Honorverse Today Jim Arrowood, JP Harvey, Raul Ybarra

Mission of Honor brings us back to the main series/sequence, as we look at the twelfth novel in that line of the Honorverse story.  The events in this ~600-page gem occur between late 1921 through the middle of 1922 PD.  Having developed the breadth and depth of some significant events in the overall storyline, David moves away from the technique he’s used across several previous books to layer and unfold important - and different - perspectives of key events.
Events continue to spiral in a manner quickly approaching out of control and absolutely not to the benefit of the Star Empire of Manticore.  The Solarian League has essentially declared war on Manticore through a direct attack on RMN assets.  Then they spun the events to convince themselves that they were the victims rather than the perpetrators.  Now they confront Admiral Henke’s fleet and demand Henke surrender herself into their custody.
However, all hope isn’t lost.  Henke’s 10th Fleet soundly defeats the challenging Solarian force.  Meanwhile Honor is on a diplomatic mission — a Mission of Honor — to establish terms of peace with Haven.  During this series of diplomatic meetings, Operation Oyster Bay executes, with the attacker’s identity remaining unknown.  The attack causes the near total loss of orbital industrial facilities in the Manticoran home system.  As a result, debris falls onto the planets below causing extensive damage and loss of life.
Back on Haven, Honor is meeting directly with President Pritchart and key cabinet members.  While talks begin in a cool but correct manner, Honor and Pritchart’s relationship warms and respect grows between them as time passes.  Between the two of them, they put several new pieces of the puzzle together which builds Manticore and Haven’s understanding of the Mesan Alignment’s secretive actions and intentions.  Unfortunately, diplomatic talks are suspended due to Oyster Bay and Honor is recalled to Manticore.  Even so, the diplomatic negotiations aren’t over, as we see by the end of the book.
This entire novel was non-stop excitement!
We rated “Mission of Honor” with a 5, a 5 and another 5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of another perfect 5 from your hosts.
We always say it (because it’s true!) we truly appreciate the support of everyone who takes the time to wander through the Honorverse with us.  Special thanks for those of you who like and/or comment on our posts, and even reach out and send us a note.
Next up:  a surprise prize!  While we told you in the episode we’re discussing the anthology In Fire Forged next, circumstances let us sit down once again with David Weber for a second interview.  Get ready to learn a lot more about this amazing world we’re moving through, featuring quite a few questions provided by you, our friends and listeners taking this journey with us.
Don’t worry though, we’ll pick up and discuss the fifth anthology in the Worlds of Honor set entitled In Fire Forged after the interview.  If you enjoyed Mission of Honor, catch your breath and get ready for a lot more action! As always, please grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again next time!
You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.
Now, let’s be about it!

As promised, here we are, back in the Crown of Slaves series talking about “Torch of Freedom”, another essential book assisting us in our passage through the Honorverse. This is the second of the novels that comprise the Crown of Slaves series or set of books within the Honorverse. As with the others in this set, Eric Flint was David Weber’s co-author.  The influence of his writing style and perspectives absolutely help us delve into some of the ugly issues associated with the genetic slavery storyline.
This is another in what we’ll call the “stacked” novels, in that we are still looking at events that occurred around 1921 PD.  It’s actually the last one we’ll see as David completes his build-out of this significant turning point in the overarching Honorverse storyline.  The layers of events we see added here now span from 1919 through 1922 PD, but they address events we’re familiar with, now from the perspective of the still-new star kingdom of Torch and the associated Mayan sector.  A healthy amount of the story leans on the activities of Anton Zilwicki and Victor Cachat as they continue to investigate mysterious murder attempts on multiple people including Honor Harrington, Queen Barry and others.  It’s not exclusively Anton and Victor’s story, but quite a bit of what happens in the novel revolves around this investigative work they’re involved in.  We also have a heavy dose of the activities of the Mesan Alignment, and fuller attention is paid to the Detweilers.  We may have learned more about the Alignment in this novel than in any other so far.  Related, there are quite a few moral issues that come to the surface, or certainly come near the surface, that were previously only foreshadowed.  Most of them are directly associated with the connection between the Alignment and the genetic slave trade, but it’s not all about that.  We definitely get a lot more of the lives and intentions of Berry, Ruth, the broader leadership of Torch and how they’re doing in finding their place in the greater universe that we call the Honorverse.
Note this book is a bit of a slower read in that there’s so much going on.  You’ll see less combat action and a lot more of the weaving together of multiple storylines as this book (along with the several that preceded it) are turning us in a new direction related to the overarching storyline.
We rated “Torch of Freedom” with a 3, a 3 and a 4 (out of 5), for an overall rating of a 3.33.
As always, thank you for listening and big thanks to those of you who also take the time to like and follow us on social media, to comment on our posts or even reach out through a longer note.
Next time on the Honorverse Today podcast, we’re diving back into the “main sequence” to discuss “Mission of Honor”, the twelfth book in that set.  Get ready!  We’re back with Admiral Honor Alexander-Harrington as she finds herself serving as a diplomat as Queen’s Elizabeth’s direct representative and plenipotentiary during significant face-to-face negotiations with the President Pritchart and other senior government officials of Haven.  You’re not going to want to miss reading and discussing this one.  Grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again next time!
You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.
Now, let’s be about it!

Swinging back to the Saganami Island series, in this episode we discuss the second book entitled “Storm from the Shadows”.
Similar to the previous novel, this is another of several that cover certain key events in the 1921 PD timeframe, but from a different perspective.  This time a lot of what we see is through Admiral Michele Henke’s eyes. 
We made this point in the podcast and want to re-enforce it here:  this isn’t just a repeat of what we the readers already know.  Yes, certain key events are covered again, but we’re seeing those events differently as David Weber uses this technique to bring more richness or fullness to the story. 
And that’s not all this book brings us; there’s new material too, so don’t skip this one as David takes us down an important parallel path within the story.  Please consider it essential reading in the context of the greater story arc. 
 Perhaps most important, as anticipated we get to learn more about the emerging threat of Mesa, or more specifically of a body—a very quiet, or in some cases secret governing body—called the Mesan Alignment.  This is the third political entity we talked about in the previous episode.  The Alignment isn’t just a disruption to business as usual.  Rather, we’re learning just how powerful and manipulative they are as they’ve secretly and effectively orchestrated various events and outright hostility between Manticore and Haven.  It also appears that this manipulation isn’t the whole story, so strap in and hang on to your hats as we start to see just how an already ugly situation might get even uglier.  Much uglier.
We rated “Storm from the Shadows” with a 5, a 5 and another 5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of a 5 from your hosts.
Friends, we always appreciate your encouragement as we make this adventure through the Honorverse together. 
Once again, thank you for listening and big thanks to those of you who also take the time to like and follow us on social media, to comment on our posts even reach out through a longer note.
 Next, we’re going to return to the Crown of Slaves series as we dive into the second book:  “Torch of Freedom”, bringing our attention back to the planet of Torch and all the galactic maneuvering around this new star nation.  As a reminder, this is the series that David Weber brought in co-author Eric Flint. 
Grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again next time!
You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.
Now, let’s be about it!

We’re back in the “main series” to discuss the eleventh novel, “At All Costs”. While this is the eleventh of fourteen novels here, we’re only about halfway through all the Honorverse content. So, if you’re enjoying the podcast don’t worry, there’s lots more to come!
The timeframe of this novel has us overlapping some of the events we saw in “The Shadow of Saganami.” Again, this is in no way a rehash of events. What David Weber is doing here (and in the next novel we’ll read) is to provide an incredible amount of fullness to a massive part of the Honorverse storyline. With so many threads of storyline happening on such a large scale, this was really the only way David could effectively fill in the incredible amount of story needed to give us the full picture of just how complex the events actually are. While there are things you’ll recognize, you’re not going to get bored. So, fasten your seatbelts and get ready for the ride.
The title says it all. We are witnessing the climax of the Manticoran – Havenite War. With a momentary pause in the fighting and a brief moment where peace talks might have happened, due to a series of truly unfortunate circumstances, both sides resume combat operations with a ferocity that represents conducting warfare in a manner that victory will come to one side or the other at all costs.
We see confirmed in this book the previous appearance of a possible third party involved in the war — a party that isn’t Manticore or Haven, or one of their allies. We definitely have some idea who it is, but what we know appears to only scratch the surface. This other actor on the universal stage has its own selfish interests and agenda. It wants to see Manticore and Haven continue to attrit each other’s militaries and economies down to a level that leaves them ineffective to deal with anything else. That party would then presumably be able to operate relatively freely and maybe openly, unopposed by either of these primary star nations.
When they sabotage the intended peace talks, war resumes, and with incredible scale and violence. We watch what is described as the largest naval battle in history. When the story ends, we see both Haven and Manticore having lost the preponderance of their navies, with Manticore only effectively retaining 8th Fleet under the command of Honor Harrington. The stage is set at the end of the novel for this semi-mysterious third party to become more fully known and begin to take advantage of the new “international” political and military landscape.
We rated “At All Costs” with a 5, a 5 and another 5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of a perfect 5 from your hosts.
As always, we truly appreciate the support of everyone who takes the time to wander through the Honorverse with us. Special thanks for those of you who like and/or comment on our posts, and even reach out and send us a note.
Next, we’re going to return to the Saganami Island series to read and discuss book two: “Storm from the Shadows”. It’s going to continue this wild ride we’re on, so grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again next time!
You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you.
Now, let’s be about it!

We’ve already put out toes in the water of the Wages of Sin series (more commonly known as the Crown of Slaves series), and we’ll return to it soon enough. In this episode we discuss the first book in the Saganami Island series, entitled “The Shadow of Saganami”.
Events in this novel overlap with and complement, to some extent, events we read about in “Service of the Sword”, “War of Honor” and “Crown of Slaves”. Don’t worry though, there is zero redundancy. What David Weber is doing is giving us more depth and breadth than what we already had. Your hosts all felt this could have been two novels on some level. That said, breaking it into two would have damaged what Mr. Weber does for us by keeping the multiple storylines within a single book. For that, we’re thankful for this lengthy and satisfying book!
With the resumption of hostilities between the Star Kingdom and Haven, the story shifts to the relatively new Lynx Terminus of the Manticoran Wormhole Junction. This junction is located in the economically poor Talbott Cluster. Manticore has offered the benefits of annexation to the systems in the Talbott Cluster, which would benefit all parties involved. It would not necessarily benefit other players on the Honorverse stage. It certainly causes issues and concerns for Mesa, and perhaps, to others. This novel captures the story of the resultant honorable (and less than honorable) maneuvering within the Cluster.
We’ve used the “DIME'' construct to analyze the story as it’s unfolded in the previous novels. That continues here, but now we see a very clear shift from a focus on the military instrument of power (the “M”) to a much heavier emphasis on diplomacy and economics (the “D” and “E”). For those of you who have been on this adventure for a while, you’ll remember we’ve anticipated this happening.
The book is aptly named. We experience a part of the fatal battle Edward Saganami is known for, and we see why he’s regarded as highly as he is within the Royal Manticoran Navy. We get to hear Honor’s words to a graduating class at the Academy at Saganami Island, and then we roll into political intrigue, diplomatic (and less than diplomatic) posturing and maneuvering, piracy, terrorism, and even a large and very significant naval battle. The naval operations and ultimately combat requires the RMN officers, women and men assigned to the ships involved to make comparably difficult decisions to those made by Edward Saganami. They’re inspired by what they know of him, strive to honor his legacy, and ultimately live in the shadow of this great man. It seems this book has something for everyone!
We rated “The Shadow of Saganami” with a 5, a 5 and another 5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of a perfect 5 from your hosts.
As always, we truly appreciate the support of everyone who takes the time to wander through the Honorverse with us. Special thanks for those of you who like and/or comment on our posts, and even reach out and send us a note.
Next, we’re going to return to the “main story line” with our discussion of “At All Costs”. Grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again next time!
You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you.
Now, let’s be about it!

With this series and novel, our adventure shifts away from the story featuring Honor Harrington as the main character or even seeing her as the focal point.  Even so, she’s not gone and appears in the periphery quite often.  Remember, this “related” storyline doesn’t mean we’re shifting away from the “main” storyline.  As you’ll see, we are not.  The Wages of Sin series, and this first novel in it, are absolutely a part of the core narrative that is The Honorverse.    We’ve seen the stories in this series foreshadowed and now we’re going to see why the Wages of Sin set of books are essential to the main story.  By the way, you’ll often hear people refer to this series as the Crown of Slaves series rather than Wages of Sin.  There’s certainly nothing wrong with that at all.  In fact, the series is probably more commonly referred to as the Crown of Slaves series.
If you like placing each story into a chronological timeline, the events in Crown of Slaves happen while the High Ridge government is still in power, just before the main events captured in the novel War of Honor.  While there isn’t a lot of emphasis placed on High Ridge and others in the cabinet, Queen Elizabeth and some of the actions revolving around her play a little more of a prominent (but a relatively minor) role.  Crown of Slaves was first published by Baen Books in August 2003.  This is the series we have previously mentioned was written by the dynamic duo of David Weber and Eric Flint.
As we saw mentioned in earlier parts of the story, the Star Kingdom’s ally Erewhon has been grieved by the actions and attitudes of High Ridge and the cabinet.  Perhaps outside of Grayson, Erewhon may be the most neglected and offended of all of Manticore’s primary allies.  In an effort to quietly address the problem, and perhaps prevent the loss of a key ally, Queen Elizabeth sends a delegation led by Captain Zilwicki, along with his daughter Berry, and her niece, Princess Judith Winton, to Erewhon.  You’re going to see a small cast of other familiar characters as well.  Within this atmosphere of tension, and significantly amplified by competing agendas outside of the Queen’s control, nothing goes smoothly.
As suggested by the title of the series, and especially this novel, the focus of the events that unfold relate directly to Mesa and Manpower, Inc., and broadly to the ugly issue of slavery.  It shouldn’t be a surprise, but the theme is certainly heavy, and the events and language are not “kid friendly”.
We rated Crown of Slaves with a 3, a 4 and another 4 (out of 5), for an overall rating of 3.7 from your hosts.
We absolutely appreciate the support of everyone who takes the time to listen to our thoughts as we wander through the Honorverse.  Thank you!  And as always, thanks for those of you who like and/or comment on our posts.  Whether you agree with our thoughts, or hold differing viewpoints, your comments are genuinely appreciated and warmly received.   We truly enjoy hearing your thoughts on the Honorverse and the show.
Next up:  we’re making a visit to another related storyline as we jump into the first novel in the Saganami Island series:  The Shadow of Saganami.   Grab your copy and join us again next time!
You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com.  We look forward to hearing from you.
Now, let’s be about it!