Customer Reviews

The Service of the Sword (Worlds of Honor)

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In this most recent collection of stories taking place in the Honor Harrington universe, we have the best thus far. Each of the stories is a solid work that makes the price of the collection worthwhile on its own. Some are serious and some are wickedly funny.

Promised Land - This first story is by Jane Lindskold and would be worthy as a short story on its own merits even if the rest of the HH series had never been written. It tells the story of a young woman kidnapped from Grayson as a child by a Masadan privateer. That privateer takes her for a wife/slave. She has one secret weapon working in her favor. She can read. She joins with some other women to escape the horrors of Masada by stealing her husband's ship. Prince Michael from Manticore plays a supporting role in the story evocative of the biblical Exodus.

With One Stone - The second story is the work of Timothy Zahn. It describes an early incident in Honor Harrington's career, taking place right after the events of ON BASILISK STATION. The central character is actually Rafe Cardones but Honor is present through and through. It seems that someone has come up with the impossible: a way to take down the impeller wedge of a ship from an absurd distance. A disinformation scheme is trying to lay the blame at the feet of the Andermani Empire for the resulting loss of merchant shipping. It turns out, though, that the system has a few fatal flaws and that the real enemy is much more traditional. This too is an excellent story and could stand well on its own.

A Ship Named Francis - This one is an exceedingly short collaboration between John Ringo and Victor Mitchell. It is likely to raise the eyebrows of anyone who has ever been caught working with those who are less than competent. Being crazy helps as well. It is a story of the Grayson Space Navy. When an organization has a person who is a dedicated screwup, the two most common options are to file all the paperwork and go through channels to get rid of that person or to put that person with others of similar ability in a single place where they may more easily be kept under watch. Of course, everyone hates paperwork and since Grayson has so vastly expanded its fleet, they have more than their share of idiots to stash. The get stashed on the Francis along with a poor Mantie who volunteered because it looked like a way to fast promotion. This piece is hilarious and provides a bit of comic relief.

Let's Go to Prague - What happens when two extremely capable cloak and dagger types get bored on a backwater planet with nothing to do? They go one leave. They just go about it a bit differently than most people would. Instead of heading for some nice resort in the home country, they decide to take their vacation on Prague, an enemy held planet. They heard that the beer was really good there. The vacation starts off well enough until one of them runs into an old flame. Shortly after that, they get caught up in the botched defection of a Peep admiral and have to get their own butts and that of the Admiral's back to friendly space. Its an incredibly funny romp. John Ringo shows off his wicked sense of humor by himself in this one.

The Fanatic - Eric Flint penned this one. It is something of a sequel to a short published in the previous collection. In the final days of the People's Republic of Haven, a bright young fanatic is sent out to shake things up for state security. This is the same young true believer who helped to quash the kidnapping of a Manticorian's daughter in the last book. In that story, his eyes were opened to the real abuses of his government. Even so, he has impressed the higher ups and they give him a new job. He does it faithfully because he is a fanatic. He is a fanatic for truth, justice and his oath to the republic. He has to maintain his reputation as a fanatic to do his job and everyone is surprised by what he really considers his job to be.

The Service of the Sword - This final story is from Weber himself. It tells the story of the midshipman cruise of the first Grayson woman to come through the academy. During a period of downsizing and high level contempt for all things from Grayson, she finds herself assigned to a cruiser going out in search of a missing allied cruiser. Her ship is commanded by a member of the aristocracy that has been so hostile to Grayson. She is beset on all sides and fails to realize that she has some unlikely allies.

The Service of the Sword is the fourth collection of short stories from David Weber's Honorverse, the universe in which his series of Honor Harrington novels are set. TSOTS contains stories from Weber, Eric Flint, John Ringo, Jane Linskold, and Timothy Zahn. This volume opens with Linskold's Promised Land, about a young Grayson woman who is kidnapped by a Masadan privateer who keeps her as an enslaved wife. She joins forces with several other women and begins planning their escape from Masada. Zahn follows with With One Stone, which picks up after the end of the first HH novel On Basilisk Station, with Captain Honor Harrington in command of the heavy battle cruiser HMS Fearless. Although Honor is present in this story, the real central character here is Senior Grade Lieutenant Rafael "Rafe" Cardones, Honor's tac officer. Next is A Ship Named Francis by John Ringo and Victor Mitchell, a tongue-in-cheek look at incompetent officers who are total screw-ups. Very nice. Ringo's Let's Go to Prague, about two Manticoran covert ops agents on the Peep world of Prague disguised as Havenite StateSec officers. The two agents get bored and decide to go on leave. Next is Eric Flint's The Fanatic about a Havenite agent during the last days of the PRH. Weber himself closes out this volume with The Service of the Sword about Abigail Hearns, the first Midshipwoman in the Grayson Space Navy on her middie cruise. Abigail is the daughter of a Grayson steadholder. During her teenage years, she observed Honor Harrington's defense of Grayson, and now she is determined to follow in Honor's footsteps. All of the stories in this volume are good, with Let's Go to Prague and With One Stone being my overall favorites. The Service of the Sword is one of the best volumes of the Worlds of Honor series, and I look forward to more stories from Weber's Honorverse.

Detra Finch did a good job summarizing the stories in this anthology, so I'll stick to just telling you that this is a marvelous set of stories set in the Honorverse; we see many of our old friends, such as Rafe Cardones, Abigail Hearnes, Kevin and Virginia Usher (albeit briefly) and Victor Cachat. Each of the writers has lovingly created a small story that complements the overall series in a special way; I think my favorites were the two VERY humorous pieces by John Ringo ("A Ship named Frances" and "Let's go to Prague" - about a ship crewed by misfits and screw-ups and a badly botched vacation attempt by two spies, respectively), although they were all very good stories and I enjoyed them immensely. If you are a fan of Honor Harrison, you'll LOVE these stories. If you haven't discovered the Honorverse yet - WHAT ARE YOU DOING??? Run to the store and pick up every book ever written about it! You won't regret it; terrific military sci-fi/space opera!

Another exception book by David Weber in the Honor Harrington series. I love the female heroine, which is not common in the sci-fi genre of this type, and she is totally believable, totally relatable, and simply amazing! I have read each and every book of this series and except for one, I found them all to be equally compelling. Now, I want one of those cats! (read the book to find out what I mean!)

This book features 6 'Honorverse' stories by various authors.

Only two entries are short stories, both written or co-written by John Ringo. "A Ship Named Francis" is very short and very funny, an excellent story in which a Manticoran looking to advance his career with a stint in the allied Grayson Navy finds himself aboard a ship of lunatics and rank incompetents, a dumping ground for everybody that other commanders were trying to get rid of. "Let's Go to Prague" is less successful, a story where two Manticoran intelligence agents decide, for no very good reason, to take a vacation doing what they do for a living: traveling into the PRH undercover where they'll be tortured and killed if caught. The developments which follow aren't much more plausible than the premise.

The other 4 tales are firmly in the novella category, at about 120 - 170 pages each. Jane Lindskold's "Promised Land" tells the story of a mass escape from Masada, the fanatical twin to Grayson which plays a role in the Harrington series, especially in #2. The story switches between the perspectives of Judith, a character first introduced here, and Michael Winton, the younger brother of Queen Elizabeth, here seving as a junior officer in the Royal Manticoran Navy. It's a terrific adventure, introducing likable characters and putting them through dramatic adventures. It reminds me in many ways of the earlier Honor books, which were crisp and fast-paced, as opposed to the rather bloated recent volumes. The story is strong enough to interest me in seeking out Lindskold's novels, which I've never read.

Eric Flint contributed "Fanatic", a story set in the PRH between "Ashes of Victory" and "War of Honor". The story examines the inner workings of the notorious "State Security" of the PRH as a rising young officer, the fanatic of the title, investigates the death and activities of a notoriously corrupt State Security officer who had been effectively in unsupervised control of a backwater system. The story explores the mindset of the apparatus of a police state and the art of surviving in it in intriguing ways.

Timothy Zahn's "With One Stone", set shortly after "On Basilisk Staion", is the only story in this collection which centers on familiar characters, Honor herself and Rafe Cardones. But I thought it the least successful in the book, an interesting idea that fell apart in the execution.

David Weber himself wrote the final story, which also gives the book its title. The story, set probably during "War of Honor", centers on the adventures of the first female Midshipwoman from Grayson on her first cruise in a Manticoran vessel. The character, Abigail Hearns, is one I expect will show up again in future Honor Harrington novels. It's a good story, although it takes too long to get to the main action and features some of Weber's characteristic overdetailed accounts of hardware and weapons.

Overall, the collection will be enjoyed by any Honor Harrington fan. There are more hits than misses, and even the weaker stories have some redeeming features.

I couldn't get into this books no matter how hard I tried.

I know this is an extensive series based on the main characters, but after reading all 9 volumes in the Ian Douglas Galactice Marines series this book just didn't cut it for me.

If you want action science fiction and well developed characters and story lines, the Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell is also a better choice.

Save your money on this series and go elsewhere with your hard earned money

It's Honor Harrington and David Weber.
What can you say that isn't pure adulation.
This series is like a drug addiction. Read one and you'll read them all and want more and more and more.

Wow.

That's all I have to say. I've enjoyed every one of the short story compilations for the David Weber's Honorverse, but usually there was a story which I didn't care as much for or could have done without. Not so much in this book. I enjoyed everyone, and could barely put it down as I devoured the last three. And each story gets better than the last.

It starts off with "Promised Land" by Jane Lindskold, which centers around two characters. First, Michael Winton, the brother of the queen of Manticore who is trying to prove himself in the military on his own merits, and secondly on Judith, who was captured as a child by pirates and forced into a marriage with an older man when she came of age - and she wants to escape. I was already intrigued by the character of Michael Winton, and Lindskold does an excellent job of crafting and pacing the story. You know the paths of the two characters will cross, you just are not quite sure how it all is going to play out - which Lindskold does excellently.

The second story, "With One Stone," is written by Timothy Zahn, whom I think has never written anything bad. Honor Harrington plays a secondary role in this story, while the primary character is Rafe Cardones. The story takes place after On Basilisk Station, so if you've read that book, this is a neat follow-up story. All, in all, it builds to a neat little climax.

It's been a long time since I laughed as hard as I did reading "A Ship Named Francis," by John Ringo and Victor Mitchell. So often the ships and captains of the Manticorans (as well as their allies) are depicted in quite complimentary terms. But everyone knows not every ship is perfect, right? And there's got to be a ship where just about every element of "not perfect" come together, right? Well, in this case, there is. It's hard to explain, but I can remember vividly laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes and couldn't even read the words on the page.

"Let's Go to Prague" (John Ringo) has this spy-noir feel to it. I really enjoyed the story and was slightly disappointed when it was over - I felt like I'd been cheated out of more. It centers around two non-conventional spys (in enemy territory) who decide to go on vacation (in a better locale, albeit still in enemy territory). They stumble upon the defection of an admiral which has just gone south and end up on the run for their lives.

The last two stories were my favorites among many enjoyable stories. "Fanatic," by Eric Flint, is a masterful follow-up to "From the Highlands" (also by Eric Flint) from the compilation Changer of Worlds. Victor Cachat was a primary character in that story and he plays an almost primary character in this one. If you have read or are planning on reading Crown of Slaves and Torch of Freedom then you really should read first "From the Highlands" and then this story, "Fanatic." Flint manages an almost breath-taking pace throughout, and the ending is really a masterful turn of phrase and concept - it kept me chuckling to myself for hours afterwards.

The final story is the title story, "The Service of the Sword," by David Weber. A classic Weber tale. It centers around Abigail Hearns, who is also a significant character in Shadow of Saganami and Storm from the Shadows, and it takes place shortly before those two storylines. Basically Abigail is the first female from the planet Grayson to enter into naval training with the RMN (Royal Manticoran Navy. She's on her middy cruise and gets quite the baptism by fire. I couldn't stop reading - it was fantastic! Makes me want Weber's next book in the series all the more.

In conclusion, if you enjoy the Honor Harrington series, of all the short story compilations Weber has put together for the Honorverse, this is one I would highly recommend. If you don't know anything (or don't care) about the Honorverse or Honor Harrington but you still love a good sci-fi tale, you'll still greatly enjoy this collection.

Great book. I have almost every book Weber has written. I have read and reread his Honor series and I am always eager for his next one to come out.

I really like these world of Honor stories. I never realised some of the side stories could exist. I just hope they keep writing!