pjonsson's review
4.0
This is another good book by David Weber & Co. Unfortunately I have to say that I liked the first book in the series better. The book is quite slow to start and, what I consider the main character, Travis is really not present at all during a good first chunk of the book. During this part of the book it suffers a bit from the “David Weber Syndrome” were people just go around and talk, discuss and talk some more. The latter third of the book makes up for this with plenty of action but the first parts of the book still drags it down quite a bit.
Most of the book is spent on the build up for the war to come. We are following one of the principal agents in his endeavours to set the stage for a crushing defeat of the Manticoran forces which, due to the usual political short-sightedness as well the equally usual habit of said politicians to work primarily for their own gain, is a abysmally poor state. This is also one of the parts with this book that I do not like very much. A lot of it is spent on frustrating politics and political manoeuvring.
Luckily things do heat up in the third part of the book when the cat is out of the bag and the shit hits the fan big-time. Once we get to the fleet action it is as good as can be expected from a book (partly) written by David Weber. These parts were a pleasure to read.
The, not so surprising, outbreak of the hostilities also means that previously mentioned assholes (aka politicians) got some nice surprises and consequently got slapped around a bit. Unfortunately, and this frustrated me to no end, these assholes actually do not get it but, during the very end of the book, they immediately starts to plot how they can use the events for their own gain. What was especially pissing me off were the parts where the jerk Winterfall repetedly tries to convince himself that he is working in Manticore’s best interest by continuing to have his head stuck up Breakwater’s arse. Not only that but they manage to screw Travis over…again. Arrrggghhhh!
On the whole it is a good book. As the previous one it is good but not great and I liked the previous one better.
Most of the book is spent on the build up for the war to come. We are following one of the principal agents in his endeavours to set the stage for a crushing defeat of the Manticoran forces which, due to the usual political short-sightedness as well the equally usual habit of said politicians to work primarily for their own gain, is a abysmally poor state. This is also one of the parts with this book that I do not like very much. A lot of it is spent on frustrating politics and political manoeuvring.
Luckily things do heat up in the third part of the book when the cat is out of the bag and the shit hits the fan big-time. Once we get to the fleet action it is as good as can be expected from a book (partly) written by David Weber. These parts were a pleasure to read.
The, not so surprising, outbreak of the hostilities also means that previously mentioned assholes (aka politicians) got some nice surprises and consequently got slapped around a bit. Unfortunately, and this frustrated me to no end, these assholes actually do not get it but, during the very end of the book, they immediately starts to plot how they can use the events for their own gain. What was especially pissing me off were the parts where the jerk Winterfall repetedly tries to convince himself that he is working in Manticore’s best interest by continuing to have his head stuck up Breakwater’s arse. Not only that but they manage to screw Travis over…again. Arrrggghhhh!
On the whole it is a good book. As the previous one it is good but not great and I liked the previous one better.
bethmitcham's review
3.0
Again, I'm in the book for Trevor, who seems to get even less page time as the book also wanders around several other ships, the king, the politicians trying to shut down the navy, etc. It is fun sometimes to recognize the constraints the authors are working with; for example, Trevor keeps getting denied important medals for trivial reasons, but in a Doylist sense it's because no one in the future really knows his name -- those books have already been written. So it's fun to see the puzzle pieces the writers are juggling.
hseldon's review
3.0
Actually, it probably would be four stars viewed on it's own, but I was very disappointed by how much of the book was a word for word reprint of the novella that was released in the last Honorverse anthology.
brettt's review
4.0
In his introduction to 2014's A Call to Duty, Honorverse creator David Weber said he and co-author Timothy Zahn really needed to credit Tom Pope, a longtime Weber fan who has assembled a wide-ranging database of the fictional universe that helps maintain continuity. Without Pope's research, Weber said, the new series set in the early history of Harrington's Star Kingdom of Manticore would not have run nearly so smoothly. So in this second volume, A Call to Arms, Pope hits co-author status.
This "Manticore Ascendant" series is, as mentioned, set early in the history of the star nation that Weber's heroine Honor Harrington will one day serve. And it's a time when Manticore's future is nowhere near assured. External threats and political infighting threaten its three planets, which have yet to discover the wormhole junctions that will make them an economic powerhouse. Travis Long is a young officer in Manticore's Royal Navy and trying to learn how to marry his spit-and-polish standards to the Navy's spit-and-baling-wire reality, His personal struggles mirror his nation's quest to maintain independence while lacking a lot of the resources to do so. Both will collide with shadowy forces that want to add Manticore's resources to their own -- but they'll be satisfied picking clean the corpse if need be.
Pope's attention to research detail helps line these earlier-set books up with the time frame of the main sequence. But it's Weber and Zahn who have to make a reader care about people who are facing a danger that we who read the later books know is not likely to happen. In both books so far they have done so with their focus on Long and gradual broadening the cast into the upper levels of political maneuvering that affect him. Although only the three authors can say for certain how the job is split, Zahn's influence reining in Weber's penchant for over-long stretches of conversation and dialogue is easy to spot, since those narrative-muffling exchanges are kept to a minimum. The final mix keeps us connected to the characters and the unfolding mystery of how the Star Kingdom of Manticore came to be what will bring us Honor Harrington herself. After all, in this case the existence of books set well after this period tells us what happened. So far, Weber, Zahn and Pope have managed to keep us interested in how it did and who was involved.
See original here.
This "Manticore Ascendant" series is, as mentioned, set early in the history of the star nation that Weber's heroine Honor Harrington will one day serve. And it's a time when Manticore's future is nowhere near assured. External threats and political infighting threaten its three planets, which have yet to discover the wormhole junctions that will make them an economic powerhouse. Travis Long is a young officer in Manticore's Royal Navy and trying to learn how to marry his spit-and-polish standards to the Navy's spit-and-baling-wire reality, His personal struggles mirror his nation's quest to maintain independence while lacking a lot of the resources to do so. Both will collide with shadowy forces that want to add Manticore's resources to their own -- but they'll be satisfied picking clean the corpse if need be.
Pope's attention to research detail helps line these earlier-set books up with the time frame of the main sequence. But it's Weber and Zahn who have to make a reader care about people who are facing a danger that we who read the later books know is not likely to happen. In both books so far they have done so with their focus on Long and gradual broadening the cast into the upper levels of political maneuvering that affect him. Although only the three authors can say for certain how the job is split, Zahn's influence reining in Weber's penchant for over-long stretches of conversation and dialogue is easy to spot, since those narrative-muffling exchanges are kept to a minimum. The final mix keeps us connected to the characters and the unfolding mystery of how the Star Kingdom of Manticore came to be what will bring us Honor Harrington herself. After all, in this case the existence of books set well after this period tells us what happened. So far, Weber, Zahn and Pope have managed to keep us interested in how it did and who was involved.
See original here.
betsychadwell's review
4.0
[November 26, 2015]
This is the second book in the "Manticore Ascendant" series, starring young Naval officer Travis Long. But Travis barely appears in the first third of the book. Instead the early action focuses on one of his friends (possible love interest in the future?). Also there's a lot of politics. But there is also a lot of fairly exciting action. And enough hints about the future to make me anxious for the next installment.
[July 18, 2018]
I enjoyed this probably more the second time through. Enough to increase my rating from three stars to four.
This is the second book in the "Manticore Ascendant" series, starring young Naval officer Travis Long. But Travis barely appears in the first third of the book. Instead the early action focuses on one of his friends (possible love interest in the future?). Also there's a lot of politics. But there is also a lot of fairly exciting action. And enough hints about the future to make me anxious for the next installment.
[July 18, 2018]
I enjoyed this probably more the second time through. Enough to increase my rating from three stars to four.
glennisleblanc's review
3.0
The second book in the series continues with following Travis Long’s career but it also keeps tabs on other people you meet in the previous book. Travis has the same problems with his desire to always stick to the rulebook no matter what and that hurts him both professionally and personally. I actually preferred the other characters in this book to him. Hopefully at some point in the future he will actually see what he is doing to himself with this desire to always play by the rules. The politics are still there in this book and that both Travis and his brother don’t really think about the connection they have to one another in their day to day lives everyone is very happy to take advantage of it and get even with one or the other by sabotaging stuff where they can. Maybe later books will have them getting in better contact with each other to the betterment of both.
Physical review copy provided by the publisher.
Physical review copy provided by the publisher.
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