War of Honor by David Weber

NO ONE WANTED ANOTHER WAR Thomas Theisman didn't. After risking his life and a fresh round of civil war to overthrow the Committee of Public Safety's reign of terror and restore the Republic of Haven's ancient Constitution, an interstellar war was the last thing he wanted. Baron High Ridge didn't. The Prime Minister of Manticore was perfectly happy with the war he had. No one was shooting anyone else at the moment, and as long as he could spin out negotiations on the formal treaty of peace, his government could continue to milk all those hostilities only tax measures for their own partisan projects. His Imperial Majesty Gustav didn't. Now that the fighting between the Star Kingdom and the Havenites had ended, the Andermani Emperor had his own plans for Silesia, and he was confident he could achieve them without a war of his own. Protector Benjamin didn't. His people had made too deep a commitment to the Manticoran Alliance, in blood as well as treasure, for him to want to risk seeing it all thrown away. And Honor Harrington certainly didn't. The Salamander had seen the inside of too many furnaces already, knew too much about how much war cost. Unfortunately, what they wanted didn't matter.... Editorial Reviews Amazon.com Review David Weber's Honor Harrington series continues in this 10th novel, which picks up the action several years after the previous volume, Ashes of Victory. With a ceasefire in place with the Peeps, the new government of the Star Kingdom ignores the wishes of Queen Elizabeth and then threatens the very fabric of the Manticore Alliance against the People's Republic of Haven. We find Honor in the role of a senior political advisor, performing with her usual flair and élan. With War of Honor coming in at over 800 pages, Weber has room to expand subplots and secondary characters and bring to the reader a feeling of depth and completeness seldom seen in science fiction novels. Favorite characters from past stories return, many of them growing in stature from unimportant secondary characters to major players in the Honorverse. Weber serves up trouble in Silesia, the excitement of a new wormhole junction, scheming in Manticorian politics, strange events deep in Peep territory, and plenty of exploding spaceships--and, as publisher Jim Baen says, We like exploding spaceships. --Ron Peterson From Publishers Weekly In previous installments of David Weber's bestselling space opera series featuring the intrepid Honor Harrington, she's won the sometimes unwilling admiration of friend and foe alike in her battles with the brutal and corrupt People's Republic of Haven. In her 10th outing, War of Honor, the People's Republic is no more, but Lady Admiral Harrington, following in the best tradition of C.S. Forester, Patrick O'Brian and Robert A. Heinlein, faces her most dangerous adversary yet: a new government in her own star kingdom run by the petty, venal and stupid former Opposition, who proceed to squander the hard-fought victory. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Publishers Weekly In previous installments of David Weber's bestselling space opera series featuring the intrepid Honor Harrington, she's won the sometimes unwilling admiration of friend and foe alike in her battles with the brutal and corrupt People's Republic of Haven. In her 10th outing, War of Honor, the People's Republic is no more, but Lady Admiral Harrington, following in the best tradition of C.S. Forester, Patrick O'Brian and Robert A. Heinlein, faces her most dangerous adversary yet: a new government in her own star kingdom run by the petty, venal and stupid former Opposition, who proceed to squander the hard-fought victory. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal After the fall of the People's Republic of Haven, the newly formed government of Haven attempts to sue for peace in its ongoing war with the Manticorean-led Star Kingdom. Called home from active duty to help maintain an uneasy peace on the diplomatic front, Lady Dame Honor Harrington finds herself confronting scandal and internal treachery as the political situation steadily moves closer to a resumption of hostilities. The tenth novel in Weber's popular Honor Harrington series, which also includes three short story collections, expands the political and military aspects of his dynastic space saga into new arenas as new threats cause a shift in alliances and sets the stage for future spacefaring adventures. Series fans will enjoy the further exploits of favorite characters, while aficionados of military sf should appreciate the faithful attention to military detail in the battle scenes. A solid choice for sf collections, particularly for libraries that own previous series titles. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist *Starred Review* The complexity of the latest and longest but not the most action-packed Honor Harrington yarn indicates that Weber is developing the characterizations and setting the political and strategic framework for grander action than ever to come. Manticore's Queen Elizabeth III is implacably determined to give the Republic of Haven not a single territorial concession, but the Havenites are getting their political and military act together such that they feel safe resenting Manticoran empire building. Meanwhile, the Andermani Empire is fishing in the troubled systems of the Silesian Confederacy and upgrading its navy, to the considerable dismay of Honor, whose own naval backing has been cut by an inept, penny-pinching ministry. Honor is also hopelessly in love with the earl of White Haven, and he with her. Out of respect for the earl's crippled wife, they refrain from acting on their love. That situation is at first apparently made worse when Samantha, the mate of Honor's lifelong-bonded treecat Nimitz, bonds with the earl! At least that matter is resolved more happily by the time full-scale war breaks out, and the reader wonders finally whether the climax and the conclusion of the entire Honor Harrington series are approaching, to be published, most appropriately, in October 2005, the bicentennial of the Battle of Trafalgar. Roland Green Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved About the Author With more than eight million copies of his books in print and 33 titles on the New York Times bestseller list, David Weber is a science fiction powerhouse. In the vastly popular Honor Harrington series, the spirit of C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower and Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander lives on--into the galactic future. Books in the Honor Harrington and Honorverse series have appeared on 21 bestseller lists, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and USA Today. Additional Honorverse collaborations include the spin-off miniseries Manticore Ascendant with New York Times best-selling author, Timothy Zahn; and with Eric Flint, Crown of Slaves and Cauldron of Ghosts contribute to his illustrious list of New York Times and international bestseller lists. Best known for his spirited, modern-minded space operas, Weber is also the creator of the Oath of Swords fantasy series and the Dahak saga, a science fiction and fantasy hybrid. Weber has also engaged in a steady stream of best-selling collaborations: the Starfire Series with Steve White; The Empire of Man Series with John Ringo; the Multiverse Series with Linda Evans and Joelle Presby; and the Ring of Fire Series with Eric Flint. David Weber makes his home in South Carolina with his wife and children.