Subject: Weber: Honor Harrington

From: [email-masked] (Courtenay Footman)
Date: Sun, 6 Mar 1994 05:39:06 GMT

David Weber's new Honor Harrington book, _The Short Victorious War_,
is out, and it is as good as its predecessors.  For those who don't 
know, the Honor Harrington series is dedicated to C. S. Forester, 
and it is not a coincidence that H.H's initials are the same as 
Horatio Hornblower's.

Weber has done a superb job of putting Horatio Hornblower in space.
On tSVW, Baen has a unique front cover blurb.  It says "WE LOVE OUR HONOR!"  
Cover blurbs are notorious for their fulsomeness;  however, in this
case the blurb is accurate.  (At least *I* love her, and I have seen
others who also seem to have this weakness.)

The title does NOT describe the war described in the book; rather Weber 
is quoting the unfortunate Russian Minister of the Interior who, in 1903 
said to the Russian Minister of War "What this country needs is a short 
victorious war to stem the tide of revolution."  He may even have been 
right!  However, that is not what he got.  A short victorious war is what
the People's Republic of Haven wants;  I will let you guess whether
or not that is what it gets.

(BTW, for those who have not read the series, the PRH is not what
is today named a "People's Republic".  The PRH has an absurd economy,
but it absurd in its own way, not communist.)

The three Honor Harrington books are
On Basilisk Station, ISBN 0-671-72163-5, 1993
The Honor of the Queen, ISBN 0-671-72172-0, 1993
The Short Victorious War, ISBN 0-671-87596-1, 1994
Field of Dishonor is forthcoming, and is scheduled for later this year.
All books are by David Weber and published by Baen Books, New York

The next paragraph contains spoilers:

I do love Honor; however I am a bit upset with Weber about one thing:
He named one character Robert (Rob) Stanton Pierre.  I was slow, and did 
not realize what he was pulling here until he literally spelled it out:  
Rob S Pierre.  AAAAARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!  Aside from that, though
tSVW maintains the standards he set in the first two books.  One
begins to wonder, though, how much longer the Royal Maticoran Navy
will keep giving Honor ships--  Each time they do so, she breaks it!

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Courtenay Footman                       I finally got back on the net.
[email-masked]                Now I will never get anything done