The Short Victorious War (Honor Harrington Book 3)

I was rereading this book looking forward to seeing old friends. However, the detailed descriptions on procedures and equipment sometimes get in the way of the action sequences. All in all, a good read.

This is a reread, but the library's copy was missing - so I bought it and will donate it.
Weber's Honor Harrington series is well written, shows characters with real faults and admirable traits.
It has action, adventure, historical trends, love, and especially HONOR!

This is a reread, but the library's copy was missing - so I bought it and will donate it.
Weber's Honor Harrington series is well written, shows characters with real faults and admirable traits.
It has action, adventure, historical trends, love, and especially HONOR!

I re-read this series every 2 years or so, and each time, it makes more sense both as a series and as an education about what's right and what's wrong. There are very few grey areas, and this series just reminds me of that over and over.

The Short Victorious War is another great piece of the honor Harrington Pie. It is the strongest of the first three plot wise, I think, and the best at developing Honor's character. A great battle and personal conflict only add to the universe that Weber is so gifted at creating.

Patrick O'Brian writes magnificent sea warfare tales ... David Weber is his counterpart in the oceans of space twenty centuries hence.

My favorites are the books in the Honor Harrigton Series ... The Short Victorious War does NOT disappoint.

Read this book (and all which preceeded it)!

David Weber has created a vast and detailed universe for his Honor Harrington series. But even more than that he has created characters with real depth.If you enjoyed the first two books in this seies you will love this book.

When the paperback of this book came out. I read it and purchased the next one. I have all of the others in book form. Now I have the missing one's on here. I plan over time to put the others on my kindle.

The book was excellent addition to the on going series or a stand alone by itself.

I would highly recommend it for any David Weber fan, or anyone else that likes action sci-fi.

Enjoy, Pete.

This is a small short book stretched into a big book with lots of extra words and talking about stuff that will bore the crap out of you while you're waiting for some action to happen! I call it a sci-fi chick flick. Long boring periods punctuated by fun fast action moments. I yelled "get on with it" at my MP3 player more than once.

When I read a series of books, I like to evaluate each novel in the series along three vectors: 1. Does the novel stand alone as a complete story? 2. Does the novel’s plot make sense? And 3. Is there some development of the main characters who appears in novel after novel in the series? Now that I’ve read this book and it is the third one in the Honor Harrington series, I say back and thought about how this book meets my requirements.

Let’s actually start with the third one: Do the main characters develop? The answer to this is a strong YES. The main character is Honor Harrington with strong support from her Treecat. Both of these characters are developed much more fully in this novel. As a matter of fact, 300 of the 360 pages of this book focus purely on character development! And this is really a good sign. Honor has had a sad history of almost being raped; feeling that she is ugly and ungainly due to her height; and not being able to talk about those meant that she locked her feelings deep inside her. In this novel, she manages to break out of some of these constraints and actually develops a romantic relationship. Other developments also take place around her – although most are much thinner that hers. By the way, the last 60 pages are devoted to the obligatory battle scenes without which no military sci-fi book can be complete (read that with the ironical twist that I intended!).

As to the other two factors, they were not as well put together. With so much of a focus on Honor, the story about how the Havenites start a war with Manticore is told well, but then there is an ungodly rush at the end to wrap it all up – which in turn leaves me with more questions than answers. The author apparently tries to make up for this unseemly haste by including an appendix that explains some of the science and naval warfare theory that he based his story on. Much to my delight, much of what he explains is drawn straight from the fighting done during the Age of Sail! In fact, his explanation of how a senior admiral is severely wounded during a battle can be drawn directly from how people were killed or wounded in the wooden ships of old!

Some of the book’s politics compare a socialist regime that pushes everyone to the lowest common denominator while maintaining a small elite in power seems more drawn from Soviet times and the slide towards Socialism today, but then he compares that to a democratic but monarchical system with lords and ladies who primarily inherit their status in Manticore. Also a throwback to the England in the Age of Sail!

I enjoyed this book. Am looking forward to reading the next installment. I hope that the author does not have Honor skip even more promotions in the next one as her rise is already quite meteoric … and unbelievable! The several complaints I posted are what finally made me decide to give this book a 4 star rating – although I would have preferred to give this book a four and a half star rating. Oh well.

This book has a predictable ending, but how the author gets there is what makes it worth the read. Is this series the best Science Fiction series I've ever read? No. It does however have enough "meat" on it's bones to keep me interested for at least a couple of more books, as I've come to like the lead character, who is slowly being developed over time. Still, like all "series" novels, at times the author seems to be repeating himself, while at other times he seems to throw out there that leaves the reader a little confused or simply bored to death by the unnecessary details about a subject or topic related to the story, but not really needed to advance it. Overall I consider this novel to be basically "average", and if I would to give it a letter grade I'd grade it either a B- or C+ depending on the mood I'm in at the time.

The Short Victorious War (1994) is the third SF novel in the Honor Harrington series, following The Honor of the Queen. The initial volume in this sequence is On Basilisk Station.

In the previous volume, the Fearless was undergoing yard maintenance. She had a flaky beta node that needed replacement. The yard officers preferred to defer such an expensive and difficult job. Honor was not going to leave without a replacement.

When the Fearless left the yards, Honor hosted a recommissioning party. She had learned how to handle such social affairs, but she still wasn't comfortable in that role. She was mingling with her guests.

Ally teased Honor about Andreas. She mentioned that Honor was missing a great opportunity for an affair with her XO. Honor pointed out the regulations forbidding such affairs with others in her line of command. Alfred agreed with Honor.

Courvosier cut Honor out of the herd for some private time. He provided more information on her next mission. He also chided Honor about her aversion to diplomacy.

In this novel, Honor Harrington is a Captain (Senior Grade) in the Royal Manticoran Navy. She had commanded of a heavy cruiser -- the HMS Fearless -- in combat against the Peeps. Yet Honor was badly injured in battle.

Nimitz is a treecat, a native of Sphinx. He is bonded with Honor.

Alfred and Allison Harrington are Honor's parents. Alfred is a retired RMN medical officer. Ally is a genetic surgeon. They are both respected physicians on Sphinx. He is Honor's primary surgeon.

MacGuiness is a Senior Chief Steward in the RMN. Mac has been Honor's steward for some time and believes that nothing should interrupt her meals.

James Bowie Webster is a fleet Admiral in the RMN. He is the first space lord, but is being rotated in two months.

Hamish Alexander is the Earl of White Haven and an Admiral in the RMN. He is probably the most experienced admiral in the RMN.

Jim Parks is a Vice Admiral in the RMN. He is a thinker and sometimes talks himself into a situation.

Michelle Henke is a Commander in the RMN. Mike is Honor's Executive Officer on the Nike. She is a cousin of the queen and fifth in line for the throne. Yet she never makes use of her connections.

Fritz Montova is a Surgeon Commander in the RMN. He had saved Honor's eye until her father could replace it with a biotechnical version.

Ivan Ravicz is a Commander in the RMN. He is the engineering officer aboard the Nike.

Chandler is a Commander in the RMN. She is the tac officer on the Nike.

Monet is a Lieutenant Commander in the RMN. He is the com officer on the Nike.

Odelli is a Lieutenant Commander in the RMN. He is the astrogator on the Nike.

Jasper is a Lieutenant Commander in the RMN. He is the logistic officer on the Nike.

Klein is a Lieutenant Colonel in the RMN. He commands the Marines on Nike.

Pavel Young is a Captain in the RMN. He has been pulling punishment details for years.

Sidney Harris is the Hereditary President of the Republic of Haven. He is the most hated man in Haven.

Constance Palmer-Levy is Secretary of Security for the People's Republic of Haven. She is in charge of investigating and disappearing people.

Elaine Dumarest is Secretary of War of the People's Republic. She would like to arrest everybody in the Citizens' Rights Union.

Walter Frankel had been Secretary of the Economy for the People's Republic. He has recently been assassinated.

Robert Stanton Pierre is the most powerful Dolist Manager in the Republic. Rob is the current speaker of the People's Quorum.

In this story, Harris has a short staff meeting. Constance reports the lack of progress on the Frankel assassination. Elaine is deeply disgusted with her report. The CRU is suspected in the murder.

Constance is worried that Rob has been talking with the CRP, the political wing of the CRU. He probably was not involved in the assassination, but may have known of the planning. Harris ordered Palmer-Levy to check for his involvement.

Honor is taking medical leave to cure the wounds and to get acclimated to her new eye. This is the third eye she has tried. It is a marvel of biotechnology and her father tells her that it will provide most of the functions of her lost eye. It just takes practice to get used to it.

She is comes in from hang-gliding to discover that Mac has been trying to contact her, but she has intentionally left her com at home. She has a letter from the Navy. Honor opens the letter to find that BuMed has been cleared her for active duty. She tells Mac to open a bottle of her father's scotch.

Honor is assigned to the battlecruiser HMS Nike. She is worried about commanding the new ship. She, Nimitz and Mac report to the ship nearing completion on HMSS Hephaestus. Honor is pleased to see Mike already onboard.

Montova is among Honor's officers. Mike introduces Honor to Ravicz, Chandler, Monet, Odelli, Jasper, and Klein as she comes aboard. These are Honor's staff. She invites them to dine with her that evening.

Webster is meeting Hamish for his recommendations on replacements among the station commanders. Given the situation with the Peeps, Webster wants the best commander at each station. They concentrate on the the command of Hancock Station and decide on Parks.

After deciding who will command Hancock station, Hamish brings up Honor. She has a problem with the psychs. They are afraid that she has survivor guilt. But the space lords are throwing her back into action.

Honor has some problems. Pavel is out to get her. And the House of Lords are against her.

This tale has Rob assassinating Harris. Everybody else thinks the PR Navy did it. Rob easily slides into rule of the People's Republic. He immediately purges the Navy of the worst -- and best -- admirals and starts preparing for war.

Honor is already prepare for war. The next installment in this sequence is Flag in Exile.

Highly recommended for Weber fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of naval combat, political intrigue, and incompetent officers. Read and enjoy!

-Arthur W. Jordin

Having now read the first five books in the Honor Harrington sequence, I can say that The Short Victorious War is my favorite. While I definitely enjoyed the intense ship to ship combat of Honor of the Queen, the conflict of that book was still on a small scale not unlike Basilisk Station. In book three, we get a look at the wider universe (or Honorverse) and an in depth look at Manticore’s mortal enemies, The People’s Republic of Haven. The weird part: this book isn’t even really about Honor. I mean, she’s in it of course, but the subject of this book really is Haven and they steal the show here.

The book begins with a Havenite meeting of the highest government surrounding the topic of the unruly mob of proles that the broken system of Haven’s government has spawned. Haven spends too much money on military and so its people are starving and rebellious. What better to distract them than shiny battleships and explosions all over the news feeds? And so, Haven decides a short victorious war is what it needs to satisfy the legions. The likely target? Manticore of course. No more sneaking about or planning single system takeovers. This time, the gloves are off. Yet even as Haven brings the war to Manticore, there is trouble brewing deep within its own government as some would wish to bring about a revolution.

While the Manticorans are honorable and noble like nobody’s business, the characters of the Republic are flawed and ambitious. Manticore is already nearly perfect so characters from that star nation have nothing to fix but the aggressors seeking to crush them from without. The Havenites however are fighting from a broken star nation, their people conflicted and questioning their own actions. To me, this makes them to be much more interesting to read about. It’s almost a shame that more of these books aren’t written from their perspective (keeping in mind that I haven’t yet read past book five).

Honor is a fun character, but let’s face it, she’s unrealistic to a fault. I know she’ll never die. I know she’ll always do what’s right. I know she has no vices (she doesn’t even drink coffee for f***’s sake!) She’s good at everything. She can fly anything from hang gliders to pinnaces to super dreadnoughts. She’s great at hand to hand combat, sword fighting and highly proficient with pistols. She’s perfect in nearly every way. The only thing “wrong” with her is that she’s too tall and used to be ugly as a kid. Hell, even her greatest enemies respect and fear her. Since she has no internal conflicts to resolve, much like Manticore itself, all of her conflicts will come from external sources. Sure it’s fun to see her resolve them, just like it’s fun to see Captain America beat the hell out of bad guys. But like Cap, she’s essentially a super hero and for that reason I’ll never really relate to her character or sympathize with her plights. Now, a book series from the point of view of a Havenite revolutionary... that would be something. But alas, Honor is what we have and her endless supremacy will always keep these from being five star books for me.

Characters aside, this book does what the series does best and that’s space action. Really, that’s why we read these, right? We want things to go boom in space. The percentage of actual ship combat in these books is pretty small, when they do come about, the result is always brutal and entertaining. Here we get it on a grand scale as Haven attacks multiple systems in complicated attack patterns and the Manticorans are left struggling to pick up the pieces and guess at their plans of attack with Honor in the thick of it.

After reading book three, I realized that the problems I have with the series are not going to get “fixed.” This is the way the series is and if I want to keep reading and actually enjoy them, I need to look past the ridiculous characters and campy dialogue. The fact that I have been able to look past this and continue to devour these books tells how much I enjoy the rest of it. Short Victorious War has a little bit of everything as far as the Honorverse goes: romance, politics, revolution, and war on a grand scale. I liked book two well enough but it was after book three that I truly became hooked on the Honorverse and will continue getting sucked down the rabbit hole.

The Short Victorious War (#3 Honor Harrington) by David Weber

While I do love my kindle and I sometimes seem to read much more smoothly with it, when it's a book I already have on my shelf its difficult to justify paying more for the kindle version than I did for the paperback on my shelf. And who can deny the thrill of coming away from the book with ink smudge thumbs.

Back around 98 I bought these four at once and I'm no longer certain if I ever read these in the correct order the first time because the Flag in Exile is missing from the receipts.

A Short Victorious War
Field of Dishonor
Honor Among Enemies
In Enemy Hands

In my effort to recapture the experience I'm trying to go through them in order.

I've also tried to pay attention to something purely out of the fact that I purchased these solely on the strength of the character herself-Honor Harrington. So just as an observation I found that out of 360 page there are roughly 180 pages that actually center upon the part of the story that I came into this for. That's pretty good because 180 pages is okay for a novel. So what's in the rest?

That's actually a good question because I've come to see Honor's novels as being multi-plot and multi-story novels. Of the first three I felt this was the most diverse in the number of plots or plot threads that were running through it. I'm not even certain if I could easily qualify what the main plot and story is. Instead I'll begin by highlighting the main part that was of interest to me.

One major Storyline and plot/theme that runs through these novels is the notion that Honor Harrington is constantly trying to prove herself. This is mostly her trying to prove herself to herself because as the reader progresses through the stories its easy to see there are three kinds of people around Honor. There are those who see her as already proven and those who have mostly preconceived or prejudicial views who have to be won over. And there are those who outright hate her and don't care that she has proven herself. In honesty there might be some shades in there but its mostly that. What's prevalent is that though she needs to prove herself to some she never goes out of the way to do so in fact sometimes she goes counter to that and it becomes more evident that she mostly needs to prove herself to herself. I'm not sure if she ever realizes this although people keep dropping hints.

Another plot/theme story is that there are a number of people who would like to see her fail and the plot involves how they move to help that along intentionally or accidentally. These range from severe hatred such as Paval Young to people working out of ignorance such as Admiral Park. And of course her enemies among the Havenites who just would rather win than lose to her.

In the previous two novels her brilliant decisions have made many friends and enemies alike and have helped her come through the battle nearly unscathed. But many around her have fallen and this novel does touch some on the impact that has upon her personally. When all is said and done Honor works like a well oiled machine despite all the odds that stack against her when it comes to her duty and command. In this particular novel she gets to see a bit of romance which was nice to see and it in no way interferes with the performance of her duties. So in a way this is the story of Honor's healing process both physically and emotionally with the plot that helps show how this occurs.

What David Weber does in these novels is keep a thread of plot about the various political and military factions of both sides of the conflict. In this particular novel it seemed that we got a large portion of this. I'm not sure how necessary they are to this story but they do seem to track toward being necessary to the series as a whole. There's a story about Hamish Alexander and those around him figure prominently within this story I'm not yet sure there is a plot to that story. This book contains two heavy stories about the Haven side. One is the attempt for a short victorious war hopes and the other is the shift in the political power brought on by coup. Those both seem well plotted.

So there are a handful of stories with just as many plots that all converge into one story, which perhaps could perhaps be the story of the horror's of war that inevitably culminates in the major loss of life and limb for honor and duty. It would be easier to say that this has one story with about six major plots, but it's hard in many cases to see those plots until you put all the books together so they become more like threads stories that are told through several other stories which are the novels.

Once again this is great SFF for those who don't mind some hand-waving and love to trace the internal logic of strategy and battle that are woven into the story. There's even a section in back for those who haven't gotten enough techno-speak from the internal parts of the story.

After reading this three times now I still rate it high for it's entertainment value although it still contains sections that almost beg to be scanned by some readers.(Including myself sometimes.)

J.L. Dobias

As an avid science fiction reader and writer, I like a strong female protagonist. Honor Harrington is seen by many people I spoke with as a male version of a Horatio Hornblower. And while that might be true, unlike Horatio, Honor Harrington lives in the future, where humanity's destiny lays among the stars. The Short Victorious War was the first book I read in the series and it got me hooked. Now I realize that I have to go back to the very beginning of Honor's incredible and illustrious career as an officer of the Star Kingdom of Manticore. I tell you honestly, I really enjoyed the book. David Weber is an amazing writer. He really makes the reader feel sympathy for the main protagonist and her amazing Sphinxian treecat named Nimitz, with whom Honor shares a special telepathic link. The story moves at smooth pace and is full of interesting twists and turns, as Honor Harrington tries to survive and prevail during the savage space conflict with the corrupt, greedy and militaristic People's Republic of Haven. Terrific action scenes, awesome space battles, love, tragedy and triumph, its all there for you to enjoy! :)

David Crane Author of Boomerang Will Not return, Die to Live Again and others.

Just finished the first three of the saga.

Pros: If you 're deep in space opera you gonna like it. The storytelling is smooth, the world building is ok, the main characters are evolving through the stories and the treecat is a great asset to the story. Alltogether a joy ride.

Cons: I use the Lost Fleet series are a rule of thumb when it comes to military space opera. Compared to it, the Honor series are much less spectacular and clear cut when it comes to space battles, the "enemy" is weaker and the diplomacy element is rather basic. So far.

Should you buy it? I 'd say first go for the free copy of "Basilisk", found in baenebooks.com and then decide.

"The Short Victorious War" is the third book in a wonderful space opera series set some three thousand years in the future and featuring David Weber's best fictional heroine, "Honor Harrington." The books are best read in sequence and I strongly recommend that you start with "On Basilisk Station" which is the first one.

The title is, of course, highly ironic. Weber explains at the start of the book that it comes from a comment from the Russian Minister of the Interior to their Minister of War in 1903, "What this country needs is a short victorious war to stem the tide of revolution."

So the Russians attacked Japan, got their backsides well and truly kicked by the Japanese Navy, and set off the 1905 Russian Revolution.

However, the main parallels in this book are not with the Russo-Japanese war, but with those of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. In particular, the Royal Manticoran Navy in which the heroine services is clearly based on the Royal Navy at the time of Nelson.

The technology of space travel and naval warfare in the Honor Harrington stories has been written so as to impose tactical and strategic constraints on space navy officers similar to those which the technology of fighting sail imposed on wet navy officers two hundred years ago. Similarly the galactic situation in the novels contains many similarities to the strategic and political situation in European history in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

This seems to be quite deliberate: many thinly veiled (and amusing) hints in the books indicate that they are to some extent a tribute to C.S. Forester, while the main heroine of the books, Honor Harrington, appears to owe more than just her initials to C.S. Forester's character "Horatio Hornblower."

During the first two books in the series it was made clear that Honor Harrington and most of the other sympathetic characters in Manticore expect within their lifetimes to have to fight a war against the People's Republic of Haven or "Peeps" - an agressive superpower which has been gradually conquering the small nations on it's borders in bitesize chunks. In the first chapter of this book, the Peep government decides it's time to launch that war.

Meanwhile Honor Harrington is given command of the Battlecruiser HMS Nike and made Flag Captain to an admiral who is second in command of the fleet at Hancock, one of the most important points in Manticore's defensive alliance. So when the war starts she is bound to be in the thick of the action. This is also one of the few books when she finds a little time for a romance.

A few more important characters are also introduced in this book. One of the early Havenite attacks is commanded by an Admiral Pierre, whose father, Rob S. Pierre is to be an important figure in future books. Another is directed against a convoy whose escort is commanded by Captain Helen Zilwicki. Her husband Anton and four year old daughter, also called Helen, are on board one of the ships of the convoy and also play important roles in future Honorverse books.

Another great story with strong and believable characters, brilliantly described space battles, and good explanations of how the tactical situations in which the characters find themselves relate both to the technology their ships use and the political dynamics which set up the conflicts between them.

Many people read Weber for the space battles, and most of the battles in "The short victorious war" are excellent. Dave Weber sometimes writes a bit too much like the wargame designer he once was, and this book starts to demonstrate that problem, but in general the battles are grippingly described and plausible.

One other feature in this book is a 16 page annex at the end with a lot of technical detail about how the assumed space travel and technology works in the series, with such details as how big a battlecruiser as opposed to a superdreadnaught is. Space warfare anoraks, or anyone interested in understanding how, for example, a single dreadnaught wipes out four battlecruisers in a quarter of a second during the course of the book, can read it: those who are not particularly interested in that sort of detail can give it a miss.

At the time of writing there are thirteen full length novels and four short story collections in the "Honorverse" as the fictional galaxy in which these stories are set is sometimes known. The main series which tells the story of Honor Harrington herself currently runs to eleven novels; in order these are

On Basilisk Station
The Honor of the Queen
The Short Victorious War
Field of Dishonour
Flag in Exile
Honor among Enemies
In Enemy Hands
Echoes of Honor
Ashes of Victory
War of Honor
At All Costs

The four collections of short stories set in the same universe, not all of which feature Honor Harrington herself, are

More Than Honor
Worlds of Honor
Worlds of Honor III: Changer of Worlds
Worlds of Honor IV: The Service of the Sword

The two spin-off novels are "Crown of Slaves" (with Eric Flint) which is a story of espionage and intrigue featuring a number of characters, including Anton and Helen Zilwicki, first introduced in earlier Honor Harrington books such as this one, and "The Shadow of Saganami" which is a kind of "next generation" novel featuring a number of younger officers in the navies of Manticore and her ally Grayson.

For amusement, if you want to try to look for the parallels to nations and individuals from the French revolutionary period and the Hornblower books, one possible translation would be:

People's Republic of Haven = France
Star Kingdom of Manticore = Great Britain
Gryphon = Scotland
Grayson = Portugal

Prime Minister Alan Summervale = Pitt the Younger
Hamish Alexander, later Earl White Haven = Admiral Edward Pellew
Honor Harrington = Horatio Hornblower
Alistair McKeon = William Bush

Crown loyalists and Centrists = Tory supporters of Pitt
Conservative Association = isolationist/hardline High Tories
New Kiev Liberals = Whig Oligarchists
Progressives and traditional liberals = Whig radicals

Legislaturist rulers of Haven = Bourbon monarchy and nobles in France
Rob S. Pierre = Robespierre
Committee of Public Safety = Committee of Public Safety

Anderman Empire = Kingdom of Prussia
Silesia = Poland
Solarian republic = United States of America

Wall of Battle = Line of Battle
Ship of the Wall = Ship of the Line
Battleship = "4th rate" sailing warship (in each case too small to form part of the main force in a fleet action, but powerful enough to defeat anything else.)
Battlecruiser = frigate (5th rate)
Cruisers and destroyers = 6th rate and smaller warships.

The third book in the series, this book keeps up the tradition set by the first two. Although it does have some points where it drops off, it is an all around good read.

Honor continues to be one of the strongest and most interesting female characters I have read in a long time. With the addition of a love interest (from a rather unexpected location), they have fleshed her out from more then just a futuristic warrior into something more human. Most of the characters who have been kept are equally as interesting to read about.

One of the problems this series has is the incompetent ally/enemy. There are times when characters like, like Young and several others, make un-believable actions. It is hard to believe that these people would be this foolish and petty. Not that I am being naive, I do know how petty people can be, but these people make near fatal and equally obvious mistakes. Weber has a problem making his black hats a bit to blatantly evil, and way to dumb.

It was nice to see the Haven political intrigue. A marvelous updating of "the tennis court" plot, Weber continues to use interesting pieces of our history to punch up his story. I still think this is one of the strengths of this series.

The two major Weber problems both creep into this book as well. Characters spend long periods of time explaining things to each other, and there is a tremendous amount of background, digressions, and explanations in technical areas of combat that are better skimmed then read.

All that being said, this is an excellent book and both it and the series are well worth the read.

The war between the 'peeps' and the 'manties' is the main focus of this novel. The People's Republic of Haven has finally decided to attack Honor Harrington's Kingdom of Manticore in order to stimulate their economy. The reader is subjected to strategy sessions led by admirals, spies, and political leaders on both sides, and comparatively little of Honor Harrington is shown. Honor is assigned to the new Reliant-class ship Nike (a name with lots of history, which Weber proceeds to *tell* us about), and she does feature in one of the war's engagements.

Overall this book was more of an political history than an action novel. It lacked focus. The battle actions are good, but even with them carrying the book, 'The Short Victorious War' falls on the pedantic side. (Includes a couple chapters against/about Dolists, Weber's version of welfare.) If you like military history or alternate history you may like it more than me. Two and half stars rounded up to three.

This is the third book in the Honor Harrington series by David Weber. It's a concious pastiche of the old Horatio Hornblower stories by C.S. Forester, right up to the initials of the main characters being the same. Honor is a captain the the Royal Manticore Navy, constantly competing with the decrepit but large and aggressive People's Republic of Haven.
In the first two installments of the series, the Havenites tried limited offensives to win planets from the area between the two space nations, but in this book they decide to try for the throat, more or less. The resulting confrontation, with Honor right in the middle, is very suspenseful and interesting. There are characters from previous books, and the plot is fun.
If there's a problem with the book, it's that because this story involves fleet actions, Honor's role in the story is somewhat more limited. It is interesting, however, and the characters are fun too. The author has clearly put a good deal of time into devising the space combat tactics of the age, and thinking things over. I would recommend this book.

"What this country needs is a short victorious war to stem the tide of revolution" and "The belief in a short decisive war
is the most dangerous of all human illusions." These two
quotes are on the quote page of the third book in the Honor
Harrington series, The Short Victorious War. The first was
said by the Russian Minister of War to the Russian Interior
Minister and the second is by Robert Lynd. So you know where this is headed. Right? Right! Honor Harrington, on medical leave since the events of The Honor of the Queen,
in which she'd foiled the attempt on the life of Protector Benjamin Mayhew, the leader of Grayson. When we first see
her, she's on a mountaintop overlooking the Tannerman Ocean on her homeworld of Sphinx. One of three planets in the binary Manticore System. She and her treecat, Nimitz,
are about to go hang gliding. She's getting bored with her life on Sphinx and wants to return to space. She finally gets her chance. She's given command of a battlecruiser with a
name that has a lot of history behind it. HMS NIKE. She's the
flag captain of Admiral Mark Sarnow. The Peeps have begun
their war against Manticore. Will Manticore and her allies win? That's for me to know and you to find out.

To begin with, the Honor Harrington series (of which this is book 3) is a good read all the way through. Even when it's not at its best, it's still very good.
That said, this isn't the best of the bunch. Its strong points are Weber's character development (he can introduce a new character and in a few pages you have the 'feel' of him or her), the depth it adds to Honor herself in terms of romantic relationships, and our first real look at the inner workings of the main enemy's government. There are some really great moments. However, by and large, the middle of the book is taken up with somewhat mundane activities. Mundane, that is, by the standards of the series; normally, I have trouble putting them down once I pick them up. Everyone kind of seems to spend a lot of time in the middle waiting for The Big Event, which doesn't really quite come in this book. At the end it leaves you hanging, with war and revolution frozen in motion--very much a teaser for the next book. One nice point is the appendix at the end about 'Honor Harrington's Navy', which gives some 'technical' details.
Not a good first read in the series; start with _On Basilisk Station_ would be my advice. If you're reading the series, and already hooked, it'll be worth reading for you and will lead to more exciting things. Despite weak points, it's still great SF reading.

This is the third installment of David Weber's Honor Harrington series. That being established, The Short Victorious War is not the best book in the series. Much like a hammock, it holds up well at both ends and sags in the middle. Spoilers follow.

The overall premise of the book (summed up nicely by the summary on the back of the book) is interesting, if not a bit predictable. The People's Republic of Haven, facing a possible revolution by the disgruntled masses, has decided to unite its people under a victorious war. Unfortunately, they choose the Star Kingdom of Manticore as their opponents...not a particularly wise idea on their part since Manticore is superior to them in many ways. The war that is started is hardly victorious and most likely won't be short.

The beginning of the book is fantastic. We get to see how everything is being set up and planned for from both sides of this war. We also get to visit some of our favourite characters and see what they're up to. Honor is in command of the HMS Nike, one of the best ships in the Royal Manticoran Navy, and ends up becoming the Flag Captain for Admiral Sarnow. Some intriguing new characters are introduced as well, such as Michelle "Mike" Henke and Paul Tankersley. The end of the novel is also a pleasure to read with action packed space battles and a back-and-forth style of writing that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat throughout these battles.

The middle of the book, however, lagged a great deal. Most of it is taken up with the characters anticipating the big event (the offensive strike the "Peeps" are predicted to deliver) and the political goings-on of the Republic of Haven. While these things are important, they don't make for exciting reading. In fact, it was rather difficult to get through at times. However, the struggle ended up being worth it.

The Short Victorious War seems different from the previous two books of the series. This might be because, unlike the first two books, Honor isn't the focus of the novel. Yes, she probably receives more "screen-time" and character development than any other character, but the main focus of the book is the political inner workings of Haven and Manticore and the brutal war that is on the horizon.

Character development wise, we get to see Honor Harrington evolve into a real, able to relate to character. She gains a love interest in the form of Paul Tankersley and is forced to face old memories with the return of Lord Pavel Young (who, despite his dishonourable actions on Basilisk Station, doesn't seem to be too interested in advancing his career). As in previous books, Nimitz and his relationship with Honor added a certain "fun" dimension to the parts of the story that concerned Honor. Like in the previous books, Honor manages to defy the odds and gain another victory for Manticore, which will most likely aid her in climbing the naval career ladder.

I have a few complaints regarding the book. The first is that there are far too many characters to remember. I was constantly having to flip back to see what this character had done previously or what that character had to do with anything. A character list with names and a brief description either at the end or beginning of the book would be really helpful, as trying to remember all of the characters can be both confusing and distracting. On that same line of thought is the constant use of acronyms. Like with the characters, it's almost impossible to remember what all of the acronyms stand for...a list of those included somewhere would also be helpful. On another, slightly less important note, the actual romance between Honor and Tankersley reminded me of the kind found in a young adult novel. Romance definitely isn't Weber's strong point, as the whole thing was just a little too convenient. However, since this isn't a romance based book, I suppose it really isn't that important.

Overall, I would recommend that fans of David Weber and/or of the Honor Harrington series read this book, as it contains information and events that I'm sure will play and important role in future books. But, if you're new to the Honorverse, I'd suggest starting with On Basilisk Station.

The war between the 'peeps' and the 'manties' is the main focus of this novel. The People's Republic of Haven has finally decided to attack Honor Harrington's Kingdom of Manticore in order to stimulate their economy. The reader is subjected to strategy sessions led by admirals, spies, and political leaders on both sides, and comparatively little of Honor Harrington is shown. Honor is assigned to the new Reliant-class ship Nike (a name with lots of history, which Weber proceeds to *tell* us about), and she does feature in one of the war's engagements.

Overall this book was more of an political history than an action novel. It lacked focus. The battle actions are good, but even with them carrying the book, 'The Short Victorious War' falls on the pedantic side. (Includes a couple chapters against/about Dolists, Weber's version of welfare.) If you like military history or alternate history you may like it more than me. Two and half stars rounded up to three.

This is the third book in the Honor Harrington series by David Weber. It's a concious pastiche of the old Horatio Hornblower stories by C.S. Forester, right up to the initials of the main characters being the same. Honor is a captain the the Royal Manticore Navy, constantly competing with the decrepit but large and aggressive People's Republic of Haven.
In the first two installments of the series, the Havenites tried limited offensives to win planets from the area between the two space nations, but in this book they decide to try for the throat, more or less. The resulting confrontation, with Honor right in the middle, is very suspenseful and interesting. There are characters from previous books, and the plot is fun.
If there's a problem with the book, it's that because this story involves fleet actions, Honor's role in the story is somewhat more limited. It is interesting, however, and the characters are fun too. The author has clearly put a good deal of time into devising the space combat tactics of the age, and thinking things over. I would recommend this book.

"What this country needs is a short victorious war to stem the tide of revolution" and "The belief in a short decisive war
is the most dangerous of all human illusions." These two
quotes are on the quote page of the third book in the Honor
Harrington series, The Short Victorious War. The first was
said by the Russian Minister of War to the Russian Interior
Minister and the second is by Robert Lynd. So you know where this is headed. Right? Right! Honor Harrington, on medical leave since the events of The Honor of the Queen,
in which she'd foiled the attempt on the life of Protector Benjamin Mayhew, the leader of Grayson. When we first see
her, she's on a mountaintop overlooking the Tannerman Ocean on her homeworld of Sphinx. One of three planets in the binary Manticore System. She and her treecat, Nimitz,
are about to go hang gliding. She's getting bored with her life on Sphinx and wants to return to space. She finally gets her chance. She's given command of a battlecruiser with a
name that has a lot of history behind it. HMS NIKE. She's the
flag captain of Admiral Mark Sarnow. The Peeps have begun
their war against Manticore. Will Manticore and her allies win? That's for me to know and you to find out.

To begin with, the Honor Harrington series (of which this is book 3) is a good read all the way through. Even when it's not at its best, it's still very good.
That said, this isn't the best of the bunch. Its strong points are Weber's character development (he can introduce a new character and in a few pages you have the 'feel' of him or her), the depth it adds to Honor herself in terms of romantic relationships, and our first real look at the inner workings of the main enemy's government. There are some really great moments. However, by and large, the middle of the book is taken up with somewhat mundane activities. Mundane, that is, by the standards of the series; normally, I have trouble putting them down once I pick them up. Everyone kind of seems to spend a lot of time in the middle waiting for The Big Event, which doesn't really quite come in this book. At the end it leaves you hanging, with war and revolution frozen in motion--very much a teaser for the next book. One nice point is the appendix at the end about 'Honor Harrington's Navy', which gives some 'technical' details.
Not a good first read in the series; start with _On Basilisk Station_ would be my advice. If you're reading the series, and already hooked, it'll be worth reading for you and will lead to more exciting things. Despite weak points, it's still great SF reading.

This is the third installment of David Weber's Honor Harrington series. That being established, The Short Victorious War is not the best book in the series. Much like a hammock, it holds up well at both ends and sags in the middle. Spoilers follow.

The overall premise of the book (summed up nicely by the summary on the back of the book) is interesting, if not a bit predictable. The People's Republic of Haven, facing a possible revolution by the disgruntled masses, has decided to unite its people under a victorious war. Unfortunately, they choose the Star Kingdom of Manticore as their opponents...not a particularly wise idea on their part since Manticore is superior to them in many ways. The war that is started is hardly victorious and most likely won't be short.

The beginning of the book is fantastic. We get to see how everything is being set up and planned for from both sides of this war. We also get to visit some of our favourite characters and see what they're up to. Honor is in command of the HMS Nike, one of the best ships in the Royal Manticoran Navy, and ends up becoming the Flag Captain for Admiral Sarnow. Some intriguing new characters are introduced as well, such as Michelle "Mike" Henke and Paul Tankersley. The end of the novel is also a pleasure to read with action packed space battles and a back-and-forth style of writing that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat throughout these battles.

The middle of the book, however, lagged a great deal. Most of it is taken up with the characters anticipating the big event (the offensive strike the "Peeps" are predicted to deliver) and the political goings-on of the Republic of Haven. While these things are important, they don't make for exciting reading. In fact, it was rather difficult to get through at times. However, the struggle ended up being worth it.

The Short Victorious War seems different from the previous two books of the series. This might be because, unlike the first two books, Honor isn't the focus of the novel. Yes, she probably receives more "screen-time" and character development than any other character, but the main focus of the book is the political inner workings of Haven and Manticore and the brutal war that is on the horizon.

Character development wise, we get to see Honor Harrington evolve into a real, able to relate to character. She gains a love interest in the form of Paul Tankersley and is forced to face old memories with the return of Lord Pavel Young (who, despite his dishonourable actions on Basilisk Station, doesn't seem to be too interested in advancing his career). As in previous books, Nimitz and his relationship with Honor added a certain "fun" dimension to the parts of the story that concerned Honor. Like in the previous books, Honor manages to defy the odds and gain another victory for Manticore, which will most likely aid her in climbing the naval career ladder.

I have a few complaints regarding the book. The first is that there are far too many characters to remember. I was constantly having to flip back to see what this character had done previously or what that character had to do with anything. A character list with names and a brief description either at the end or beginning of the book would be really helpful, as trying to remember all of the characters can be both confusing and distracting. On that same line of thought is the constant use of acronyms. Like with the characters, it's almost impossible to remember what all of the acronyms stand for...a list of those included somewhere would also be helpful. On another, slightly less important note, the actual romance between Honor and Tankersley reminded me of the kind found in a young adult novel. Romance definitely isn't Weber's strong point, as the whole thing was just a little too convenient. However, since this isn't a romance based book, I suppose it really isn't that important.

Overall, I would recommend that fans of David Weber and/or of the Honor Harrington series read this book, as it contains information and events that I'm sure will play and important role in future books. But, if you're new to the Honorverse, I'd suggest starting with On Basilisk Station.

The third installment of the Honor Harrington series, although not as good as the first, is a marked improvement over the second. The gratuitous techno-babble that made The Honor of the Queen nearly unreadable was almost entirely absent from the narrative and confined to the appendices--just as it should be. There is also a well thought out and very engaging military drama going on. The book held my interest all the way through.

However, there is one glaring weakness, namely Honor Harrington. The depiction of the series title character failed in two important ways:

1) Honor Harrington was NOT the central character of this book. She appeared in very few scenes and had very little to do with the main action of the book. There were no central characters in this novel, it lacked an emotional focal point. If you don't find political intrigue or battle narratives interesting in and of themselves, you'd have absolutely no reason to care about anything happening in the story.

2) The scenes that did feature Harrington land somewhere between offensive and ridiculous. The vast majority of them deal with Harrington's self-esteem issues and ugly duckling complex. A male character of similar age and experience would NEVER be depicted angsting about how he's not pretty. Weber attributing this to a supposedly strong female character is at least wildly implausible and could be construed as insulting to women.

Basically, if you're looking for big space battles and some political wrangling, but not much in the way of character development, you might enjoy this one.

If you're looking for a character driven book or one with a strong female character--stay far, far away.

Slow read. Problem is most of the story is NOT about Honor, but background that frankly did NOT draw this reader. This background for the most part was NOT of importance. Some of the battles could have used expansion to make them more pertinent to the story, especially the last battle which is fobbed off with a couple lines at the end. If you care about Honor's sex life, this is your book, but for me that was again NOT necessary to the battle/command experiences of H. Thanks, Harry!

This is the 3rd Honor Harrington novel and the long-awaited war with the People's Republic of Haven has begun. Weber knows his history and drops a few clever references in this book.
The leader of the rebels on Haven is Rob S. Pierre who overthrows the hereditary ruler and forms the People's Quorum in the capital city of Nouveau Paris. Which sounds a bit like Robespierre who founded a similar entity during the French Revolution and instituted a similar reign of terror. The nature of the PRH is also very similar to other People's states which have tended to ride roughshod over the people, for their own good of course.
I agree with other reviews that this isn't the strongest entry in the series and so it's not a good place to start reading it. You could read them in order beginning with "On Basilisk Station" or begin with "Changer of Worlds" which has stories that precede that book.
The characters are as vivid as in the other books but there are so many I found it hard to keep track of who was who at times. It takes quite awhile for the action to start, but it's gripping when it finally does. We get a more direct look at Pavel Young's cowardice with consequences which are prominent in the next book in the series. It also spells the end of Honor's long celibacy, which managed to avoid the graphic detail seen in so many books today.
Still I would take even a much weaker entry as long as it continued the compelling Honor saga. Who knows if or when we'll see another book in this series.

Now that book two raised the gender issue and demonstrated her personal merit, this volume will survey the larger stage upon which she acts. Honor Harrington begins to drop names. Her ship, Nike, will sail for Hancock to serve as flagship for Rear Admiral Sarnow:
' "And I know at least one member of his staff quite well."
"Oh? Which one?"
"His communications officer was my com officer in Basilisk. Lieutenant Commander Webster."
"Webster," Henke repeated thoughtfully. "Would that be Sir James's cousin, or his grand-nephew?"
"Nephew. he's young, but he doesn't owe his rank to his relatives. I think you'll like him."
"If he does his job as well as his uncle, I probably will," Henke agreed, then smiled. "And speaking of relatives, I've got one serving in Hancock, too."
"Really?"
"Yes. My cousin- fourth cousin, really- is the repair base's exec." ' (p. 51-2)
Much like the old fighting ship Captains, she judges the young talent by the performance of family already in service. She, however, is unrelated to anyone. It forces her to outperform other officers.
I agree with other reviewers- we must all exercise patience and learn the politics of repair-stations, assignments of Manticoran officers, various star systems, and tactics of Havenite raiding parties. It prepares us for book four.

I just finished The Short Victorious War by David Weber and I'm starting to notice a pattern here:

1. Honor Harrington thrust into difficult situation complicated by politics.
2. Honor thwarts an invasion while overcoming said politics.
3. Profit.

Now, I understand these have to be somewhat formulaic, and this book was in fact, enjoyable, so I can't complain excessively here. The real weakness of this book is that it's so short, and Honor plays such a minimal part in the action. I'd almost even call this an "interim" novel.

It's almost as if Weber painted himself into a corner temporarily by making the first two books give Honor such notoriety and career advancement, he had to pull back before it seemed too contrived. The Short Victorious War does provide some insight into where Haven may be evolving with the political and social unrest, and has some excellent battle scenes and tactics. It's fairly clear at this point that, while the main assaults featured here are critical at this point in the war, it's really all about Haven's attempt to pull the trigger and not take the blame; Honor's involvement is, at best, tangential.

I've started Field of Dishonor, and it's evident Weber is going to concentrate on Politics for a while and attempt to make Honor's character more resonant and sympathetic to the reader. We'll see if he succeeds.

In the third of The Honor Harrington series. We get to see inside The People's Republic Of Haven(PRH). The PRH is having internal problems, so the goverment decides to remedy the problems by having a short victorious war(hence the title). pacing back and forth between PRH and Honor's people the Manticorians. The PRH use a Hit and run Srategy to gather info on the Manticores. and prepare for an all out strike. there's more to the story like a secret faction hoping to restore the PRH to former glory(with major consequences). and Honor's nemesis Pavel young makes an appearance(he gets his finally). and Honor gets yet another ship this time the NIKE. and something else special. (too reveal anymore would ruin it for you. The story moves a little faster this time and a bigger battle for the climax which is worth the wait. if you've gotten hooked like me than you'll love it.

This book has a predictable ending, but how the author gets there is what makes it worth the read. Is this series the best Science Fiction series I've ever read? No. It does however have enough "meat" on it's bones to keep me interested for at least a couple of more books, as I've come to like the lead character, who is slowly being developed over time. Still, like all "series" novels, at times the author seems to be repeating himself, while at other times he seems to throw out there that leaves the reader a little confused or simply bored to death by the unnecessary details about a subject or topic related to the story, but not really needed to advance it. Overall I consider this novel to be basically "average", and if I would to give it a letter grade I'd grade it either a B- or C+ depending on the mood I'm in at the time.

The vast majority of this novel is devoted to development. The characters on one side, the Havenites, are preparing a massed attack against the Republic of Manticore. Their hope is for a devastating strike that quickly forces the Republic to sue for peace. Complete with feints, spying, deception, strategies and counter-strategies, the plot becomes unwieldy.

Meanwhile Dame Honor has been promoted and given command of one of Manticore's newest ships. Unfortunately her ship is damaged during its first trial and requires several months worth of repairs. The months in dock allows her to pursue her first ever romantic relationship, which comes as a bit of an odd note for an attractive woman in her 40s.

The leadup to the action consumes too much of the novel. There are seemingly hundreds of minor characters who appear and disappear. Characters that haven't been encountered appear, participate in a brief space battle, and then disappear back into the fictional ether. The author attempts to describe the viewpoint of both sides' command structure in excruciating detail.

The actual climax of all this plotting and maneuvering is too short. The space battle which has been looming takes place within the span of a chapter or two. After the battle the Manticoran forces quickly repulse the Haven navy with hardly a description of any engagements.

The plot develops too slowly, there are too many minor characters with no purpose, the climax is too brief, and the romance which is supposed to humanize the main character is poorly described and unrealistic. This novel barely managed to hold my interest enough to complete. Also in what military does a commanding officer go everywhere on their vessel with a pet in tow? Two stars.

The third of the Honour Harrington series, and well worth the read. The only less-than-complimentary comment I can think of is that there is, for my taste, a little too much focus on the internal politics of the People's Republic of Haven. That said, however, I readily recognize that it is utterly necessary, not only to the plot of the story, but the on-going events that form the back story for the series.
Honor Harrington, having proved her worth at Basilisk Station (On Basilisk Station) and in Grayson (The Honor Of The Queen), receives recognition of that worth as the Admiralty appoints her to be the CO of a spanking-new battlecruiser, HMS Nike. By tradition in the RMN, command of the Nike is a plum assignment, and given only to officers who are head and shoulders above their fellow officers.
Honor is then paid the compliment of being appointed to be the flag captain for Admiral Sarnow, and being tasked to form part of the defensive forces at Hancock Station. The state of polite hostility between Manticore and the Peeps is heating up, and once again, Honor and her ship will be on the sharp end.
We are also re-introduced to Captain Lord Pavel Young, who seems not terribly interested in redeeming himself. In fact, his conduct during the climactic battle is anything but what one expects of an officer in command of a warship.
This is a tight, well-written story. Read it, and if you've not read the other Honor Harrington stories - run, do not walk, to your nearest bookstore and get them before someone else does.

The fierce enemies of Manticore, the people's Republic (Peeps), are concerned about the costs of war. A meeting between high government officials is arranged to discuss interstellar economic and strategic realities. The Ruling class of the People's Republic of Haven need to decide what strategy they can afford without starving and collapsing the economy to fund the war. In the upcoming battle against Peeps, Lady Captain Honor Harrington is left to make a gallant last stand against overwhelming odds while desperately awaiting reinforcements. In what will turn out to be a momentous event for everyone involved, Pavel Young -- Honor's fierce enemy -- finally reveals his personal cowardice as he breaks off from the formation in the middle of the fight and refuses to return despite direct orders to the contrary. This nearly causes the collapse of Honor's strategy. Will Honor survive the ambush?

The writer takes it slow, establishing the foundation of his narrative piece by piece. A romantic interlude is inserted in between and Honor falls in love for the first time in her life with Paul Tankersley. She finds womanhood in herself letting her hair grow, learning to put on make-up. For the battles, the details are exact, engagement distances calculated, and acceleration expressed in gravities or meters per second squared; these all give good a three-dimensional feeling.

Two (2) stars. Written in 1994, this is book 3 of Weber's Honorverse. Although there is a clear climax at the end of the book the path leading to is paved by dialogues that almost reach into a psychoanalytical session. The love affair of Dame Honor -- the leading figure of planet Grayson, a multi-billion millionaire -- is a bit abruptly introduced. Suddenly, in months, She is in love and head over heels on Paul. Having learned to know Harrington in previous books being a bit reserved and unexperienced on this field the 180 degree shift, like the romantic vacation on an island, is a bit creamy. In some ways all the naval officers and royal officials have a cookie-cutter quality without a context if book is read stand-alone. Having a glimpse on the political angle of Peeps is good but there is a little too much occasional frivolity in the book. Now new worlds are introduced in this book and the action mostly centers around the unremarkable Hancock Station leaving a clear footprint for the sequel Field of Dishonor.

Ah, the Honor Harrington Series. I picked up the first book in this series just because I was a big David Weber fan. Anyway, this book follows the same Harrington formulue. The book really starts off slow, so slow you often wonder if you'll ever finish it but around mid way things start to pick up and around the end of the book you have a hard time putting it down.
If I had to fault this book (and all the Harrington books for that matter) it would be in faulting Honor Harrington herself. I hate perfect characters. She can do everything, knows everything, nothing is past her own abilities. Drives me nuts.
I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. The book is full of interesting politicos but Honor Harringon's flawless nature really drives me nuts.

Perhaps a little too much unsubtle political commentary in this book.
One side of the conflict, Haven, needs to expand and take over planets
rich in resources to supply their population in a style to which they
have become accustomed. This is done by fighting cheap wars against
rich planets with inferior military forces.

The only rich planet left is Manticorne, and its equally absurd
royalist/militarist political structure. They, of course, are not an
easy target.

Cue explosions and HH shooting at stuff.

This, the 3rd book in the series, has Haven actually attacking Manticore, and begins the brutal and years long war between them and Manticore. Once again, Honor Harrington is in the middle of the action.

I borrowed this book from a friend. So this is the third Weber book I’ve read in the Honor Harrington series and I I was very disappointed. The plot sounded very exciting but the story was not very well written. Weber didn’t focus as much on CAPT Harrington as I would have hoped and the story took forever to develop. Additionally, There were so many character changes in between chapters that I had a hard time keeping up with who is who. The first book, On Basilisk Station, is by far the best one in the series thus far.

I just finished "A Short, Victorious War", the 3rd book in the series (the first two being "On Basilisk Station" and "Honor of the Queen"). All were excellent, and near the top of the line for a sci-fi series. By contrast, I might compare it to the "Star Trek" series as I would compare a filet mignon to a hamburger. Don't get me wrong; I enjoy Star Trek very much, but I feel that, if space travel to this degree was a reality, the Honor Harrington series does a much better job of reflecting that reality. That said, I have to suggest that a couple of additions to these books would enhance my enjoyment: A cast list of the major characters, with a few words about each, and a glossary of abbreviations/explanations (e.g. RMN-Royal Manticoran Navy). More than once, I found myself forgetting someone's earlier connection, and who can remember all the acronyms floating around in outer space? Nevertheless, I find myself anticipating the subsequent books in the series. I do recommend to anyone reading this: Do plan on reading these books in sequence, since there are so many recurring characters, and references to events in the earlier books abound.

Another exception book by David Weber in the Honor Harrington series. I love the female heroine, which is not common in the sci-fi genre of this type, and she is totally believable, totally relatable, and simply amazing! I have read each and every book of this series and except for one, I found them all to be equally compelling. Now, I want one of those cats! (read the book to find out what I mean!)

More politics, but a satisfying closing battle more than makes up for it.

This time Honor is outnumbered but not completely outclassed. No last ditch fight to the bitter end this time.

We finally get to see task force level engagements.

Honor has gotten a new ship, found a man she can trust and does all the things that only Honor can do.

Fighting against Haven's Navy, with a new Admiral and new ideas ate what keeps this story moving.

Read and enjoy.

You know, as an experienced SF/Fantasy reader, I could live with the overhelming techno and political bubble, but this particular book has some other faults as well. This plot has already been played through in the first two books, and, frankly, it is getting boring. The ultra-large cast of characters does not really add anything, except confusion. Take this one out of the library and save the six bucks.

Having proved herself in lesser positions, Honor is given command of the Manticorans' brand new battlecruiser and sent to the front line squadron of Lord Whitehaven where she is horrified to find an old adversary from the Acadamy. Meanwhile the Peeps are finding their economic methods are causing great disruptions. Their usual method of providing wealth for their unemployed masses is to take on a lesser power and strip it of it's wealth. But there are only weak agricultural powers left. Or the massively powerful Manticorans. Only a sneak attack will be able to work but Lord Whitehaven and his fleet stand in the Peeps way as the fighting goes hot.

Honor Harrington is sent to aide Manicore ally Grayson and finds herself in the middle of what comes down to a religious struggle. Harrington is also in a situation where she has to address cultural differences between Grayson and Manticore in order to fight the "Peeps" and win.

Weber did not disappoint with this addition to the Harrington saga. I found it a page-turner from beginning to end!

I like any Honor Harrington novel. This one is no exception. I think this series is one of the best scifi ones ever written. There is action, personal interactions, and some of her friends die from time to time.

The Honor HArrington saga is a great concept with great characters, but the novels are just too wordy. Whatever happened to the great SF editors of yesteryear, who would make authors prune their work? This, like just about every other work in this series, could get rid of 75 pages, and be mich better!

No other sci fi series has the skill to claim a real source of scientific background, nor the personality of it's characters to make such novels as compelling as the Honor Harrington series. If you love sci fi, and want character development, go to David Weber, and find battle sequences second to none. His Safehold series is also a great show of great story telling.

Well, the title of this novel is not quite as bad as the Holy Roman Empire (three lies in one). It is only two lies in one. This war is going to be neither short, nor victorious...at least for the People's Republic of Haven. But then, you just knew with Honor around fighting for the Royal Manticoran Navy, the Peeps just didn't really have a chance...
This novel is not quite as good as On Basilisk Station or Honor of the Queen, but it is good. And it is VERY necessary if you are going to follow the next novel, Field of Dishonor.

This is the last Honor Harrington book I'll read. The first 300 pages have NO STORY. Nothing happens until the last three chapters, and then it's predictable and uninteresting. This book was a complete waste of my time and money, except that it really did solve my insomnia a few times (and I'm serious--I fell asleep EVERY TIME I tried to read it).

Book One was good despite the long, ponderous history lessons and techno/military exposition. Honor and her fellow characters were interesting and the action was intense.

Book Two was amazing, a great read without the flaws of the first book. I was surprised to get so emotionally involved, and some of the climactic scenes are among the finest I've ever read in science fiction. From first page to last, it was an exciting, interesting, fun, emotional read, and well worth the money and time.

Then we get this drivel, the "Dull Ponderous War." I wish I could get my money back, but more importantly I wish I could get my time back.

This book ended my interest in Honor Harrington and in David Weber.