Shadow of Victory is the fourth book in the Saganami Island series. That means the focus isn't on Honor Harrington but rather on the people stationed in the Talbott Cluster.

This novel's timeline overlaps with Storm from the Shadows, Mission of Honor, A Rising Thunder, Shadow of Freedom, and Cauldron of Ghosts. If you are looking for a book to advance the timeline, this book really isn't that. However, if you want all the whys and wherefores behind the scenes, this is that story.

Here we find out more about "Firebrand," one of the nomes de guerre of agent provocateur Damien Harahap. Once part of the Solarian League, now he is neck-deep in Mesa's activities to discredit Manticore. His attempts are spread out over several planets. We also see more about the Mesan Alignment's plans and plots.

Here is where the book bogs down some. There are too many plots on too many planets to have the reader really care about the people involved. On the planet Chotěboř, for me, it was complicated by the Czech terms used. There is a glossary in the back of the ebook, but that is less than easy to use in an ebook. There were too many hopeless situations where the rebels were waiting for Manticore to come.

Still, the novel lets us catch up with some old friends, and that is good. I really enjoyed it, but there is no way that I would categorize this as military science fiction. I would also suggest it only for fans of the Honor Harrington series that want to know *everything* about that universe.

I would give this book 4.5 stars because it did bog down some. I am rounding it up to five because I would read another book in the sub-series. ( )

Note: This review is of the ARC, so I expect some minor changes. Significantly more scattered than most of the other books, and with lots of filling in details. Reads in places as though it were a hodgepodge of short stories. This isn't a bad thing, but it's nothing like the flow of some of the early books. ( )

I think this was the longest of the Honor Harrington books yet. It clocked in at 912 pages for the book and 37 hours and 19 minutes for the audiobook.

The book goes back in time from the previous book and, among lots of other things, tells how Damien Harahap of the Solarian League Gendarmarie gets recruited to be a spy for the Mesan Alignment. It also talks about the beginnings of the revolutions he foments on a number of independent worlds which he says he is doing for Manticore.

The book also spends a lot of time on Mesa as the plans go forward to remove the insiders of the Alignment to their new planet and disguise their disappearances in a number of nuclear explosions that can be conveniently blamed on Manticore and the Ballroom terrorists.

The book also spends time with the fleet in the Talbot center who find out about the revolutions they are supposed to be supporting and goes off to try to find the planets that are waiting for Manticoran support that Manticore doesn't know has been promised. I liked the way many of these revolutions were succeeding even before Manticore arrives. I also liked the way that Manticore and its new ally Haven are chasing Frontier Security off the planets they have conquered and also reducing the strength of the Solarian League Navy.

There were some sections that also took place on Terra. One group of them were about the Mandarins who still can't quite believe that little Manticore could ever successfully face down the Solarian League. Another group has to do with lower level people from a variety of the intelligence services who are putting the pieces together that paint a picture of Mesan interference. The problem is that their bosss don't want to hear about it.

I have just two more stories to read before my revisit to David Weber's universe is finished - at least for now. I can't wait to get started with the remaining books. ( )

I think this was the longest of the Honor Harrington books yet. It clocked in at 912 pages for the book and 37 hours and 19 minutes for the audiobook.

The book goes back in time from the previous book and, among lots of other things, tells how Damien Harahap of the Solarian League Gendarmarie gets recruited to be a spy for the Mesan Alignment. It also talks about the beginnings of the revolutions he foments on a number of independent worlds which he says he is doing for Manticore.

The book also spends a lot of time on Mesa as the plans go forward to remove the insiders of the Alignment to their new planet and disguise their disappearances in a number of nuclear explosions that can be conveniently blamed on Manticore and the Ballroom terrorists.

The book also spends time with the fleet in the Talbot center who find out about the revolutions they are supposed to be supporting and goes off to try to find the planets that are waiting for Manticoran support that Manticore doesn't know has been promised. I liked the way many of these revolutions were succeeding even before Manticore arrives. I also liked the way that Manticore and its new ally Haven are chasing Frontier Security off the planets they have conquered and also reducing the strength of the Solarian League Navy.

There were some sections that also took place on Terra. One group of them were about the Mandarins who still can't quite believe that little Manticore could ever successfully face down the Solarian League. Another group has to do with lower level people from a variety of the intelligence services who are putting the pieces together that paint a picture of Mesan interference. The problem is that their bosss don't want to hear about it.

I have just two more stories to read before my revisit to David Weber's universe is finished - at least for now. I can't wait to get started with the remaining books. ( )

I had trouble staying in the book.

First, there were so many planets with unrest I often lost track of which set of revolutionaries were the current group. Not a terrible dislocation, but when that makes up a third of the novel it becomes a problem.

Second (and this is a common problem in larger series), the cast of characters is too big to truly comprehend. Add in that names follow a specific tradition only occasionally, and it may take a moment after a given character appears to figure out where they fit in. Now double down with at least one character showing up on multiple planets under different aliases...

Then there is Mr. Weber's well-known penchant for extensive internal monologue-ing. It actually comes in handy this time, as it often is used to help place each character in the scene. It still gets a little pedantic at times.

Did I like the book at all? Well...yes.

This novel manages to tie together several different storylines in the Harrington series into a single timeline. It jarred me a bit in the beginning because there were things that I 'knew' had occurred that hadn't happened yet as far as the novel was concerned, but once the flow of the plot started to become clear, I caught up. This novel starts before Zilwicki and company get to Mesa and uncover the conspiracy!!!

For new readers: NO. You will be so confused. Start with 'On Basilisk Station'. Learn to love the universe like I did.

For loyal readers: Soldier on. The last third of the book really starts to move things along. All together, the book brings most of the timelines up to a common point. Erewhon, Torch, Peep, Mantie, and Solarian; they are all mentioned and brought to a narrower focus for the series as a whole. ( )