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24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Weber back to his strengths, with help from Flint, November 18, 2009
For me, there's a real tension between Davids Weber's strengths as a storyteller and the current state of Honor Harrington's life. Weber's strengths are exploring a person's or small group's heroism as they plug away at their own part of a grand unfolding series of events. That's the rich and heady broth on which the original Honor books were built, and a mighty fine edifice they are. However, the more successful Honor is, as a Navy officer in a nation at war, success is going to promote her off the command deck of her own ship, and even (as it has now) off the squadron flag deck. As she's become more a fleet commander and politician, the series has (of necessity) wandered away from its storytelling roots to become something larger and more epic. Honor is still a character I adore, but her stories are not the kind of space opera I like best, which comes down to individual actions within a larger scheme of things.
Additionally, as the action has progressed, there are now a ridiculous number of characters and theaters of action, far too many to track in one linear series of novels. Weber (and his partner in crime, Eric Flint) have wisely diversified the series to take advantage of both the storytelling opportunities and to wrestle the beast into something resembling coherent novel-sized pieces.
The books of the Honorverse now seem to have three main streams. One, of course, is the story of Honor, which I will keep reading, only because that's where the grand unfolding of the galactic history occurs (and because I adore Honor -- did I mention that?). Another is the books like The Shadow of Saganami (The Saganami Island) which can (and do) focus on the antics of a single starship or a small squadron of them -- this is the space opera where Weber truly shines. And finally, there is the espionage-based series of books that started with Crown of Slaves (Honor Harrington) and is continued in this book.
The three threads form one glorious, galaxy-wide saga that I wouldn't miss for the world. This book is a worthy addition to this fictional enterprise, a great deal of fun to read, and an interesting progression in the story as a whole. I'm not sure it stands alone -- while it does repeat some action from other books, there are also references to things that are not wholly explained (such as "what Harrington did to Giscard at Lovat").
However, as a piece of the puzzle, it's an excellent book. Since it focuses on individuals for the most part (and task forces at the largest), the action is firmly where Weber excels. Flint's presence seems to keep the exposition of new technology to small enough chunks that they go down fairly easily. It's clear that both authors have a great fondness for their characters (although they are not at all afraid to kill off those same characters when the plot demands it). If motivations are sometimes described with a heavy hand, the book makes up for such awkwardness with the breakneck pace of the action, the way in which various threads are brought together, and the tantilizing hints of future problems that are clearly having their groundwork laid.
There are small things to like about this book, too, one of which is an extended joke about how even well-educated people miss historical references all the time. Another is the way in which the friendship between Zilwicki and Cachat is handled realistically. And Palane has two moments which are still sticking with me even after finishing the book. Finally, there are all kinds of new characters, some of whom will undoubtedly rise to prominence as this franchise works it way to its grand conclusion (if there ever really is one).
If you like the Honorverse, this is a must-read. Rollicking good fun that advances the larger plot in intriguing ways.
If you've never read anything in the Honorverse, don't start with this. Go start with On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington). If you like that, keep reading. You'll get here soon enough, and when you do, you'll enjoy this book a lot more than if you read it cold.
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15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Defending the Torch, November 11, 2009
Torch of Freedom (2009) is the second SF novel in the Torch subseries of the Honorverse series, following Crown of Slaves. In the previous volume, a slave uprising on Congo threw off the yoke of Manpower and other Mesan transtellars. Berry calmed down the genetic slaves enough to spare technicians and other low level workers, but Manpower managers were slaughtered.
The Torch Liberation Army took the space station. Then a Mesan taskforce was confronted by Manticore and Mayan Sector ships and declined combat. The world and system were renamed Torch by its new citizens. Then the victorious former slaves selected Berry as their Queen.
Manticore, Haven, Erewhon and the Mayan Sector of the Solarian League quickly recognized the provisional government and signed defense treaties with the torch system. Audubon Ballroom also supported Torch with their ships and personnel. Torch opened their citizenship to all genetic slaves, who soon began to arrive by shiploads.
The Alignment is a secret organization within Manpower. Created by Leonard Detweiler, it is dedicated to improving the genetic inheritance of the human race. Beowulf rejected their arguments and now the Alignment cares little about whether the rest of humanity wants to be improved.
In this novel, Berry Zilwicki is the Queen of Torch. Berry is only seventeen years old, but has had a very perilous life before becoming Queen. She doesn't like to be called by her titles.
Anton Zilwicki is Berry's father. He was an intelligence analyst for Manticore. Now he is the common law husband of Catherine Montaigne and part of the Torch government.
Victor Cachat is a Haven FIS secret agent. He is Head of Station for Torch and Erewhon. He also works closely with Anton and the Torch government.
Ruth Winton is a Manticoran princess. She would rather be a spymaster and is rapidly learning the role from Anton and Victor.
Brice Miller is almost fifteen years old. He is a resident on Parmley Station, an exoatmospheric amusement park that has been losing money for decades.
Hugh Arai is a former genetic slave and an agent of the Biological Survey Corps, Beowulf's covert operations organization. He is the commander of the BSC ship Ouroboros.
Jack McBride is the security chief of the Alignment's Gamma Center, a hidden research facility on Mesa. He has been a field agent, but his superiors considered him too squeamish for field work.
Herlander Simoes is a mathematical physicist on the Alignment drive research team. He has played a key role is developing a new type of interstellar drive.
In this story, Queen Berry and her advisors begin to suspect that Manpower is not a normal transtellar corporation. They have too much money and are involved in too many operations. Then somebody tries to assassinate Berry.
Meanwhile, Parmley Station is visited by another ship. Although the Parmley family has resisted attempts by slavers to take over their station, they soon realized that the slavers have more resources. So now the slavers pay rent to live in the tower and to maintain a holding facility for slaves from occasional harvester ships.
However, the current visitor is not a slaver ship. Rather, it contains a BSC commando. As hidden observers from the Parmley family watch, the supposed slavers -- and their slaves -- wipe out all the slavers on the station.
The Parmley family are well shielded, so the BSC ship does not detect any other lifeforms on the station. When Hugh declares his intentions to nuke the station, Brice exposes himself and asks for further consideration. The BSC commando decides to link Parmley station with the Torch system.
Back on Mesa, Jack has a problem. Hedlander and his wife were asked to foster a baby from an experimental line that should have a very strong mathematical potential. Despite genetic tweaks, the previous clones had developed a form of autism.
The Long-Range Planning Board thought that the mathematical talents of the Simoes couple would carry the child through this problem. Indeed, the child passed the usual failure point with flying colors and gained the love of the Simoes. But then she suddenly starts losing touch with the outside world.
Hedlander points out that Francesca has done much better than the previous models, but LRPB decides to discontinue treatment and culls her. Hedlander is incensed over the LRPB decision. His moods alienate him from his colleagues and then his wife gets a divorce. Jack is asked to try to get Herlander through his current project.
Jack finds himself liking and sympathizing with Herlander. He begins to view the LRPB and the Alignment from a different point of view. He also begins to wonder about their relationships with the normals and slaves.
This tale focuses mostly on events within the Torch system and the Maya Sector. However, this novel parallels the other two storylines within the Honorverse, taking place during the same timeframe as At All Costs and Storm from the Shadows. The events in each storyline influence the other novels. Some characters play key roles across the storylines.
This story will influence events elsewhere within the Honorverse. The next volume in this series is the main sequence novel Mission of Honor. Read and enjoy!
Highly recommended for Weber fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of political intrigue, covert operations, and a bit of romance.
-Arthur W. Jordin
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Comes with a CD full of Weber ebooks, November 19, 2009
Like many other Baen hardbacks, particularly other Weber novels, this comes with a CD full of ebooks. The books include all of the other Honor Harrington universe books (mainline, Saganami Island subseries, Manpower subseries, and anthologies) plus most (perhaps all) of his other Baen published books. Of course the Tor published Safehold series is not included. Still, there are about 40 books included in HTML, Word, Mobireader, Lit, EPUB, RTF, and LRF formats.
Nov 23 update: This novel, "Torch of Freedom," is not actually included on the disc as it was made before a suitable manuscript was available.
A nice bonus.
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