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katmarhan's review against another edition
3.0
Not my favorite in the series so far, I have to say. The storyline felt disjointed and I didn't feel like we got to know the new characters very well. Of course, some of them didn't last long, so I guess that's OK. I do like the way the young Clinkscales, so awkward when we met him, has matured. And the insights into White Haven's emotions were helpful to my understanding of the relationship between Honor and him.
Honor's "battle" near the end of the book was wonderfully amazing and a great vindication of her belief in the character and leadership of the force she had cobbled together.
Honor's "battle" near the end of the book was wonderfully amazing and a great vindication of her belief in the character and leadership of the force she had cobbled together.
edb14's review against another edition
3.0
I promised that I would tell you when I finally tired of this series, and it has now happened.
Nothing really ruined it for me; I enjoyed my time in the Honorverse and I will probably read through them again from the beginning in a few years, but Weber’s writing habits have finally begun to pall. Honor’s character has now grown and changed so much that I can no longer hold onto my suspension of disbelief that all of these adventures could center around one person, and I’m happy to put the series aside after reading of her triumphant and daring escape from prison. Weber’s novels have gotten steadily longer to the point where the last two took me months to finish, and I took many breaks to finish other novels in between. This one in particular was irksome because Honor’s storyline was tightly written and intensely interesting, but it was broken up by interminable scenes of other characters, new and old, testing military equipment and fighting losing skirmishes in other parts of space. Weber’s insistence on adding new but ultimately inconsequential characters to his space opera has finally taken over the plot like an inoperable cancer, and my brain was blinded as I tried to remember the names of all of those mechanics and tac officers who showed up for this installment but who I would never hear about again. This was especially annoying as Honor was also meeting a bunch of new people in her prison camp, but by the time I got back to their storyline I had forgotten who everyone was. The mental effort of trying to keep track of everyone and understand the purpose behind all of the space battles through Weber’s wealth of mathematical details began to be more than the reward of seeing Honor overcome new challenges. Plus, Weber is continually heaping new “honors” on his heroine while ignoring any opportunities for punnery and I can’t stand it anymore. No regrets, but no intentions of embarking on the next installment either.
Nothing really ruined it for me; I enjoyed my time in the Honorverse and I will probably read through them again from the beginning in a few years, but Weber’s writing habits have finally begun to pall. Honor’s character has now grown and changed so much that I can no longer hold onto my suspension of disbelief that all of these adventures could center around one person, and I’m happy to put the series aside after reading of her triumphant and daring escape from prison. Weber’s novels have gotten steadily longer to the point where the last two took me months to finish, and I took many breaks to finish other novels in between. This one in particular was irksome because Honor’s storyline was tightly written and intensely interesting, but it was broken up by interminable scenes of other characters, new and old, testing military equipment and fighting losing skirmishes in other parts of space. Weber’s insistence on adding new but ultimately inconsequential characters to his space opera has finally taken over the plot like an inoperable cancer, and my brain was blinded as I tried to remember the names of all of those mechanics and tac officers who showed up for this installment but who I would never hear about again. This was especially annoying as Honor was also meeting a bunch of new people in her prison camp, but by the time I got back to their storyline I had forgotten who everyone was. The mental effort of trying to keep track of everyone and understand the purpose behind all of the space battles through Weber’s wealth of mathematical details began to be more than the reward of seeing Honor overcome new challenges. Plus, Weber is continually heaping new “honors” on his heroine while ignoring any opportunities for punnery and I can’t stand it anymore. No regrets, but no intentions of embarking on the next installment either.
mistressop's review against another edition
5.0
this series and this whole prison planet plotline are very good.
imitira's review against another edition
2.0
While I generally approve of people pushing themselves outside their comfort zone, some of the plot pivots here tend toward the absurd. The combination of completely disparate and unrelated stories also doesn't sit particularly well, and feels like it was largely done for the sake of padding out the book (thus my losing 6am to it - and on a re-read, no less).
ampersand13's review against another edition
4.0
The series gets better as it goes along. David is learnung to flesh out the universe more and moer!
tuftymctavish's review against another edition
4.0
This was better than the last few! Echoes continues on directly after the semi-cliffhanger of the previous book, so I decided to read them back-to-back as they were part of the same overall story. I've complained a lot about these that there is often more exposition and musing than actual story/action. Echoes is a chunkier book where more happens, and the data dumping is doled out in much smaller pockets. There are still chapters that are purely the internal musings of a single character however, but this spread and the far greater activity than of late makes for a more interesting novel.
Of course things would be amiss if we didn't have the knowing glints in the eyes, and knowing nose twitches. And of course nearly all of the senior staff are completely useless buffoons. Still, there's enough interesting adventure in between this boilerplate stuff to keep me entertained.
Overall I was far happier, and looking forward to reading this title in the series than several of late. You do still have to be into the military SF stuff to warrant reading it though.
Of course things would be amiss if we didn't have the knowing glints in the eyes, and knowing nose twitches. And of course nearly all of the senior staff are completely useless buffoons. Still, there's enough interesting adventure in between this boilerplate stuff to keep me entertained.
Overall I was far happier, and looking forward to reading this title in the series than several of late. You do still have to be into the military SF stuff to warrant reading it though.
laurla's review against another edition
i wish he had a better editor who made him pare it back so the story could take the front, not the piddly endless details. but i'm still gonna read the next book.
njvibby's review against another edition
4.0
3rd time I've read this and enjoyed it just as much as the 1st time
sleeping_while_awake's review
1.0
The ending was good, and I enjoyed Honor's scenes, but this book was so bloated. Echoes of Honor is about 200 pages longer than the previous book. There's not more story though...
For about three months I struggled to get through the 50-80% section of this book.
Lots of side characters stroking their faces and chuckling to themselves. Lots of side side characters briefing hypothetical maybes that you know as the reader end up as the truth. Lots of telling instead of showing.
I can't bring myself to write much more because I've made my complaints known in earlier installments. For even hardcore Honor fans, I expect this will be difficult to get through.
For about three months I struggled to get through the 50-80% section of this book.
Lots of side characters stroking their faces and chuckling to themselves. Lots of side side characters briefing hypothetical maybes that you know as the reader end up as the truth. Lots of telling instead of showing.
I can't bring myself to write much more because I've made my complaints known in earlier installments. For even hardcore Honor fans, I expect this will be difficult to get through.