Worlds of Honor 6 (Honor Harrington- Anthologies)

The writing is, as always, excellent, but the story about Honor's parents... it seemed off, only because there was never a hint of anything like it in the main books. Otherwise, a nice little collection.

These stories really answered some of the major questions about the start of a bunch of the back stories. How did Honor's parents meet. How did she get her tree cat, and when. Really enjoyed this one

Great book love the series, I do have an issue I wish with this book and others I have bought from the store, A lot of the time the vendor's place their sticker's in inconvenient area's making it difficult to read what's under it oft time's the short synopsis describing the story, Also if and when I had to resell it the bookstore's penalized me for the sticker's or even refused to buy(sorry I know that complaint belongs elsewhere but my search for that option turned up empty maybe this will get result's)

I liked the David Weber pieces--they filled in some background on the characters that appear in the Honor Harrington books. The first of the short stories was beyond confusing, as the characters never tied in with the ongoing series.

Having created a "future history" (the Honorverse) and a loyal fan base David Weber is now taking advantage by turning out pot boilers (with a little help from his friends) to flesh out this history.

In "Beginnings" we get an account of early space travel and Earth politics (no connection with the 'verse that I could see), a nice story about the Manticore space navy in its early days (good space battle in this one), an account of how her Honorship's parents met, a description of how the lass herself found her treecat, and a glimpse into the sexist world of Grayson society.

Well written but light weight.

David Weber is my all-time favorite author; especially the Honor Harrington series. I do enjoy other genres though and thought Once a Duchess was especially good. I enjoyed the 2 follow-on books in that series as well. I think Dan Brown hit his peak with The DaVinci Code.

Beginnings (2013) is a SF anthology in the Honorverse series, following In Fire Forged. The initial volume in this sequence is More Than Honor. It contains five stories.

- "By the Book" by Charles E. Gannon is about an unusual Custom Patrol officer in a possible hostage situation. This tale occurs in 250 PD.

- "A Call to Arms" by Timothy Zahn recounts the role of a RMN junior officer during the Battle of Manticore. This story occurs in 1543 PD.

- "Beauty and the Beast" by David Weber brings RMN Lieutenant Alfred Harrington to Beowulf to attend medical school. This story occurs circa 1842 PD.

- "Best Laid Plans" by David Weber takes almost thirteen Honor out for a hike to Rock Aspen Creek, where she encounters treecats and Peak bears. This story occurs a few T-decades later than the previous tale.

- "Obligated Service" by Joelle Presby follows a Saganami graduate when she returns to Grayson. This story occurs circa 1921 PD.

These tales continue to provide backstory on the people within the Honorverse. It fills in the gaps from the first offworld colonies to the early years of Honor Harrington on Sphinx. It introduces new and less well known characters into the story.

Since there are a few millennia in that period and a solid base of readers, there will be other Honorverse anthologies. Meanwhile, the next Honorverse novel is Cauldron of Ghosts.

Highly recommended for Weber fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of space travel, future technology, and a bit of romance. Read and enjoy!

-Arthur W. Jordin

I have enjoyed the Honor Harrington series, but sometimes the "short stories" or collections based in that universe with different authors have been a disappointment. Not this one. All of the stories are keepers, and I'm glad this one was available on Kindle early!

I wanted to like this book; I looked forward to reading some of the history of Manticore, Haven, et al. The stories were very uneven. Even the stories by Zahn and Weber were not better than "C+/B-" grade.

The first story, By the Book, by Charles Gannon was difficult to read and had no visible connection to the universe of Honor Harrington. A lot of work for very little, if any, return.

A Call to Arms by Timothy Zahn was a much better story. An early RMN incident involving a mercenary invasion force and Axelrod. I generally enjoy Zahn's stories but this one just didn't seem to flow very well. It was as though he tried to copy Weber's style in describing battle sequences and not quite succeeding.

In Beauty and the Beast Weber tells the story of how Honor's parents met. He pays more attention to Alfred than to Allison and one gets a much better understanding of his character than that of her mother. This is the best story of the lot. However, Allison and Alfred seem to undergo an almost treecat like bonding and I don't remember any of this being alluded to in any of the other Honorverse stories. The idea just doesn't quite seem to fit.

I enjoyed Best Laid Plans. Weber tells the story of Honor/Dances on Clouds and Nimitz/Laughs Brightly. It's a quick and fun read, but . . . There is too much of Stephanie Harrington's character thrust into Honor and the story is missing too many pages. It is too quick, too pat and seems to have been edited to fill a limited space rather than tell the story properly.

Joelle Presby's Obligated Service tells the story of Grayson a Midshipwoman/Ensign from Burdette Steading. It just doesn't seem to gel. Too many people who had no idea about what was really going on and not a clue stick in sight.

If you haven't bought it yet and still want to read Beginnings, wait a few months and browse the used book stores. I read three other books while reading this one. (I gave it 2 of 5 stars on the Goodreads scale.)

The Author list was what first drew me to this Honorverse Anthology. We got David Weber and Timothy Zahn, 2 members of Science Fiction Royalty, that are as amazing and prolific as any 2 authors in Science Fiction. Charles Gannon has worked with a relative who's who of SFF: Eric Flint, Larry Niven, and a host of others in numerous sci-fi anthologies, and that's not even counting his own impressive Fire with Fire series. Joelle Presby is the newcomer of the bunch, but she is slated to take over working with Weber on his Multiverse Storyline, with the 3rd book in that series, The Road to Hell, coming out March 1, 2016. If you haven't been introduced to her yet, take note now, and watch for her name to spread throughout the SFF genre in the coming months. So, now that I got my fanboy out the way, onto this novel.

There are 5 stories total in the Worlds of Honor #6.

There are 2 stories by Weber himself, One shining light on how Honor met her beloved treecat, Nimitz, and another about the first meeting of her parents. Both were amazing and answered questions about the history that I have had since I first started reading in the Honorverse. I am not much of a romance lover, but the treecat has quickly became a fantasy animal that I would love to run into one day.

Timothy Zahn's, A Call to Arms, filled in some of the RMN history dating back to portions told in the book, House of Steel about the first expansions of the Navy.

Charles Gannon went even farther back to before man had left the Solar System, and an interesting who-dun-it mystery about attempted sabotage and political intrigue involving the first trips of the Outbounders beyond our home system.

Joelle Presby's, Obligated Service, was the first story I have read that was fully about the Grayson Space Navy, and their integration of women into it. I would love to see more stories like this from her, and hope that Weber and Baen can find a way to let her continue telling these stories. It was an amazing source of conflict when Honor herself started changing minds and views as the Hero of Grayson, and think that similar conflict and drama could be told in the stories of the women that are starting their careers in the opportunity that she created.

All in all, I love anthologies for quick read nature of them. You get introduced into multiple perspectives and author types, while staying inside the same universe that you have come to love and enjoy. 5 stars for the book, I would recommend it to anyone new or experienced in the Honorverse.

#6 in the "Worlds of Honor" anthology series, wherein Weber and others get to write stories in the Honor Harrington universe but not on any of the main storylines.

Charles E. Gannon's "By the Book" is a tale of the early days of space exploration, when people set out in STL generation or hibernation ships to colonize the stars. Our heroes are Customs Service personnel who are sent to investigate a cargo ship which has failed to respond to communications. They find that mutineers or hijackers have killed all the crew, taking no hostages. But their motives are obscure and their apparent destination strange, leading to the discovery of a plot against space travel itself.

Timothy Zahn's "A Call to Arms" tells the story of the first battle of Manticore, many years before the main Honor Harrington timescope.

David Weber's "Beauty and the Beast" tells how Honor Harrington's parents met (brutal kidnapping is involved); and his "Best Laid Plans" tells how Honor herself, at the age of thirteen, met and bonded with Laughs Brightly, whom she would come to know as Nimitz.

Joelle Presby's "Obligated Service" tells of the trials a young woman experiences in the Grayson Navy. Grayson is socially somewhat ... backwards ... in its attitudes towards women, and, though the influence of Honor Harrington has begun to change that, a woman in uniform still has some Attitudes to deal with.

If you like the Honor Harrington universe (I do), you'll probably like these stories. If not, it ain't a good place to start.

This is the sixth collection of short stories and novellas set in David Weber's "Honorverse" Universe. It contains five novellas.

Most of the comments in this review apply equally to the Kindle and paper editions of the anthology, but the star rating is specific to the Kindle edition. An irritating flaw in the presentation took my view of the book below the threshold between five and four stars - I would probably have given a hardcopy edition of the book a five star rating.

As the title implies, all the stories in this volume represent the start of something important to the world of Admiral Honor Harrington some 2,000 years in the future.

1) "By the Book" by Charles Gannon is a space detective story set only 338 years in the future, in the early stages of the "Diaspora" of humans from Earth, and the most readily identifiable common element between Honor's universe and this story is the dating system. However, it is also a story about how the emigration of humans to many other planets became possible.

2) "A Call to Arms" by Timothy Zahn introduces the character of Travis Long, who in this novella is a lieutenant. Travis is about to get his own series, currently slated to be a trilogy: he is the central character in the "Manticore Ascendant" series in which the first book, "A Call to Duty (Manticore Ascendant)" by David Weber and Timothy Zahn is due for publication on 7th October 2014.

In this case the beginning is that of the military tradition of the Royal Manticoran Navy: "A Call to Arms" tells of Travis Long's part in the RMN's first major battle, defending against a force of mercenaries hired by the Axelrod corporation in 1543 PD (e.g 3646 AD).

3) "Beauty and the Beast" by David Weber tells the story of how Honor Harrington's parents met at medical school on Beowulf. It also introduces Honor's Uncle Jacques as a young man, and a certain brilliant student obstetrician who in future years will be head of the best natal clinic in the Manticore system, explaining why he will be a bit sensitive about anything relating to Honor Harrington's family.

As the cover illustration for the book suggests, this is not a typical "boy meets girl" romance and it's just as well for the "good guy" protagonists that Honor's dad was not always a harmless doctor.

The man and woman in the centre of the cover illustration are Honor's future father and mother. It might be a spoiler to list which aspects of the picture accurately reflect a scene from "Beauty and the Beast" and which are artistic licence, but it's hardly a spoiler, and certainly won't be a surprise to anyone who has read any of the other "Honorverse" anthologies, to say that this is an action story.

4) "The Best Laid Plans" by David Weber tells of the beginning of the relationship between the 13-year-old Honor Harrington and the treecat "Laughs Brightly" who she calls Nimitz and how a lot of best laid plans were disturbed when they met.

5) "Obligated Service" by Joelle Presby tells the story of the begining of the naval career of Claire Lecriox, one of the first Grayson women to serve as an officer in her planet's navy.

A rather irritating flaw in the way the kindle version of this book was constructed is that it does not have a table of contents with the links which would have enabled the reader to jump straight to a particular story. I did an awful lot of scrolling back and forward using the buttons on the side of the kindle when reading this. That was the main reason I did not give this kindle product five stars.

One or two of the stories in this book require some fairly large-scale suspension of disbelief, particlarly on the power of a psychic link between two of the characters. And to fully appreciate certain ironies and implications of some the stories you have to have read and retained in your memory some of the other books in the Honorverse. For example, in one of the stories in this book, a character gives a well argued assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the Mesan bad guys in the story, which appears totally reasonable based on the information he has, but is actually completely off-beam.

This provided the explanation for a remark in a conversation important enough to be repeated in two books set several decades later, when the truth about Mesa finally starts to come out: one of the crumbs of confort with which the head of the Mesan Alignment consoles himself about the security breach is how much he would have liked to see the expression on that character's face when he learned the truth.

Overall I enjoyed reading these stories greatly and can recommend them.

Light reading, light entertainment, about an hour to an hour and a half's reading per story.
It all begins with a couple of atypical tales from the early days, first of Terra & the STL colony ship days, then the early days of the RMN. Follow with a couple of Weber entries about the modern Harrington family & end on a high note that left my heart singing! Joelle Presby's 'Obligated Service' introduces characters & a ship I reeallly hope we'll see again, & in longer stories.
If you're already a fan of the series expect some enrichment of the history but nothing new. If you are new to the series this is a really good place to start. "A call to arms" and "obligated service" will give you a good piece of the general tone of the series. "Beauty and the beast" and "the best laid plans", Weber's entries" will introduce you to some background, backstory and history. The only oddity is "by the book", but it is by no means the odd man out or ugly duckling.

Timothy Zahn, as usual, wrote a great story, “A Call to Arms” with an extended naval engagement in the Manticore system fought by the newly formed RMS. David Weber wrote “The Best Laid Plans” about teen age Honor Harrington unintentionally meeting two treecats. Weber also wrote “Beauty and the Beast”, a story about how Honor’s parents met, but it starts a little slow and seems implausible. “By the Book” seems poorly written and covers too much ground. And “Obligated Service” is a very complicated and uninteresting story about one of the first Grayson female midshipman and her family problems.

#6 in the "Worlds of Honor" anthology series, wherein Weber and others get to write stories in the Honor Harrington universe but not on any of the main storylines.

Charles E. Gannon's "By the Book" is a tale of the early days of space exploration, when people set out in STL generation or hibernation ships to colonize the stars. Our heroes are Customs Service personnel who are sent to investigate a cargo ship which has failed to respond to communications. They find that mutineers or hijackers have killed all the crew, taking no hostages. But their motives are obscure and their apparent destination strange, leading to the discovery of a plot against space travel itself.

Timothy Zahn's "A Call to Arms" tells the story of the first battle of Manticore, many years before the main Honor Harrington timescope.

David Weber's "Beauty and the Beast" tells how Honor Harrington's parents met (brutal kidnapping is involved); and his "Best Laid Plans" tells how Honor herself, at the age of thirteen, met and bonded with Laughs Brightly, whom she would come to know as Nimitz.

Joelle Presby's "Obligated Service" tells of the trials a young woman experiences in the Grayson Navy. Grayson is socially somewhat ... backwards ... in its attitudes towards women, and, though the influence of Honor Harrington has begun to change that, a woman in uniform still has some Attitudes to deal with.

If you like the Honor Harrington universe (I do), you'll probably like these stories. If not, it ain't a good place to start.

This is the sixth collection of short stories and novellas set in David Weber's "Honorverse" Universe. It contains five novellas.

Most of the comments in this review apply equally to the Kindle and paper editions of the anthology, but the star rating is specific to the Kindle edition. An irritating flaw in the presentation took my view of the book below the threshold between five and four stars - I would probably have given a hardcopy edition of the book a five star rating.

As the title implies, all the stories in this volume represent the start of something important to the world of Admiral Honor Harrington some 2,000 years in the future.

1) "By the Book" by Charles Gannon is a space detective story set only 338 years in the future, in the early stages of the "Diaspora" of humans from Earth, and the most readily identifiable common element between Honor's universe and this story is the dating system. However, it is also a story about how the emigration of humans to many other planets became possible.

2) "A Call to Arms" by Timothy Zahn introduces the character of Travis Long, who in this novella is a lieutenant. Travis is about to get his own series, currently slated to be a trilogy: he is the central character in the "Manticore Ascendant" series in which the first book, "A Call to Duty (Manticore Ascendant)" by David Weber and Timothy Zahn is due for publication on 7th October 2014.

In this case the beginning is that of the military tradition of the Royal Manticoran Navy: "A Call to Arms" tells of Travis Long's part in the RMN's first major battle, defending against a force of mercenaries hired by the Axelrod corporation in 1543 PD (e.g 3646 AD).

3) "Beauty and the Beast" by David Weber tells the story of how Honor Harrington's parents met at medical school on Beowulf. It also introduces Honor's Uncle Jacques as a young man, and a certain brilliant student obstetrician who in future years will be head of the best natal clinic in the Manticore system, explaining why he will be a bit sensitive about anything relating to Honor Harrington's family.

As the cover illustration for the book suggests, this is not a typical "boy meets girl" romance and it's just as well for the "good guy" protagonists that Honor's dad was not always a harmless doctor.

The man and woman in the centre of the cover illustration are Honor's future father and mother. It might be a spoiler to list which aspects of the picture accurately reflect a scene from "Beauty and the Beast" and which are artistic licence, but it's hardly a spoiler, and certainly won't be a surprise to anyone who has read any of the other "Honorverse" anthologies, to say that this is an action story.

4) "The Best Laid Plans" by David Weber tells of the beginning of the relationship between the 13-year-old Honor Harrington and the treecat "Laughs Brightly" who she calls Nimitz and how a lot of best laid plans were disturbed when they met.

5) "Obligated Service" by Joelle Presby tells the story of the begining of the naval career of Claire Lecriox, one of the first Grayson women to serve as an officer in her planet's navy.

A rather irritating flaw in the way the kindle version of this book was constructed is that it does not have a table of contents with the links which would have enabled the reader to jump straight to a particular story. I did an awful lot of scrolling back and forward using the buttons on the side of the kindle when reading this. That was the main reason I did not give this kindle product five stars.

One or two of the stories in this book require some fairly large-scale suspension of disbelief, particlarly on the power of a psychic link between two of the characters. And to fully appreciate certain ironies and implications of some the stories you have to have read and retained in your memory some of the other books in the Honorverse. For example, in one of the stories in this book, a character gives a well argued assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the Mesan bad guys in the story, which appears totally reasonable based on the information he has, but is actually completely off-beam.

This provided the explanation for a remark in a conversation important enough to be repeated in two books set several decades later, when the truth about Mesa finally starts to come out: one of the crumbs of confort with which the head of the Mesan Alignment consoles himself about the security breach is how much he would have liked to see the expression on that character's face when he learned the truth.

Overall I enjoyed reading these stories greatly and can recommend them.

Light reading, light entertainment, about an hour to an hour and a half's reading per story.
It all begins with a couple of atypical tales from the early days, first of Terra & the STL colony ship days, then the early days of the RMN. Follow with a couple of Weber entries about the modern Harrington family & end on a high note that left my heart singing! Joelle Presby's 'Obligated Service' introduces characters & a ship I reeallly hope we'll see again, & in longer stories.
If you're already a fan of the series expect some enrichment of the history but nothing new. If you are new to the series this is a really good place to start. "A call to arms" and "obligated service" will give you a good piece of the general tone of the series. "Beauty and the beast" and "the best laid plans", Weber's entries" will introduce you to some background, backstory and history. The only oddity is "by the book", but it is by no means the odd man out or ugly duckling.

Timothy Zahn, as usual, wrote a great story, “A Call to Arms” with an extended naval engagement in the Manticore system fought by the newly formed RMS. David Weber wrote “The Best Laid Plans” about teen age Honor Harrington unintentionally meeting two treecats. Weber also wrote “Beauty and the Beast”, a story about how Honor’s parents met, but it starts a little slow and seems implausible. “By the Book” seems poorly written and covers too much ground. And “Obligated Service” is a very complicated and uninteresting story about one of the first Grayson female midshipman and her family problems.

For the most part the anthology stories have been good, a few clunkers, but worth the read.

This set though, the only one worth the read is the one where Honor is adopted by Nimitz and it's only good for the background info.

By the Book reads as if it were written for the Traveller Game universe with all of its outdated material.

A Call to Arms fits in the Honorverse sort of, but is just the Trope of the genius officer on an underarmed ship saving the day. Without all the stuff that made On Basilisk Station good.

****SPOILER****
Beauty and the Beast is written in such a way, that were it a movie script Arnold Schwarzenegger would have turned it down as unbelievable. That is not including the previously unmentioned treecat-like psychic link that Honor's parents have.

Best Laid Plans tells the meeting of Honor and Nimitz. Nothing super shocking or really surprising.

Obligated Service had the potential to be a very good story. BUT, either the main character is too stupid to have passed the Academy or the Academy is so ineptly run to have missed that the main character learned nothing while attending and let her graduate any way. If she had gone to a Sillesian Academy or one in East Bum$%&* her actions and education might have made sense, but she went to what is supposed to be one of the top Naval Academy's in the Universe. Yet she made it through without learning any of her rights or responsibilities as a Naval Officer.

Save your time and money and pass on this stinker of an anthology.

Five short stories in the sixth in the Worlds of Honor military science fiction anthology series which is a part of the Honorverse.

My rating on this would have been a "5", except that Presby's story brought it down a point.

The Stories
Charles E. Gannon's "By the Book" is a clever story of betrayals, sabotage, and terrorism as sidelined members of a universe-wide government struggle to achieve their own respect and battle the arrogance and callous indifference of those in power.

And man, the powers-that-be must be really bad as there are so many dissidents including their own leaders as well as the downtrodden. An interesting possibility of what could occur if terrified Greenies should rise to power, and much too 1984 and Brave New World for me to want to live there: revising history, destroying books, a terrifying use of propaganda, and the manipulation of the system to punish (or destroy) the unwanted. And, LOL, the manipulation of the system by the "rebels" to achieve their own ends is priceless. It's incredible how very much information and world building Gannon manages to pack into a mere 94 pages! I gotta find out if this is part of a series, 'cause I wanna read more.

Timothy Zahn's "A Call to Arms" is part of the Honorverse and provides a window on some of the earlier issues the navy experienced. It's sad that most of the navy is more concerned with weaseling their way up the promotion ladder than in being prepared, although I suppose that's reasonable since said navy hasn't experienced a battle of any sort in over 100 years. Still there's no reason to treat Long as the captain did, jerk. Reading this had my heart in my mouth! The battle tactics, the suicide thrust...! Egads... Weber or Zahn might want to change that first Epilogue to a Prologue, though. It was irritating that Zahn left me hanging about the fate of the Phoenix! I liked Brad.

"A Call to Arms' Story
Lyn is hiring a mercenary group to destroy the minor and unprepared Royal Manticoran Navy, and luckily, Lieutenant Long has just been transferred to the Casey.

The Characters
Yeah, I know, I don't normally track the characters of short stories, but I want the information for myself since this plays directly into the Honorverse with the Royal Manticoran Navy, and I didn't see much point in holding it back from y'all.

The Royal Manticoran Navy
Lieutenant Travis U. Long, a.k.a., Travesty, is gung-ho on military and maintenance procedures. A fact that is not welcomed by those over and under him on HMS Phoenix which is commanded by that jerk, Captain Castillo. I mean, no one has threatened their navy in, well, a century. Ensign Locatelli is onboard through nepotism---his uncle is Admiral Carlton Locatelli, and he expects this to grease his way upward. Lieutenant Commander Bajek is the ship's weapon's officer. Senior Chief Fire Control Tech Lorelei Osterman is sympathetic but realistic. Brad Fornier is one of the capable ones and also sympathetic. Commander Vance Sladek is the Phoenix's executive officer.

The HMS Casey is captained by Commander Rudolph Heissman with Commander Celia Belokas as his exec. Lieutenant Commander Alfred Woodburn is the ship's tactical officer. Lieutenant Rusk. Captain Shapira is part of Heissman's task force.

King Edward is the current ruler of Manticore.

Jeremiah Lyn is short and unassuming in appearance and works for the Axelrod Corporation; he's hiring the Volsung Mercenaries for his employer's ambitions. Self-styled Admiral Cutler Gensonne leads a mercenary band, the Volsung Mercenaries. Captain Sweeney Imbar is the commander of the Odin. Captain Blakeley is a scrappy if snarky fighter. McConnovitch is a data scavenger. Captain Olver's ship, the Naglfar, is playing the dying "swan".

David Weber's "Beauty and the Beast" is a look at how Alfred Harrington met and fell in love with Allison Chu. Which of course, I loved. I do adore getting the backstory on characters I love. And Weber provides both humor and dramatic tension in this.

The Characters
Lieutenant Karl Alfred Harrington has just been promoted from sergeant and received the Osterman Cross for his very hush-hush action on Clematis. Upon accepting his promotion, Harrington requested a transfer into the Navy and to attend the Ignaz Semmelweis University of Beowulf in Grendel, the most prestigious medical school in the galaxy.

Allison Carmena Elena Inéz Regina Benton-Ramirez y Chou has been passing at the university. She wants to carve her own way, on her own merits and is studying gene therapy and surgery.

Jacques Benton-Ramirez y Chou is both Allison's twin and older brother---and the Benton-Ramirez y Chou family is Beowulf, almost royalty. He portrays a dilettante but is actually in an undercover role with the Biological Survey Corps (BSC), which is actually more of a black ops military unit that coordinates frequently with the Audubon Ballroom. Sojourner X is a genetically modified slave who escaped; he's now a professor at the university, an informer with Jacques, and a member of the Ballroom. Colonel Sean Hamilton-Mitsotakis is Jacques' superior.

Captain Howard Young is related to the North Hollows; in this story, he's the Manticoran military attaché on Grendel. Franz Iliescu is a jerk of a Manticoran with a huge chip on his shoulder studying at the university and very annoyed with Harrington's presence. Dr. Penelope Mwo-chi is probably the most highly qualified neurosurgeon in the galaxy and the reason why Harrington wants to attend this school.

Giuseppe Ardmore and Tobin Manischewitz are Manpower agents on Beowulf; their cover is as employees of Black Mountain Security. Manpower is an extremely wealthy private corporation which manufactures genetically modified slaves and is located on Mesa.

The Solarian League is Earth.

David Weber's "The Best Laid Plans" is the tale of how Honor bonded with Laughs Brightly. And it all begins with an illicit field trip into dangerous territory for a bouquet of her mother's favorite tulips. Lucky for Honor, that Laughs Brightly and Sharp Nose are there inspecting the promise, or lack thereof, of the pods that are important as part of the treecats' winter diet.

The Characters
Honor Harrington (the treecats call her Dances on Clouds) is thirteen years old and quite adventurous---very like her ancestress, Stephanie Harrington. Laughs Brightly, descended from Climbs Quickly, is a mischievous scout with the Bright Water Clan of treecats, and he has no intention of bonding with a human. Sharp Nose is his younger brother; Songstress is the clan's newest memory singer and the daughter of their mother's sister. Death Fang's Bane Clan is how the treecats refer to Stephanie's descendants.

Commander Alfred Harrington is her dad (Deep Roots), and he's currently stationed on Hephaestus; Dr. Allison Harrington is her mother.

Ranger McIntyre is the Sphinx Forestry Service ranger Honor contacts for help.

Joelle Presby's "Obligated Service" was terrible. Oh, it was, um, emotional enough, but Presby didn't keep it together enough for me to understand the subplots going on. It took forever before I figured out that the Grayson Navy officers were trying to scare off the Grayson women. I still don't understand what Claire's underlying reason was for staying in the navy. Oh, it was easy enough at the very end, thank god, but I struggled throughout the story. It read more like Presby had ideas that she dropped in place but forgot to connect and smooth out. It was just too disconnected for me.

It takes place in the early days of the Grayson Navy's cooperation with Manticore.

The Cover
The cover is Baen-proud with brilliant colors and dramatic action as a fleet of spaceships hover over an armor-clad man racing through flames with an unconscious woman over his shoulders as the bad guys are firing at him.

The title reflects the time period in which the short stories are set; they are Beginnings and take us back in time.

The stories in the book in general are about the founding of the Star Kingdom of Manticore. The stories are are;
By The Book
A Call to Arms
Beauty and the Beast
Best Laid Plans
Obligated Service

By the Book is a story from Sol at or near the beginning of the Disapora from earth to systems. A Call To Arms is about the an attempt to control the Junction after some else decided they are important. Beauty And The Beast is about Honor Harrington's Parents. Best Laid Plans is about Honor's meeting with Nimitz, or if you prefer Dances on Clouds and Laughs Brightly. Obligated Service is about a young Grayson female officer's service at the time to the attack on Blackbird Base's shipyards and support equipment and staff.

I enjoyed the stories, and it gives a little more background on how things 'got to the point' of open war between the Star Kingdom and the SLN.

The sixth book in this loose series of novellas in the Honorverse. There are five novellas, two by Weber, and the others by Charles E. Gannon, Timothy Zahn, and Joelle Presby. Very well done for fans of the Honorverse.

The number of books set in the Honorverse is over twenty now with no end in sight.

OK, I'm a dyed in the wool Honor Harrington fan. Probably one of the best character creations in David Weber's career. I personally own every single Honor Harrington novel; every single "Honorverse" novel and every single "Worlds of Honor" novel ever written. David, please keep them coming!

As with the others in the Worlds of Honor series, a nice mix of filling the gaps and adding texture to the Honorverse. I am always struck by the variation different authors can create around the same themes: Mesa playing hardball, Honor and the 'cats against authority, women prospering in a "man's world"...

Solid group of stories. The various characters and times in the Honorverse was good to flow through. The stories fleshed out some details in the world but for the most part don't need to be a huge fan to appreciate the offerings.

Beginnings
Charles E. Gannon, Timothy Zahn, David Weber and Joelle Presby
Baen, Jul 2 2013, $25.00
ISBN: 9781451639032

"By the Book" by Charles E. Gannon. Near Hygeia, Custom Patrol Lieutenant Lee Strong leads a rescue of prisoners held by space pirates. However, upon escorting the rescued to a space station, Lee feels something's not right so he investigates.

"A Call to Arms" by Timothy Zahn. Axelrod Corporation official Jeremiah Llyn hires Admiral (self-anointed) Cutler Gensonne and his Volsung Mercenaries to fight a key battle. At the same time Lieutenant (Senior Grade) Travis Long in the HMS Phoenix is taking part in simulated space battles that turns hot.

"Beauty and the Beast" by David Weber. Royal Manticoran Navy Lieutenant Alfred Harrington matriculates at a medical school on Beowulf. He and another medical student Allison Chou are attracted to one another when all hell breaks loose.

"Best Laid Plans" by David Weber. Twelve year old Honor Harrington hikes to Rock Aspen Creek where she meets treecats and Peak bears.

"Obligated Service" by Joelle Presby. Grayson Midshipwoman Claire Lecroix enjoys her time especially swimming in clean water training on the Saganami Island. However, like her Aunt Jezzy warned her returning to the reality of Grayson and its toxic oceans proves difficult.

The sixth Worlds of Honor science fiction anthology (see In Fire Forged and The Server And The Sword) is a strong collection. Especially interesting is Beauty and the Beast as fans read about the first time Honor's future parents meet.

Harriet Klausner