The Mesan Alignment is revealed, and, for Honor Harrington and the Manticoran Star Kingdom, this means war!
Unintended Consequences
Sometimes things don’t work out exactly as planned.
The Mesan Alignment has a plan—one it’s been working on for centuries. A plan to remake the galaxy and genetically improve the human race—its way.
Until recently, things have gone pretty much as scheduled, but then the Alignment hit a minor bump in the road called the Star Empire of Manticore. So the Alignment engineered a war between the Solarian League, the biggest and most formidable interstellar power in human history. To help push things along, the Alignment launched a devastating sneak attack which destroyed the Royal Manticoran Navy’s industrial infrastructure.
And in order to undercut Manticore’s galaxy‑wide reputation as a star nation of its word, it launched Operation Janus—a false‑flag covert operation to encourage rebellions it knows will fail by promising Manticoran support. The twin purposes are to harden Solarian determination to destroy the Star Empire once and for all, and to devastate the Star Empire’s reputation with the rest of the galaxy.
But even the best laid plans can have unintended consequences, and one of those consequences in this case may just be a new dawn of freedom for oppressed star nations everywhere.
-
worst in seriesToo much of book has previously appeared. Advanced series just barely.
Posted on
-
I think the entire book was written to retcon a few bits in. Very little added to the storyline at all.
waste of my money, I will scrutinize any future books in this series very carefully nowPosted on
-
Wish I hadn't wasted my moneyI've loved ever other Honorverse book that David Weber until this one. I'm rapidly skimming through the book desperately trying to find something of interest. I so miss books like Basilisk Station.
Posted on
-
Fraud!I could go on about how disgraceful and filled with filler this book is but all I have to say is that everyone involved with this book should be ashamed. The author for trying to pass this rehashed for the third time tripe on his readers. The publisher for accepting and promoting this almost fraudulently as a new book. It seems that Baen has truly lost their way without their founder to keep the bean counters from running the show. Seeing the baen logo on the book used to ensure I would pick any book up with it on and at least read the blurb and always consider buying. Sadly this faith has been broken and this is no longer the case.
Posted on
-
Don't bother AGAIN!Helpful hint. With this series get a group of people. We have about 30 in ours. Buy one copy to see if it goes anywhere if it doesn't you will save a boat load of cash. If it does everyone can buy a copy. Why spend money on this crap. You only encourage him in his delusions.
Posted on
-
Almost pointless to readI absolutely love these books, and the entire series. However, I was really disappointed with an entire book dedicated to what was almost completely backstory/sidestory. Yes some loose ends were tied up, but not enough to make a whole book. I really wanted to see the storyline move forward. I'll be waiting for the next book with baited breath!
Posted on
-
Needed but lots of caveatsDon't read this book unless you have read at least half a dozen of the prior books in the series because it will make no sense at all. It does provide necessary information but most of this should have been in other books. In fact, those tend to be a let down because of what this has and they are missing.
Having said that, it did enjoy having many of the missing pieces included. Most were not earth shattering and the overall flow of the various series could move forward without it but I would recommend getting and reading this if you are a diehard fan.
As with many of the books in the series, it can be rather verbose and I agree with many that a sizable chunk could have been pulled in editing. There are also places where more could be included that would have been more worthwhile but that tends to be true for most books when critics are trying for 20-20 vision after the fact.Posted on
-
A good addition to the Shadow line of Honorverse, but...To be fair, I really enjoyed catching up with these missing pieces of the stories, in a way this is the outtakes from the larger story. It fills in a number of important missing bits.
Unfortunately, the chapters are not labeled, or titled in a way that makes it clear where these pieces fit. And I believe that is the main flaw, and the real complaint that seems to fills these ratings.
This is a collection of short stories, not a single book. And as a collection of stories it stands very well.
My favorite stories involve the cast of the HMS Hexapuma. Which is probably because these are some of the most filled out and whole characters through out the collection.
This is not a beginning book, but a good book for readers of the series that enjoy learning more about the background and growth of some favorite characters.Posted on
-
Revised opinionIn an earlier comment, I was rather disgruntled. Only when I got to the last, O, quarter of the book did the story come together and advanced the story. This is a very nice foundation for Alliance vs Alignment and Alliance vs SL. Could be may be be a bit less clumsy, but once it gets going....
Posted on
-
Rinse and repeatAs with all the other comments, this is a book to explain stuff which had already happened in a way to make it less easy to understand.
Do I bother with the next one? Will we actually see anything new? Not looking good just at the momentPosted on
