Customer Reviews

Worlds Of Honor (Honorverse)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Honor Harrington now appears to be a franchise, something that makes me a little bit uncomfortable; however, my wife bought me this book, and I willingly read it, so that says something, I suppose.

As my title indicates, these stories focus more on the treecats and less on Our Heroine. As a cat lover myself, I had little problem with this, and in fact the stories could pretty much be ordered in quality based on how much the treecats were involved.

I thought the first two stories were the best. "The Stray" involves a brutal crime that a treecat helps to solve - in the early days of human contact when treecats were still very mysterious and not to be trusted. David Weber's "What Price Dreams?" is from a similar era and focuses on the appeal of humans to treecats. Both are emotional, bittersweet stories, rather different from the usual HH fare.

"Queen's Gambit" focuses more on politics and the investigation of an assassination, but a treecat proves helpful nonetheless. This one wasn't quite as strong as the other two and seemed to end somewhat inconclusively, as if it would have been better as the first or middle third of a full novel rather than a story to itself.

The last two I didn't like at all. Despite having Harrington as a major character (the only story of the five to do so), Weber's "The Hard Way Home" has a contrived situation (Harrington dealing with an officious boss first during a military exercise and then while trying to save the victims of a massive avalanche) and too many expository blurbs unaccompanied by progress in the story. And "Deck Load Strike" is simply dreadful: confusing and badly characterized, it reads about as I would imagine an imaginatively annotated description of a militaristic computer or board game would.

My recommendation: buy the book only if you're fond of treecats and even then only read the first three stories.

Worlds of Honor is a collection of five short stories set in the universe of David Weber's Honor Harrington series. I have enjoyed the HH novels immensely, and I am finding the short story collections are quite good as well. The first story, The Stray, by Linda Evans, is a murder mystery set on Sphinx with a human doctor and a treecat working together to solve the crime. Weber himself checks in with What Price Dreams about the first adoption of a member of the Manticore Royal Family by a treecat, told largely from the 'cat's perspective. Queen's Gambit, by Jane Linskold, is a more politically-driven story about the rise of Queen Elizabeth III to the throne of the Royal Kingdom of Manticore and the investigation into the assassination of Elizabeth's father. Weber delivers again with The Hard Way Home, the only story in which Honor Harrington puts in an appearance. This story gets away from the usual military or political conflicts found in an HH story and gets more into a man versus nature with the Attica Avalanche. This is probably my favorite story of the five. Finally, Roland J. Green checks in with Deck Load Strike about a raid on a distant backwater planet. This is my least favorite story in this volume. If you're looking for a regular entry in the Honor Harrington series, stick with the full-length novels, but altogether, Worlds of Honor is a fascinating read which, like More Than Honor, helps to further deepen the reader's understanding of the Honorverse.

I didn't know anything about Weber, or Harrington, or treecats last Friday night when I first picked this up, idly, at a local bookstore. By Saturday night, when I finished the last story, I still didn't know that much about Harrington (or care all that much, based on the glimpse in "The Hard Way Home,") -- but Treecats were a different proposition altogether -- and that's why I thought "Deck Load Strike" shouldn't even have been included in this book. Its only mention of treecats is in a metaphoric phrase more than three-quarters of the way into a story that, unfortunately, is just another tired old war tale in which ultimately only the bad guys survive, and nobody really wins. However ... the other stories make the book well worth the cover price. What I'd really like to see is a fleshing out of the tale by Linda Evans; "Hard Way Home" has a pair of interesting proto-protagonists, and "Queen's Gambit" is a lovely bit of insight into not just 'cat culture, but people culture too -- specifically, the awful pain people can inflict on one another in the name of love. "What Price Dreams" brought tears to my eyes. Now, if only the last whole useless story had been left out, this would be a gem of an introduction into Weber's universe of treecats, chivalric services, and all-too-human royal families. What didn't I like about the last story, besides the lack of treecats? It's gratuitously profane and vulgar, it has very little originality and its style was tired before Ernie Pyle ever saw his first battlefield with the WWII USMC. Green should be ashamed -- and so should Weber, for letting this junk pollute what could have been quite a pleasing read.

First off, let me state that the Honor Harrington series is one of the best things to happen to the science fiction field for quite awhile, at least since the quiet death of the cyberpunk movement. Military SF has been moving into vogue lately, and David Weber's work is the best of the lot. He has created a vivid, detailed, and intricate setting that remains internally consistent, which is no mean feat. He has also developed a large number of characters for whom the reader will feel a significant attachment.

However, this short story collection, by various authors and including Mr. Weber, falls somewhat short of the mark, unless you really like "all treecats, all the time". The first story, "The Stray", is adequate but overly long because the same events are related from multiple points of view. Done well, this can be intriguing; here, it is simply annoying when it takes the injured human hero 40 pages to crawl to his aircar, especially as this takes place in a flashback, so we know that he made it.

The last story, "Deck Load Strike", is much shorter but not terribly interesting. The good guys meet the bad guys and a short fight ensues. Yeah, this is the essence of the vast majority of SF, I suppose, but here it seemed to be stripped to its bare bones and the characters simply fail to come to life. Also, the timing of some of the events of the battle sequence are just plain odd. I mean, a century-old fish-factory ship launches aerial troop transports for the raid, yet somehow crosses many kilometers of ocean to arrive at the strike point at the same time? Fast ship.

"What Price Dreams?" offers a nice glimpse of treecat society and a well-thought-out look at how bad guys set up their plots within plots with their high-tech resources. However, the two primary high points can be seen coming from miles away and are utterly predictable, albeit satisfyingly executed.

"Queen's Gambit" provides some backstory for Honor's Manticoran monarch, Elizabeth III. While the conspiracy portions of the story are rather fascinating, the investigation aspect is a bit dull. Some of it seems so casually done that I kept expecting the Mystery Machine to pull up and disgorge Scooby Doo and friends, crying out, "Let's look for clues!" However, the resolution, with its balance of political compromises, is well depicted.

Best of the bunch is "The Hard Way Home", which features Honor herself in a tale set previous to the series premiere. Here, treecats fortunately do not serve as the deus ex machina to save the day. And for a nice change of pace, the conflict is not military or political in nature, but rather humanity against the elements. Weber has a deft touch with characterization and can sketch out even supporting characters with just a few strokes.

If you want to make your Honor Harrington collection complete, go ahead and pick this one up. But certainly, if you've never read any of the books, skip this one and start with "On Basilisk Station"--you'll be far better off.

For those of you new to David Weber, World of Honor has five tales in the universe of the Honor Harrington series (which started with On Basilisk Station). You *do not* need to have read the series to enjoy this book, though! One of the tales mention facts only brought to light in the nineth book of the series, but it is not really any spoiler, in my opinion.

On the other hand, you _might_ want to read More Than Honor first, at least the "A Beautiful Friendship" tale before reading the treecat stories in this book. It gives a better sense of continuity. That, though, is entirely optional too.

Now, for the stories in this book. The first story, The Stray, was described by some as a detective story. I disagree. While the main plot is, indeed, a detective story, most of it actually deals with Scott MacDallan's relationship with his treecat, his adoption, and a desperate fight for survival as Scott gets seriously wounded in the middle of nowhere. As for the adoption, it's not exactly how David Weber describes it in a few respects, but this is a minor detail. Man&Treecat vs Nature, treecat lifestyle, man & treecat relationships, that's what this tale is mostly about.

The second tale, What Price Dreams, tells the story of the adoption of Princess Adrienne of Manticore, the first member of the royal family to get adopted by a treecat, and how Seeker of Dreams, said treecat, helps save Adrienne's life and her relationship with her father. It also kind of shows why members of the royal family can't get a life insurance. :-)

The third tale, Queen's Gambit, shows how Queen Elizabeth III (the monarch at the start of the HH series) came to power, and how the people who plotted to get her there came to deeply regret it. Finally, it shows Her Majesty paying a high price for her throne.

Fourth tale, The Hard Way Home, tells the story of the Attica Avalanche, when one XO Commander Harrington help save some lives. Actually, though, the show belongs to one Susan Hibson, a 12 years old girl.

I'm afraid I haven't read the fifth tale, though, as it's not directly related to any of my favorite themes, nor written by Weber. All of the other stories are worth it, though, even if none would rate an "excellent".

After reading More Than Honor and some of the reviews about this book, I was not expecting to captivating a read. I was wrong...Big Time. This book is an equal of any other book in the HH series and also unique in its own right. Many of the stories in this book lack the big noises and flashing things of deep space combat. However I find it a welcome...rest. In short: read it.

Don't expect an Honor Harrington saga in this one. Instead of directly being part of the Honor series, it is an anthology of shorts set in Honor's universe. Two of the stories are by David Weber himself and other three are from guest contributors. Honor does make a brief appearance in one of the Weber stories but it is just in a supporting role.

"The Stray" tells the story of a rural doctor on Sphinx not long after the first treecat adoption. He is an adoptee. Much of the story is told from the point of view of the cats. They are aware of a terrible crime by a human and manage to get the good doctor to investigate it. This is a very good story and well worth the read.

"What Price Dreams" is one of the Weber stories. It tells of the first time a member of the Manticorian royal family is adopted by a cat. This fortuitous occurrence helps to foil an assassination plot and results in political advantage for the cats. Much of this one is also told from the cats' points of view. It too is a good story.

"Queen's Gambit" takes place during the beginning of Elizabeth's reign and this brings us into the actual time period of Honor Harrington. The story concerns the assassination of Elizabeth's father and the investigation of the crime. This is an occurrence alluded to in one of the main Honor Harrington books. Again, the story is worthwhile.

"The Hard Way Home", Weber's second contribution to this collection, is the one where Honor makes a personal appearance. She is just a Lt. Cmdr. at the time and is serving as the XO of a ship testing out a new type of pinnace. During the trials, her people are called upon to rescue the survivors of an avalanche at a ski resort. The real protagonists in this one are the kids who aid in their own rescue with Nimitz's help. It too was a good read.

"Deck Load Strike" deals with a campaign by proxy between clients of the Peeps and of Manticore on a backwater planet. It is almost exclusively a military account of a raid. It was well written but I did no enjoy it as much as the others.

If it seems that this collection is top heavy with treecats, that is because it is. They are even alluded to in the last story though they do not take part. People fascinated with treecats will want this collection only for that reason but the stories hang together well whether you are a treecat fan or not.

Well, as a ravingly-mad fan of David Weber and Honor Harrington (we shan't forget Nimitz!) in particular, I was drooling as I opened this book. Due to the different authors, I was pretty sure it wasn't going to live up to the general "Honor Harrington" theme, and, I must admit, I wasn't too far off the mark.

The first story was great, starting way back not too long after Stephanie Harrington first was adopted by her treecat. This gave some hint into the depths of a bond the treecat has with his human. The entire middle part of the story was a flashback, which was sort of annoying, but I couldn't think of anyplace else to put it.

The second tale, I thought, was the low-point of the book. It involved alot of the main characters (a princess and a "wild" treecat) doing philosophical thinking, both trying to rebel against their elders. For me, the two assassins were what kept the tale together and me from skipping forward.

The next two were great, involving political intrigue during the time when Honor was at Saganami Island, and then Honor herself (and a few names one may recognize from previous books). The last tale, which many have considered the low-point, I actually enjoyed. Yes, its the typical good-guys-badly-outnumbered/equipped-by-the-bad-guys-so-make-a-desperate-last-ditch-raid type of tale, but with some pretty interesting character-development on BOTH sides of the ocean. Both sides are fighting for what they see as "right", and you get a really cool ending that alot of authors seem to be afraid of, for some reason. I found this one refreshing, if only for the overabundance of violence and military action. Gimme guns/guts, not politics!

All in all, I rated this a solid 4, with inclinations towards a 5, except for the second tale. Overall, a worthwhile investment.

Weber's Honor Harrington series is a delight even to those of us who don't particularly like military series. The difference is that Weber draws detailed characters on all sides of an issue. His two short stories in this collection continue that tradition, as do his fellow authors. If I had a problem with any of these stories, it was with Green's tale of the Peeps and Manties. The details were overdone and the characterization, the thing I most love about Honor, is found in bits and pieces throughout the book. Still, I would recommend it to anyone wanting more background on Honor's universe. In fact, I would like to see more stories about Stephanie Harrington and Queen Adrienne.

I have read four of the five "short" stories in this book, and even though only two were written by David Weber, I've found it an enjoyable and worthwhile read. In contrast, I thought the non-Weber stories in "More Than Honor" to be sub-par. Definitely not the case here. One interesting point: the authors have done a nice job of integrating elements of the previous stories, presenting a seamless backdrop. All in all, this is a pretty good book--not a substitute for the sequel to "Echoes of Honor," perhaps, but a good book nonetheless.