disastrouspenguin's review against another edition
3.0
Maybe 3.5? This book was frustrating to me because only about a quarter of the book was spent on Honor or people in her company. The other three quarters was spent on other characters, supporting or peripheral, some carried through the series, some never to be seen again.
All told, this book does more to advance the story arc of the series (the war) rather than of Honor. As a result, there was too much time spent on technical descriptions, politics and political descriptions, and characters that I just didn't care that much about. At times it even felt like filler, inserted to bulk up the book. When the story was on Honor, it was great, but I skimmed a lot in this one - probably my least favorite in the series so far. Still, I'm looking forward to the conclusion.
All told, this book does more to advance the story arc of the series (the war) rather than of Honor. As a result, there was too much time spent on technical descriptions, politics and political descriptions, and characters that I just didn't care that much about. At times it even felt like filler, inserted to bulk up the book. When the story was on Honor, it was great, but I skimmed a lot in this one - probably my least favorite in the series so far. Still, I'm looking forward to the conclusion.
pjonsson's review against another edition
4.0
Not very surprisingly, I liked this one much much better than the previous one in the series. I almost couldn't wait for triumphant the end when Harrington finally appears back in Manticore space.
Having said that, I agree with some of the previous Goodreads reviewers that there was a bit of filler material, especially the happenings on Grayson, which was rather boring to read.
Having said that, I agree with some of the previous Goodreads reviewers that there was a bit of filler material, especially the happenings on Grayson, which was rather boring to read.
_meltea_'s review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
travelgirlut's review against another edition
3.0
(2.5 stars rounded up)
"Um." Every main character says it at least once, and it's used over and over again. The way I read that in my mind makes the characters all sound stupid. Plus, none of these main characters has ever said "um" before in any of the previous books, so why now?? Weber seems to grab onto certain phrases and sayings and they show up over and over again, and to me they are really obvious. How are the editors not seeing this? Another one he likes to use is Honor hugging Nimitz to her breasts. Such a man thing to write. Why can't she just hug him to her chest? But I supposed he just likes writing breasts instead.
Also, everyone in this book seemed really distracted. You get the first line in some exciting sounding section of the story, and then the character of focus would go off on some multi-page reminiscing of times past, usually about things that had no direct value to the story. Then they would mentally shake themselves (again, phrasing that was used repeatedly in the book) and the story would continue. Weber needs to wake his characters up and just get on with the story!
I read this to find out about how Honor escapes from Hell, and if you were to pull those sections out you'd have a fairly decent short story. The rest is telling what's going on in the rest of the war in the meantime. I get why that part of the story is important to tell, but the ratio of Honor to everything else was really skewed. And the action parts seemed to get glossed over so we could get back to the politics and analyzing of the rest of the book.
I do enjoy the Honor Harrington books, and I will continue to read them. This book is not as bad as I'm making it sound. I just picked the things that were bothering me the most to point out. If you've enjoyed the series up to this point, definitely read this one too. I actually felt it was done a bit better than the last one in terms of action versus politics, so hopefully they will continue to improve as I move forward!
"Um." Every main character says it at least once, and it's used over and over again. The way I read that in my mind makes the characters all sound stupid. Plus, none of these main characters has ever said "um" before in any of the previous books, so why now?? Weber seems to grab onto certain phrases and sayings and they show up over and over again, and to me they are really obvious. How are the editors not seeing this? Another one he likes to use is Honor hugging Nimitz to her breasts. Such a man thing to write. Why can't she just hug him to her chest? But I supposed he just likes writing breasts instead.
Also, everyone in this book seemed really distracted. You get the first line in some exciting sounding section of the story, and then the character of focus would go off on some multi-page reminiscing of times past, usually about things that had no direct value to the story. Then they would mentally shake themselves (again, phrasing that was used repeatedly in the book) and the story would continue. Weber needs to wake his characters up and just get on with the story!
I read this to find out about how Honor escapes from Hell, and if you were to pull those sections out you'd have a fairly decent short story. The rest is telling what's going on in the rest of the war in the meantime. I get why that part of the story is important to tell, but the ratio of Honor to everything else was really skewed. And the action parts seemed to get glossed over so we could get back to the politics and analyzing of the rest of the book.
I do enjoy the Honor Harrington books, and I will continue to read them. This book is not as bad as I'm making it sound. I just picked the things that were bothering me the most to point out. If you've enjoyed the series up to this point, definitely read this one too. I actually felt it was done a bit better than the last one in terms of action versus politics, so hopefully they will continue to improve as I move forward!
katmarhan's review against another edition
3.0
Not my favorite in the series so far, I have to say. The storyline felt disjointed and I didn't feel like we got to know the new characters very well. Of course, some of them didn't last long, so I guess that's OK. I do like the way the young Clinkscales, so awkward when we met him, has matured. And the insights into White Haven's emotions were helpful to my understanding of the relationship between Honor and him.
Honor's "battle" near the end of the book was wonderfully amazing and a great vindication of her belief in the character and leadership of the force she had cobbled together.
Honor's "battle" near the end of the book was wonderfully amazing and a great vindication of her belief in the character and leadership of the force she had cobbled together.
edb14's review against another edition
3.0
I promised that I would tell you when I finally tired of this series, and it has now happened.
Nothing really ruined it for me; I enjoyed my time in the Honorverse and I will probably read through them again from the beginning in a few years, but Weber’s writing habits have finally begun to pall. Honor’s character has now grown and changed so much that I can no longer hold onto my suspension of disbelief that all of these adventures could center around one person, and I’m happy to put the series aside after reading of her triumphant and daring escape from prison. Weber’s novels have gotten steadily longer to the point where the last two took me months to finish, and I took many breaks to finish other novels in between. This one in particular was irksome because Honor’s storyline was tightly written and intensely interesting, but it was broken up by interminable scenes of other characters, new and old, testing military equipment and fighting losing skirmishes in other parts of space. Weber’s insistence on adding new but ultimately inconsequential characters to his space opera has finally taken over the plot like an inoperable cancer, and my brain was blinded as I tried to remember the names of all of those mechanics and tac officers who showed up for this installment but who I would never hear about again. This was especially annoying as Honor was also meeting a bunch of new people in her prison camp, but by the time I got back to their storyline I had forgotten who everyone was. The mental effort of trying to keep track of everyone and understand the purpose behind all of the space battles through Weber’s wealth of mathematical details began to be more than the reward of seeing Honor overcome new challenges. Plus, Weber is continually heaping new “honors” on his heroine while ignoring any opportunities for punnery and I can’t stand it anymore. No regrets, but no intentions of embarking on the next installment either.
Nothing really ruined it for me; I enjoyed my time in the Honorverse and I will probably read through them again from the beginning in a few years, but Weber’s writing habits have finally begun to pall. Honor’s character has now grown and changed so much that I can no longer hold onto my suspension of disbelief that all of these adventures could center around one person, and I’m happy to put the series aside after reading of her triumphant and daring escape from prison. Weber’s novels have gotten steadily longer to the point where the last two took me months to finish, and I took many breaks to finish other novels in between. This one in particular was irksome because Honor’s storyline was tightly written and intensely interesting, but it was broken up by interminable scenes of other characters, new and old, testing military equipment and fighting losing skirmishes in other parts of space. Weber’s insistence on adding new but ultimately inconsequential characters to his space opera has finally taken over the plot like an inoperable cancer, and my brain was blinded as I tried to remember the names of all of those mechanics and tac officers who showed up for this installment but who I would never hear about again. This was especially annoying as Honor was also meeting a bunch of new people in her prison camp, but by the time I got back to their storyline I had forgotten who everyone was. The mental effort of trying to keep track of everyone and understand the purpose behind all of the space battles through Weber’s wealth of mathematical details began to be more than the reward of seeing Honor overcome new challenges. Plus, Weber is continually heaping new “honors” on his heroine while ignoring any opportunities for punnery and I can’t stand it anymore. No regrets, but no intentions of embarking on the next installment either.