Rating: 
Summary: Interesting background
Review: A collection of stories about Honor Harrington, the heroine of the popular space warfare series, this book provides solid entertainment for the fans of Mr. Weber.A Weber story of Honor's first cruise, combined with a treecat's view of some of the series developments, plus the story of McQueen's rebellion, form the bulk of this collection. Eric Flint provides a separate story, more loosely connected but still in the world and times of Honor's series. Due to Weber's heavy contribution, this collection is more consistent and integrated than earlier Honor's World anthologies. --inotherworlds.com
Rating: 
Summary: Honor, Treecats and Politics
Review: Changer is worth having, bottom line. Ok? It's on the keeper shelf, and I had to move my sagas (the real thing) to fit it and begin leaving room for the next set of Honor Harringtons. Now to what's good and bad. Again, I complain that the treecats are getting too cute. I'm sorry, David, but they just aren't plausible to me. Not because of size, or a great many other easy objections, covered with a certain amount of neatness in the "teach them to sign" part of Ashes of Victory. I just can't quite believe in them as written. Annoying, by the bye, because I really want to believe in the treecat sentience. Sigh. Their society doesn't feel workable, as it is shown. Granted, oral history can be remarkably accurate up to 500 years back, and sometimes, in traditional societies without literacy, there are feats of memorization that astound us urban, literate types. I am objecting here to feel - it's all too damn pat. So anyway, onward. I really loved Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington, even if I did nearly type in Hornblower. I liked the portrait of an incompetent and cruel superior, who needed to be worked around by the command. I'm glad they did. Honor gets to be a hero - we knew she had been from early in her career - and handle having command fall on her head in a bad situation in a beautiful bit of space combat. I loved that - the whole battle sequence was so well written I was literally holding my breath until spots began dancing before my eyes. Very, very good stuff! Nightfall answered my objection in Ashes of Victory that Weber shouldn't kill off major characters off-stage. I enjoyed it, though I admit that knowing the ending kind of took the edge of tension off it. I rooted for Esther McQueen. I did think Weber offed Rob S. Pierre a little to fast and casual, but it was well written and I wish the sequence could have made it into Ashes. Although given the length of that book, perhaps that was a good editorial decision on Weber's part. Does it sound like I've been holding off on commenting on Eric Flint's contribution? I'm afraid I have been. Now, to be absolutely fair: Flint's "about the author" description describes him as an unregenerate Trotskyist. Having spent my college career on the Soviets, and exploring the really interesting splitting of semi-Marxist sects in America, I have developed some very strong opinions, and they aren't flattering to the ideology and its true believers. It makes me uneasy to comment on From the Highlands because it was better written than many of Flint's other efforts, and he didn't editorialize quite so badly. Oh, yeah, he did editorialize and lecture the reader, mostly about politics and who should believe what. I liked the plot, I liked the writing (and I'm thrilled that Flint managed to restrain his verbal tics, this time out) and the action sequences. The combat was good. Now, my objections crystalized in the moment where Flint has the State Sec officer heroically standing as a true defender of the Revolution, hard as steel. ARGH! To reach a truly disgusting level of brutality, bring on the knights of the revolution. Anybody remember Felix Dzerzhinski besides me? Anybody remember what Trotsky did to restore discipline in the Red Army in 1920? The defenders of the revolution will cut your throat quite impersonally. Isn't that nice, to know that you were just of the wrong class, or in the wrong place? That style of politics, the Gryphon Highlanders one and all haters of their aristocracy, and willing to contemplate blood feud. The renegade noblewoman (oh, please, can we please lose the notion that this is somehow a great thing?) who views her class through that particular lens (let's not forget that the notion of a class traitor, once introduced, however positively, leads inexorably to the negative and justifies a lot of bad stuff)and the Solly masses being kept down, dumb, and ignorantly happy...ARGH! again. Look, it's not that it wasn't fun. But the century just past has made me wary as can be of ideology (I almost misspelled that on purpose but decided it would be too cute), and the notion that all a messianic movement needs is pure enough hearts willing to defend it. Flint managed to make a mess of my enjoyment of the story with this, and I wanted to cry. I wanted to just enjoy the story, and I got this. So much for my opinions. I'd give this a four if Flint had managed to restrain his politics.
Rating:
Summary: Mostly above average--avoid the 'cats
Review: CHANGER OF WORLDS includes four short stories and novellas set in Honor Harrington's universe. Best of the four is FROM THE HIGHLANDS written by Eric Flint. A Manticoran captain joins with renegade Havenites, antislavery solarians, and a disgraced Manticoran noblewoman to rescue his daughter from kidnappers. To succeed, he must fight ethnic supermen, the Havenite SS, his own command chain dominated by the Manticore conservatives, and the local police. Excellent. Honor fans won't want to miss Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington--the beginning of Honor's career and nearly the end of it as she must face a superior officer bent on destroying her as well as external enemies. Relying on her leadership and skills rather than on conveniently discovered superweapons, this is classic Honor Harrington on a small scale. From a historical perspective, Nightfall is essential to the Honor continuity. It deals with the internal struggle between Admiral McQueen and Saint-Juste and defines the direction for the Havenite government. Way below average is the title story--Changer of Worlds. The treecats are cute and smart and all but this entire short story is simply a dialogue between a bunch of cats. Nothing happens, no character development takes place. The story merely describes the 'cats' decision to send the new colony of 'cats to follow Honor. Yawn. Read it if you love those 'cats--it is thankfully short after all.
Rating: 
Summary: Again, the Worlds of Honor
Review: Changer of Worlds is the third anthology in the Worlds of Honor series. This volume contains four stories, three by David Weber and one by Eric Flint. Only the first story is about Honor herself. Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington by David Weber describes Honor's middy cruise with the HMS War Maiden on pirate-chasing duty in Silesia. It proves to be rather more interesting than usual and the Salamander finds herself in the hottest of combat for the first time. Changer of Worlds by David Weber tells what happens one afternoon while Honor babysits the kits for Nimitz and Samantha. From the Highlands by Eric Flint discloses the actual events underlying the Manpower Incident in Chicago on Old Earth. It all starts when somebody kidnaps Anton Zilwicki's daughter Helen. That was their first mistake, but hardly the last. Nightfall by David Weber depicts the last days of the Rob Pierre government and the consequences of making assumptions. These tales fill in some of the backstory and show other points of view within the main story arc. They enrich the universe and allow minor characters in the main story to take center stage. Highly recommended for Honor Harrington fans and anyone else who enjoys science fiction stories about spatial combat, alien societies, special ops or political intrigue.
Rating:
Summary: Again, the Worlds of Honor
Review: Changer of Worlds is the third anthology in the Worlds of Honor series. This volume contains four stories, three by David Weber and one by Eric Flint. Only the first story is about Honor herself. Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington by David Weber describes Honor's middy cruise with the HMS War Maiden on pirate-chasing duty in Silesia. It proves to be rather more interesting than usual and the Salamander finds herself in the hottest of combat for the first time. Changer of Worlds by David Weber tells what happens one afternoon while Honor babysits the kits for Nimitz and Samantha. From the Highlands by Eric Flint discloses the actual events underlying the Manpower Incident in Chicago on Old Earth. It all starts when somebody kidnaps Anton Zilwicki's daughter Helen. That was their first mistake, but hardly the last. Nightfall by David Weber depicts the last days of the Rob Pierre government and the consequences of making assumptions. These tales fill in some of the backstory and show other points of view within the main story arc. They enrich the universe and allow minor characters in the main story to take center stage. Highly recommended for Honor Harrington fans and anyone else who enjoys science fiction stories about spatial combat, alien societies, special ops or political intrigue.
Rating:
Summary: A must for Honor Harrington fans!
Review: For all you Honor Harrington fans out there, listen up! This is a collection of stories worth reading! Most are written by David Weber, himself. The first story, my personal favorite, is about Honor and her quirky pet treecat before the first book of the series began! It was Honor on her first ship tour as Midshipwoman! This book is a must for all Honor Harrington fans! Not just a bunch of short stories either. Each story is like a small book. Don't expect ten pages per story, expect seventy-five or more! An exciting book that will tame the hunger of fans until Mr. Weber gets the next Honor story out. Highly recommended reading!
Rating:
Summary: Tantalizing Tidbits
Review: Like many others addicted to the Honor Harrington series, I was drooling over the prospects of savoring the latest addition to Weber's engaging feast of antics and action by a ballsy, totally entrancing heroine in futuristic space fiction. I especially enjoyed the riveting "From the Highlands" by Eric Flint that provides quite a different angle on the aggressive, covert machinations of a highly developed underground where a Manticoran aristocrat exiled to Terra supports a network of revolutionists who are involved in the power struggle between the Peeps vs the Manties on Chicago's embattled turf. Weber's story "Nightfall" recounts the treachery and tyranny of Oscar Saint Just before he finally makes the call to blow up and bring down the Octagon upon the heads of both colleagues and his arch enemy Esther McQueen. It offered another point of view in those final moments that preceeded Saint Just's own demise in "Ashes of Victory". The other two stories were tantalizing tidbits of before and after Honor had "arrived" to the here and now in David's ongoing saga. I love his consciousness toward animals, especially when he develops his theme of highly evolved sentience in Honor's treecats and their nestmates on Sphinx. It now is impossible to consider one's own cats as merely, well, cats. As Samantha might say to Nimitz: "Little do they know". Congratulations on your newly wed status and the joys of a honeymoon, David, however your fans are waiting! Thanks for the appetizers in "Changer of Worlds", now, where is the main dish?
Rating:
Summary: If you liked this one you'll like The Warmasters...
Review: mainly because, with no accompanying notice, Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington is repeated verbatim in that volume! yep, 50% of the "new" book is recycled. Oh it's a decent enough story but I'm uncertain it deserves being repeated in less than two years, especially with no notice that it was, in fact, being republished. So if you've previously read The Warmasters, perhaps in the hardcover that came out 2 months after Changer came out in paperback (ouch) make sure you want the other stories. Changer is a decent collection in setting some of the series backstory: but Baen has some explaining to do about it's recycling IMHO.
Rating:
Summary: If you liked this one you'll like The Warmasters...
Review: mainly because, with no accompanying notice, Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington is repeated verbatim in that volume! yep, 50% of the "new" book is recycled. Oh it's a decent enough story but I'm uncertain it deserves being repeated in less than two years, especially with no notice that it was, in fact, being republished. So if you've previously read The Warmasters, perhaps in the hardcover that came out 2 months after Changer came out in paperback (ouch) make sure you want the other stories. Changer is a decent collection in setting some of the series backstory: but Baen has some explaining to do about it's recycling IMHO.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting background
Review: This book contains 3 short stories by David Weber and one by Eric Flint. I enjoyed the 3 by Weber very much. His stories give a little more insight to some of the events in the novels about Honor Harrington. One of them is an enjoyable description of her first cruise.
The story by Eric Flint was a confusing hodge podge of plots and counter-plots. It was resolved, but not convincingly. However, the story did tell about the life of one of the less important characters from an earlier story. That was interesting.
Over all I recommend the book to those who love Honor.
It seems that Weber is not going to give us another novel anytime soon. Although, I would be very happy to be proven wrong.
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