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.
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Disappointed!For the readers that have been following the life and adventurers of H.H., my recommendation is that you start reading somewhere in the middle of this book (chapter 38 or 39). Believe me, you will not miss anything important, and save yourself a lot of aggravation.
For those that have never read David's H.H. series, please do not start with this book, because you'll never buy another one of the series, and thus will miss a really fascinating story.
Dan,
SHIELD OF LIFEPosted on
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Great despite terrible reviewsSorry for all those who were looking for another story of Honor, but this reminds me more of a very cohesive grantville gazette, with a multitude of additional characters wrapping around the events of the main storyline. I will admit to frequently having moments of dejavu, but the story was compelling and interesting. I think many of the flaws others have picked up on derive from one author trying to accomplish what Eric Flint did with many authors. And yes, the names were...dificult. but despite that, I couldn't put it down.
I reccomend this book to anyone interesred in seeing the the honorverse expand. It especially makes the verge planets into real places with interesting and compelling history of their own. Also humanizes the Mesan Alignment enough to make it feel more realistic.
I think this may be David's best attempt at broadening the Honorverse, rather than meerly splitting it. It definitly has a different feel to it than many of his previous works, which may explain the blast of negativity in the comments. Quite simply, its not what many of the readers expected, and possibly not what many of them *wanted*. But that doesnt make it less of good bit of novel writing.Posted on
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NAMES NAMES NAMES!!!I will start by saying that David Weber is one of my favorite authors, and I have read most of his books (not all).
And my main issue at the moment, is the names which others have stated.
However, I am having trouble even getting started with this book. A lot of names, titles, and organizations in the beginning are Slavic. And however much I want to get in the book, I keep hitting roadblocks with the names. As such, I've only read the first few chapters.
I let a friend of mine take a look at the names, she was a Russian linguist and she blinked at the names and looked at me thinking this was a joke. She stated most laymen wouldn't be able to figure out these names (pronunciation) and she had trouble with some of them.
Hopefully David Weber changes the names to make it more readable.
As for some of the other issues people have stated, with the backstory I can't say to much about. I had no problem with it in David's other books, mostly because it wasn't much and it gave a better understanding of the timeline.
I'll adjust this review if I am ever able to continue reading the book, but the names alone are turning me off.Posted on
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RehashAll I can say is don't waste you're money on this eArc. I should have read some of the reviews before I did. I won't rehash what others have said about this latest book but will add that I'm also one of those that are disappointed with the fact that the story isn't going anywhere. Maybe the next one will but I won't be paying the extra for the eArc.
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Baen false advertising is showcased in the banner foe ebooks.So many peoe are trying to defend this book. many point out correctly this isn't an honor book. But, Baen doesn't seem to know that has they set up a banner add broadcasting that the alignment has been revealed and she is up against it...as if this was an honor book? Yet, again some people are trying to defend this practice? can we all agree that most of us are the biggest David Weber Fans? And we're just upset because we dot want backstory that covers 20% of each of the last 3 or 4 books consuming 65% or more of the room for new storyline? That and the need to try to show every Planet within the solely republic that is being targeted by the false Manti core defense group...Why not do some back story after evert hinge lows up to show that some solely planes were in the rebellion spirit long before Manti core or the alignment ever though about this sector of space? How could any real fan praise someone for taking their old content rehashing it into a book and then charge those same fans for basically a story with 1/3 or even r0% new material? Except this has happened already? Empire of man and series was condensed into a single book same with the Dakar series? So now are we seeing Baen try to create their own anthologies books in mid series so they can earn more money? why doesnt everyone see this for what it is?
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I never thought to say this about a Weber book!This book really took me by surpise. Usually, Weber books grab you and don't let go, but this one had so many characters and places with strange and confusing names that I was lost before I got to the end of Chapter 3.
This is the worst book in an otherwise excellent series. Mister Weber, please take note.Posted on
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DisappointingI have been waiting for this book for a long time now, in my mind it was supposed to be the climax of the Honorverse series. Instead it is just a rehash of stories already told in other books. The overall plotline of the Honorverse was only advanced by about three pages.
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Sweepings from the Cutting Room FloorI must agree with many other reviewers that this book is a disappointment because it does not materially advance the story and only rehashes in greater depth subplots that have been quite adequately covered.
I suspect that it is a collection of chapters dropped from previous volumes to avoid excessive length, connected tenuously together into a new volume.
I have to hope that this does not indicate that Weber has entered a Ludlum like dotage and that we are doomed to mediocrity for the remainder of the series.
The only redemption is that it is a Weber book, with a collection of appealing characters to bind the reader. That is, however, insufficient in the end.Posted on
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Terrible rehash of the last few booksI found this book to be a terrible rehash from different perspectives of the last few books, without adding much of anything to the story-line, which could have been moved along in many possible interesting avenues.
Overall this book is made boring, confusing and sluggish by many irrelevant characters involved in side stories leading up to major battles that already happened in the last book.Posted on
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Too many pages spent on people / places that will never be revisited. I just couldn't find any interest in this retelling of events from a different perspective.
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