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53 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing Read, March 9, 2003
War of Honor is, of course, the latest chapter in David Weber's bestselling Honor Harrington series of novels, a series which I have been reading practically since the beginning. For the most part I've enjoyed them, even if they do get a little repetitive sometimes. But starting with the last book (Ashes of Victory) and continuing with this one, I'm beginning to suspect that Weber is just running out of steam with Honor. In both books very little actually happens, just what feels to be a lot of set up. Unfortunately, War of Honor suffers from this even more than Ashes of Victory, even though at 800+ pages it is by far the longest of the series so far. Reading War of Honor brings to mind the old joke description of American Football, namely random violence punctuated by staff meetings. The problem, however, is that Weber places far too much emphasis on the staff meetings. Lots and lots of staff meetings. So many that, at times, you get the impression you are not so much reading a novel as paging through the collected minutes of various conferences. And that is the crux of the problem with War of Honor: there is far too much talking, far too many people discussing or explaining what is happening than truly showing it, to actually get interested in the story. Despite the title the war itself doesn't even start until less than 100 pages from the end, so those who pick up this book expecting a heavy dose of space combat will be highly disappointed. It's very frustrating, because lurking just underneath there is a fascinating story that Weber simply chose not to tell, opting instead to have his characters talk and talk and talk. The fate of the North Hollow Files, for instance, or an encounter between a Havenite destroyer and a merchant ship, or the opening sequence aboard a warship shadowing a merchant (a sequence which, incidentally, makes for a great teaser, but for which we are never given an adequate explanation of just what the hell was going on!), or any one of a dozen subplots and events that are just begging to be more fully examined. But yet, this is not to be; just when you think that the story has started to pick up legs, just when you think that "at last, a real plot development" is about to occur that we will actually see, the chapter ends and the next chapter begins with some set of characters discussing the results. I'm not kidding. Nearly every major plot point comes to light not from actions, but from everyone discussing what is happening/has happened around a table of some sort. All in all, its very maddening, and not in any way narratively satisfying. It also makes for some very, very boring reading. Then there is Weber's attempts at characterization, and rather ham-fisted ones at that. He provides a love interest for Honor. But just to make sure we get the point, he outright tells us that the character is a love interest. Several times. Each time pretty much repeating what he had already said. Then he goes and has half the characters in the book say pretty much the same thing he had already said omnisciently. He doesn't so much as make a case for a relationship by the actions of his characters as to tell us bluntly over and over again what is going on. Now, having said all of this, I wouldn't say that the book is bad. It's just not very good. Mediocre is the best word to describe it, adequate for those who are already fans of Weber and his Honor Harrington universe (NOTE: This is NOT the book to give to people who are not already familiar with the series!). The book needed to be about 1/3 less in length, or failing that, have about 1/3 less talking heads. Weber's attempt, clearly, was to write a novel about politics, and especially about how rapidly relations between nations can deteriorate. That and jump starting the Manticore-Havenite war he had so abruptly ended in Ashes of Victory. But he takes 800+ pages to do it, and still has less plot than any previous entry in the series. Overall, it's a very disappointing outing in an otherwise outstanding series. SIDE BAR: One thing in War of Honor's favor, however, is that the hardbound edition was initially released with a CD-Rom attached as an extra. This CD-Rom contains e-books not only of the entire Honor Harrington series, but also e-books by a number of other writers (including James H. Schmitz, Keith Laumer, and Eric Flint) in a variety of formats. 25+ books in all, and several very good ones at that. This means you can download them to your Palm Pilot or have them read to you by Microsoft Reader, or just plain print them up and read them on your own. So much is on this CDR that I think it is fair to say that it is worth the price of the book. I'm not certain what Baen Books long term plan for the CDR is, and it certainly won't be available when the paperback edition comes out at the end of 2003, so my recommendation is to pick up the hardbound with the CD-Rom while you still can. Trust me, you'll be glad you did.
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42 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The book is worth a deeper reading, October 16, 2002
This is the tenth book in the series, and weighing in, literally, at 864 pages. A tome indeed. Most of you have probably have read all of the preceding nine books. Here, the Star Kingdom has defeated the People's Republic of Haven and has spent five years negotiating, though not finalising, an uneasy peace. Haven has undergone another revolution and is now a wobbly, democratic Republic of Haven. All the surviving protagonists in the last novel are back, which will please many readers. Qualitatively, this book is really the start of another series. If you think of it this way, several things make sense, like its length, and the criticisms of other reviewers. I suggest you take a time out here from reading my scribblings and peruse the other reviews, if you haven't already done so. Several reviewers have panned this novel, saying that there is little action and way too much verbiage. I don't disagree. If it is space opera, there is essentially only one significant fleet action here. But look a little deeper at what Weber has done. In the early books, the Peeps were the out-and-out bad guys. No ambiguity here! And Manticore had several ratbags amongst its politicians and officers. But as the series went on, we saw several decent Peeps. Not so black and white any more. The nineth novel ends with the good Peeps successfully overthrowing their government. Along the way, the Andermani empire was increasingly mentioned. Weber was positioning it as a possible future plot complication. Do you know what I found strange about the tenth novel? The top leaders amongst the Haveners (they are not Peeps anymore) are all decent chaps. A couple of lower ranking creeps, but not more so than in Manticore. Weber is writing a subtler game. It is also harder to write. He is setting the stage for future novels of greater ambiguity. This in part, I think, accounts for some of the book's length. Don't forget the Andermani. A large portion of the book is set in the Silesian Confederacy, which sits between the Star Kingdom and the Andermani Empire. The Andermani are clearly modelled on Bismarck's Germany, a militaristic expansionist regime. Anyone reading this book might sense future trouble between them and the Star Kingdom. Clearly, Weber is hedging his bets. So he is fleshing out the terrain. He probably does not know how the future novels will turn, but he is keeping his options open. In part because a straightout rematch between the Star Kingdom and Haven might simply look too repetitive to readers. And there's even a hint that the Terran-based worlds may take an active part in future conflicts. This is why I claim that this book is really the start of a new series. Compare it to the previous books for logical consistency. But it opens new arenas. Could be very interesting indeed! So yes, I do agree with those reviewers who say that this book is long, with little action, and is not the best of the ten books. But I say to you: Dig deeper and see WHY this is, and what it implies for the future novels.
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56 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
The Kind of Review i Never Expected i'd Write, October 14, 2003
Opening Disclaimer: If you click on the "About Fairportfan" link, you will discover that my name is michael a. weber, and that i am David Weber's elder brother. I was the one who asked Baen Books editor Toni Weisskopf (at an SF convention) if she'd like to see a military SF novel by my brother that was getting no respect at another publisher. I mention this at the beginning of any reviews of his work that i write. Mostly if you check my reviews of Dave's work, you'll find the bias is toward five stars -- and not because he's my brother, but because they're Good Stuff in which (mostly) Dave plays to his strengths and minimises his weaknesses. One of his weaknesses, unfortunately, is that he just can't write Villains that don't remind me of Oilcan Harry menacing Pearl Pureheart in a Mighty Mouse cartoon. That's *Villains*, mind -- people like Pavel Young or Steadholder Mueller -- as opposed to Bad Guys, like the military types on The Other Side who are just doing their duty as best they can. (Rob Pierre falls somewhere between the two, and is the closest to a Villain who doesn't just do things because he's Evial, but because, at base, he actually has a more or less worthwhile End that he uses to justify his Means that Dave has successfully pulled off.) Unfortunately, this book is full of Villains, all sneering and twirling their mustachios for all they're worth. I suppose, for those who agree more than i do with David's politics, this book is a more satisfying read than it was for me -- in fact, i believe that i noticed a five-star review which basically said something like that -- but i bounced off it twice (once in a pre-publication manuscript that Dave e-mailed me) before finally managing to finish it. Basically, there are: Too much talk, not enough action. Too much politics, not enough of the Real World, and, Too many characters, not enough people. Intelligent people act uncharacteristically dumb to make the plot work. Neither side in a complex and important negotiation bothers to double-check that messages between the parties are relayed accurately. What space warfare there is is curiously uninvolving. And the subplot of Honor's starcrossed romantic life is irritating. All that said, this is a necessary book, getting us from, essentially, the Napoleonic Era to, maybe, World War One in terms of the Realpolitik of the Galaxy, and setting up the new framework that future books will be set within. That doesn't make it any more readable. I think i'll go back and reread some of David's books that i gave five stars to while i'm waiting for the next Honor to see if i'm right...
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