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laurla's review against another edition
still feel the author gets lost in unnecessary details like exactly how many thousands of tons each ship weighs and exactly how many ships of how many different types each navy has, and exactly how fast each ship is traveling even though its in like millions of whatevers per second. i do like the story though so i mostly manage to skip over all that gobbledygook.
judythereader's review against another edition
4.0
Honor Harrington's new command is the Nike, a name with a celebrated history in the Star Kingdom. She is assigned to Hancock Station as the Flag Ship for Admiral Sarno. Unfortunately, she arrives just as the People's Republic of Haven decides it it finally time to move on the Kingdom because they need a "short, victorious war" to pacify their people.
There is so much that happens within each of these books that it is almost impossible to do a summary that conveys the scope of the story without spoilers. That's part of the charm of the series. These are big sweeping sagas mixed with technical descriptions of space warfare.
Honor is wonderful character. She is not perfect, but she is good at what she does and she knows how to bring out the best in her people. I love these books and I very much like the reader, since I have been doing this as audio books.
There is so much that happens within each of these books that it is almost impossible to do a summary that conveys the scope of the story without spoilers. That's part of the charm of the series. These are big sweeping sagas mixed with technical descriptions of space warfare.
Honor is wonderful character. She is not perfect, but she is good at what she does and she knows how to bring out the best in her people. I love these books and I very much like the reader, since I have been doing this as audio books.
wilsonx1999's review against another edition
5.0
Once again, David Weber wrote a book that made it so hard for me to put down that I had to finish it in only a few days.
tome15's review against another edition
4.0
Weber, David. A Short Victorious War. Honor Harrington No. 3. Baen, 1994.
David Weber is an a very big fish in the small pond of military science fiction influenced by the naval stories of C. S. Forester. In this third novel in the still growing Hornorverse he has constructed a story with sharp contrasts—honor and bravery versus craven cowardice, romantic sexuality versus violent rape, noble causes versus bureaucratic ruthlessness. Weber admires the military virtues, but he knows that even short victorious wars leave scars even on the winners. However unlikely a reader may find the possibility of a government like the monarchy Honor Harrington fights for, it is comforting to think that such an enterprise will always prevail over the bureaucratic real-politic of the People’s Republic of Haven, and that a woman with pluck and skill will prevail over cowardly rapists. It is one of the series I enjoy rereading. Note: an ebook version of the novel is available on the Baen Free Library, one of the noblest enterprises in publishing.
David Weber is an a very big fish in the small pond of military science fiction influenced by the naval stories of C. S. Forester. In this third novel in the still growing Hornorverse he has constructed a story with sharp contrasts—honor and bravery versus craven cowardice, romantic sexuality versus violent rape, noble causes versus bureaucratic ruthlessness. Weber admires the military virtues, but he knows that even short victorious wars leave scars even on the winners. However unlikely a reader may find the possibility of a government like the monarchy Honor Harrington fights for, it is comforting to think that such an enterprise will always prevail over the bureaucratic real-politic of the People’s Republic of Haven, and that a woman with pluck and skill will prevail over cowardly rapists. It is one of the series I enjoy rereading. Note: an ebook version of the novel is available on the Baen Free Library, one of the noblest enterprises in publishing.
bookwisp's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
birdmanseven's review against another edition
1.0
Eek. This was a real letdown. I couldn't get into the plot and didn't much care for the characters this time around.
We discuss this further in a special Sci-Fi episode of the All the Books Show.
https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/episode-201-sci-fi-books
We discuss this further in a special Sci-Fi episode of the All the Books Show.
https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/episode-201-sci-fi-books
sleeping_while_awake's review against another edition
2.0
Close to three stars, but I hit such a block when reading the middle of this book. It took me a week to get through one chapter.
The Short Victorious War is an idea by the People's Republic of Haven to draw Manticore into a war, in order to distract their populace from the unrest and widespread economic and political issues on Haven.
In the beginning, Honor is recovering from a head wound, and is adapting to a new bionic eye. She is called back to duty, and assumes command of the ship Nike as the flag captain in her squadron under Admiral Sarnow. After some time, Pavel Young, her enemy, i.e. attempted rapist, also joins the squadron. However, Honor does find some romance with another officer, and surprisingly, she does have character development.
There aren't many battles in the beginning and middle. Much of the action is placed towards the end. The middle is so focused on the strategy, from multiple point of views, and I wasn't very invested in the merry-go-round of characters driving the narrative. It got so heavy I had a hard time getting through the middle. Once it got to the actual battle, it felt like a re-hash of the strategy portions.
I really liked Honor's character development. I was surprised that she got any development, and the beginning of the book was my favorite. Honestly, all the parts with Honor are really great, but I kept falling asleep with all the strategy talk.
Not to mention the seemingly hundreds of characters that are mentioned! It was definitely hard for me to keep track of the command structure. At one point I was making notes of the connections among all the characters.
The way Pavel Young was handled was a bit odd. Considering that he tried to rape Honor, I found it weird that another character (male) is trying to get her to see how bad Young's life is now after Honor beat him up. And that Honor truly considers this and has some sympathy. I guess if I were I Honor's position I would not care at all what happened to him.
I liked the French references with Haven. I found it amusing that there is a Rob S. Pierre in the narrative. If you know even a little bit of French history, you can guess what that character's about.
I preferred the previous book, but I think there is potential if the battles don't become such a copy of the strategy. It makes the reading very repetitious. This book was written over 20 years ago at this point, and I think it shows its age somewhat in its style.
The Short Victorious War is an idea by the People's Republic of Haven to draw Manticore into a war, in order to distract their populace from the unrest and widespread economic and political issues on Haven.
In the beginning, Honor is recovering from a head wound, and is adapting to a new bionic eye. She is called back to duty, and assumes command of the ship Nike as the flag captain in her squadron under Admiral Sarnow. After some time, Pavel Young, her enemy, i.e. attempted rapist, also joins the squadron. However, Honor does find some romance with another officer, and surprisingly, she does have character development.
There aren't many battles in the beginning and middle. Much of the action is placed towards the end. The middle is so focused on the strategy, from multiple point of views, and I wasn't very invested in the merry-go-round of characters driving the narrative. It got so heavy I had a hard time getting through the middle. Once it got to the actual battle, it felt like a re-hash of the strategy portions.
I really liked Honor's character development. I was surprised that she got any development, and the beginning of the book was my favorite. Honestly, all the parts with Honor are really great, but I kept falling asleep with all the strategy talk.
Not to mention the seemingly hundreds of characters that are mentioned! It was definitely hard for me to keep track of the command structure. At one point I was making notes of the connections among all the characters.
The way Pavel Young was handled was a bit odd. Considering that he tried to rape Honor, I found it weird that another character (male) is trying to get her to see how bad Young's life is now after Honor beat him up. And that Honor truly considers this and has some sympathy. I guess if I were I Honor's position I would not care at all what happened to him.
I liked the French references with Haven. I found it amusing that there is a Rob S. Pierre in the narrative. If you know even a little bit of French history, you can guess what that character's about.
I preferred the previous book, but I think there is potential if the battles don't become such a copy of the strategy. It makes the reading very repetitious. This book was written over 20 years ago at this point, and I think it shows its age somewhat in its style.
kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 really.
This is the third Honor book that I've and I'm reading them in order. This book isn't bad, it's a little better than okay.
The second book in this series ([b:The Honor of the Queen|77735|The Honor of the Queen (Honor Harrington, #2)|David Weber|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1304286399s/77735.jpg|1755248]) looks at a female officer forced to work in a culture where women are second class citzens. In some ways, this book feels like he is going over something similar. This is because everyone who doubts Honor in this book is male and, therefore, either (a) dumb (b) evil or (c) both. Weber seems to want to talk about sexism without talking about sexism.
I can understand the reason. Talking about sexism, writing about sexism, is hard in a culture that is supposedly beyond it. (You get funny looks if you mention sexism and Star Trek. But honestly, why did all the women on ST:TNG were a one piece, and the guys two, hmmm?). There are ways, however, to deal with it. Take for instance, the UK and US versions of Prime Suscept. The original, the UK version, done many years ago dealt with sexism straight out. In the US version, the sexism is still there, but it is the subtle kind. Jane is disliked by some of her male collegues because she is new, and because she isn't a "soft" "girly" woman. She is too direct, she is too pushy, she isn't polite. She acts, in some ways, as how the male lead cop in a show should act (in essence, she is a less physical Steve Macgarret from the new Hawaii Five-0). If she was a man, it wouldn't be a problem, but because she doesn't act like a woman, it is. (BTW, it's a great show. I love the fact the fact she is tough and has a healthly personal life). Or if that doesn't work for you, think about Starbuck in the Battlestar remake, some people disliked her because she didn't act like a girl. A man doing all that is fine, but a woman, nope. It isn't quite the same as saying, "girls stink" but such thinking is still sexism. If Weber was dealing with this more sublte form, I could see it, and he seems to come close, but he doesn't hit it.
Another problem I had was Honor's prefection. Even her relationship with her tree-cat is extra special. In some characters, too, felt very flat.
Yet, there are parts of this book that are really good, in particular the space battle scenes. And it moves very quickly, yet there is something off about it.
This is the third Honor book that I've and I'm reading them in order. This book isn't bad, it's a little better than okay.
The second book in this series ([b:The Honor of the Queen|77735|The Honor of the Queen (Honor Harrington, #2)|David Weber|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1304286399s/77735.jpg|1755248]) looks at a female officer forced to work in a culture where women are second class citzens. In some ways, this book feels like he is going over something similar. This is because everyone who doubts Honor in this book is male and, therefore, either (a) dumb (b) evil or (c) both. Weber seems to want to talk about sexism without talking about sexism.
I can understand the reason. Talking about sexism, writing about sexism, is hard in a culture that is supposedly beyond it. (You get funny looks if you mention sexism and Star Trek. But honestly, why did all the women on ST:TNG were a one piece, and the guys two, hmmm?). There are ways, however, to deal with it. Take for instance, the UK and US versions of Prime Suscept. The original, the UK version, done many years ago dealt with sexism straight out. In the US version, the sexism is still there, but it is the subtle kind. Jane is disliked by some of her male collegues because she is new, and because she isn't a "soft" "girly" woman. She is too direct, she is too pushy, she isn't polite. She acts, in some ways, as how the male lead cop in a show should act (in essence, she is a less physical Steve Macgarret from the new Hawaii Five-0). If she was a man, it wouldn't be a problem, but because she doesn't act like a woman, it is. (BTW, it's a great show. I love the fact the fact she is tough and has a healthly personal life). Or if that doesn't work for you, think about Starbuck in the Battlestar remake, some people disliked her because she didn't act like a girl. A man doing all that is fine, but a woman, nope. It isn't quite the same as saying, "girls stink" but such thinking is still sexism. If Weber was dealing with this more sublte form, I could see it, and he seems to come close, but he doesn't hit it.
Another problem I had was Honor's prefection. Even her relationship with her tree-cat is extra special. In some characters, too, felt very flat.
Yet, there are parts of this book that are really good, in particular the space battle scenes. And it moves very quickly, yet there is something off about it.
chrudos's review against another edition
2.0
There is some development in the characters, but overall quite anti-climactic. I am also not sure I like the the implicit ideological assumptions the book is covertly endorsing...
thetarantulalounge's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
This is my third review in the Honor Harington series – a military sci-fi series based heavily around “naval” battles in the skies. I believe the character is roughly based on the equally alliterated Horatio Hornblower books of yore. Minor spoilers are inevitable but nothing serious.
In Weber’s third Honor Harington book, our hero is placed in charge of a monster of a ship. She’s a highly decorated captain, recognized for her superior tactics as well as her political acumen. However, even in the future in space, some people think women don’t deserve to be in charge. That has been dealt with in this series briefly through Honor’s interactions with other cultures. This book focuses more on the internal naval struggles. Honor also matures a bit as a person in this one, although since Weber’s speciality is naval battles and not the depths of the human soul, those parts can be a bit cheesy. Anyway, people don’t read these books for character depth – onto the good stuff!
This book had several fantastic battle scenes – easily my favourite fight scenes since I read the Mistborn series several years ago. Weber swiftly and expertly lays out the geography and tactics of both the Royal Navy (the good guys) and the People’s Republic of Haven (booooo). There’s actually an addendum in this book explaining the different ship classes, weights, weapons capabilities, and more. I mean, this is next level stuff. This is Halo bestiary stuff. Understanding the capabilities, the crews, and the battlefields adds a lot of nuance and a chess-like quality to the book.
Is it literature? No. Was it super fun camping read with space lasers? Oh yes.
Two stars for characterization and overuse of the phrase “quirked his mouth”, 4.5 stars for fights. Simultaneous 1 and 5 stars for the cover art.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Sexual assault