I really appreciate the responses so far. I’ve read the Harrington series up to, but not including, At All Costs, but I’ve not read the associated “Honorverse” stories. I can see I need to get in to those.
I did check out, just this evening, a copy of AAC, hardbound, at the bookstore, and regretfully I can’t afford such a book just now. But I put my name on it at the library, and it shouldn’t be long before I get it. Made the mistake of checking out the first couple of chapters at the bookstore, and came in on Howard Clinkscales funereal. Damn, I liked the reactionary old guy
Its definitely worth getting if you can Baker. To me this particular book had a LOT going on…and the battles were, IMHO, titanic and horrifying at the same time. I won’t spoil it for you, but when you manage to get a copy come back and re-open the thread if you like and give your thoughts on it.
Obviously I’m a huge Honor fan…I can’t get enough of her! And I’m dieing for the next book. A month or so ago I saw the cover for In Fury Born and thought (for one brief shinning moment) that it was the next Honor book. I was leaping for joy until I realized it wasn’t an Honor book. Still ended up buying it and it wasn’t bad.
-XT
p.s. Wish Weber would get on with his part of the 1634 series already! That guy shouldn’t be allowed a break…someone needs to be keeping his nose to the grindstone 24/7 IMHO!
Oh God, yes, the 1632 series is the other one I follow! Alternate/misplaced/multi-line history is one of my favorite genres.
xtisme, did you ever read any H. Beam Piper? He’s been dead for forty years, but I love to reread his work. One of his short stories “He Walked Around the Horses” was on a top ten list of my all time favorite shorts. I have an extra copy of the book it was in, if you can’t find it, and I’d be glad to send it to you. For anyone who’s an historian, it’s really good, and the signature of the person writing the letter that’s the end of the story is a real hoot.
I’ll check it out when my book queue starts to taper off some. I have this link book marked so I can come back to it. One of the books in my queue (in fact, next book up) is 1634: The Ram Rebellion. I’ve had it for a bit but just haven’t gotten around to reading it. I know its not in the ‘main story line’, but it still looks interesting.
Never did get any explanation for why Tisphone was hanging out on a distant planet, or what happened to her sisters. That left the story with some pretty big holes. Still, not a bad read.
Sam’s (very short) story is “Changer of Worlds”, in the Worlds of Honor book of the same name.
Oh, definitely. The events and characters in the spinoff books gradually become more and more important in the main books. There are also historically based stories that add depth to the history of various characters and their familes (there are a few stories involving the Queen Elizabeth’s ancestors, and a few featuring Honor Harrington’s forebearers as well).
The Ram Rebellion was kind of odd, but I didn’t want to leave it out of my 1632 reading. We’ll have to start a seperate 1632 thread when the next book come out, or when you read TRR. I like the first Grantville Gazette book, especially the story about the Rudolstadt Colloquy. I lent that to my parents Lutheran pastor, who’s a sci-fi fan, and he liked it. I did too, as I was raised Lutheran but am Episcopalian now.
I have deliberately kept from reading the spoilers in this thread about AAC, but one of the recent responses, about the appearance of treecats revealed
that the baby Honor has in her arms on the cover is supposed to be “her baby”
Folks, you can read the spoiler above if you’ve read the latest book, but if you have, pretty please, don’t spoil it openly like that for me!
About prolong, and lengthened lives, what about folks staying entrenched in one place for a long time? Might there not be a stagnation of thought and ideas? Or do you figure folks will get bored and move on, having several careers during a lifetime? I mean, what if Protector Benjamin’s son turns out to be a real dipstick, and after getting prolong. Imagine how long he’d be in place, mucking things up.
Do you think that lives are more likely to end violently, through accidents and such? Living longer would give time more chances to kill you off quick.
Well, the Manticoran military at least makes a point of shuffling people around for just that reason; they don’t want some guy to be in charge of, say, weapons development for 200 years. Interestingly, the Solarian Navy is full of people who’ve had the same job for a century or more; one suspects they are just a little bit ossified by now. < Foreshadowing ! Foreshadowing ! >
Quite possibly; I recall some years ago an estimate from some life insurance company that if you eliminated all natural causes like age and disease, people would still tend to die around 200 from accidents/murder.
Yeah, I suspect that there is a major confrontation sometime in the future between Manticor and the Solies. I just haven’t figured out exactly how Manticor will be able to do more than a Japan yet (well, thats not true…I have some ideas depending on if the Haven/Manticor thing ever gets resolved the way I THINK it will…and if some of the other 3rd parties also do what I think they will…).
Whatever happens, it will be interesting IMHO…I can’t wait!
Eh, Windrider’s Oath, the third Bahzel Bahnakson book, seems to suffer from a bad case of lack-of-editor-itis. Several unresolved threads which should have been resolved, a few overly-blatent machina ex deus, etc. It’s worthwhile as a continuation of the series, I suppose, but if the first book had been that bad, I wouldn’t have bothered.
Well, strictly speaking, you should read the short stories in the order they were published, thus, even though it takes place before Honor of the Queen, you would still read “Promised Land” fairly late in the series of books. For the most part, the events that occur in the short stories don’t get referenced until the later books anyways.
But one thing I am sure of is that the first story, chronologically, is the one about Stephanie Harrington and the case of the disappearing celery.
Thanks, and sorry about the spoiler, I forgot that the spoiler in question didn’t happen until this book.
Ok, I just now finished reading AT All Costs and I wanted to write this while I was still suitably pissed.
I feel like Queen Elizabeth III after hearing of yet another Havenite atrocity. I so wanted to like this book, I was eagerly looking forward to it, reserved it at the library and finished it in three days. And I have to be at work in five hours.
I don’t mind the deaths involved, or who they were. Shit happens. Even lots of it, and if you have read this book, or the others in the Harrington series, you know what I’m talking about. And up until now I’ve been a big fan.
But Sweet Tester, at the end of this book nothing has been resolved! We’re in for yet another dreary wait for the next in what’s becoming an unending series.
I know that real life doesn’t always have neat stopping points. But this is fiction, for crying out loud! If Weber can’t at least give the protagonists a new set of problems, like stomping on Mesa, I won’t read past one more in the series. And I may not read that unless, when and if it ever arrives, some other reader can tell me it’s worth it. I’m tired of the ultralong, technical battle scenes too.
I really want to be talked out of my bad attitude. But right now I’m envisioning myself as a treecat going for David Weber’s throat. I want something new, not the same old stuff. If anyone can help me get my enjoyment in this series back, maybe I’ll sheath my claws.
And BTW, a seperate, question. What in hell exactly is a genetic slave? Is there more than one variety?
Different strokes for different folks; one of the more common complaints I’ve heard about the last few books was that there weren’t enough battle scenes.
Yes; genetic slaves refers to Mesa’s product, who’s slavery is “justified” by their genetically engineered nature; the futuristic equivalent of racism.
I actually wasn’t too unhappy with the book wrt drawing out the current crisis and not really resolving it. For one thing, Webber (unlike some other authors) seems pretty good about getting books out in a reasonably timely fashion. Also, I can sort of see where this conflict is going…so I fully expect major movement in the next book. If that doesn’t happen, then I’ll probably be where you are now however.
[spoiler]“nothing has been resolved! We’re in for yet another dreary wait for the next in what’s becoming an unending series.”:
I didn’t really see it that way to be honest. The way I saw it was he was setting things up, having all the players finally reveal themselves (to us anyway), so that we see a glimps of where things are headed…and also feel the strain because we really do see both sides, and understand how horrible the continueing war going on between Haven and Manticor really is. To be honest, had he wrapped it up in a nice neat package here, I would have been the disappointed one.
And the final battle between Haven and Manticor…well, THAT is going to have a profound effect on both sides and on the future books. It was absolutely stunning IMHO…I don’t recall ever reading a battle of such epic proportions that had such a gut reaction to me.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]“at least give the protagonists a new set of problems, like stomping on Mesa”:
I think its pretty clear that this is exactly what he’s doing. He’s setting things up for a fairly profound discovery wrt this issue…and also leaving it open whether or not the Sollies will get involved. My guess is…we’ll see a reconcilliation between Haven and Manticor in the next book when both realize how they have been manipulated into this…and also realize they in fact have a common enemy who they both hate. I also think that the Sollies WILL end up going to war against a Manticor/Haven alliance…but thats really guessing and probably won’t happen in the next book[/spoiler]
Myself, I’m going to stay the course. I really liked this book and look forward to the next one. Of course, contrary to most of this forum (seemingly) I really like the Robert Jordan series too…various hair tugging and all.
Baker, I’ve heard that there’s a sequel to Crown of Slaves in the works, and given events in At All Costs, it’ll almost certainly be about Zilwicki and Cachat unravelling Mesa’s plans, and showing that they were behind the sabotage of the diplomatic discussions between Haven and Manticore. Once that’s out of the closet, the war will abruptly end, as both sides develop a sudden hunger for Mesan blood, and thus onto the next conflict. And in the meanwhile, with the carnage at the Battle of Manticore, neither side has enough of a military left to be able to go on the offensive, so there will be a lull in the fighting while the super-spies do their thing.
We’ve seen a lot more of Mesa, so far, in the associated stories than in the main series. Yes, there are many different varieties of genetic slaves, designed for various purposes. Sex slaves are, predictably, one of the more popular lines; several significant characters described as particularly good-looking are escaped slaves or their descendants. Jeremy X, the leader of the terrorist/guerilla group The Emerald Ballroom, was designed as a jester, and “scrags” are a line designed for fighting. I think there are also slave lines designed for a variety of manual labor tasks, etc, as well, but they don’t play as big a part in the story.
And I’m dieing for the next book. A month or so ago I saw the cover for In Fury Born and thought (for one brief shinning moment) that it was the next Honor book. I was leaping for joy until I realized it wasn’t an Honor book. Still ended up buying it and it wasn’t bad.