Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Honor universe story with (thankfully) no cats
Review: Women escape from the religious tyrrany of Masada, the Manticore navy pursues pirates and develops new allies, naval losers congregate on a single ship, Manticore spies pursue love and beer in an enemy capital, Haven secret police find a new role for complete fanaticism, and the Manticore navy pursues pirates once again--in a nutshell, IN THE SERVICE OF THE SWORD gives readers a series of new insights into the universe of Honor Harrington. Written by David Weber and a variety of Baen authors. As a pleasant surprise, all of the stories are good with Fanatic, by Eric Flint, especially standing out. Fans of the Tree Cats will be disappointed--they are pretty much non-starters in this story of human players in the game of space. For me, this is a plus. While the 'cats can add to the story, their insipid cuteness gets old fast (Tree-cat fans should, however, definitely check out CHANGER OF WORLDS which is pretty intensively 'cat-centered). The Honor Harrington series is a huge (and deserved) success and fans will enjoy seeing how different authors play with the universe that author David Weber has created. Honor herself appears in only one of these stories (although she is mentioned in most) and the stories are not essential to the continuity of the series. On the positive side, THE SERVICE OF THE SWORD can be read independently and creates a fine introduction to the series for those who have not yet discovered Honor and her friends.
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