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The Honor of the Queen | Rating | |
| A | |||
| David Weber | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| Honor Harrington | 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 | ||
It's over two years since the events at Basilisk Station went down, and Captain Honor Harrington has done well. Now her ship is to provide a military escort to a diplomatic envoy to Yeltsin, an impoverished system in an excellent location to serve as a base for the coming war with Haven. But the people living there are not just poor, they are adherents to a religion that considers women not just inferior but the next best thing to property. And they're at war with a fanatical offshoot that does consider them property, and has dropped nukes on their more moderate neighbors to make the point. Manticore wants an alliance with the moderates, and Haven is forced to play up to the fanatics, and the quite-female Honor is caught in the middle.
The strengths of the first book return in this one, only moreso in certain aspects. There is still the wonderfully complete descriptions of space battle, complete with speeds and distances being rattled off liberally. But there is more person-to-person combat described here, even for the Havenites who are not at all expecting it, and frankly more space combat as well. And when the brown stuff hits the rotating blades, it really was a tense, heartwrenching moment for me.
In a way, it's actually slower to get going than the first book. While this one has more combat, and of more types, it is nearly halfway through the book before events really start building. In book one, the combat was almost all in the climax, but due to the major waves Harrington and her crew made doing their duties, things get interesting much earlier.
There is one major problem with the physics that is declared in the book. Gravity waves are said to be detectable instantly - they move faster than light. This is simply untrue. It is to date the only outright error I've discovered with the series, and it's quite excusable. Most stories butcher physics far worse than this.
This was thoroughly enjoyable. There is not as much exposition, though of course there is some of it. And once more it is not only relevant but interesting. It isn't strictly necessary, but I do recommend that people read On Basilisk Station before they read this - there are references that will be somewhat puzzling otherwise.
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