Rating: 
Summary: Honor captured by the Peeps - say what ?!
Review: Ok, Mr. Weber, you've thrown me a curve. What makes it frustrating is that the curve is one of those things that's so obvious in retrospect that you want to kick yourself in the forehead (not easy to do :-) Honor's skill, courage and luck had to meet its match sooner or later, and similarly, the Peeps sooner or later had to get the upper hand. Military campaigns of this length are *never* one-sided, after all.I'm glad to see the contrast between the Peep 'regular Navy' officers, and the State Security thugs. It seems obvious that StateSec's goons are cast in the same spiritual mould as Hitler's SS (even the initials...) I grant that the purpose and political requirements of StateSec do not require naval expertise of the highest calibre, but I found their personnel to be just a little too 'dumb Imperial stormtrooper'-like for my taste. On the other hand, they *were* up against Chief Harkness, a personage whom even the RMN, not to mention the Marines, has had trouble dealing with on occasion. My biggest single complaint is that this book, much like Lucas's "Empire Strikes Back" sort of leaves you hanging at the end. The general feeling I got was "So our heroes are OK for the moment, but..." Nevertheless, an excellent read, and I'm waiting with bated breath for the eight volume to come out. Keep writing, Mr. Weber!
Rating: 
Summary: Picks up at the end
Review: The author spends too much time in characters' heads. Conceivably this could be interesting but not here. About 1/4 of the way through I got fed up and skipped over about half of the book, reading only a paragraph here and there. However the last third or quarter is so riveting that I stayed up 2 hours too late simply to finish it, and the next day I bought the book that comes after this one. My general impression of Weber books is that they start slowly, filling in character, but they accelerate, so that at the end they are very exciting and moving - it's the endings that keep me coming back. Same occurs here, but the beginning of the book is too slow.
Rating:
Summary: Parts were great
Review: There were parts of this book that were great and there were parts that dragged on for no reason except to bore the reader to death. This is the first book in the series that wasn't excellent (the next one isn't too hot either.) Let me clear the air on what I liked and what I didn't. I like Honor and think she has been so far a great character. I don't like how every single person in the book idolizes her and thinks she is the best thing that has happens since space travel. She is coddled constantly and she acts as though it is her due. Also I am getting tired of Grayson. There is an entire universe to explore in these books and it always comes back to how special this planet is, how hard their people work compared to everyone else, how tough they are and how smart they are. Enough already Weber. We get it. I do like how the Peeps are in this one a bit more and the political side of the war for them is explored in greater detail. (even though half the peeps seems to be starstruck by Honor as well and in love with her.....) The battles were also well done. I am going to read the 9th book Ashes of Victory and I seriously hope it is better that 7 and 8 and goes back to earlier themes and not this Honor can do no wrong theme that is currently bogging this series down.
Rating: 
Summary: ... And you thought it couldnt get better!
Review: This book is great! As with all of the books so far in this series, the beginning hundred or so pages are a little mundane while reading them. But without the background that they setup, and the emotional attachment that is their result, the remaining pages would never be so satisfying.
I have always been more into the marine aspect of the military than the navy, and this book, more that the others, has a bit more small arms fights. But who cares what the plot is... it's Honor Harrington--and she kicks some butt!
Rating:
Summary: ... And you thought it couldnt get better!
Review: This book is great! As with all of the books so far in this series, the beginning hundred or so pages are a little mundane while reading them. But without the background that they setup, and the emotional attachment that is their result, the remaining pages would never be so satisfying.
I have always been more into the marine aspect of the military than the navy, and this book, more that the others, has a bit more small arms fights. But who cares what the plot is... it's Honor Harrington--and she kicks some butt!
Rating:
Summary: In Enemy Hands - more of the same, but not as good
Review: This was my least favorite of the Honor Harrington series. The characters were even more cardboard in depth than previous novels.
Someone else's review said "everyone that is good is good and everyone that is bad is bad". I agree completely.
Now, I like the Harrington series, but maybe more for the combat scenes than I had realized (which were very few in this book)
Rating: 
Summary: A terrible disappointment
Review: Very unlike David Weber. This book is incomplete. Most of Weber's work is both great, rollicking reading and literarily sound. Generally, if you open to the middle of one of his books you find the middle of the story it tells. Not so in In Enemy Hands. The center of this story is about 50 pages from the end, plus it doesn't so much end as simply stop. It reeks of "editor says print now, give me what you've got." DO NOT read this book unless you have the next one waiting.
Rating:
Summary: Forester he ain't
Review: Weber had a couple of good books in him (<b>STRONGLY</b> recommend <i>On Basilisk Station</i>) that got pretty close to the Hornblower average... and then we have his later work. I have two major quarrels with his later novels. One, that silly tree-cat is getting more and more human and telepathic in each subsequent book and pretty soon, I expect Nimitz to be channelling the ghost of his namesake and directly advising Honor on naval strategy. Second, Honor is becoming darn near omnipotent and each and every Manticoran can whip ten times his/her weight in Peeps. If its Harkness, its 20 times. If its Harrington, 100 times. Literally. She's a heavy worlder and can beat anyone but the Fleet Champion in Butt Kicking... wait, she does beat him as well, doesn't she? See, Weber, what makes the Hornblower books classics is that he was not a superman, unlike Superwoman Harrington in your later ones. And what is this fascination with her "contralto" voice and great looks (obvious to everyone else but her)? And lets lay off the too obvious symbolism: for crying out loud, State Security. The 'good' naval regulars and the evil but incredibly stupid SS goons? We can't figure out for ourselves what is going on? Who the bad guys are? Stupid attempts to be clever are yet one more indicator of bad writing and a mediocre talent. BTW, to those readers who think that the Peeps are supposed to be Nazi Germany, they aren't. In spite of the "SS" stupidities, the Peeps are the Soviets (with a bit of French 'Revolutionary Terror' thrown in) not the Nazis. The political commisars (although the Nazis also used them, they were nowhere as important as in the old Soviet system), the SS goons behavior, the overly regimented tactical doctrines, the low technological competence levels of Peep/SS troops, etc. Weber was just smart enough to come up with "State Security" to show to less intelligent readers who the bad guys are but obviously couldn't come up with something for KGB or NKVD. I still buy the books--used--since they are better than most of the junk out there but Forester (or even Pournelle) he aint.
Rating:
Summary: Forester he ain't
Review: Weber had a couple of good books in him (STRONGLY recommend On Basilisk Station) that got pretty close to the Hornblower average... and then we have his later work. I have two major quarrels with his later novels. One, that silly tree-cat is getting more and more human and telepathic in each subsequent book and pretty soon, I expect Nimitz to be channelling the ghost of his namesake and directly advising Honor on naval strategy. Second, Honor is becoming darn near omnipotent and each and every Manticoran can whip ten times his/her weight in Peeps. If its Harkness, its 20 times. If its Harrington, 100 times. Literally. She's a heavy worlder and can beat anyone but the Fleet Champion in Butt Kicking... wait, she does beat him as well, doesn't she? See, Weber, what makes the Hornblower books classics is that he was not a superman, unlike Superwoman Harrington in your later ones. And what is this fascination with her "contralto" voice and great looks (obvious to everyone else but her)? And lets lay off the too obvious symbolism: for crying out loud, State Security. The 'good' naval regulars and the evil but incredibly stupid SS goons? We can't figure out for ourselves what is going on? Who the bad guys are? Stupid attempts to be clever are yet one more indicator of bad writing and a mediocre talent. BTW, to those readers who think that the Peeps are supposed to be Nazi Germany, they aren't. In spite of the "SS" stupidities, the Peeps are the Soviets (with a bit of French 'Revolutionary Terror' thrown in) not the Nazis. The political commisars (although the Nazis also used them, they were nowhere as important as in the old Soviet system), the SS goons behavior, the overly regimented tactical doctrines, the low technological competence levels of Peep/SS troops, etc. Weber was just smart enough to come up with "State Security" to show to less intelligent readers who the bad guys are but obviously couldn't come up with something for KGB or NKVD. I still buy the books--used--since they are better than most of the junk out there but Forester (or even Pournelle) he aint.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointing Weber !
Review: Well, that's not so bad, six good books in a row ! I was wondering when it would start to decline. Weber's books used to be packed with actions or emotions, here we have a lot of unnecessary description of people and places instantly forgotten. I hope the (almost) only good space-opera writer will fight back in his following books.
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