACK FROM HELL
For eight bloody years, the Star Kingdom of Manticore and its allies have taken the war to the vastly more powerful People's Republic of Haven, and Commodore Honor Harrington has been in the forefront of that war. But now Honor has fallen, captured by the Peep Navy, turned over to the forces of State Security ... and executed on the interstellar network's nightly news.
The Manticoran Alliance is stunned and infuriated by Honor's death and grimly resolved to avenge it. Yet their military is over-extended and the People's Republic is poised to take (he offensive once more, this time with a new strategy, new weapons, a new command team, and a whole new determination to win. The war is about to enter a phase of unprecedented ferocity . . . and the Alliance is on the short end of the stick.
But even as powerful Peep fleets hurtle towards their objectives, neither they nor the Alliance are aware of events occurring on a distant, isolated, inescapable prison planet called Hell. For what no one knows, not even State Security, is that Honor Harrington is not dead. She and a handful of her people are trapped on Hell, and determined to disprove the Peep boast that no one can ever escape it. Honor Harrington is going home, and taking her people with her... even if she has to conquer Hell to do it.
For eight bloody years, the Star Kingdom of Manticore and its allies have taken the war to the vastly more powerful People's Republic of Haven, and Commodore Honor Harrington has been in the forefront of that war. But now Honor has fallen, captured by the Peep Navy, turned over to the forces of State Security ... and executed on the interstellar network's nightly news.
The Manticoran Alliance is stunned and infuriated by Honor's death and grimly resolved to avenge it. Yet their military is over-extended and the People's Republic is poised to take (he offensive once more, this time with a new strategy, new weapons, a new command team, and a whole new determination to win. The war is about to enter a phase of unprecedented ferocity . . . and the Alliance is on the short end of the stick.
But even as powerful Peep fleets hurtle towards their objectives, neither they nor the Alliance are aware of events occurring on a distant, isolated, inescapable prison planet called Hell. For what no one knows, not even State Security, is that Honor Harrington is not dead. She and a handful of her people are trapped on Hell, and determined to disprove the Peep boast that no one can ever escape it. Honor Harrington is going home, and taking her people with her... even if she has to conquer Hell to do it.
718 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 4, 1998
293 people are currently reading
1,888 people want to read
About the author
David Weber
373books4,474followersDavid Mark Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1952.
Many of his stories have military, particularly naval, themes, and fit into the military science fiction genre. He frequently places female leading characters in what have been traditionally male roles.
One of his most popular and enduring characters is Honor Harrington whose alliterated name is an homage to C.S. Forester's character Horatio Hornblower and her last name from a fleet doctor in Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander . Her story, together with the "Honorverse" she inhabits, has been developed through 16 novels and six shared-universe anthologies, as of spring 2013 (other works are in production). In 2008, he donated his archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.
Many of his books are available online, either in their entirety as part of the Baen Free Library or, in the case of more recent books, in the form of sample chapters (typically the first 25-33% of the work).
Many of his stories have military, particularly naval, themes, and fit into the military science fiction genre. He frequently places female leading characters in what have been traditionally male roles.
One of his most popular and enduring characters is Honor Harrington whose alliterated name is an homage to C.S. Forester's character Horatio Hornblower and her last name from a fleet doctor in Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander . Her story, together with the "Honorverse" she inhabits, has been developed through 16 novels and six shared-universe anthologies, as of spring 2013 (other works are in production). In 2008, he donated his archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.
Many of his books are available online, either in their entirety as part of the Baen Free Library or, in the case of more recent books, in the form of sample chapters (typically the first 25-33% of the work).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 342 reviews
April 11, 2025
5⭐⭐⭐⭐�!!!! So good!!!
October 22, 2014
I remembered this book as being the perfect place to end the series. I was wrong, dammit. Too much is left hanging, but the ending is awesome. The basic story is awesome, but Weber's writing is beginning to get on my nerves.
Info dumps - there are too many of them & he's expanding beyond the necessary - an ugly trend - adding in details & back story that I don't much care for. I just don't see where it helps the story beyond padding it. This includes drawn 'plans' for weapons in the front of the book instead of a star map. Please!
Inconsistent rules - People are known by their names & their titles. Why mention 2 people by name & the third by his title? He does similar things with ship & missile accelerations. Why should I have to mentally convert back & forth? It's like telling me two cars are driving down the road, one at 66 mph & the other at 100 Kph in the same sentence. That's about the same speed, but it doesn't help the story to jump from one to another. It's just annoying.
This was a 2 star book because of all the annoyances, but I'm giving it 3 because the basic story is excellent as is the ending. More, I'm going on to the next book,
Info dumps - there are too many of them & he's expanding beyond the necessary - an ugly trend - adding in details & back story that I don't much care for. I just don't see where it helps the story beyond padding it. This includes drawn 'plans' for weapons in the front of the book instead of a star map. Please!
Inconsistent rules - People are known by their names & their titles. Why mention 2 people by name & the third by his title? He does similar things with ship & missile accelerations. Why should I have to mentally convert back & forth? It's like telling me two cars are driving down the road, one at 66 mph & the other at 100 Kph in the same sentence. That's about the same speed, but it doesn't help the story to jump from one to another. It's just annoying.
This was a 2 star book because of all the annoyances, but I'm giving it 3 because the basic story is excellent as is the ending. More, I'm going on to the next book,
November 22, 2011
Good, really good, but Weber crammed about 300 pages of story into 650 pages of book. The rest? Techno-babble and sermonizing. I like both, but it's the same stuff we read in the six or seven previous installments of the Harrington saga.
Six or seven? Yeah, by accident I skipped the previous volume. And, again, I didn't miss all that much because Weber recapiculates pretty much the whole previous story--plus large gobs of the books before that--in the first half of this tome.
C.S. Lewis is quoted as saying there wasn't a cup of tea or a book large enough to please him. Normally I agree, but not when there's so much overlap and repetition that you suspect you're reading the same book again. It begins to feel like something by Kafka or Poe.
Six or seven? Yeah, by accident I skipped the previous volume. And, again, I didn't miss all that much because Weber recapiculates pretty much the whole previous story--plus large gobs of the books before that--in the first half of this tome.
C.S. Lewis is quoted as saying there wasn't a cup of tea or a book large enough to please him. Normally I agree, but not when there's so much overlap and repetition that you suspect you're reading the same book again. It begins to feel like something by Kafka or Poe.
September 8, 2019
He's done it to me again! I finished Echoes of Honor, panting to know what's gonna happen next.
Weber creates larger-than-life major characters which tend to play out the stereotypes. What takes them beyond is how he distributes the good and the bad on both sides of the war. You don't want the bad guys to win...but...you don't want this nice enemy to die!
The battle tactics, the chemistry, the military technology is amazingly in-depth. I kept wanting to skip chunks of text because I just had to know what happened next...and I knew I hate myself if I did that. So the race was on tearing through only to come up short at the end...dang it!
Weber creates larger-than-life major characters which tend to play out the stereotypes. What takes them beyond is how he distributes the good and the bad on both sides of the war. You don't want the bad guys to win...but...you don't want this nice enemy to die!
The battle tactics, the chemistry, the military technology is amazingly in-depth. I kept wanting to skip chunks of text because I just had to know what happened next...and I knew I hate myself if I did that. So the race was on tearing through only to come up short at the end...dang it!
July 29, 2024
David Weber turns in another solid, yet overlong book.
There are some great moments. Reading about Honor and her team taking over "Hell" (a prison planet) was excellent. Reading about the strategy she employed? Brilliant.
I also really liked reading about the home front. I liked reading about White Haven's reaction to Honor's "Death", and also liked reading about Grayson having to figure out what to do with her steading. All of that was expertly written.
There were some great scenes of the prisoners meeting Honor and realizing her command capabilities, as well as learning about the planet "Hell". The themes about taking action even when life seems hopeless was really written well.
However, the book is severely overlong. This is mostly brought about by the many People's Republic of Haven "Peep's" characters and plotlines. If Weber had severely cut these, maybe only kept 1 or 2, this book would have been 100-200 pages shorter, it would have flowed much better, and it would have been much more interesting.
Overall, I do enjoy the story of Honor Harrington, its just getting tedious with these lengths, and after the next book it gets ridiculously long. I'll give this one a 7 out of 10.
There are some great moments. Reading about Honor and her team taking over "Hell" (a prison planet) was excellent. Reading about the strategy she employed? Brilliant.
I also really liked reading about the home front. I liked reading about White Haven's reaction to Honor's "Death", and also liked reading about Grayson having to figure out what to do with her steading. All of that was expertly written.
There were some great scenes of the prisoners meeting Honor and realizing her command capabilities, as well as learning about the planet "Hell". The themes about taking action even when life seems hopeless was really written well.
However, the book is severely overlong. This is mostly brought about by the many People's Republic of Haven "Peep's" characters and plotlines. If Weber had severely cut these, maybe only kept 1 or 2, this book would have been 100-200 pages shorter, it would have flowed much better, and it would have been much more interesting.
Overall, I do enjoy the story of Honor Harrington, its just getting tedious with these lengths, and after the next book it gets ridiculously long. I'll give this one a 7 out of 10.
May 24, 2010
And 's Honor Harrington universe marches on with , like an army of undead, unstoppable and thirsting for brains. This time, we get to follow several distinct story segments as Honor and her team struggle to take over Hades and ultimately escape. The action this time around is almost unrelenting, and probably more importantly, relevant to the current story and future engagements.
Weber has a thing for political intrigue, and of course it's no stranger here. Haven's Admiral Esther McQueen is finally sticking it to Manticore and simultaneously juggling her new role as an official member of The Committee of Public Safety. It's her strategies and tactics which ultimately confound Manticore's military, and make her just indispensable enough to be dangerous to the Committee itself. To start the propaganda war with a bang, the new head of Public Information releases a video of Honor being hanged.
This, to me, is the weakest point of the novel, though it comes at the very beginning. Anyone who knew our Honor, would have balked at the reluctant and fearful wretch Haven magicked up; they should have expected the cold defiance she'd likely display at the results of a mock trial, just as she did in her duals. Sadly, everyone in both Manticore and Grayson accept the execution without question, and thus begins Honor's two year escape plan while Haven launches a four-pronged attack at Manticore's outer systems and the holding that started it all: Basilisk Station.
And though the copious battles that follow are as one-sided as expected due to Haven's surprise offensive, the unexpected aid of the new long-range missiles; the missile-pod carriers; and the LAC-carriers that tote around massively improved Shrike-class attack craft, reverse the fortune of at least two of those engagements. There's hundreds of pages describing this attack in various aspects, from setup to execution, and the end result is spectacular: stuff gets blowed up real good.
For all that, all we really know about Grayson is that they, unlike Manticore, dove right in to manufacturing the new prototype designs Honor helped draft in . There's also the sticky situation of Honor's "death" causing problems with the inheritance of her titles, and the involvement of her parents in that particular solution is as amusing as it is creative. Her work as a geneticist also unveils just why the Graysons survived on such an inhospitable planet, and just why the male/female birth ratio is so unbalanced. This last has been an unanswered question for at least six novels, so it's great that Weber has finally gotten around to answering it.
Manticore seems only able to revel in its ability to allow its nobility to usurp common sense, and let its adherence to existing methodology threaten to derail research into their new prototype weapons. We see another aspect of Manticore here that has already appeared occasionally, and it's an unfortunate extension of their society. In this novel, we learn that our favorite star kingdom is a year behind Grayson in building the new classes of LAC and missile carriers. We continue to watch as political ties and family connections lead to promotions of complete imbeciles who would rather die in a blaze of vainglory, than escape an unwinnable situation. We watch impotently as one idiotic decision after another puts them at a continuing disadvantage in the war.
And none of this even approaches the effort Honor puts into securing the escape from Haven of not just her crew, but nearly half a million refugees stranded there over the course of last few decades of Haven's offensives. It's a very near thing, and the suspense in these areas was just as enticing as the space battles and political machinations. It's probably one of the strongest novels in the series thus far, because it sits at the crux of what is almost a perfect storm of opportunity as the focus of the war shifts. This is a very long read, and very little is wasted in irrelevant details; everything drives the plot forward, and there's a lot of plot to drive.
That this is technically merely an interim novel while we wait for Honor to enter the fray again, makes its strengths even more unexpected and refreshing. This could have been "Honor escapes valiantly from Hades, and blows stuff up as she goes!" What we got instead were several different layers of simultaneous and decisive events critical to drive the universe forward, not just Honor's character. It's easy to see why Weber's creation has so many fans even at such a ponderous length.
Weber has a thing for political intrigue, and of course it's no stranger here. Haven's Admiral Esther McQueen is finally sticking it to Manticore and simultaneously juggling her new role as an official member of The Committee of Public Safety. It's her strategies and tactics which ultimately confound Manticore's military, and make her just indispensable enough to be dangerous to the Committee itself. To start the propaganda war with a bang, the new head of Public Information releases a video of Honor being hanged.
This, to me, is the weakest point of the novel, though it comes at the very beginning. Anyone who knew our Honor, would have balked at the reluctant and fearful wretch Haven magicked up; they should have expected the cold defiance she'd likely display at the results of a mock trial, just as she did in her duals. Sadly, everyone in both Manticore and Grayson accept the execution without question, and thus begins Honor's two year escape plan while Haven launches a four-pronged attack at Manticore's outer systems and the holding that started it all: Basilisk Station.
And though the copious battles that follow are as one-sided as expected due to Haven's surprise offensive, the unexpected aid of the new long-range missiles; the missile-pod carriers; and the LAC-carriers that tote around massively improved Shrike-class attack craft, reverse the fortune of at least two of those engagements. There's hundreds of pages describing this attack in various aspects, from setup to execution, and the end result is spectacular: stuff gets blowed up real good.
For all that, all we really know about Grayson is that they, unlike Manticore, dove right in to manufacturing the new prototype designs Honor helped draft in . There's also the sticky situation of Honor's "death" causing problems with the inheritance of her titles, and the involvement of her parents in that particular solution is as amusing as it is creative. Her work as a geneticist also unveils just why the Graysons survived on such an inhospitable planet, and just why the male/female birth ratio is so unbalanced. This last has been an unanswered question for at least six novels, so it's great that Weber has finally gotten around to answering it.
Manticore seems only able to revel in its ability to allow its nobility to usurp common sense, and let its adherence to existing methodology threaten to derail research into their new prototype weapons. We see another aspect of Manticore here that has already appeared occasionally, and it's an unfortunate extension of their society. In this novel, we learn that our favorite star kingdom is a year behind Grayson in building the new classes of LAC and missile carriers. We continue to watch as political ties and family connections lead to promotions of complete imbeciles who would rather die in a blaze of vainglory, than escape an unwinnable situation. We watch impotently as one idiotic decision after another puts them at a continuing disadvantage in the war.
And none of this even approaches the effort Honor puts into securing the escape from Haven of not just her crew, but nearly half a million refugees stranded there over the course of last few decades of Haven's offensives. It's a very near thing, and the suspense in these areas was just as enticing as the space battles and political machinations. It's probably one of the strongest novels in the series thus far, because it sits at the crux of what is almost a perfect storm of opportunity as the focus of the war shifts. This is a very long read, and very little is wasted in irrelevant details; everything drives the plot forward, and there's a lot of plot to drive.
That this is technically merely an interim novel while we wait for Honor to enter the fray again, makes its strengths even more unexpected and refreshing. This could have been "Honor escapes valiantly from Hades, and blows stuff up as she goes!" What we got instead were several different layers of simultaneous and decisive events critical to drive the universe forward, not just Honor's character. It's easy to see why Weber's creation has so many fans even at such a ponderous length.
June 15, 2016
Way too long. *sighs* The action sequences are mostly very good, the space battles are excellent as always, but the longwinded discussions and arguments just drag on and on.
Don't be afraid to skim, but DO make sure you skim. Some bits of the wind are important. °͜°
Don't be afraid to skim, but DO make sure you skim. Some bits of the wind are important. °͜°
February 20, 2024
Ups and downs
So, this book is far too long, it didn't need to be anywhere near 740 pages.
Every chapter it felt like we did multiple deep dives into the minds of whomever perspective we were currently viewing. While that does have its advantages from a storytelling aspect, half of it was useless filler.
During high stakes battles the perspectives would change rapidly from peep to alliance and from individual commander to commander. I normally would love this, but there was zero... ZERO use of section breaks to indicate a change is setting or perspective, with perspectives changing as much as 2 or3 times on a single page, it made it virtually impossible to follow the story with any sort of smooth flow.
Don't even get me started on the part where "oh no my buddy didn't respond to my chess move, he must be dead and his base must have been taken over, better organize an invasion fleet" logic. That is probably the most stupid justification for ANYTHING I've ever read in ANY book to date.
If it wasn't for the quality of the battle scenes (minus the lack of section breaks) and how the book ultimately wrapped up, this would have been an easy 2/5.
So, this book is far too long, it didn't need to be anywhere near 740 pages.
Every chapter it felt like we did multiple deep dives into the minds of whomever perspective we were currently viewing. While that does have its advantages from a storytelling aspect, half of it was useless filler.
During high stakes battles the perspectives would change rapidly from peep to alliance and from individual commander to commander. I normally would love this, but there was zero... ZERO use of section breaks to indicate a change is setting or perspective, with perspectives changing as much as 2 or3 times on a single page, it made it virtually impossible to follow the story with any sort of smooth flow.
Don't even get me started on the part where "oh no my buddy didn't respond to my chess move, he must be dead and his base must have been taken over, better organize an invasion fleet" logic. That is probably the most stupid justification for ANYTHING I've ever read in ANY book to date.
If it wasn't for the quality of the battle scenes (minus the lack of section breaks) and how the book ultimately wrapped up, this would have been an easy 2/5.
April 13, 2012
This is still a good book, just not quite as good as I remembered. Unlike the other entries in this series, #8 is broken into "books" which follow different storylines, one for Honor Harrington on Hades, one for Peep stories, and one for everywhere else. All of these storylines are pretty heavy-hitting; this is the entry in the Honorverse that kicks off a whole new kind of war and the body count, momentum change, and POW/escape story line are all emotionally loaded, although never sluggish. Weber's characteristic info-dumping and numbers heavy dialogue are still in evidence; however, this entry has some serious page turning tension.
Having read all but the latest two entries, this is also the book that settles Honor Harrington into a slightly less larger-than-life role. Not that her storyline is any less incredible and odds-defying than before (fans of the series know how this book's conflict will end but it is a heck of a ride). Weber does a better job of letting the story pull back to the larger war effort and lets other characters grow in the available space (the continued growth of Alistair McKeon and Alice Truman are particularly notable).
The major change in re-reading this entry was my impression of Alexander Hamish's character; he comes off as much less noble than when I first read this book years ago. His grief bleeding over from the events of book 7 is overdone for something he didn't have in the first place .
Overall, definitely a great entry in the Honor Harrington series with an ending that is still perhaps her finest hour. More than worth it for fans of the rest of the series.
Having read all but the latest two entries, this is also the book that settles Honor Harrington into a slightly less larger-than-life role. Not that her storyline is any less incredible and odds-defying than before (fans of the series know how this book's conflict will end but it is a heck of a ride). Weber does a better job of letting the story pull back to the larger war effort and lets other characters grow in the available space (the continued growth of Alistair McKeon and Alice Truman are particularly notable).
The major change in re-reading this entry was my impression of Alexander Hamish's character; he comes off as much less noble than when I first read this book years ago. His grief bleeding over from the events of book 7 is overdone for something he didn't have in the first place .
Overall, definitely a great entry in the Honor Harrington series with an ending that is still perhaps her finest hour. More than worth it for fans of the rest of the series.
March 25, 2018
This series is a long slog. Unfortunately, I feel compelled to read the entire series to properly appreciate it. Weber is great at inserting technical details that sound plausible. He's also good at thinking through the political milieu of the Honor Harrington universe in great detail. The only problem with this is that the reader is subject to many long pages containing conversations about the politics between various characters. This makes from some very dry and tedious chapters. The action sequences are what the reader is waiting for, but these are few and far between and we wade through hundreds of pages of exposition that sets up the final short action sequences. It's like eating a bowl of Lucky Charms that contains only three small marshmallows.
June 7, 2009
As this series goes on, the lack of an editor or any kind gets more and more obvious. Most of the later books could easily be cut by 1/3 in verbiage with no cost to the storyline.
Worse, the plotting gets more and more improbable. The leaders of two star nations commit to killing off 2 million of their citizens in a fit of pique is not exactly reasonable plotting.
Worse, the plotting gets more and more improbable. The leaders of two star nations commit to killing off 2 million of their citizens in a fit of pique is not exactly reasonable plotting.
March 4, 2015
Dve trcine knjige skoro bespotrebno i dosadno sa gomilom flesbekova i unutrasnjih razmisljanja koje idu i po nekoliko strana. Jedino je kraj donekle izgladio situaciju.
Predugacko i dosadno tako da cak i ako ste fan serijala mozda da preskocite ovu knjigu.
Predugacko i dosadno tako da cak i ako ste fan serijala mozda da preskocite ovu knjigu.
July 1, 2024
Hey, remember when I reviewed In Enemy Hands and said that Honor Among Enemies felt a lot like a bridge novel to something else in the series? Well In Enemy Hands was definitely that, but Echoes of Honor dials everything up to eleven. Don't get me wrong: all of the books in the series have been good. I would genuinely say that it's a series that gets better the deeper you get into it, but Echoes of Honor is the absolute pinnacle of this series so far. (New prediction for those keeping scores at home: In Enemy Hands, Echoes of Honor, and Ashes of Victory are going to be the best three-book arc in this series.)
Echoes of Honor starts, shockingly, with footage of Honor's execution being broadcast on galactic newsfeeds. Witnessed by Honor's parents on Grayson, it leaves the Star Kingdom of Manticore with a grim determination to avenge her and sends Grayson into an absolute fury. Funerals are held on both planets and an empty coffin is interred in the Royal Cathedral. The first part of the book deals with the immediate fallout of Honor's purported death. Her parents mourn along with her household staff on Grayson- including her faithful steward, Mac. The question of succession to her steading is a tricky one, but ultimately, her parents- who had always planned on having more children, eventually- because, thanks to the genetic prolong treatments, they could- decide to have them-- but only after some contemplation of their own.
What no one knows- but the reader does- is that Honor is very much alive and well and on the Prison Planet Hades and starts formulating plans with her crew to find some allies and get off the planet.
Behind enemy lines, we see Esther McQueen continue to build her power structure as Haven deals with the fallout of Cordelia Ransom's death and the explosion of the Tepes-- believed also to have killed Honor and the rest of the prisoners. Esther is formulating a plan to hit Manticoran Alliance hard and in places they're not expecting and wants the help of Admirals Theisman, Tourville and Giscard to help her-- all three Admirals that had fallen out of favor with the Ministry of State Security, formerly headed by Ransom. She gets the Admirals that she wants-- and we find out some interesting things: Tourville and Foraker have kept silent on the footage on her console that seemed to indicate that someone could have survived the explosion of the Tepes. Giscard is having an affair with his People's Commissioner, Eloise Prichard. But nevertheless: the Peep Offensive pushes forward.
On Hades, Honor has found some allies-- including what might be my favorite callback to earlier books, the father, presumed dead of Tomas Ramirez. (I wish I could remember which book, but Tomas is a Marine, from San Martin and hates the Peeps. His Dad Jesus is pretty much the same, but older and really hates the Peeps.) They put together a plan to take over the main command and control center of the prison planet and set about figuring out what to do next. The Prisoners-- many of whom have been on Hades for decades want some measure of accountability against their jailers- for obvious reasons, but Honor is not interested in vigilante justice. She wants them to be put on trial-- but there's a hitch: she puts them on trial using Peep Laws, because she doesn't want to hand State Security a potential propaganda victory. She also has to figure out how to acquire shipping to get nearly half a million prisoners off the planet and home, a job made that much harder by the start of the Peep Offensive, entangling Alliance forces in a frantic defense and making it highly unlikely they would be able to send assistance to evacuate everyone.
Hey, do you remember Alice Truman? (She's one of the characters that sort of wanders in and out of these books, the same way Michelle Henke does.) She's been 'up to something' and what that something is sure seems like an aircraft carrier in space, except instead of fighter jets, she's stocked with LACs and when things kick off on the military front, they kick ass. (Also, White Haven, still riddled with guilt, is hounding his superiors to get his fleet fully put together so he can do something with it and when things kick off for him, he sends the whole damn fleet on a two-jump, incredibly risky, insane amount of tonnage hyperspace hop through to Manticore (from Grayson) and then onto Basilisk. Also very badass, even if it doesn't prevent the Allies from taking heavy losses in the system.)
Honor and company, having concluded that they're on their own start acquiring ships bit by bit, and eventually their luck appears to run out as the disappearances start to be noted and a sizable force concludes that something has gone badly wrong in Hades and sends forces enough to put down any potential takeover. Honor being Honor lures them into a trap, gets all the ships she needs, and with her 'Elysian Space Navy' heads back home to inform a stunned White Haven and the rest of the Alliance that reports of her death, were, in fact, exaggerated.
Overall: I love how this book is structured-- we go from non-Hades (Peep, Manticore, Grayson, points between) to Hades sections alternating throughout and it just works. The whole story takes place over the course of two years, which feels about right to me-- it's time enough for news of Honor's death to get out, for people closest to her to mourn and start to move on, but also gives her and her crew enough time to find allies, make plans, take over and do what they need to do. The timeline is just right. The structure is perfect.
I get that you're always going to see Honor Harrington front and center in these books- it is, after all, kind of her series. But these books also become exponentially more interesting to me when Weber pulls his focus out just a bit wider and we see more of the Honorverse at large. I like exploring the political tensions in the Alliance. I like seeing the Graysons muddle through what to do about her steading. I like that we get to see more of her parents than we've ever seen before. It makes the universe deeper, richer, the stakes higher and more meaningful.
I've often thought that naming her Honor was just a bit too on the nose, but you know what? I don't care. She's awesome. She brings people up and doesn't tear them down. I don't think she'd like the notion that she inspires devotion and loyalty amongst the people that follow her and I think she would be the first to tell you that 'there's no I in team' and that's probably what I find most compelling about the character. She doesn't make it all about herself, in fact you could argue that her character flaw is a tendency to go hard in the opposite direction, even past the point of what seems reasonable and achievable, but she always seems to get there in the end.
Best book of the series so far, hands down. Can't wait for the next volume. My Grade: **** out of ****
Echoes of Honor starts, shockingly, with footage of Honor's execution being broadcast on galactic newsfeeds. Witnessed by Honor's parents on Grayson, it leaves the Star Kingdom of Manticore with a grim determination to avenge her and sends Grayson into an absolute fury. Funerals are held on both planets and an empty coffin is interred in the Royal Cathedral. The first part of the book deals with the immediate fallout of Honor's purported death. Her parents mourn along with her household staff on Grayson- including her faithful steward, Mac. The question of succession to her steading is a tricky one, but ultimately, her parents- who had always planned on having more children, eventually- because, thanks to the genetic prolong treatments, they could- decide to have them-- but only after some contemplation of their own.
What no one knows- but the reader does- is that Honor is very much alive and well and on the Prison Planet Hades and starts formulating plans with her crew to find some allies and get off the planet.
Behind enemy lines, we see Esther McQueen continue to build her power structure as Haven deals with the fallout of Cordelia Ransom's death and the explosion of the Tepes-- believed also to have killed Honor and the rest of the prisoners. Esther is formulating a plan to hit Manticoran Alliance hard and in places they're not expecting and wants the help of Admirals Theisman, Tourville and Giscard to help her-- all three Admirals that had fallen out of favor with the Ministry of State Security, formerly headed by Ransom. She gets the Admirals that she wants-- and we find out some interesting things: Tourville and Foraker have kept silent on the footage on her console that seemed to indicate that someone could have survived the explosion of the Tepes. Giscard is having an affair with his People's Commissioner, Eloise Prichard. But nevertheless: the Peep Offensive pushes forward.
On Hades, Honor has found some allies-- including what might be my favorite callback to earlier books, the father, presumed dead of Tomas Ramirez. (I wish I could remember which book, but Tomas is a Marine, from San Martin and hates the Peeps. His Dad Jesus is pretty much the same, but older and really hates the Peeps.) They put together a plan to take over the main command and control center of the prison planet and set about figuring out what to do next. The Prisoners-- many of whom have been on Hades for decades want some measure of accountability against their jailers- for obvious reasons, but Honor is not interested in vigilante justice. She wants them to be put on trial-- but there's a hitch: she puts them on trial using Peep Laws, because she doesn't want to hand State Security a potential propaganda victory. She also has to figure out how to acquire shipping to get nearly half a million prisoners off the planet and home, a job made that much harder by the start of the Peep Offensive, entangling Alliance forces in a frantic defense and making it highly unlikely they would be able to send assistance to evacuate everyone.
Hey, do you remember Alice Truman? (She's one of the characters that sort of wanders in and out of these books, the same way Michelle Henke does.) She's been 'up to something' and what that something is sure seems like an aircraft carrier in space, except instead of fighter jets, she's stocked with LACs and when things kick off on the military front, they kick ass. (Also, White Haven, still riddled with guilt, is hounding his superiors to get his fleet fully put together so he can do something with it and when things kick off for him, he sends the whole damn fleet on a two-jump, incredibly risky, insane amount of tonnage hyperspace hop through to Manticore (from Grayson) and then onto Basilisk. Also very badass, even if it doesn't prevent the Allies from taking heavy losses in the system.)
Honor and company, having concluded that they're on their own start acquiring ships bit by bit, and eventually their luck appears to run out as the disappearances start to be noted and a sizable force concludes that something has gone badly wrong in Hades and sends forces enough to put down any potential takeover. Honor being Honor lures them into a trap, gets all the ships she needs, and with her 'Elysian Space Navy' heads back home to inform a stunned White Haven and the rest of the Alliance that reports of her death, were, in fact, exaggerated.
Overall: I love how this book is structured-- we go from non-Hades (Peep, Manticore, Grayson, points between) to Hades sections alternating throughout and it just works. The whole story takes place over the course of two years, which feels about right to me-- it's time enough for news of Honor's death to get out, for people closest to her to mourn and start to move on, but also gives her and her crew enough time to find allies, make plans, take over and do what they need to do. The timeline is just right. The structure is perfect.
I get that you're always going to see Honor Harrington front and center in these books- it is, after all, kind of her series. But these books also become exponentially more interesting to me when Weber pulls his focus out just a bit wider and we see more of the Honorverse at large. I like exploring the political tensions in the Alliance. I like seeing the Graysons muddle through what to do about her steading. I like that we get to see more of her parents than we've ever seen before. It makes the universe deeper, richer, the stakes higher and more meaningful.
I've often thought that naming her Honor was just a bit too on the nose, but you know what? I don't care. She's awesome. She brings people up and doesn't tear them down. I don't think she'd like the notion that she inspires devotion and loyalty amongst the people that follow her and I think she would be the first to tell you that 'there's no I in team' and that's probably what I find most compelling about the character. She doesn't make it all about herself, in fact you could argue that her character flaw is a tendency to go hard in the opposite direction, even past the point of what seems reasonable and achievable, but she always seems to get there in the end.
Best book of the series so far, hands down. Can't wait for the next volume. My Grade: **** out of ****
December 17, 2021
Echoes of Honor picks up right about where In Enemy Hands finishes... With the aftermath of Honor Harrington's capture.
This book takes a bit of a different tack with its internal organisation with different viewpoints alternating "books" within itself. External People's Republic, Grayson, and Manticore actions all appear together in books while Honor and her fellow Hades planet inhabitants form the other books. From memory it is an even split of three books a piece, but it worked quite well either way.
As always my preference leans towards the Honor Harrington chapters but there were quite a few interesting Grayson and Manticore segments as well. The People's Republic interests me less because it is fairly political in large sections but there were good bits too. I enjoy Tourville and Theismen possibly because they appear to be men trying to fight for their "country" even though they know that the people running it aren't fighting for the same ideals as they are.
The ending is quite possibly one of my favourite so far. It is Honor at her brilliant best.
Edit: I've re-read this book a few times now, and while I stick by my previous comments, I have to make the addition that despite the size of this novel unlike the previous book in the series I didn't feel as if it was bogged down in unneeded waffle. Except, one bit on Grayson, and I think that anyone that reads the story will know the bit I mean. Though, the first time through, that was a pretty important revelation. The third and fourth? Not so much.
The Honor sections remain one of my favourite Honor-central bits from the entire series.
This book takes a bit of a different tack with its internal organisation with different viewpoints alternating "books" within itself. External People's Republic, Grayson, and Manticore actions all appear together in books while Honor and her fellow Hades planet inhabitants form the other books. From memory it is an even split of three books a piece, but it worked quite well either way.
As always my preference leans towards the Honor Harrington chapters but there were quite a few interesting Grayson and Manticore segments as well. The People's Republic interests me less because it is fairly political in large sections but there were good bits too. I enjoy Tourville and Theismen possibly because they appear to be men trying to fight for their "country" even though they know that the people running it aren't fighting for the same ideals as they are.
The ending is quite possibly one of my favourite so far. It is Honor at her brilliant best.
Edit: I've re-read this book a few times now, and while I stick by my previous comments, I have to make the addition that despite the size of this novel unlike the previous book in the series I didn't feel as if it was bogged down in unneeded waffle. Except, one bit on Grayson, and I think that anyone that reads the story will know the bit I mean. Though, the first time through, that was a pretty important revelation. The third and fourth? Not so much.
The Honor sections remain one of my favourite Honor-central bits from the entire series.
June 26, 2016
What does it take to come back from the dead.
In the eighth HH novel things get back on track again. The focus is a bit more tightly on the title character as she and her companions device a plan to leave the prison planet they are stranded one. Meanwhile the galaxy moves one. Haves presses on and starts hitting where it hurts. Things are slowly turning against The Starkingdom even if there are a few sparks of hope.
All things considered this novel returns to quality of the earlier novels. The focus is still a bit scattered over to many placed and characters, but Honer herself is back at the center of it all. Add a number of epic battles and you have me sold on a solid 4.5 rating
In the eighth HH novel things get back on track again. The focus is a bit more tightly on the title character as she and her companions device a plan to leave the prison planet they are stranded one. Meanwhile the galaxy moves one. Haves presses on and starts hitting where it hurts. Things are slowly turning against The Starkingdom even if there are a few sparks of hope.
All things considered this novel returns to quality of the earlier novels. The focus is still a bit scattered over to many placed and characters, but Honer herself is back at the center of it all. Add a number of epic battles and you have me sold on a solid 4.5 rating
December 28, 2016
The ending was good, and I enjoyed Honor's scenes, but this book was so bloated. Echoes of Honor is about 200 pages longer than the previous book. There's not more story though...
For about three months I struggled to get through the 50-80% section of this book.
Lots of side characters stroking their faces and chuckling to themselves. Lots of side side characters briefing hypothetical maybes that you know as the reader end up as the truth. Lots of telling instead of showing.
I can't bring myself to write much more because I've made my complaints known in earlier installments. For even hardcore Honor fans, I expect this will be difficult to get through.
For about three months I struggled to get through the 50-80% section of this book.
Lots of side characters stroking their faces and chuckling to themselves. Lots of side side characters briefing hypothetical maybes that you know as the reader end up as the truth. Lots of telling instead of showing.
I can't bring myself to write much more because I've made my complaints known in earlier installments. For even hardcore Honor fans, I expect this will be difficult to get through.
August 4, 2011
David Weber tried something a little different here with his structure dividing the three different plot threads into seperate books instead of interweaving them. The unintended result was highlighting the weaker of the plot lines. His penchant for detail was just a bit annoying, for example, when Honor goes on and on and on and on about her reasons for not employing a temporary steward. Aside from these niggling lapses the escape from the planet Hell was very interesting and altogether the story holds up well enough.
March 14, 2012
Not my favorite in the series so far, I have to say. The storyline felt disjointed and I didn't feel like we got to know the new characters very well. Of course, some of them didn't last long, so I guess that's OK. I do like the way the young Clinkscales, so awkward when we met him, has matured. And the insights into White Haven's emotions were helpful to my understanding of the relationship between Honor and him.
Honor's "battle" near the end of the book was wonderfully amazing and a great vindication of her belief in the character and leadership of the force she had cobbled together.
Honor's "battle" near the end of the book was wonderfully amazing and a great vindication of her belief in the character and leadership of the force she had cobbled together.
December 9, 2020
Always check the page count on a book before you start reading it 'just because you've got a copy on your Kindle already'...
Too long, too wordy, too many infodumps, too much battle mechanics, not enough editing. But, not a bad story, definitely fun in parts, and if you can train your eyes to skim over some of the more tedious sections, it doesn't seem to take as long to read as I'd feared it was going to. That said, not sure I'm going to bother to read the remaining books in the series just because they're sitting on my Kindle already...
Too long, too wordy, too many infodumps, too much battle mechanics, not enough editing. But, not a bad story, definitely fun in parts, and if you can train your eyes to skim over some of the more tedious sections, it doesn't seem to take as long to read as I'd feared it was going to. That said, not sure I'm going to bother to read the remaining books in the series just because they're sitting on my Kindle already...
July 27, 2016
3.5 stars. I'd give it 4 stars if it wasn't for all those pages of ramblings.
However, once you get the hang of just skipping those pages, the "Great Escape" was actually a very good book!
I wish the editor have been a bit more decisive and cut out all the babble. I want to read a novel, not a text book!
However, once you get the hang of just skipping those pages, the "Great Escape" was actually a very good book!
I wish the editor have been a bit more decisive and cut out all the babble. I want to read a novel, not a text book!
March 16, 2021
2018 re-read. A very good read indeed!
July 11, 2015
One of the best in the Honor Harrington series.
January 31, 2021
3 stars. Listened but I went down 1/2 star from my read of the book in 2016.
This book was over 27 hours and I had to speed through at 2x6 time. Listening to the characters talking like chipmunks did make the book go faster when we get essays over battleship engines and weaponry, space travel and galactic politics. I think there was even a dissertation somewhere early on about DNA? There is just so much unnecessary clutter that a good editor could have made this book into a great one.
I understand there needed to be some setting up for those final battle scenes, but it didn't have to take 2/3 of the book before any relevant action actually happened!
Excerpt of my previous review below:
3.5 stars. I'd give it 4 stars if it wasn't for all those pages of ramblings.
However, once you get the hang of just skipping those pages, the "Great Escape" was actually a very good book!
I wish the editor have been a bit more decisive and cut out all the babble. I want to read a novel, not a text book!
This book was over 27 hours and I had to speed through at 2x6 time. Listening to the characters talking like chipmunks did make the book go faster when we get essays over battleship engines and weaponry, space travel and galactic politics. I think there was even a dissertation somewhere early on about DNA? There is just so much unnecessary clutter that a good editor could have made this book into a great one.
I understand there needed to be some setting up for those final battle scenes, but it didn't have to take 2/3 of the book before any relevant action actually happened!
Excerpt of my previous review below:
3.5 stars. I'd give it 4 stars if it wasn't for all those pages of ramblings.
However, once you get the hang of just skipping those pages, the "Great Escape" was actually a very good book!
I wish the editor have been a bit more decisive and cut out all the babble. I want to read a novel, not a text book!
May 23, 2019
In the last book, , Honor's fabled luck ran out. She and many of her people were captured by the People's Republic. Things go from bad worse when she's turned over to State Security... and executed on video broadcast to everyone. The Manticoran Alliance is shocked and horrified, and the war ratchets up another few notches.
What almost no one knows is that Honor is not, in fact, dead. She's been taken to a world appropriately called Hell, a top secret prison world that no one has ever escaped from. But that sounds like a challenge to Honor and her crew. Making new alliances, she is bound and determined to get herself, and anyone else who wants to come, away from this wretched place. She has no idea she's officially dead, and the rest of the Alliance is mourning her.
What almost no one knows is that Honor is not, in fact, dead. She's been taken to a world appropriately called Hell, a top secret prison world that no one has ever escaped from. But that sounds like a challenge to Honor and her crew. Making new alliances, she is bound and determined to get herself, and anyone else who wants to come, away from this wretched place. She has no idea she's officially dead, and the rest of the Alliance is mourning her.
June 27, 2019
Solo puedo decir una cosa quiero más quiero más.
May 17, 2019
Echo's of Honor by David Weber (Honor Harrington series Book 8)
As always I love this book even three times around. If reading this in order or reading it by itself I always have to keep In Enemy Hands close at hand. These are a companion set that have to go together and they are the turning point for me for these novels.
As I have mentioned before I got invested in the Honor Harrington Series because I like the character of Honor Harrington. Probably in honesty I liked the idea of the character. This was early 90's and we were already seeing many inroads with female characters by then. This character promised to be something almost unique with, and I have to be honest here, being modeled after a famous male character in fiction, Horatio Hornblower.
Honor may have started out as a comparison to that character but it almost seems like David Weber did a sly trick here by further developing the character of Lester Tourville who is with the Peeps but has a brash personality that almost sounds as calculated and colorful as the person Horatio Hornblower had to create when he was around his men.
Throughout this series the character of Honor Harrington has been always best portrayed to us through those who work and die or live around her. It's difficult most of the earlier books to really see her inner self through her own point of view because of the persona she had to maintain to keep the cool calculated person who always tried to do the best with what she was given. These middle novels give us more insight into Honor and a better look at her from within her head as she has to adapt to the new circumstances of being a prisoner of war and trying to keep her head above water.
Even though she has the title of Admiral she has to work hard to maintain the necessary discipline that it takes to drive a multinational force of ex-prisoners to their top form.
David Weber does a tremendous job of creating a world and all the parts that make it run both politically and militarily. Even for someone who is trying to follow the battles and not trying to make comparison's to famous sea battles or plot-lines from other famous fiction it becomes evident that David has a grasp of his world. (Although it's about this time that he does make the admission that he has begun to find it a daunting task to keep up with.)
The Peeps are still in flux, they just don't know it, rebellion looms. There are many characters who are being brought in with strong character and sound values and starting to twist the reader's view of the Peeps. The Manties still have their split in the political arena, but the military is slowly galvanizing and partly because of Honor having dragged Hamish out on the carpet about his views of the plans of Horrible Hemphill. There is still room for that conflict to rekindle, though.
Hamish Alexander has as much as admitted his love for Honor, to himself, despite his loyalty to his wife. Honestly speaking Honor has been way to busy to dwell on the feelings she'd sensed through Nimitz from Hamish.
With everyone certain that Honor is dead they try to move on and forward. It's difficult to say that some decisions that are later shown to be fateful might have been influenced by this frame of mind, but we do get to see the Honor Harrington Medusa class superdreadnoughts come off the line from the Grayson Space Navy's joint effort with Manticore.
The war is winding up on both sides with all the players being showcased in their good and evil glory while Honor is struggling to get out of Hell.
Superb addition to the Honor collection definitely a great read for any fan of Honor Harrington. It's a given that if you have been indoctrinated to these books to this point they will just get better. You must love the Political intrigue and the military buildup descriptions and have at least some understanding of the universe itself.
As always I suggest a person start at Baslisk Station and go from there. If you make it past the first five in the series you're doomed-in a good way.
J.L. Dobias
2 people found t
As always I love this book even three times around. If reading this in order or reading it by itself I always have to keep In Enemy Hands close at hand. These are a companion set that have to go together and they are the turning point for me for these novels.
As I have mentioned before I got invested in the Honor Harrington Series because I like the character of Honor Harrington. Probably in honesty I liked the idea of the character. This was early 90's and we were already seeing many inroads with female characters by then. This character promised to be something almost unique with, and I have to be honest here, being modeled after a famous male character in fiction, Horatio Hornblower.
Honor may have started out as a comparison to that character but it almost seems like David Weber did a sly trick here by further developing the character of Lester Tourville who is with the Peeps but has a brash personality that almost sounds as calculated and colorful as the person Horatio Hornblower had to create when he was around his men.
Throughout this series the character of Honor Harrington has been always best portrayed to us through those who work and die or live around her. It's difficult most of the earlier books to really see her inner self through her own point of view because of the persona she had to maintain to keep the cool calculated person who always tried to do the best with what she was given. These middle novels give us more insight into Honor and a better look at her from within her head as she has to adapt to the new circumstances of being a prisoner of war and trying to keep her head above water.
Even though she has the title of Admiral she has to work hard to maintain the necessary discipline that it takes to drive a multinational force of ex-prisoners to their top form.
David Weber does a tremendous job of creating a world and all the parts that make it run both politically and militarily. Even for someone who is trying to follow the battles and not trying to make comparison's to famous sea battles or plot-lines from other famous fiction it becomes evident that David has a grasp of his world. (Although it's about this time that he does make the admission that he has begun to find it a daunting task to keep up with.)
The Peeps are still in flux, they just don't know it, rebellion looms. There are many characters who are being brought in with strong character and sound values and starting to twist the reader's view of the Peeps. The Manties still have their split in the political arena, but the military is slowly galvanizing and partly because of Honor having dragged Hamish out on the carpet about his views of the plans of Horrible Hemphill. There is still room for that conflict to rekindle, though.
Hamish Alexander has as much as admitted his love for Honor, to himself, despite his loyalty to his wife. Honestly speaking Honor has been way to busy to dwell on the feelings she'd sensed through Nimitz from Hamish.
With everyone certain that Honor is dead they try to move on and forward. It's difficult to say that some decisions that are later shown to be fateful might have been influenced by this frame of mind, but we do get to see the Honor Harrington Medusa class superdreadnoughts come off the line from the Grayson Space Navy's joint effort with Manticore.
The war is winding up on both sides with all the players being showcased in their good and evil glory while Honor is struggling to get out of Hell.
Superb addition to the Honor collection definitely a great read for any fan of Honor Harrington. It's a given that if you have been indoctrinated to these books to this point they will just get better. You must love the Political intrigue and the military buildup descriptions and have at least some understanding of the universe itself.
As always I suggest a person start at Baslisk Station and go from there. If you make it past the first five in the series you're doomed-in a good way.
J.L. Dobias
2 people found t
October 28, 2016
I really enjoyed this one, most likely because there wasn't 50-100 pages of how great Honor is before the plot actually takes off.
The plot switches between Honor's friends, family, and Navy in the aftermath of her supposed death to Honor herself as she and her compatriots struggle to get off of Hell. (They do pretty well considering they don't have Steve McQueen or James Garner). In some ways, the non-Honor sections seem more interesting, though the Honor sections aren't lacking either.
I still have some issues - why do the men around Honor (McKeon, LaFollet) seem to have no life until its defined by her, the if you don't like Honor you're scum, and Honor's cadre as it were, is prodominately, if not exclusively male. Look, I can understand the whole "wink, wink" thing, but why? Honor's even more worried about her father than about her mother, and while that's understandable in terms of the characters, it re-enforces in some ways Honor as unique woman, not unique person.
I also have to say that I am conflicted about the whole Honor being able to read other people's emotions via her link with Nimitz. Its like that scene in Star Wars The Phantom Menace where Qui-Jon tries to use Jedi mind tricks on Anakin's owner. Yeah, the owner is a pig, but he has to make a living and if Jedi's are about justice, should they really be cheating someone? Additionally, givein Honor an extra power on top of her treecat and strength, makes her success, at least to a new reader, look like a result of her "powers".
Still, an entertaining read. And I should point out something important. Weber is hardly the only author to use the "always right and everyone worships the main character" trope, but unlike many of those authors, Weber still manages to make Honor likable, mostly due to lack of ego.
The plot switches between Honor's friends, family, and Navy in the aftermath of her supposed death to Honor herself as she and her compatriots struggle to get off of Hell. (They do pretty well considering they don't have Steve McQueen or James Garner). In some ways, the non-Honor sections seem more interesting, though the Honor sections aren't lacking either.
I still have some issues - why do the men around Honor (McKeon, LaFollet) seem to have no life until its defined by her, the if you don't like Honor you're scum, and Honor's cadre as it were, is prodominately, if not exclusively male. Look, I can understand the whole "wink, wink" thing, but why? Honor's even more worried about her father than about her mother, and while that's understandable in terms of the characters, it re-enforces in some ways Honor as unique woman, not unique person.
I also have to say that I am conflicted about the whole Honor being able to read other people's emotions via her link with Nimitz. Its like that scene in Star Wars The Phantom Menace where Qui-Jon tries to use Jedi mind tricks on Anakin's owner. Yeah, the owner is a pig, but he has to make a living and if Jedi's are about justice, should they really be cheating someone? Additionally, givein Honor an extra power on top of her treecat and strength, makes her success, at least to a new reader, look like a result of her "powers".
Still, an entertaining read. And I should point out something important. Weber is hardly the only author to use the "always right and everyone worships the main character" trope, but unlike many of those authors, Weber still manages to make Honor likable, mostly due to lack of ego.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 4, 2019
I decided to write one summary review for books 1-9 in the HH series. I guess that what I write down below could be considered as very mild spoilers.
What I liked:
* the action scenes
* they were very well described, especially the space battles, the author found the exact mix of describing the situation, engaged forces, the thinking on both sides and the execution, best parts of the books for me
* I didn't bother to check the numbers though but I believe the author put some effort into them
* the other action scenes, like the duels, hand-to-hand combat and ground ops were also fine
* the world
* I liked the world, its rules but I'd like to get more details
What I hated:
* the constant jumping around, it didn't flow naturally, in the later books, I found myself skipping whole chapters to get to the "good stuff", when I finished the book, I back tracked and I read the parts which I skipped (I usually read books from cover to cover without jumping over something)
* moreover, while the look from the other side is always interesting, I couldn't stand the walls of text which were presented as thoughts of any given character, you are forced to read about some global rules/laws/customs/expectations which help you to understand what motivated the character to act in such a way, this feels a really crude way of story telling because it repeats itself all the time
* another problem, at least for me, is the fact that these auxiliary characters have very short lifespan, you get to know them a bit and then they get killed within the same book or at most in the next two books, there is such a high turn-over of characters that you have almost zero interest to read about them after you find out this fact
* in the same vein, the characters which are key for the story and you meet them again and again, you have not so much info about them, the politicians, the admirals, the queen, the protector, etc.
* also as the customs, laws and rules of the society are introduced purely as needed to move the story in certain direction it feels unnatural, I'd have very much preferred more background, history, explanation in one place, which is then referred to later
* Honor is perfect leader, perfect martial artist, perfect pilot, perfect tactician, perfect officer, perfect duelist, dutiful, honorable, etc. I like heroes and heroines but if you give them supporting cast of characters who are also perfect in their area of expertize were she is not perfect like the financial wiz, the regent, the maid, the armsmen and arguably her superiors it just creates very very unreal setting and there is nothing to improve, no character development
* the books follow the same template, introduction, fight with some arch-enemy on personal level, couple of battles and the final battle, Honor gets usually promoted and is wounded in some way
/
* especially these enemies, who you meet for the first time, have the nasty habit of jumping out of the woodwork, scheming for a bit, failing to impact Honor in any meaningful way and they are ultimately dealt with only to be replaced by someone else
* I also didn't get the author's taste for Honor's mutilation, it doesn't make any sense when the state of medicine is at such a high level that she is patched up and as good as new afterwards
* the conversations between Honor and her superiors as well her subjects, the sense of familiarity, goodwill, light-heartedness, I guess the author can say that she is basically an empath making it easy to blend with other people but I still find it hard to believe that she would trade jokes with the queen and the protector in such a way especially when she had the chance to talk to them only on several occasions
* then there are several highly suspect twists in the story and the situation which lead to them, I'll describe just two of them which are really spoilers and both are from book 9
* the assassination, Honor was able to protect the heads of states with brilliant maneuver but the prime minister and the chancellor (among others) got killed to promote the next story twist; considering the fact that the LACs or yachts were military-grade ships and their personnel were highly trained navy professionals (the author presents these facts throughout the books anytime he discusses security), then I simply have no idea why they couldn't have performed the same maneuver as Honor themselves, makes no sense, especially when she had plenty of time to tell them what to do in case they couldn't have figured it out
* the next is the meeting between the queen and the opposition representatives I really don't understand why she invited them all at the same time when she wanted to bully them into different decision and quite frankly their best interests to stop the war when the allies could easily achieve enemy's capitulation in six more months is rather suspect too, they could have created new coalition while the war was ongoing and get even more dividends in six month
* but the fact that the queen could've invited them separately and bully them individually, promise them anything so that at least one of them supports her and as the situation was described, she would have been successful IMO, after all these politicians were from different parties and they'd have loved to crush their peers
* and of course the support of unaligned lords and ladies, I find it highly doubtful that the queen wouldn't have got their support back if she at least tried to persuade them; if they supported her prime minister, I see no reason why she couldn't have negotiated their continual support for the next 6 months
So all in all, I enjoyed the books but the storyline got too patched up at the end and it was quite obvious that the author simply forced the twist in very rude way so that the story could continue. In other words, some parts were too overdone and the other underdone. A pity. The author made me lose interest in reading the sequels.
One last comment. Given the fact that she is bright and hard-working person and that she dedicated more than 40 years of her life to the uniform, I can very well accept the fact that she actually achieved the perferction in all areas which were important to her. Being in peek physical shape for more than 100 years will make it inevitable for dedicated people. However, it is hard to relate to it in our less than perfect reality.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 11, 2017
I enjoy David Weber’s ‘Honor Harrington� books partly because I am an old fashioned SiFi fan and partly because I love the Honor Harrington character. The books are a cross between Isaac Asimov and Patrick O’Brian with the addition of a great heroine as the central character.
BUT, I really do find David’s writing a bit long winded. He goes into great detail explaining every bit of science behind each new ship/weapon, who invented it, how it has developed over the centuries etc. If this wasn’t bad enough, he repeats the explanations with each new book. He also loves to provide a full history and document ever thought of every new character that appears in the story, only to kill them off shortly afterwards. This would be OK if it was just a few new characters not dozens and dozens of them. Unfortunately, this means the story doesn’t flow well and I end up skipping big chunks of the book desperately trying to get back to the story.
What keeps me reading the books, is that the stories are really good and how Honor escapes 'Hell" is no exception.
BUT, I really do find David’s writing a bit long winded. He goes into great detail explaining every bit of science behind each new ship/weapon, who invented it, how it has developed over the centuries etc. If this wasn’t bad enough, he repeats the explanations with each new book. He also loves to provide a full history and document ever thought of every new character that appears in the story, only to kill them off shortly afterwards. This would be OK if it was just a few new characters not dozens and dozens of them. Unfortunately, this means the story doesn’t flow well and I end up skipping big chunks of the book desperately trying to get back to the story.
What keeps me reading the books, is that the stories are really good and how Honor escapes 'Hell" is no exception.
October 1, 2014
I enjoyed this one. The writing is cheesy in spots, and the circumstances seem pretty contrived sometimes, but I was entertained. The book is too long, but then you can't complain that Weber isn't fully fleshing out his universe. It's a tribute to his writing that I can mostly keep up with the dozens of characters and I can mostly follow the endless discussions of tactics and weapons design.
Anyway, this book was better than the last one, which went overboard with the Honor-worship. Not that people aren't still venerating her in this book, but since everybody thinks she's dead it seems a little more palatable.
Honor being able to feel people's emotions through her treecat is getting on my nerves, as it leads to a lot of sappy writing. Now she can feel how much everybody loves her, as if they weren't practically kissing her feet already.
Anyway, this book was better than the last one, which went overboard with the Honor-worship. Not that people aren't still venerating her in this book, but since everybody thinks she's dead it seems a little more palatable.
Honor being able to feel people's emotions through her treecat is getting on my nerves, as it leads to a lot of sappy writing. Now she can feel how much everybody loves her, as if they weren't practically kissing her feet already.
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