Growing up, Travis Uriah Long yearned for order and discipline in his life . . . the two things his neglectful mother couldn't or wouldn't provide. So when Travis enlisted in the Royal Manticoran Navy, he thought he'd finally found the structure he'd always wanted so desperately.
But life in the RMN isn't exactly what he expected. Boot camp is rough and frustrating; his first ship assignment lax and disorderly; and with the Star Kingdom of Manticore still recovering from a devastating plague, the Navy is possibly on the edge of extinction.
The Star Kingdom is a minor nation among the worlds of the Diaspora, its closest neighbors weeks or months away, with little in the way of resources. With only modest interstellar trade, no foreign contacts to speak of, a plague-ravaged economy to rebuild, and no enemies looming at the hyper limit, there are factions in Parliament who want nothing more than to scrap the Navy and shift its resources and manpower elsewhere.
But those factions are mistaken. The universe is not a safe place.
Travis Long is about to find that out.
Listen to the authors discuss the book on the Baen Free Radio Hour: Part 1 | Part 2.
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Product Reviewwritten 2014-08-20 [paragraph]
book to be released 2014-10-07 [paragraph]
WOW! [paragraph]
The newest segment of Manticore history.
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I wish I had a proper chart of the Diaspora as pertains to Manticore so I could see where in history we really are.
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From what I have sussed out from reading the three quarters of the book available now, we are somewhere during the reign of King Edward, Elizabeth I's son, with his son in the Navy, and a rather nasty set-to in the near future with one of the Lords set to destroy the Navy.
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Haven hasn't started on its centuries-long expansion and assimilation of its neighbors, yet, so things are calm on that front. It hasn't been long since the Brotherhood has been quashed (whatever they were, exactly), but there are troubles on the horizon, and we expect a big finale in the Weber tradition.
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I did notice a few typos here and there and some errors in character placements in the 21st and 22nd paragraphs. I hope this gets reviewed by the editors and authors before this goes to final print, or there will be "Woops! We made a booboo. Sorry!" notes from the authors. (hint: the two pirates placing charges are not the two mentioned later as hiding from the first blast they trigger; one of them is supposed to be on the bridge!)
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I can see Timothy Zahn's hand and enthusiasm in this book. I hope he continues in this story arc with David's hand firmly on the tiller, but otherwise giving him a rather free hand for character and story development. I certainly hope to see more books about Travis Uriah Long and his brother, Baron Winterfall, and the rest of the cast of characters who will survive this engagement with the enemy.
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A word to the authors, invest in a French names dictionary, please.
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"Saintonge" as you wrote for the name of a ship should be written "Saint-Onge" (two words, capitalized and hyphenated) and "Secour" should actually be written "Secours", (there is no plural form; this is just the normal way the word is written) if this is still in the relatively heavily French-named Haven sector, and not a sector where they may have bastardized the language.
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Overall, this is an excellent book. The RMN is still in its infancy. I would definitely welcome more books in this time era, even if you need more writers to help develop this fallow timescape.
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It's just unfortunate I can't give you more stars. This book is worth ten of them!
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LATE CHANGES star date on 2014-09-18 AD (meaning pre-diaspora)
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My error. It was NOT King Edward, but King Michael, who was Elizabeth I's son. Edward was her grandson, and took over the throne after his father.
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As always, the horizon (of the future) has all the colors in it, both light and dark.
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So when's the next book coming?
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And does anyone know where I can get my hands on a more comprehensive timeline of the developments in the Manticore system and the happenings in the whole of this universe, than is found in "House of Steel"? I surmise that one would need to make an encyclopedia of it.
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Thank you.
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