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Jayne's Intelligence Review: The Royal Manticoran Navy | Rating | |
| B | |||
| David Weber, Ken Burnside, and Thomas Pope | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| The "Honorverse" | 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 | ||
David Weber tends to describe the strategies and tactics his characters use with uncommon detail. And he doesn't hold back much when it comes to the hardware they use, either. That's one of the reason his fans love him so much — and his critics hate him. But while the ships and weapons are all described in his books, it's not exactly easy to compare one ship to another, and if you ever wanted to get the straight statistics you had to commit to an exhausting search. But now you can read all about the Manticoran Navy, all from one source. This source.
This is not exactly fiction; this is in truth a reference book for a gaming system. But it could easily be used as a reference for fans, or for those writing fanfiction, or even for people hoping to be more professionally published. I doubt the Worlds of Honor collections take open submissions, but hey — you never know!
It's a good reference, too, with details on armament, capabilities, strategy and doctrine for the Royal Manticoran Navy's forces. It doesn't just concentrate on the Navy, either, though that is definitely the heard of the volume; the equipment and weaponry of the Marines also get a handful of pages. Also included is a brief history of Manticore and its navy, plus a large section devoted to "the great resizing," dedicated to making the dimensions and masses Weber lists in his novels more consistent — not to mention reasonable.
This is no universe bible, though. Many details of Manticore's history and policy are left out, as are many of the more important names. If you want a full understanding of Manticore, your best bet remains to read the novels. Too, this volume only covers the Manticoran univts available at the start of the Havenite War. The technological developments of the last few books, and all the tactical changes they wrought, are entirely absent. That was rather disappointing, to tell the truth; I would have liked to compare the new systems to the old. Ah, well, perhaps in another edition.
Given all that, and its hefty price tag — Ad Astra Games sells this sixty-five page compilation for $29.95 — this will have only limited appeal, even to true-blue Honor Harrington fans. Still, it's not a waste. The color illustrations adorning nearly every page are nice and very useful, and the statistics and other information are easy to read and comprehend. I have no doubt that owning this will let me enjoy Weber's books all the more. Still, there is no denying they will probably be of more actual use to the gamers for which they were intended.
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