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A review by tita_noir
The Short Victorious War by David Weber
3.0
This is the third book in the Honor Harrington series.
The People's Republic of Haven is having a domestic crisis. A staggering number of its population is on the dole. The President and his cabinet need to put down civil unrest. Their old tried and true way of doing this is to invade economically strong but militarily weak planets and star systems to shore up their flawed welfare state.
This time they have targeted the rich Manticores. However, Manticore has a very strong military and they are light years ahead technologically of "The Peeps." As the veiled hostilities threaten to grow into a shooting war, Honor is assigned to a task force to patrol a likely hot spot. Fresh off her triumph from Honor of the Queen where she thwarted an assassination attempt on a head of state of an allied planet, she is given command of the HMS Nike and acts as a flag captain of the task force. While there she runs into her old nemesis Pavel Young and gets a love interest.
The first two books of this series were rollicking good fun. They are all introduction and set up, albeit done in grand fashion. This one has the feel of a transition book and, while still a good read, not as viscerally satisfying as the previous two. In this one, Weber begins transitioning this series from purely space opera/military sci-fi to add political intrigue into the mix. We begin to see the inner workings of the Peeps and he starts setting the stage for the changes that happen inside the PRH over the next several books of the series.
This installment also injects a little romance for the usually all work Honor. Weber injects some realistic vulnerability and awkwardness into an arena where the militaristic Honor is at almost a complete loss. As usual there are tactics and strategy to mull over, ships and missiles to describe ad nauseum and a battle to have in the end.
The People's Republic of Haven is having a domestic crisis. A staggering number of its population is on the dole. The President and his cabinet need to put down civil unrest. Their old tried and true way of doing this is to invade economically strong but militarily weak planets and star systems to shore up their flawed welfare state.
This time they have targeted the rich Manticores. However, Manticore has a very strong military and they are light years ahead technologically of "The Peeps." As the veiled hostilities threaten to grow into a shooting war, Honor is assigned to a task force to patrol a likely hot spot. Fresh off her triumph from Honor of the Queen where she thwarted an assassination attempt on a head of state of an allied planet, she is given command of the HMS Nike and acts as a flag captain of the task force. While there she runs into her old nemesis Pavel Young and gets a love interest.
The first two books of this series were rollicking good fun. They are all introduction and set up, albeit done in grand fashion. This one has the feel of a transition book and, while still a good read, not as viscerally satisfying as the previous two. In this one, Weber begins transitioning this series from purely space opera/military sci-fi to add political intrigue into the mix. We begin to see the inner workings of the Peeps and he starts setting the stage for the changes that happen inside the PRH over the next several books of the series.
This installment also injects a little romance for the usually all work Honor. Weber injects some realistic vulnerability and awkwardness into an arena where the militaristic Honor is at almost a complete loss. As usual there are tactics and strategy to mull over, ships and missiles to describe ad nauseum and a battle to have in the end.