Customer Reviews

The Short Victorious War

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The third of the Honour Harrington series, and well worth the read. The only less-than-complimentary comment I can think of is that there is, for my taste, a little too much focus on the internal politics of the People's Republic of Haven. That said, however, I readily recognize that it is utterly necessary, not only to the plot of the story, but the on-going events that form the back story for the series.

Honor Harrington, having proved her worth at Basilisk Station (On Basilisk Station) and in Grayson (The Honor Of The Queen), receives recognition of that worth as the Admiralty appoints her to be the CO of a spanking-new battlecruiser, HMS Nike. By tradition in the RMN, command of the Nike is a plum assignment, and given only to officers who are head and shoulders above their fellow officers.

Honor is then paid the compliment of being appointed to be the flag captain for Admiral Sarnow, and being tasked to form part of the defensive forces at Hancock Station. The state of polite hostility between Manticore and the Peeps is heating up, and once again, Honor and her ship will be on the sharp end.

We are also re-introduced to Captain Lord Pavel Young, who seems not terribly interested in redeeming himself. In fact, his conduct during the climactic battle is anything but what one expects of an officer in command of a warship.

This is a tight, well-written story. Read it, and if you've not read the other Honor Harrington stories - run, do not walk, to your nearest bookstore and get them before someone else does.

For those unfamiliar with David Weber series, this is the third book in the Honor Harrington series, which started with On Basilisk Station. While this book might be read apart from the others, one loses too much background. Better start at the beginning.

For those who have read the first two books, on the other hand...

Other reviewers seems to be of the opinion that this is a good book, but there is just something not quite right with it. I had to agree on my first read, but now, having re-read the first nine books a second time, I know what it is.

In the first two books, we only saw Manticore (well, Manticore and Grayson). The sections told in from the point of view of the opposition were short and mostly to the point. Well, that stops here. There is a lot of Haven background here, and by the middle of the book you really wish now and then Weber had cut it shorter. Unfortunately, all this background is really important to the _series_, because you do get to see a lot of story told from Haven's point of view in later books, and this lays the groundwork for that.

But perhaps the most disconcerting fact is that Honor is not really the main character at all in this book. She might get more pages and more development than anyone else, but the REAL story here is the battle fought between Admiral of the Green Sir Thomas Caparelli, First Space Lord of the Manticoran Admiralty, and Admiral Patricia Givens, Second Space Lord of the Manticoran Admiralty (Buraeu of Planning, which controls the Office of Naval Intelligence), against Fleet Admiral Amos Parnell, CNO of the People's Navy, in the skirmishes that will finally bring the Kingdom of Manticore and the People's Republic of Haven to war.

Dozens of characters make small lone appearances, usually fighting one-sided battles or spying. Meanwhile, Honor Harrington is just a good officer doing a good job. She is actually in charge just in a small section of the book. _Her_ story is mostly about personal relationships, not the war.

This is a good book, but one is likely to have different expectations after On Basilisk Station and Honor of the Queen.

The Short Victorious War, the third installment in David Weber's outstanding Honor Harrington series, is a very enjoyable read. Honor is an medical leave healing from injuries suffered in The Honor of the Queen when she thwarted the assassination attempt on Grayson Protector Benjamin Mayhew. Hostilities between the Star Kingdom of Manticore and the People's Republic of Haven erupt into an actual shooting war. The PRH is a cradle-to-the-grave welfare state whose economy has gone into the toilet, as the Republic struggles to continue to support the staggering number of Dolists among its population. The Peeps' ususal remedy for this problem is to invade planets or solar sytems that are stronger economically, but weaker militarily. But now they are left with only weak agricultural powers to contend with, or they could go after the extremely powerful Manticorans. Honor is eager to return to space, and gets to do so, this time in command of the HMS Nike. Her nemesis Captain Lord Pavel Young returns as well. The Short Victorious War is a worthwhile read, and the Honor Harrington series is becoming addictive for me, as I can't wait to read Book Four (Field of Dishonor).

I just finished "A Short, Victorious War", the 3rd book in the series (the first two being "On Basilisk Station" and "Honor of the Queen"). All were excellent, and near the top of the line for a sci-fi series. By contrast, I might compare it to the "Star Trek" series as I would compare a filet mignon to a hamburger. Don't get me wrong; I enjoy Star Trek very much, but I feel that, if space travel to this degree was a reality, the Honor Harrington series does a much better job of reflecting that reality. That said, I have to suggest that a couple of additions to these books would enhance my enjoyment: A cast list of the major characters, with a few words about each, and a glossary of abbreviations/explanations (e.g. RMN-Royal Manticoran Navy). More than once, I found myself forgetting someone's earlier connection, and who can remember all the acronyms floating around in outer space? Nevertheless, I find myself anticipating the subsequent books in the series. I do recommend to anyone reading this: Do plan on reading these books in sequence, since there are so many recurring characters, and references to events in the earlier books abound.

Like many of the other reviews, I find it hard to miss the knockoff of the Horatio Hornblower series by Forrester. I like it anyway because I like old naval fiction and I like space opera. Both are being stroked with this series.

Weber does an admirable job of adapting the terms and tactics from the days of fighting sail to the realm of science fiction. He draws in a simliar manner for his political structures but does not restrict himself to the simple England/France confilct. Thare are shades of US/Soviet antagonism as well.

As for this particular book, it is an enjoyable read but it was not nearly as much fun as the first two. Some of this may be due to the fact that the heroine has been promoted to a less exciting job. Flag captains just aren't as dashing as captains with independant commands. That may be part of it but there is another quality missing as well. I just didn't have as much afinity for the supporting characters in this one. The possible exception may be the slimball, Lord Young; he was a delight to detest.

All in all, it kept my interest but did not leave me begging for more like the first two.

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!)

To begin with, the Honor Harrington series (of which this is book 3) is a good read all the way through. Even when it's not at its best, it's still very good.

That said, this isn't the best of the bunch. Its strong points are Weber's character development (he can introduce a new character and in a few pages you have the 'feel' of him or her), the depth it adds to Honor herself in terms of romantic relationships, and our first real look at the inner workings of the main enemy's government. There are some really great moments. However, by and large, the middle of the book is taken up with somewhat mundane activities. Mundane, that is, by the standards of the series; normally, I have trouble putting them down once I pick them up. Everyone kind of seems to spend a lot of time in the middle waiting for The Big Event, which doesn't really quite come in this book. At the end it leaves you hanging, with war and revolution frozen in motion--very much a teaser for the next book. One nice point is the appendix at the end about 'Honor Harrington's Navy', which gives some 'technical' details.

Not a good first read in the series; start with _On Basilisk Station_ would be my advice. If you're reading the series, and already hooked, it'll be worth reading for you and will lead to more exciting things. Despite weak points, it's still great SF reading.

This is the third book in the Honor Harrington series by David Weber. It's a concious pastiche of the old Horatio Hornblower stories by C.S. Forester, right up to the initials of the main characters being the same. Honor is a captain the the Royal Manticore Navy, constantly competing with the decrepit but large and aggressive People's Republic of Haven.

In the first two installments of the series, the Havenites tried limited offensives to win planets from the area between the two space nations, but in this book they decide to try for the throat, more or less. The resulting confrontation, with Honor right in the middle, is very suspenseful and interesting. There are characters from previous books, and the plot is fun.

If there's a problem with the book, it's that because this story involves fleet actions, Honor's role in the story is somewhat more limited. It is interesting, however, and the characters are fun too. The author has clearly put a good deal of time into devising the space combat tactics of the age, and thinking things over. I would recommend this book.

This is the first book that I have read in the series, and I intend to read the entire series, I found that although I missed the first two novels, I was able to pick up the plot line with relative ease, even though it took me a while to get used to the flotilla of characters I loved its great pace and the way information was eased into the plot rather than coldly explained simply to get new readers into the plot faster.

The fierce enemies of Manticore, the people's Republic (Peeps), are concerned about the costs of war. A meeting between high government officials is arranged to discuss interstellar economic and strategic realities. The Ruling class of the People's Republic of Haven need to decide what strategy they can afford without starving and collapsing the economy to fund the war. In the upcoming battle against Peeps, Lady Captain Honor Harrington is left to make a gallant last stand against overwhelming odds while desperately awaiting reinforcements. In what will turn out to be a momentous event for everyone involved, Pavel Young -- Honor's fierce enemy -- finally reveals his personal cowardice as he breaks off from the formation in the middle of the fight and refuses to return despite direct orders to the contrary. This nearly causes the collapse of Honor's strategy. Will Honor survive the ambush?

The writer takes it slow, establishing the foundation of his narrative piece by piece. A romantic interlude is inserted in between and Honor falls in love for the first time in her life with Paul Tankersley. She finds womanhood in herself letting her hair grow, learning to put on make-up. For the battles, the details are exact, engagement distances calculated, and acceleration expressed in gravities or meters per second squared; these all give good a three-dimensional feeling.

Two (2) stars. Written in 1994, this is book 3 of Weber's Honorverse. Although there is a clear climax at the end of the book the path leading to is paved by dialogues that almost reach into a psychoanalytical session. The love affair of Dame Honor -- the leading figure of planet Grayson, a multi-billion millionaire -- is a bit abruptly introduced. Suddenly, in months, She is in love and head over heels on Paul. Having learned to know Harrington in previous books being a bit reserved and unexperienced on this field the 180 degree shift, like the romantic vacation on an island, is a bit creamy. In some ways all the naval officers and royal officials have a cookie-cutter quality without a context if book is read stand-alone. Having a glimpse on the political angle of Peeps is good but there is a little too much occasional frivolity in the book. Now new worlds are introduced in this book and the action mostly centers around the unremarkable Hancock Station leaving a clear footprint for the sequel Field of Dishonor.