Rating: 
Summary: Strongly recommended
Review: As a fellow writer of science fiction, I feel compelled to take issue with some of the reviews which have appeared here. I'm giving Ashes of Victory 5 stars because it deserves it. For those of you not familiar with David Weber's Honor Harrington series (now, with Ashes of Victory, up to nine volumes), it is one of the most ambitious series currently being written in science fiction. Unlike most series, this one does not consist of a number of individual adventures held together merely by the continuity of a central character. It involves an ever-expanding range of political, social and military forces as the heroine's career progresses.It is simply not possible to write a successful series of that nature without the author taking the time to develop and explore the complexity of the universe in which it takes place. The kind of relatively simple, straight-ahead action which characterized the earlier volumes of the series can't be sustained forever. At a certain point, the author faces a simple choice: end the series, or go deeper into it. C.S. Forester's Hornblower saga, which is the loose inspiration for Weber's Harrington series, pretty much ended at the point where his character reached the same stage of development that Harrington reaches by the beginning of Ashes of Victory. (Forester wrote only three more volumes, all of which -- which the partial exception of Commodore Hornblower -- were episodic in nature.) David Weber has chosen to go the other way, and continue depicting his heroine's career after she attains the upper reaches of success and power. I applaud him for doing so. Partly because I love the series and hope to keep reading it for years to come. But, mostly, because I think the story gets more and more interesting as time goes on. I have no doubt whatsoever that Honor will continue to have many harrowing adventures --- just as she does in Ashes of Victory. But, for me at least, the complex political and social maneuvers in which she is now enmeshed are ultimately more interesting than one space battle after another. My point is simple: you can't expect an admiral to have the same adventures as a ship commander. Nor, frankly, would I be that interested in a series which simply repeated the same formula over and over again -- which the Honor series certainly doesn't. There are lots of series out there. This one is very special. I strongly recommend Ashes of Victory to anyone who enjoys reading a fascinating and complex tale extremely well told.
Rating:
Summary: No longer Space Opera
Review: This series began as Space Opera. Superior space opera, but still space opera. It has matured. Honor and her fellow characters are now a real persons with depth, complexity and personality. Even Oscar Saint Just is more than a cardboard cutout. Weber has not neglected developing Honor's society, politics, technology and civilization, something that most SciFi Writers tend to ignore. Obviously he has been inspired by the Napoleonic era, but is not slavish about it. Still I wonder if the Republic of Haven is destined to become an Empire? Theisman as its first Emperor? "Ashes" is an enjoyable read, but requires that you have read the earlier books in the series. It also is a pivot in the series. Its obvious that Honor is going to have an interesting life. I'm a great Fan of Patrick O'Brian, and the Aubrey/Maturin series. Weber is not quite at O'Brian's level, but he's playing in the same league.
Rating: 
Summary: A great book
Review: I loved it! Nimitz and Samantha get a more active role and show how smart they actually are. The deadlock with the peeps seems to be broken, finally. We get a greater look into interstellar politics. Truely the 'salamander' could have shown up more in the book, but one of the times she does show up she literally lives up to her name.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, But not the Best
Review: I agree with several of the other reviews in that the story spends a lot of time on substance and chat, but loses some of the normal tense action to long drawn out scenes that, in the previous books, would have been summed up in two or three sentences. There are many areas of the book where you get lost because there are details that you need and since you are not given them, you need to make assumptions about what did happen. There is good action, but very little with HH. DW may have to go back to the drawing board over this one. The project encompassed too much time and information and lacked the planning that we saw in the previous books. It appeared the book was rushed to press and vital information had to be left out or was not properly thought through. There was not a lot of detailed battle sections like the other books. Most of the scenes in this one, were straight slaughters. Please don't make HH a diplomat, she was great the way she was.
Rating: 
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: Perhaps I chose the wrong moment to read the latest book in the Honor Harrington series. Not long ago I read the last novel of the magnificent series "The Lost Regiment," by William Forstchen and now I had to choose this one. I have read all the other HH books, and they are entertaining, fast reads, even if the joke of transporting the English and French at the time of the French Revolution 2000 years in the future wears thin after a very short while: Robespierre and Rob S. Pierre, get it? Cute for three pages, but no more. Still, the battles made this series, and its heroine, always larger than life, always, well, heroic. Honor Harrington is back from Hell and from the dead, and she is... perfect. This woman has no flaws. She is a billionaire but has no monetary ambitions. She is an Admiral and wields enormous political power, yet she has no political ambitions and is just one more loyal servant of her Queen (another perfect one). She can hate, but her anger and hatred is only toward bad, bad men and women. She has a pure heart, a soprano voice, a great body, good looks, youth (prolong), no prejudices, no pride (let's borrow from Austen), no blemishes of any kind. Her crews adore her, her Queen adores her, her parents adore her, her cat adores her... Is it only me, or is this way beyond "cute" even for space opera? I liked the series, but to read "Ashes of Victory" was like being slapped with the book. Weber goes on and on about her cat, and her mom (another too cute for words character), and how terribly embarrassed Honor is to live like royalty, and have all that money, and have the Queen give her a palace, and have all those bodyguards ready to die for her, and have all those people think of her as a heroine when she is just another down to earth woman (yeah, right). It never ends! The dialogues are terrible, with mock indignation here and mock shock there, and mock threats, and winks of the eye... I was ready to enjoy this book. Now I realize I wasted money and time. Honor Harrington had been perfect ever since she appeared in the first book, but at least the action saved those other members of the saga. Nothing redeems this one. I found myself rooting for the Peeps!
Rating: 
Summary: How many pages of sign language?
Review: Let me begin by saying that I am a huge fan of this series. So why the one-star rating and the title of this review? The characters have become black or white. The bad guys are one dimensional and the good guys are so sugar coated that I felt the need of a few units of insulin while reading the book. Read it in two days, hoping all the while it would get better. I found that about six chapters of the books content were actually necessary for story development. The book was more of a denouement for the last book in the series. I have to ask: Is this what happens when an author is under too much pressure to put out a volume a year? If so, I would gladly have waited another year for a better story. Looking back on the entire series, I'm sensing a trend in Mr. Weber's development of the story. I can't help but believe that the author's love affair with his heroine has gone too far. The current situation is far too reminiscent of Tom Clancy's hero, Jack Ryan, who rose from a lowly CIA analyst to the position of President of the U.S. in just a few books. At the current pace, Honor will be the Queen of Manticore in two more volumes! Or maybe not if she keeps losing body parts. Does Mr. Weber find something particularly ennobling about bodily mutilation? If I sound bitter, it's because I'm disappointed by the slow descent into trivialities that this series has taken. Honor deserves better than this! Enough pages-long monologues about sign language. Enough four page-long conversations in which the only thing that we learn is that everyone thinks that Honor is just peachy. I must agree with several of the other reviews when I say that we need less fluff and more action, more battles, more innovation...in short, more Honor! Not this chocolate chip cookie fed, overly pampered substitute that Mr. Weber has given us. I strongly recommend that first time readers of Mr. Weber's books guide their hands a few feet to the left on the shelf and pick up On Basilisk Station. Read the whole series and fall in love with Honor like the rest of us have. And then pray with us that Mr. Weber's next book does the character the justice that it deserves.
Rating:
Summary: And now a word from our sponsor...
Review: As an Honor Harrington addict, I enjoyed the support characters' development and the, as always, fantastic writing style of David Weber. It takes a genius to keep all these balls in the air. Manticore, Yeltsin, New Paris... each is developed. Unfortunately, Honor takes a backseat to all the other development. Her one "hot seat" moment is brief and does not develop her as a "commander". I miss the thrill of her commanding in battle. And her interaction with her "core military cohorts". I look forward to the next book which will move into the future for the Peeps, Manticore, and Grayson. I appreciate this book for what it is-- essential to the series, not a stand alone novel.
Rating:
Summary: Ashes of Victory
Review: The latest book by David Weber is an outstanding continuation to a series that equils Star Wars in its excitement and surpasses it in its depth. Honor Harrington has died, gone to Hell, and has returned setting free close to half a million prisoners from the Peoples Republic of Havens prison planet known to it's inhabitants as Hell. With the openning passages of the book it brings forth, the rising from the ashes a true hero, who was feared lost forever. With that, the beginning of the end for a great evil presence that castes it's spell of destruction on both the Star Kingdom of Manticore and the Empire of the Peoples Republic of Haven. Court intrigue, plots with in plots, War scenes that have you on the edge of your seat. This is a novel that has one entranced from the beginning. David Weber once again shows he is a Master of his Craft with few peers present or past.
Rating:
Summary: Misfire!
Review: I have to agree with Adam Bridge that Ashes is very disappointing. Only die-hard fans of the series are going to love this book; newbies will be thrown by the lack of a protagonist (or even a clear story!) and the huge amount of exposition setting up future books. HH is supposed to be space opera -- this is soap opera!
Rating:
Summary: Waiting for Napoleon!
Review: As a history and SF buff, I'm loving DW's use of the past as prologue. This could so easily be a simple pastiche of the Napoleonic War but DW keeps it interesting with increasingly better drawn characters and motivations. At the end of this book with the end of the revolutionary leaders, I'm left wondering who will be the Napoleon analogue and have I missed Marat and will there be a 'Recalled to Life' episode? The possibilities are interesting and challenging and I look forward to DW's next episode very much!
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