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The Service of the Sword | Rating | |
| B | |||
| David Weber | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| Worlds of Honor | Jayne's Intelligence Review: The Royal Manticoran Navy, Jayne's Intelligence Review: The Havenite Republican Navy, On Basilisk Station, The Honor of the Queen, The Short Victorious War, Field of Dishonor, Flag in Exile, Honor Among Enemies, In Enemy Hands, Echoes of Honor, Ashes of Victory, War of Honor, At All Costs, More Than Honor, Worlds of Honor, Changer of Worlds, The Service of the Sword, Crown of Slaves, The Shadow of Saganami | ||
This is the fourth Honorverse anthology, and is perhaps more relevant than most regarding the main storyline of the Haven-Manticore War. It also has the most stories, the most authors, and is nearly half again as thick as previous Worlds of Honor titles. It's as thick as some of the actual novels!
This book also has two notable firsts. It is the first time Weber has allowed someone to use Honor herself as a major character in their story. Every time previously, Honor was written only by Weber himself. Or perhaps nobody quite dared try, before now. Whichever it is, With One Stone is a darned good story about secret weapons deployed in the Silesian Confederacy. The other notable first is that this is the first time I've ever read Honorverse comedy. And it's a pretty good one. John Ringo and Victor Mitchell know how to make people laugh, or at least me, telling the tale of a very dysfunctional ship in the Grayson Navy.
And the other stories were good as well. They vary from a story focusing on Manticore's pre-war attempts to find an alliance with Masada to another story by Eric Flint about his Havenite spies to another story by Ringo, about some other spies' "vacation" on an enemy planet. Weber, of course, makes a contribution, about the first Grayson Midshipwoman and her middy cruise. But though they're all very good, there really is nothing outstanding about them.
There's also two things I had real, if minor, problems with. In "With One Stone," Admiral Hemphil's "third bird" at the end of the story didn't quite mesh with established continuity. The reaction of Honor in The Honor of the Queen would simply have been different if events here were exactly as portrayed. And Weber succumbs to one of his more blatant infodumps at the beginning of his story. Granted, it's disguised as a formal chat between Midshipwoman Hearns and an admiral, but it still is very careful to talk of the political situation between Grayson and Manticore, among other things. Still, it wasn't exactly subtle exposition.
While a good addition to the Honorverse, when it comes right down to it this book is nothing special. But it's certainly not bad, and it's definitely entertaining. Honor Harrington fans should be pleased with this even if they're not enthralled.
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