I have some confessions. First, I love the Honor Harrington universe. Second, at this point in time, Michelle Henke is more interesting to me than Honor Harrington. Since this book focuses on Henke in the Talbott Quadrant, that is a bonus.

The villains in this book are truly wicked: the highly placed politicians who will do anything to stay in power and the military commanders who are willing to be bought and who also let their prejudices rule. And of course, the shadowy Mesan Alliance lurks.

This was a great story of honorable people who won't let other people be tricked into destruction. There are battles, but the most important parts to me were honor and righteousness exhibited by the Manticorians.

I wish that a few chapters weren't copied wholesale from overlapping books, but it was easy enough to skim them. Even with that caveat, I am glad I read this book. On to the next one!

Please don't start the series here. Start with the first Honor Harrington book and keep going. ( )

This was one of the shorter episodes in the lengthy Honor Harrington series. It stars Admiral Michelle Henke and takes place mainly in the Talbot Quadrant. The Solarian League is still making trouble and Manticore has less resources to defend its new territory since the sneak attack on the Manticore home system which destroyed so much of the kingdom's military infrastructure.

The Mesan Alliance looks on that as an opportunity and they have agents in place who are determined to support revolutions on many of the planet under the authority of the Solarian Leagues' Office of Frontier Security. Of course, they say that they are helping out as representatives of Manticore which means that, when Manticore doesn't show up with military support and the revolutions are crushed, it is Manticore's reputation that will suffer.

When someone gets out of one of these systems and connects with Manticoran authorities at Montana, the whole promise of support comes as a major surprise to Admiral Henke and her fleet. That doesn't mean that she isn't going to help though.

I liked learning more about the Mesan Alliance and the things that they have planned. I also look forward to finding out how the good guys are going to disrupt those plans, I hope. Not that the collapse of the Solarian League wouldn't be a good thing for that culture but it will certainly bring about huge changes on all the planets.

I liked the parts of the story that took place on the planets under the thumbs of Frontier Security. I also liked the way the Manticorans helped those planets. What I didn't like was the cliffhanger ending. Of course, I do have the rest of the series and so didn't have a year or so to wait to find out what will happen next. ( )

This was one of the shorter episodes in the lengthy Honor Harrington series. It stars Admiral Michelle Henke and takes place mainly in the Talbot Quadrant. The Solarian League is still making trouble and Manticore has less resources to defend its new territory since the sneak attack on the Manticore home system which destroyed so much of the kingdom's military infrastructure.

The Mesan Alliance looks on that as an opportunity and they have agents in place who are determined to support revolutions on many of the planet under the authority of the Solarian Leagues' Office of Frontier Security. Of course, they say that they are helping out as representatives of Manticore which means that, when Manticore doesn't show up with military support and the revolutions are crushed, it is Manticore's reputation that will suffer.

When someone gets out of one of these systems and connects with Manticoran authorities at Montana, the whole promise of support comes as a major surprise to Admiral Henke and her fleet. That doesn't mean that she isn't going to help though.

I liked learning more about the Mesan Alliance and the things that they have planned. I also look forward to finding out how the good guys are going to disrupt those plans, I hope. Not that the collapse of the Solarian League wouldn't be a good thing for that culture but it will certainly bring about huge changes on all the planets.

I liked the parts of the story that took place on the planets under the thumbs of Frontier Security. I also liked the way the Manticorans helped those planets. What I didn't like was the cliffhanger ending. Of course, I do have the rest of the series and so didn't have a year or so to wait to find out what will happen next. ( )

100 pages in. Lots of talking, almost nothing happening, and no sign of any treecats. Flipping through the next hundred pages, still no sign of treecats, even though the last book insinuated that they're becoming very... involved... now. The cover matches that expectation.

But generally, things that have happened in previous book(s) have not yet happened in this book. Is this like the Wheel of Time book in which very little happened other than shifts from perspective to perspective to see how all the major players reacted to Rand and Nynaeve's badassery? Except Weber is splitting his across multiple volumes??

At one point in this first hundred pages, a scene seemed so familiar, I had to go check to make sure I hadn't already read this book. Nope. It's the new one. I see another commenter says that Weber copy/pasted three entire chapters word for word from a previous book. Really?????

Yawn. I'm very bored. Putting this down until the next release is imminent. IF it looks like something interesting is forthcoming in the next release. I want to see how this story resolves. The stage is set up for serious epicness. Bring it! Please!! ( )

Yet another excellent story from within the Honorverse. Admiral Mike Henke continues to make her mark within the Talbott Cluster against the Solarian League Navy. Captain Zavala’s visit to Saltash was space opera at its best. ( )