Weber publishes another tome

Looks like Through Fiery Trials has finally arrived. I think the last one I read in this series was Hell's Foundations Quiver. Not sure how many I have missed in between now. Great series, just simply too overpowering at times. Might be something to binge read after I retire, when he may have finally completed the saga.

Hells Foundations Quiver by David Weber

What is there to say about this novel that I haven't said before about Weber's story of the battle for the souls of Safehold? Another nearly 700 pages of multi-POV, locale-jumping major conflict, with the Empire of Charis managing to stay one technological leap ahead of the Army of God's forces, and with more people being brought into the inner circle of folks who know the truth about the Church's origins.

I'm afraid I may be about done trying to keep up with this series. It's just far too much trouble to spend several paragraphs each time the story jumps to a new point of view determining whether it's the bad guys or the good guys I'm reading about, and I can't keep track of all of the characters and places, even with the appendices which grow ever longer at the back of each book.

Weber is possibly the only living author who can get away with novels on this scale. His writing is quite good, but it's simply far too time consuming for me these days. This one took almost a week and  half to slog through.

Those who have been following the saga avidly are sure to enjoy it.

A Call to Arms by David Weber and Timothy Zahn

And once again we return to the story of (mostly) Travis Uriah Long, a young officer in the Royal Manticoran Navy who is constitutionally incapable of breaking the rules, and who manages to get into trouble, mostly political, when he tries to make sure they're always applied, even to the politically connected.


It's rather interesting to visit Manticoran prehistory, to learn about events taking place before the wormhole in the system is opened up and Manticore becomes a major power in the area. There's a constant struggle in the halls of power between the royal family and their loyalists in the Navy who know that the best defense is a strong offense, and the opposition who believe that limited resources must be spent domestically, not chasing mythological creatures like pirates, nor threatening aggressive neighbors by patrolling too strongly in their back yards.


There's a plot afoot by secret agents employed by the Axelrod Corporation, who have come to suspect the existence of the Manticore Junction, and who are determined to control it and the system surrounding it, so they've hired a fleet of mercenaries to invade, just at the time when the Navy has grown weak.


The story jumps around between various POVs, as we've come to expect from a Weber book, and can be a bit confusing sometimes, moving from cliffhanger to cliffhanger.


Taking an awful long time to get from point A to point B. Glad we're not paying by the word.


By the way, though I've probably not reviewed any of his stuff here, I'm a big fan of Timothy Zahn, Weber's co-author. I eagerly snatched up the first half dozen or so novels he wrote, back in the eighties. He's a powerful writer all on his lonesome.

The Sword of the South by David Weber

Did I miss something? It seems as if there may be at least a short story, perhaps an entire novella, in between War Maid's Choice and this book. Bahzell and Leanna are happily married, running a tavern, with a ten year old daughter, Gwynna, who has a telepathic bond with a dire cat. How time flies!

The fourteen hundred year old schemes of Wencit of Rum are finally coming to fruition, beginning with the appearance of a bedraggled man without a memory, at least of who he is, though his knowledge of geography and swordplay and harpistry seem to be just fine. Wencit knows his true identity, but he refuses to enlighten the poor fellow, who names himself Kenhodan. I suppose if Wencit told him, he'd have to tell us, and spoil the surprise, which truly isn't all that surprising if you've read enough of this sort of thing.

Be that as it may, Kenhodan is the key to the next step in Wencit's plots, which revolve in this episode around the defeat of an evil sorceress, Wulfra, and the recovery of a powerful ancient artifact which she has under her domain, though not necessarily her control. Our mysterious red-headed warrior, Bahzell Bloody Hand, and the ancient wild wizard Wencit (say that three times fast) book passage aboard Brandark's fastest ship for the first leg of their voyage, enduring yet roundly defeating a pirate attack, then journey overland, pursued by Dog Brother assassins, for the remainder of the quest.

Things go about as expected, and the trio manage to deal with every obstacle thrown in their path, including an acid-spitting dragon. It is, of course, quite handy that Bahzell, as a Champion of Tomanak, can magically heal his fellow travelers from all the wounds they suffer in various skirmishes.I don't recall Aragorn being able to pluck out the arrows pincushioning (that's totally a verb) Boromir and lay on hands, but Bahzell is special, dontcha know.

There's a side plot which will probably become important in the 2nd or 3rd book in this final fantasy trilogy of Weber's involving Bahzell and Leanna's daughter, who appears to be slated to be the next incredibly powerful wild wizard, either succeeding or replacing Wencit as appointed guardian of Norfressa.

Predictable, but Weber is always quite readable.

A Call to Duty by David Weber and Timothy Zahn

 A Call to Duty takes a chronological leap backwards, to the time before the Star Kingdom of Manticore's wormhole junction was discovered, when it was still at peace with Haven, the Solarian League was far away, and the Andermani Empire mere rumbles of thunder on the horizon. It is more of a young adult novel than most in the Honorverse assortment, and has also taken a step back in the magnitude of the multi-POV Weber style, and a step forward in comprehensibility to one who is not steeped to geeky goodness in the lore of Manticore.

Like many a story of the same type, it follows the journey of Travis Uriah Long, a man on the cusp of adult life, directionless, who decides to join the Royal Manticoran Navy for structure and discipline. As you might imagine, he finds a surfeit of both in the rigors of boot camp and beyond. Long gains the nickname of "Stickler" for his obstinate obedience to rules, regulations and procedures, but his career in the Navy is destined to give him a far broader education in the reality of how things work when the battle plan meets the enemy.

There's still plenty of good political machinations, but we actually get introduced to each of the players in this new series, rather than having to consult a monstrous compendium like The Book of Steel to remember the particulars about them, so it seems far easier for me to follow, much like the first handful or so of the original Honor Harrington novels. One faction of Parliament wants to dismantle the Navy, now that they are at peace, so the money can be spent on education and job creation, of course, while the others are not so sanguine about the continued stability, and want to expand the fleet to meet future threats. The downsizers have the upper hand at the moment, so morale in the fleet is not great as maintenance is deferred, and corners are cut.

Young Long gets up to plenty of adventures here, from rescuing damsels in distress fighting space pirates. Hopefully Zahn and Weber can continue to keep it simple for his old easily confused readers, who simply enjoy a well-spun yarn.

Cauldron of Ghosts by David Weber and Eric Flint

The multi-POV just got even worse...or better, if you like that sort of thing. It just came to me that this book actually serves in a triad of books with A Rising Thunder and Shadow of Freedom as a multi-novel semi-simultaneously multi-POV telling of the tale Weber started, and which madness other worthies like Flint have bought into. Cachat and Zilwicki finally deliver their news back to the PRH and Manticore, and almost immediately take off on another hare-brained adventure to gather more intelligence on Mesa, managing to sucker a few other fools into their scheme, as well, including Thandi Palani, head of Torch's military.

Queen Berry and her friends decide to form the Royal Torch Navy, mostly consisting of commando-like teams whose first assignments are to be attacking the Mesan slave trade wherever they find it, and they are improbably allied with a family of vagabond space traders we encountered in SoF. Eloise Pritchard and Queen Elizabeth of Manticore meet and decide to bury the hatchet and to ally against the Mesan Alignment. The Sollies still haven't a clue and are basically waiting to get their butts handed to them when the inevitable war comes.

After bouncing around like crazy, though, the story finally settles in on the Mesan thread, and we get to enjoy watching Victor and Anton stirring things up in the seccie underworld there. At first it appears that Victor is going to become a crime boss, but he seizes the opportunity to ally with a powerful one, instead, to prepare the underclass for the battle which is to come.

Operation Houdini is in full swing, and the Alignment kills multiple birds with many stones when they stage a series of "Audubon Ballroom" attacks on civilian targets, both to stir up a massive distraction and retaliation against the seccies who are implicated in aiding the terrorists, and to cover up the disappearance of the members of the Alignment who have been hiding in plain sight in Mesan society. They're headed for a bolthole somewhere, and it should be entertaining to see the deadly duo of Cachat and Zilwicki ferret them out in a later book.

I really need to find a good plot diagram of this whole saga somewhere. It remains confusing to me, even as I enjoy the quality of the storytelling and plot twists.

Like a Mighty Army by David Weber

All right, I have to admit here that I'm finally getting a little tired of Weber's massive data dumps, especially on the subject of troop movements and supply logistics. I can't "see" where these forces are located on some map in my mind, and their only purpose seems to be to make this whole world more "real" in the minds of Weber and those who war game for fun and profit. Or is it what he does when he runs out of interesting plot twists and schemes?

The cast of characters alone runs over 80 pages, the glossary another twenty, with six pages of maps up front.

Has Weber reached the point of having nothing new to say? That would be truly sad, but we've seen it with authors before. And what is this "we" I'm spouting? Are the multiple POVs seeping into my brain?

Key takeaways from a nearly 700 page tome. The Empire of Charis continues to implement new manufacturing techniques, with one of the key elements being their establishment of a bureau of standard measurements, which assures interchangeability of parts for their weapons, as opposed to the individual craftsmanship that goes into each and every one of the Churchlands' weapons.

Hektor and Irys and Daivyn return to Corisande, Daivyn is acknowledged as crown prince, Irys elected to the Ruling Council, and Hektor and Irys are wed in a ceremony that binds Charis and Corisande tightly together. An attack by the Church's rakurai leaves both of them grievously wounded, and the only way to save Hektor is via Merlyn's "magic", which lets the two young folks in on the big cabal's secret - the true history of Safehold.

Merlyn, Nahrman and Owl decide to create another PICA, and imbue it with Merlyn's original personality and memories, but returning him to his original gender...and seijin Nimue is born.

Charis launches a major campaign in Siddarmark to take back all of the lands the Church conquered. Long story short, they manage to destroy a huge portion of the Army of God, both on land and at sea, with their new artillery pieces, ironclad ships, and breechloading rifles. The Church is trying to catch up to their methods, but it is difficult to overcome the proscriptions on technology.

Some of Weber's slipping in new names is funny, when you can catch them...a servant named Zheevys, a nobleman named Graem Kyr, the everpresent Nahrman Baytz come immediately to mind, though there are many others.

Nowhere near the end of this saga.

Shadow of Freedom by David Weber

Weber is one of very few authors who can carry off the MMPOV (Massively Multiple Point of View) novel, and make me like it. Things bounce back and forth between the main protagonist, Michelle Henke, in command of one branch of the Manticoran fleet, and her various subcommanders, the heads of the Mesan Alignment, a brief cameo by Victor Cachat and Zilwicki, and the leaders of various rebellions on planets controlled by the Solarian League's Frontier forces.

Most of the action takes place concurrently with A Rising Thunder, I think. For the most part, the Sollies haven't really learned anything from their defeats at the hands of Manticore's latest military hardware, and Henke and her captains handily destroy even more antiquated fleets, usually allowing the opposing personnel to abandon ship if they aren't too stubborn. But there are some hints that the stupid admirals are being weeded out, and that some of the more intelligent ones are about to give Manticore a better battle at some point.

Waiting to see what happens when the PRH and Manticoran alliance really gets going.

Midst Toil and Tribulation by David Weber

I am a huge fan of David Weber's writing. I doubt there are very many of his novels which I have not read, and I own copies of almost all of them. Yet it was a struggle, despite how much I've enjoyed the Safehold series, to push on through to the end of this one. It seemed to me that to "get" what was going on, you'd need a huge hex map of Safehold, and lots of little counters to represent each of the armies and their forces involved in the tale, as well as having your "cheat sheet" handy to keep track of the major players (though Weber does include a list of all characters at the back of the book) and what has happened in the past several novels to each of them.

The major threads of the story here seem to be, first, the plight of the Republic of Siddarmark and its people following the attack of the Sword of Scheuler which destroyed much of the food supply for the nation just before winter, as well as committing horrendous atrocities upon the "heretics" (aka Reformists). The Empire of Charis (Caleb, Sharleyan, Merlin and friends) is determined to do everything they can to get desperately needed relief supplies to the general populace and to reinforce the Siddarmarkian army with all the military personnel and supplies that they'll need to stop the imminent invasion by Mother Church.

Second, after being rescued from assassination by Clyntahn's agents, Princess Irys and Prince Daivyn of Corisand are welcomed by Caleb and Sharleyan back in Charis. Despite the fact that King Hector, their father, was an enemy of Charis, they are treated with the utmost respect, and it is hoped that they can be turned into Charisian allies in the near future.

The ongoing development of technology which doesn't technically violate the Proscriptions of the Church plays a major role here, as it has for most of the series, and Charis continues to enjoy a significant advantage in the machinery of war and commerce over its enemies, but the total numerical advantage of a great population and economy are difficult to overcome, especially when the Inquisition's spies are busily stealing the inventions nearly as fast as they are appearing. I suppose the suspense of the story couldn't be dragged out nearly as long if this didn't take place, but it's a bit annoying, you know?

Another annoying thing is that Weber will quite often introduce new characters, with a full backstory attached, and you never know whether to pay close attention to them, because they'll last for several books, or maybe the whole series, or whether they're going to just be around for this particular skirmish - dying horribly, or perhaps a few skirmishes, still dying horribly, but giving us a perspective on a bit of local strategy for a time.

For the most part, however, Weber's writing is engrossing, as always, and I'm still strongly committed to finding out what becomes of the Empire of Charis over the long haul.

War Maid's Choice by David Weber

In this most recent book in the War God series by Weber, recently released, we see all of the traits that the author has become known for, especially in the Honor Harrington novels, but with some common threads with his Safehold series, as well. Weber makes a full shift to multi-threading of the plot lines, with Tomanak's Champion, Bahzell, not exactly taking a back seat, but getting nowhere near as much airtime as in earlier books. Interestingly, seven years have passed since the events in Windrider's Oath, and seven years have passed in our world, as well, since the last book was published.

The war maid in the title is Leanna, daughter of Baron Tellian, and one thread of the story begins with her returning home for her twenty-first birthday. She has slowly come to grips with the way that many of her old friends, fellow nobles, and her father's servants have treated her since she "disgraced" her family by becoming a war maid, and possibly the thing that has saved her from bitterness has been knowing that she has always had the unconditional love of her mother and father. One of her reasons for returning is to tell her mother about her desire to make her own love known to a very unconventional (for her culture) person, and let the chips fall where they may. Leanna also surprises us in some other ways; being chosen by a courser as a windrider and having her love affair blessed by a visit from gods Tomanak and Lillinara.

The evil wizard, Varnaythus, plays more than a cameo role in this story, as his incessant travels and plotting are highly detailed here. By the time we get to the climactic last 100 pages or so of the book, we begin to wonder how ever can our heroes escape his tightly woven web of treachery. And, indeed, some of our beloved characters pay a price at the end, though one of them puts in a strange Obi Wan Kenobi appearance after being killed by one of three devils summoned to this plane by one of the dark gods, Krashnark.

Varnaythus' plot to kill Baron Tellian and blame him for the simultaneous assassination of King Markhos, having sent a group of mercenaries to do the job, with a false trail laid leading to the Purple Lords, but Baron Cassan is scheduled to arrive just in time to kill all the witnesses and put his own spin on things, is enough to make your head spin. But Leanna, the War Maids, loyal Lord Trisu (who is a bit of a jerk in earlier novels, but demonstrates that personality traits don't necessarily override loyalty and competence), and the Quaysar Temple Guard manage to squish the pests in the end.

Another thing that really makes this a Weber-esque novel are the theme which we've seen before in Honor Harrington stories, is exploring the human  telepathic bonding with other sentient species; tree cats vs. coursers. Also, we see the same sort of Connecticut Yankee development that he writes about in the Safehold stories, except that the source of technology there is the android Merlyn Athawres, and in this story it is the dwarves who are inventing newer, faster, weapons with better alloy technology and building canals and light rail to move goods more quickly - Oh!, and a funicular, as well. Also, it's LONG - 596 pages, a typical Weber trait these days.

The conclusion of this book leaves us with a strong alliance between dwarves, Sothoii and hradani, the forces of the dark gods seriously weakened for a time, and rising enemies from those in surrounding lands who see their own prosperity threatened  by this new union between hereditory enemies. It will be interesting to see what develops next.

Wind Rider's Oath by David Weber

Weber, I believe, really began to hit his stride as an author at about the same time as Windrider's Oath was published. His Honor Harrington novels were showing a deep complexity, with a well-imagined social and political back story, and antagonists within the plot line who had their own deep motivations, aside from being foils for Honor and her friends. We begin to see the same depth and richness appear in the War God series in this iteration, as well, though there were certainly indications of a broader story arc and deeper plot all along.

Bahzell, Brandark and Kaeretha are right in the middle of things up on the Wind Plain, as Bahzell has become an unofficial ambassador between the hradani and the windriders, or Sothoii, in Baron Tellian's court. The Sothoii who have objections to making peace with the hradani after centuries are, for the most part, quite loudly and openly making their opinions heard, but there are also those who are engaging in guerrilla warfare against those who want peace, and darker conspiracies are underfoot, and there are subtle intimations that the dark gods are involved in stirring up trouble in the kingdom, too.

Weber displays in this novel another one of the traits that he's known for - splitting the action into multiple plot lines, centered on different protagonists. Bahzell and Brandark head away from the capital city of the Sothoii to a Lord Edinghas holdings, where there has been an attack on a herd of Coursers, supernaturally augmented horses who are the companions to those humans who have been chosen by the gods to be wind riders. Kaeritha heads to Kalatha, where a dispute between the local lord, Trisu, and the War Maids may be getting out of hand, and Leeanna, daughter of Baron Tellian, flees the prospect of a politically arranged marriage to ask for asylum in Kalatha and to join the War Maids. We also see another plot line developing, centered on the priests and priestesses of the dark gods, who have their own plans for the Wind Plain, mostly revolving around destabilization and destruction of our heroes' friends' lives and domains.

An interesting philosophical/theological point from the book:

"We need to be able to stand on our own two feet, and if we started to rely on Him for explicit instructions on everything we're supposed to be doing, how long would it be before we couldn't accomplish anything without those instructions? He expects us to be bright enough to figure out our duty without his constant prompting."
A good way for the follower of any god to live their life, I think.

A fun passage about how we often assume things about others' motivations:

"Cunning and intelligent the nobleman might be, but what he'd just said showed an alarming ability to project his own deviousness and inherent dishonesty onto others, whether it was merited or not...but automatically assuming that those same qualities were what motivated an opponent, especially a powerful opponent like Wencit of Rum, was dangerous. Success required that enemies not be underestimated or discounted."

And one of the wisest things any character of Weber's has ever said:

"Any man who has his wits about him ought to be smart enough to know a wife with brains at least as good as his own is a treasure."

The War God's Own by David Weber

Saving us the details of a potentially tedious voyage, this book takes up the saga of Bahzell and Brandark again as they arrive at the port of Belhadan. They are greeted at the port by a knight probationer of the Order of Tomanak, Vaijon Amerhas of Amerhas, a remarkably conceited young nobleman, though he is a well-trained and formidable fighter. Vaijon has a difficult time believing that any hradani has been made a Champion of Tomanak, and expresses his displeasure through most of the pair's stay at the chapterhouse in Belhadan. Sir Charrow, head of the order, does not have a problem with Bahzell's elevation to Champion, though some others within the house to, but Bahzell squelches that problem at just the right time, and those who disagree with the War God's change of policy are roundly chastised. Tomanak also bears somewhat more personal tidings for Bahzell, telling him that at long last the Rage that has plagued his people has undergone a genetic change, and that those hradani who chose to control it, rather than to be controlled by it, will be able to do so.Bahzell also benefits from his visit by getting a thorough grounding on the background of the Order (as do we) from Sir Charrow.

When his task there is done, Bahzell and Brandark journey to the dwarven city of Axe Hallo, taking Vaijon along with them as the logical next step in his training as a knight. Upon arriving in Axe Hallow, they are greeting by their old acquaintance, Wencit of Rum, who escorts them to the Temple of Tomanak in the city, where they are introduced to the Knight-General of the Order, Sir Terrian, and also to Bahzell's fellow Champion, Lady Kaeritha, a human whose induction into the ranks of champions probably caused as much consternation as the hradani's own.

While in underground metropolis of the dwarves, Bahzell once again meets up with the merchant, Kilthandarknarthas, who escorts him one day to an impressive weapons and armor manufacturing plant. There he explains that the Empire of the Axe has determined to support his father's bid to unite the clans of hradani under one rule, and that he will supply Bahnak's men with the best equipment, at a reasonable cost, with the expectation that the peace he will impose will be good for trade and prosperity. Bahzell agrees to take the message back to Hurgrum to deliver to his father.

After arriving in Hurgrum, it becomes obvious to Bahzell and his companions that something must be done to root out and destroy the worship of Sharna in Navahk. They mount a dangerous expedition in the dead of winter to attack the temple in that land and kill or capture the Scorpion God's followers. They run into more of a battle than planned when a centipede demon is raised against them, but together the two Champions and the young knight, Vaijon, are able to prevail. A huge diplomatic furor arises upon their return, and in the resolution of that affair, Tomanak creates the first chapter of his order that has ever existed on the Wind Plains.

The Order's troops remain behind to guard the women and children when Bahnak finally departs to force a reckoning with Churnazh. A foolish young warden of the Sothoii, horse lords from the upper plains who have a traditional emnity with the hradani (Bahzell's clan is called the Horse Stealers, after all), decides this is the perfect time to invade, and the handful of Order troops are called on to stop the incursion. The cavalry arrives in the nick of time, and it appears that Bahzell will be off to visit Balthar, home city of Baron Tellian of the Sothoii, probably to build even more alliances for his father. Looking forward to Wind Rider's Oath to find out what happens next.

Oath of Swords by David Weber

I began reading War Maid's Choice and soon realized that it had been far too long since I read the other books; I was lost. It's understandable, as I first read Oath of Swords when it came out in 1995, and the others as they each arrived.

Bahzell Banahkson is a prince of Hurgrum and a member of the hradani race. The hradani don't really equate to one of the traditional fantasy races. In Weber's world of Norfressa, they were either created or genetically altered during the Wizard Wars about twelve hundred years before this story takes place, and they seem to have two main characteristics; they're physically imposing humanoids, and they're subject to The Rage, a berserk state of mind that can come on without warning - very useful in battle, but the other races fear them for their savagery during the wars. They also have foxlike ears. Oooh, halflings have horns!

The story begins shortly after Bahzell's father, leader of the Horse Stealers Clan, has conquered a number of other hradani tribes and is carefully consolidating his power. He seems to be a somewhat enlightened ruler for a hradani. Bahzell is a hostage to the temporary peace in the kingdom of Navahk, ruled by Churnazh. Bahzell discovers Churnazh's son, Crown Prince Harnak, raping and beating a servant girl one night, and in a fit of righteous anger beats Harnark nearly to death, rescues the girl and flees the city, knowing that no matter how justified his actions, it cannot end well for him there.

Thus begins a long and epic journey for Bahzell, who has been chosen to be a Champion of Tomanak, the War God of Light and Justice. He is opposed by the dark god, Sharna, patron of assassins, who "coincidentally" is worshipped by Harnak.

I didn't realize it back in 1995, but as we are all now well aware, Weber loves to set up great long sweeping plot arcs in his stories, and we see the elements all begin to fall into place here.

When Bahzell flees Navahk, he is joined by a would-be bard, Brandark, a Bloody Sword clan hradani whose playing skills are marvelous, but who can't carry a tune in a bucket. The banter between these two throughout the novel is quite amusing, and it covers their strong friendship for one another quite nicely. The troubles with other humans in the first part of their journey establishes nicely for us the environment of ingrained suspicion and hatred the hradani are met with by the other races.

The pair end up joining a caravan in the Duchy of Esgan as guards, where they meet the dwarf chieftain and merchant Kilthandahknarthos - Kilthan. They serve honorably on this mission, and create lasting friendships with Kilthan and his guard captains, which sets up some alliances in later books nicely. They are attacked by bands of "dog brothers" or assassins regularly along the way, who have been set on Bahzell's trail by the servants of Sharna, though it takes him a while to figure out it's him they're after.

When they leave the caravan, Bahzell once again gets himself and Brandark in trouble in the city of Riverside when he defends a woman, Zarantha from being raped - this is getting to be a habit. The woman turns out to be the daughter of Duke Jashan, and needs the help of the pair to return to her homeland. We begin to see the gods' hands in all of this...or maybe it's the author. Again, we get the setup for alliances down the road. Bahzell definitely go above and beyond the call of duty to escort her, then rescue her from evil wizards when she is kidnapped from an inn on the road.

Bahzell is a reluctant hero, and fights against becoming the Champion for most of the book, but when it becomes apparent that he won't be able to do what comes naturally to him - fighting evil whenever it appears - without Tomanak's supernatural aid, he succumbs to the inevitable and is given some special powers and a nifty sword, too. Bahzell and Brandark meet up with the centuries old legendary wizard, Wencit of Rum, while they're on Zarantha's trail, and Wencit deals neatly with the evil wizards, while B&B handle the mere forty or so mundane thugs.

The final encounter which may create an alliance takes place at the end of the novel, when Bahzell impresses a group of halfling sailors and their captain, and he and Brandark sail off into the sunset, ready for the next installment in the story.

A Rising Thunder by David Weber

It seems as if there's a particular recognizable formula to the recent Honorverse stories by Weber. He hops around from one location to another, eavesdropping on the conversations between influential people in the Solarian League, the People's Republic of Haven, the Beowulf system, the Maya sector, and the Star Empire, and begins to build up the tension towards the big space battle that is to happen at the end of the book. In this case, the Sollies have sent a massive fleet of over four hundred ships of the wall to attack what they believe is a Manticore defenseless in the wake of the Yakawa?? attack from the previous novel. In fact, when I began reading a description of the climactic battle at about the midpoint of the book, I became confused, wondering why Weber had bumped up the timetable - but was relieved to discover that it was, after all, only a simulation being run by Honor and her cohorts.

After so many years of reading the Honor Harrington novels, it may be time for me to put some of the fan sites on my favorites bar - I think I'm beginning to need a scorecard to keep track of the players. When there is some mention of Honor's father grieving over the deaths from the Mesan strike on Manticore's home system, I couldn't for the life of me remember who in his family had been killed. I can't really expect Weber to refresh my memory every time, either - the "what has gone before" would be encyclopedic at this point.

Key points in the macro action, however, include Zilwicki's and Cachat's return with evidence of the Mesan long term plotting, President Pritchard and Empress Elizabeth's historic peace agreement and mutual defense treaty, which triggers a massive alliance between Manticore's formerly lukewarm allies and the long term loyal partners. Views of the Mesan side of things are sparse, aside from some scenes giving us the foreboding that they're ready to set the next portion of their evil plot moving forward, and it may involve even more casualties than have already happened.  The Solarian League may end up with a constitutional crisis, to accompany the economic devastation that is set in play by Manticore's boycott of their shipping, and takeover of jump termini.

Weber said, a few books back, that things were going to get much worse before they got better in the Honorverse, and there are some aspects of the situation which are at long last getting better - I hope things get no worse in the next novel.

In Fire Forged by David Weber

In Fire Forged is the fifth in the shared world Honorverse anthologies subtitled Worlds of Honor. This one contains three substantial stories and one compendium of "factual" information about space armor.

The first story, Ruthless, by Jane Lindskold, tells the story of an attempt by some political enemies of the Winton royals to disgrace Crown Prince Michael. They arrange to have his friend, Judith's daughter, Ruth, kidnapped and then threaten to return her to her father on Masada. Judith was one of his wives who was rescued by Honor and her crew in one of the earlier novels dealing with the Grayson alliance, The Honor of the Queen.

In a manner eerily reminiscent of Harrington's usual tactics, Michael decides to head directly into danger with only his personal Armsmen to rescue the child. The chase is interesting, the final crisis short and not terribly bloody, and the end of the story is just flat anticlimactic. Perhaps Weber is reserving the writing of Judith and Michael's tale to himself, so that Lindskold couldn't do it justice.

Timothy Zahn of Cobra fame pens a story, An Act of War, that is as twisty as a snake. An apparent arms smuggler, Charles Dozewah, is captured by State Security on Haven, and has to improvise a plan to avoid being tortured and put to death by them for an earlier swindle in Peep territory. He proposes a plan to Oscar Saint Juste that will use a captured and rebuilt Manticoran battleship to convince the Andermani Empire to side with Haven rather than the Star Kingdom.

The plan begins to go astray when the captain of the false-flagged ship has some plans of his own, and tries to turn it from a suicide mission into one that he and his crew will survive. In the end, the plots of Saint Juste are foiled, by a bit of legerdemain of Charles' engineering, and his former allies - and the reader - are left wondering just what happened.

Weber contributes Let's Dance to this collection. The terrorist forces of the Audubon Ballroom, anti-Mesa and anti-slavery fanatics, are heavily involved here, thus the title, their battle cry. The story takes place prior to the first Honor novel, when she is captain of a patrol vessel in Silesian space, hunting for pirates and slavers. When Honor is made aware of a space station that is being used as a waypoint for the slave trade, she must decide between obeying orders and saving her career and doing the right thing by capturing the installation, freeing the slaves and prosecuting the slave traders.

Well, if you've read any of the Honor novels, you know what her answer is going to be, don't you? Her creative solution, allying with a large force of Audubon Ballroom soldiers, leaves us cheering for the underdog (Is Honor ever really the underdog, though? I'm betting with a proven winner).

A couple of good quotes:

"That's the true measure of an officer - of a human being. Right or wrong, popular or unpopular, he has to know where duty, moral responsibility, and legal accountability meet the honor of his uniform and the oath he swore to his monarch and his kingdom. When that time comes, an officer worthy of that uniform and that oath and that monarch makes the hard decision, in full awareness of its consequences, because if he doesn't make it, he fails all of them...and himself."

"When that happens, when there's no choice but to kill evil, then kill it. It's your responsibility, your duty, and if you flinch, you fail - not just yourself, but everything important in your life. But if it must be done, if there truly is no choice, then do it because hou must, not because you want to, and never, ever exult in the doing. That's the price of your soul, Honor - the ability to do what has to be done without turning yourself int the very thing it is that you're fighting against."

This collection is worth reading for Weber alone.

A Beautiful Friendship by David Weber

A Beautiful Friendship serves as a prequel, of sorts, to the Honor Harrington series. On the downside, it seemed a little familiar as I began reading it, and so I went to the shelves to determine that it had been previously published in the first of the Worlds of Honor shared world anthologies, More than Honor. I really hate it when publishers repackage old stories like this without a blazing disclaimer. However, there was a second half of the story that was added to this book, so I did get to read some fresh (to me) material after all.

If you've been following Honor's exploits, you will be familiar with her treecat, Nimitz. Throughout the series, we learn that Nimitz can sense the emotions of his person, and as time goes by, we find out that his species is a bit more intelligent than most people think, and eventually, he as able a) to pass the emotions and intentions of other people around Honor back through their link, making her a wonderful negotiator for the Queen, and b) to learn sign language and use that to communicate more effectively with humans.

In A Beautiful Friendship, we move back in time to the early days of the settlement of Sphinx, one of the Manticoran worlds, and Honor's family home. Her ancestor, Stephanie Harrington, is the first person to discover the treecats' existence and to bond with one of them, Climbs Quickly. The treecats are highly intelligent, tho pre-agricultural when the humans arrive, and are able to communicate sophisticated thoughts telepathically among their own kind, even over a distance. They find the "mind blind" humans puzzling and perhaps threatening to their way of life, and Climbs Quickly's clan is not happy about his bonding with Stephanie or getting involved with the "two-legs" further.

When the scientists come, inevitably, to study the treecats and attempt to learn how intelligent they really are; whether they deserve sentient race status and accompanying rights, there are also some people who would rather either exploit the treecats or wipe them out entirely. Stephanie and her treecat, of course, fall right in the middle of this conflict, and she and her family and friends have to determine the right way to reveal to the world how intelligent the treecats are, and keep concealed their telepathy, so as to keep them from being consigned to laboratory studies.

This is somewhat of a young adult novel in tone, without a lot of the whiney teen angst that often accompanies such. Light on the politics, with planetside action instead of space battles, it's a good companion piece for Honorverse fans.

How Firm a Foundation by David Weber

  This book is the fifth in the Safehold series by Weber, and it continues in the grand tradition. When I picked up the first book in this series, I had no idea I was in for a saga of this length. It will probably rival his Honor Harrington stuff when it reaches its conclusion...if ever.

Emperor Caleb and Sharleyan continue to oppose the infamous leaders of the Church of God Awakening, based in the city of Zion, who have declared their countries and their faith apostasy and declared a jihad against them. Merlin's pupils continue to introduce new innovations to the Charisian Empire's war machine, such as exploding shells for their cannons, rifled barrels and breech loading for their muskets, and more reliable fuses for both. They've continued improving their ship designs, as well, and are just approaching the point where their mines and forges will be able to provide sufficient metals to start going the ironclad route, as well. The steam engine is on the near horizon, and will soon provide motive power for their heavy industry, their transportation needs, and probably will drive their ships soon.

Sharleyan journeys to the recently conquered kingdom of Corisande, where she takes the responsibility of dispensing high justice against those caught and convicted of treason against the Empire. She manages to win the hearts of the Corisandians, for the most part, after surviving an assassination attempt (stopped by some of Merlin's special body armor) and continuing on with the trials as if nothing had happened. The true heir to the throne of Corisande is still staying with relations near the Church Lands, and his life will be worth little if the head of the Church ever decides it would be more advantageous to have him killed and blame it on Charis, as he did with the boy's father.

The Scheulerite order (secret police of sorts) decide that, since the conventional war isn't going all that well - Charis just destroys every fleet sent their way - it is time to resort to guerrilla methods. One of the church loyalists in Tellesburg arranges to divert a large amount of gunpowder from its proper destination and into the hands of agents of the Church. Those agents mount a series of suicide bombing missions which murder a number of Caleb and Sharleyan's nobles and allies, as well as hundreds of innocent civilians. No correspondence with current world events is intended, I am sure.

Weber weaves a lot of commentary about the nature of "proper" religion into this tale, with conversations between Archbishop Mikhael Staynair and his fellow clergy, and others between members of the Gang of Four in Zion. Some rather interesting philosophical points here, from a theist or deist outlook.

There's a lot of interesting intrigue going on in the land of Siddermark, as well, where the local merchants and nobles are basically ignoring the embargo against Charis, and therefore are one of the few provinces of the Church lands who are able to afford their tithe in these desperate times. Vicar Clyntahn has finally decided to move against them, and his undercover agents foment a rebellion against that land's Lord Protector. But Madame Anjelyka, formerly of Zion - instrumental in helping many of the innocent families of clergy accused of heresy to escape when Clyntahn began his purge - has been doing some plotting of her own, and things don't turn out quite the way the Church expected after all.

More great adventure in the inimitable Weber style.

War of Honor by David Weber (Honor Harrington #10)

Review written 2003

I'm not particularly fond of novels written with too many shifts in point of
War of Honor is not as action-packed as most of the previous novels in the series, but rather tells the tale of the deadly political game behind the action. The Star Kingdom of Manticore and the empire formerly known as the People's Republic of Haven are in an uneasy truce as the story begins. The Havenites are desperately trying to restore a semblance of democracy to their formerly totalitarian government, and the story of the political struggle of President Esther McQueen and her ally, Defense Minister Thomas Theisman, with her Secretary of State, who desires power for himself, is the main focus of those scenes set in the Republic.

Theisman's people have labored hard in secret to restore technological and numerical parity with the Manticoran fleet, and they must decide exactly how to use their new ships and equipment. In the Star Kingdom, the North Hollow government and its liberal allies have been busy disassembling the machinery of war to support their domestic social and economic programs. Harrington and her allies have been rendered nearly powerless, and are further hindered, as the story develops, by orchestrated attacks on their personal and private reputations.

While the Star Kingdom focused on the war with the Peeps, the Andermani Empire has grown ambitious, and piracy in the Silesian Confederacy has gotten out of control. This one slowly builds to a burn. Duplicitous behavior by McQueen's Secretary of State derails the peace negotiations, and the fiscal policies of the Manticoran government erode its ability to defend itself, when the Havenites launch a preemptive strike. The book is quite long, around 800 pages, but should provide you with many hours of enjoyment, as the tension builds to a climax. The way it ends, I expect we'll be seeing more of Honor fairly soon.
view. Occasionally, however, I find one that is written well enough to keep my attention despite the changes. War of Honor, the latest in the Honor Harrington series, is one of those.

The Honor of the Queen by David Weber (Honor Harrington #2)

Review written December, 1999

Once more we return to the universe of Honor Harrington and the Royal Manticoran Navy. This is the second book in Weber's series, and he's done a good job once more. Honor has been assigned command of a squadron of ships accompanying a diplomatic mission to establish a treaty with the planet of Grayson. Grayson is a world with a mildly repressive and very male chauvinist culture, which provides Weber with some interesting plot devices.
 
Grayson men are very protective of their wives and daughters and would never allow them to serve in any military capacity, so they are shocked and appalled by Honor's high position in her space navy. The officers in Grayson's navy treat her and other female officers rather shabbily, and she decides to leave the system long enough to escort a convoy of Manticoran freighters to another star system.
 
While she is gone the remaining Manticoran forces and Grayson's orbital defenses are attacked by Masada's forces and their PRH advisors. Masada is a planet in the same star system where a radical splinter faction lives which is dedicated to totally destroying their "apostate" brethren on Grayson. The ensuing battle kills the head of the diplomatic mission, formal admiral Raoul Courvoisier, who has been one of Honor's mentors for a good many years.
 
The real "meat" of the story involves Honor's return to Grayson, her reaction to the crisis, and her rather novel problem solving approach. Once again, Weber delivers another fast-paced, fun space operatic adventure.

Out of the Dark by David Weber

So, I guess David Weber got bored playing around in the Honorverse, and things were getting a little crowded with all his friends hogging the swingsets and slides there, so he decided to branch out again and try a new world on for size. For all of you over the age of fifteen, would you please raise your hand if you've ever read a science fiction story about technologically advanced aliens from outer space, part of an alliance, or hegemony, or federation, who have decided that it would be a good idea to pretty much wipe out the human race and take over planet Earth. Really? All right, if you've read those stories, you've read this one, too.

I'm very sorry, but there's absolutely nothing new or novel here from Weber. It is Weber, however, and so the writing is good, and the characters somewhat interesting, and all the details are nicely taken care of. It's a pleasant way to spend a few hours...but not much else. The way the "flavor" of this book tasted to me within the first fifty pages or so, I thought Weber had written it on spec for Baen books. Seemed just like all the Ringo/Kratman/Williamson/Drake/Flint potpourri of alien invasion that just all blends together. Thank God I didn't pay hardcover price to read it.

Ok, so there was one really odd twist that came into play about two thirds of the way through, when a slightly different character gets introduced late into the plot line, in a chance meeting under the trees in Romania, which is significant. A local warlord shows up, whose followers look like nothing but peasants but can move silently and quickly through the forests like great silent predators. He doesn't quite swirl his cape and disappear into darkness, but the vibe is definitely there. And if you figure out in about two paragraphs who and what this guy is, like I did, you'll still not be any closer to understanding why Weber chose to rescue Earth in the rather improbable way that he does to wrap things up, than I am. The only thing I can figure is Dave just felt like he wasn't getting a piece of that undead love that permeates the literary landscape these days.

I certainly hope this isn't the beginning of the end for Weber's output.