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The Short Victorious War

The Short Victorious War

List Price: $7.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: We Love Our Honor!
Review: "What this country needs is a short victorious war to stem the tide of revolution" and "The belief in a short decisive war
is the most dangerous of all human illusions." These two
quotes are on the quote page of the third book in the Honor
Harrington series, The Short Victorious War. The first was
said by the Russian Minister of War to the Russian Interior
Minister and the second is by Robert Lynd. So you know where this is headed. Right? Right! Honor Harrington, on medical leave since the events of The Honor of the Queen,
in which she'd foiled the attempt on the life of Protector Benjamin Mayhew, the leader of Grayson. When we first see
her, she's on a mountaintop overlooking the Tannerman Ocean on her homeworld of Sphinx. One of three planets in the binary Manticore System. She and her treecat, Nimitz,
are about to go hang gliding. She's getting bored with her life on Sphinx and wants to return to space. She finally gets her chance. She's given command of a battlecruiser with a
name that has a lot of history behind it. HMS NIKE. She's the
flag captain of Admiral Mark Sarnow. The Peeps have begun
their war against Manticore. Will Manticore and her allies win? That's for me to know and you to find out.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: We Love Our Honor!
Review: "What this country needs is a short victorious war to stem the tide of revolution" and "The belief in a short decisive war
is the most dangerous of all human illusions." These two
quotes are on the quote page of the third book in the Honor
Harrington series, The Short Victorious War. The first was
said by the Russian Minister of War to the Russian Interior
Minister and the second is by Robert Lynd. So you know where this is headed. Right? Right! Honor Harrington, on medical leave since the events of The Honor of the Queen,
in which she'd foiled the attempt on the life of Protector Benjamin Mayhew, the leader of Grayson. When we first see
her, she's on a mountaintop overlooking the Tannerman Ocean on her homeworld of Sphinx. One of three planets in the binary Manticore System. She and her treecat, Nimitz,
are about to go hang gliding. She's getting bored with her life on Sphinx and wants to return to space. She finally gets her chance. She's given command of a battlecruiser with a
name that has a lot of history behind it. HMS NIKE. She's the
flag captain of Admiral Mark Sarnow. The Peeps have begun
their war against Manticore. Will Manticore and her allies win? That's for me to know and you to find out.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Harrington Formulue
Review: Ah, the Honor Harrington Series. I picked up the first book in this series just because I was a big David Weber fan. Anyway, this book follows the same Harrington formulue. The book really starts off slow, so slow you often wonder if you'll ever finish it but around mid way things start to pick up and around the end of the book you have a hard time putting it down.

If I had to fault this book (and all the Harrington books for that matter) it would be in faulting Honor Harrington herself. I hate perfect characters. She can do everything, knows everything, nothing is past her own abilities. Drives me nuts.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. The book is full of interesting politicos but Honor Harringon's flawless nature really drives me nuts.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: a battle of dreams
Review: David Weber has recreated the mood of 19th century Western Civilisation, by including post Iraqi War feelings in America. David is an obviously conservative politician who uses his stories to defend his political point of view. Now I will admit to being an ally of his politically, and in these books he actually uses a Pro-British point of view; but they are very stilted. If you believe in Socialism, and you aren't willing to have your point of view challenged, then do not read this book. If, on the other hand, you want to know what the dangers of Socialism are, please read all of the books in this series. David writes an entertaining story that challenges modern day politics, and if you want a better world then it would behoove you to read this book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Clean and neat style. A great tension filled read.
Review: David Weber has taken a well worn format and realy built a charachter we all can like. The fact that it is not like Star Trek is a welcome change. I am hooked. AJW

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Are we there yet?
Review: Don't worry, this isn't a spoiler--within the first 5 pages we know what's coming. There's going to be a big battle between the Manties and the Peeps, but god almighty if isn't slow in coming--finally arriving at the last 50 pages or so.

Too bad you have to read all of the Harrington series due to all the references to past events otherwise I'd say skip this one.

Bottom line: Too much buildup without enough payoff.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Not About Honor?
Review: For those unfamiliar with David Weber series, this is the third book in the Honor Harrington series, which started with On Basilisk Station. While this book might be read apart from the others, one loses too much background. Better start at the beginning.

For those who have read the first two books, on the other hand...

Other reviewers seems to be of the opinion that this is a good book, but there is just something not quite right with it. I had to agree on my first read, but now, having re-read the first nine books a second time, I know what it is.

In the first two books, we only saw Manticore (well, Manticore and Grayson). The sections told in from the point of view of the opposition were short and mostly to the point. Well, that stops here. There is a lot of Haven background here, and by the middle of the book you really wish now and then Weber had cut it shorter. Unfortunately, all this background is really important to the _series_, because you do get to see a lot of story told from Haven's point of view in later books, and this lays the groundwork for that.

But perhaps the most disconcerting fact is that Honor is not really the main character at all in this book. She might get more pages and more development than anyone else, but the REAL story here is the battle fought between Admiral of the Green Sir Thomas Caparelli, First Space Lord of the Manticoran Admiralty, and Admiral Patricia Givens, Second Space Lord of the Manticoran Admiralty (Buraeu of Planning, which controls the Office of Naval Intelligence), against Fleet Admiral Amos Parnell, CNO of the People's Navy, in the skirmishes that will finally bring the Kingdom of Manticore and the People's Republic of Haven to war.

Dozens of characters make small lone appearances, usually fighting one-sided battles or spying. Meanwhile, Honor Harrington is just a good officer doing a good job. She is actually in charge just in a small section of the book. _Her_ story is mostly about personal relationships, not the war.

This is a good book, but one is likely to have different expectations after On Basilisk Station and Honor of the Queen.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Hot War
Review: Having proved herself in lesser positions, Honor is given command of the Manticorans' brand new battlecruiser and sent to the front line squadron of Lord Whitehaven where she is horrified to find an old adversary from the Acadamy. Meanwhile the Peeps are finding their economic methods are causing great disruptions. Their usual method of providing wealth for their unemployed masses is to take on a lesser power and strip it of it's wealth. But there are only weak agricultural powers left. Or the massively powerful Manticorans. Only a sneak attack will be able to work but Lord Whitehaven and his fleet stand in the Peeps way as the fighting goes hot.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Course of War can be unpredictable...
Review: I just finished "A Short, Victorious War", the 3rd book in the series (the first two being "On Basilisk Station" and "Honor of the Queen"). All were excellent, and near the top of the line for a sci-fi series. By contrast, I might compare it to the "Star Trek" series as I would compare a filet mignon to a hamburger. Don't get me wrong; I enjoy Star Trek very much, but I feel that, if space travel to this degree was a reality, the Honor Harrington series does a much better job of reflecting that reality. That said, I have to suggest that a couple of additions to these books would enhance my enjoyment: A cast list of the major characters, with a few words about each, and a glossary of abbreviations/explanations (e.g. RMN-Royal Manticoran Navy). More than once, I found myself forgetting someone's earlier connection, and who can remember all the acronyms floating around in outer space? Nevertheless, I find myself anticipating the subsequent books in the series. I do recommend to anyone reading this: Do plan on reading these books in sequence, since there are so many recurring characters, and references to events in the earlier books abound.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: The beginning of the end...
Review: I suppose it would have been far too much to ask for Weber to have kept up the quality he showed in the first two books. This book lacked both the hard sf aspect of the previous books and the sequels' drama; it bored me. The first two books, of course, are far better than anything else in the series - the following books descend into very readable formula novels. Good fun reading, but in no way comparable to On Basilisk Station.


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