House of Steel (Honor Harrington Universe Book 1)

The first half of the book was excellent and answers questions left unanswered from previous books. The later half of the book was essentially describing characters in all of the books along with space ships, weapons, and politicalentities, etc. While very good for those readers that are deeply involved with the series I found it tedious to read and boring.

The title story is a merger of several previous Honorverse novels, filling in gaps, by viewing events from a different perspective. Having read almost all of the Honorverse novels, the story line was predictable. For someone just being introduced to the series, this would have "some twists".

The rest of the paperback is 'technical' aspects of the Star Kingdom and its vessels, based upon the early years. Updates to weaponry, etc., are not to be found, staying true to the time line.

The resource material is very useful. The short story was interesting, but then kind of devolved into a (future) history lesson with an abrupt ending. It read more like a magazine article. David has done better.

This really is a companion book of backround detail (military organization, ship detail etc.) Interesting to a small subset of fans of this series, but for most probably a reminder of history class and date memorization. Buy and read with the above caveat.

A short novel + an encyclopedia.

For the novel, 3 stars. Giving us more of the back story of the ruling House of Winton was a great idea, it just goes too fast and skips too much.

For the encyclopedia (okay, officially they are appendices) 2.5 stars. Too much trivia on uniforms and the like. The short history of the Protectorship is the best part of this section.

The novella about king Roger was the good part of the book, the history section of Grayson was also interesting, Manticore not so.

I know that the infodump on both navies (Grayson and Manticore) was expected, but when I got it found it a little repetitive. The ship classes details was not compelling. Since they form large chunk of the book they made me skip it.

Was expecting interstellar maps, got none.

I imagine that Haven, Solarian League and Mesa will be part of another companion (or not)

I like the pictures of the ships and uniforms. The other pictures didn't appeal to me. If this is your type of book fine. Ordered to see if I would enjoy it. Not really, won't purchase any more companion books. The short story or novelette is interesting but not entertaining.

The Honorverse has a lot going on in it, like any universe. If the military aspects of the ships, etc., interests you most, you will probably like this. I was disappointed that this "companion" wasn't as well rounded as the universe itself.

Beware that this is not so much a collection of short stories about the Honorverse world so much as a repackaging of the storyboard background with a couple of throw-in shorts.

I have enjoyed the Harrington series, and will continue to do so, but the value for the price for this publication is one I would have passed on had I known. The fact that both shorts are thoroughly formulaic and expositions of well known Harrington events did not help either: the life and times of King Roger, for example. Certainly valuable from a fanfic point of view, but simply not on par with the quality of the main series.

The Honorverse has a lot going on in it, like any universe. If the military aspects of the ships, etc., interests you most, you will probably like this. I was disappointed that this "companion" wasn't as well rounded as the universe itself.

Beware that this is not so much a collection of short stories about the Honorverse world so much as a repackaging of the storyboard background with a couple of throw-in shorts.

I have enjoyed the Harrington series, and will continue to do so, but the value for the price for this publication is one I would have passed on had I known. The fact that both shorts are thoroughly formulaic and expositions of well known Harrington events did not help either: the life and times of King Roger, for example. Certainly valuable from a fanfic point of view, but simply not on par with the quality of the main series.

David Weber when he is on, is hands down one of the best authors in science fiction. I don't know if he needs to take a break to recharge his batteries or what. He writes a very good short story here but I did not mean to buy a short story. Two thirds of this book is as noted by others a tech manual written by other people. I feel ripped off is what I feel. Should you buy this be aware it is "not" a full length book written by David Weber.

More information than I really needed. Ship specifications, uniform specs., characters are things found the " HonorVerse" novels...perhaps not some of the specifics, but enough. One should read "House of Steel" for the history of Roger III, but the rest ...

This is the first Honorverse book that has disappointed me. The Kindle version has 9114 bytes, the story ends at 3334. The rest is demographics, space craft specs and that sort of thing. If you are looking for a good long read this is not it. The story is well done but I was expecting about 6000 more bytes of it.

Once again a novella is padded with manticore history 101 to make it appear you are buying an epic, sprawling novel when you are getting a minor set of related short stories followed by three times as much crap verbiage and images. Well this is the last time Weber gets to pull this bait and switch on me. No more purchases of anything with his name on it.

Let's start with I love just about everything David Weber has written. All the Harrington books are on my re-read list (and very few books make that list). That said this is a very specialized book and probably the drawings and diagrams are best viewed on something larger than a Kindle Paperwhite.

Be warned! This is NOT the first book in the Honorverse that should be read! It's got a lot of background that only really makes sense if you are already familiar with Honor Harrington and what's happened to Manticore since it's founding! And I love the article "Jayne's Intelligence Review." For those who aren't familiar with Jayne's it's the bible of fighting ships published every year since 1898 (and other things military). And this quote from a future Jayne's is... delicious!

This book needs a larger color format because it has many, many illustrations and technical drawings. On my Paperwhite they leave a bit to be desired but they're viewable. Like all Baen books this one is not restricted in any way and the color illustrations are glorious using the Kindle reader on my Mac... well worth browsing through!!!

The short novel is, like most Honorverse writings, very, very interesting and fills in a lot of background! But, be warned, Honor herself doesn't appear, this is mostly about King Roger, Queen Elizabeth's father, his death and how Elizabeth came to hate the Peeps so very, very much! There's a LOT of background about weapons, tactics and other technical stuff in the first 36% of this book.

But the rest of it is a feast of background and facts about The Star Empire of Manticore and The Protectorate of Grayson. Everything from how the systems were discovered and settled to their astrography and how their militaries are set up right down to the uniforms and rank insignia in all their branches. Ever wondered what a skin suit looks like??? Again, I'd recommend that if you're reading this on electronic media that the novel and all the technical data is great on a Paperwhite (although for some reason I couldn't change the font from a sans serif to a serif one -- which I find much easier to read) but the drawings, rank insignia, uniforms, etc. are much better on a larger COLOR screen! As is the cover!

All in all I found the short novel not the most engaging of Weber's writings but fascinating -- and it answered some questions.

If you've read all the Honorverse books I think you'll find this one very interesting... and the title, The Honorverse COMPANION very true!!!

Badly written story accompanies a bunch of Honorverse uniforms and insignia and starship designs and whatnot. All very mechanical and not interesting to me at all. But because I love about one-third of the Honor Harrington novels, I buy the entire series for context. Okay for that purpose if you know that's what you're getting.

House of Steel (2013) is a SF collection in the Honorverse series. It contains a new novella, facts about the universe of Honor Harrington, and color illustrations of flags, ribbons, and uniforms.

"I Will Build My House of Steel" by David Weber relates the life and influence of King Roger III of Manticore from 1844 PD to 1914 PD. It starts with a letter on the need to build ships of the wall and ends with the initial defeat of the People's Republic of Haven at Trevor's Star. It spans a period from Roger's service as Executive Officer on the HMS Wolverine to twenty-one years after his death.

Roger was the driving force behind the buildup of the Royal Manticoran Navy. Without him, Haven would have defeated Manticore. This story tells how he made the RMN more powerful than the Solar League Navy. Naturally, he didn't do it without help.

The Honorverse Companion covers the history of Manticore from the launching of the first STL vessel toward the star system in 775 PD to the aftermath of the retaking of Trevor's Star in 1921 PD. It also includes similar information about Grayson.

Is this the last Honorverse work? No, for the Mesan Alignment is still active. The next installment in this sequence -- Beginnings -- is due soon. Also, a young adult novel about Stephanie and Climbs Quickly -- Treecat Wars -- is also coming shortly thereafter.

Highly recommended for Weber fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of star empires, RMN technical data, and a bit of romance. Read and enjoy!

-Arthur W. Jordin

Complicated and wandering. Way too many characters, and why were they included? No action. Honor was not here and only barely mentioned. This book had nothing that makes the series so good. Don't waste your time.

"House of Steel" is part of the "Honorverse" naval science fiction series created by David Weber and set about 2000 years in the future.

"House of Steel" has two components: the first 183 pages of the book comprise the novella "I will build my house of steel" by David Weber himself. This is mostly set during the 56 years preceding the events of the first book of the series and explains the backstory to that novel and to the war between two spacefaring nations, Manticore and Haven, which dominates the first eleven books of the "Honorverse" series.

The second component of this book, "The Honorverse Companion," written largely by a group of science fiction fans who call themseles "BuNine," is a reference guide to the worlds, people and navies of the "good guys" in the story, Manticore and Grayson. It covers the period of the first dozen or so novels, up to the middle of "At All Costs."

The Honorverse Companion includes pictures, descriptions, and technical data of many of the ship classes in the novels along with historical, biographical, political, and geographical notes about these planets and the sector of space in which the story is set, written like a reference book along the lines of "Jane's Fighting Ships 2013/2014" of the kind which might exist if these events were real. (Indeed, although somewhere along the intervening two millenia the letter "y" has been added to the name, the publisher of the reference book, "Jayne's information group" appears meant to be the descendant of the company which publishes "Jane's fighting ships" etc). There is also some more supporting material by David Weber himself such as a Q&A on the Honorverse.

As the Honor Harrington stories work best when read in sequence, I would usually advise potential readers new to the series to start with the first novel published, which is "On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington)." However, "House of Steel" would also be a possible starting point, given the way the novella brilliantly explains the background to the situation Honor faces at the start of the series. Shortly after the beginning of the eponymous novel Honor finds herself acting station commander "on Basilisk station," and charged to carry out duties which would have been taxing for a battlecruiser squadron when all she has is one elderly light cruiser with totally usuitable armament.

However, if you do read this book first, or before you have read most of the others, be aware that the "political history" data and the "Who's who" potted biographies in the Honorverse companion contain some potential "spoilers." The reference works appear to have been "published" in April 1921 Post Diaspora (which I believe correspondes to April 4024 Anno Domini.) They seem to be up to date as of shortly after the Battle of Monica (which happens in February of that year) and shortly before the Battle of Manticore. Consequently some of the information in the "History" chapters and in the biographical notes give away the results of certain battles, and tell you whether many of the key characters survived them, up to about two-thirds of the way through the book "At All Costs." Equally, some of the information is not up to date if you are reading books set later than "At All Costs" such as "A Rising Thunder."

The novella "I will build my house of steel" is mostly about King Roger III of Manticore, the father of Queen Elizabeth III who occupies the throne of Manticore during most of the Honorverse novels. The title is taken from a conversation at the start of the novel when he mentions the story of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf to another character, and adds that if he'd been the third little pig he'd have preferred an even stronger material than brick: "I think steel would do very nicely." The line is used again on the last page of the novella and I'm not going to spoil it by explaining how.

As hinted above, the first eleven "Honor Harrington" books, despite the futuristic setting, exhibit strong parallels with Nelson's navy. Assumed technology in the stories to this point imposed 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 up to the eleventh book. "At All Costs" had marked similarities to the strategic and political situation in Europe at the time of the French revolutionary wars. However, particularly after the gigantic battle at the end of that book which roughly corresponds to Trafalgar, the story has started to go in a wholly different direction.

This divergence applies to both the political diplomatic storyline and to naval technology. For the first few books there were close parallels for the characters, nations and ship classes with those in C.S. Forester's "Hornblower" series or the real history of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. E.g. Manticore was Britain, Haven was France, Honor Harrington was a mix of Horatio Nelson and Horatio Hornblower, Rob S. Pierre was Robespierre, the Committee of Public Safety was the Committee of Public Safety, "ships of the wall" were ships of the line with superdreadnaughts as first rates, etc, etc. One book, Echoes of Honour (Honorverse) was even an almost exact parallel to the Hornblower book Flying Colours.

However, as the story diverges from that of the Napoleonic wars, so the parallels with 20th century naval warfare or with space battle games like "Starfire" (of which Weber was one of the creators) have become stronger than those with the age of fighting sail. First he brought in Q-Ships, then spaceships which correspond to aircraft and carriers, and a Mesan ship type introduced in "Mission of Honor" could be seen as equivalent to submarines.

Before the tensions between Manticore and the Solarian Republic led to actual hostilities, those tensions could be seen as equivalent within Nelson-era parallels as imposing similar strategic considerations on the Manticoran navy to those which the threat of war with the USA (which, of course, eventually happened as the war of 1812) had on the British Royal Navy prior to 1812. But the Solarian Republic in this story is so much more relatively huge, populous and wealthy relative to Manticore than the infant United States was in 1812 relative to the British Empire, that the Nelson era parallels are no longer helpful.

Note that because "The Honorverse Companion" describes the situation in 1921 Post Diaspora (4024 AD), this shift from the "Nelson v Napoleon In Space" storyline to the "Mesan Alignment" storyline has not yet really happened at the point in Honorverse history which this reference material has reached. Hence this book does not cover the challenges and situations which arise in books subsequent to "At All Costs."

If you are trying to work out in what order to read the "Honorverse" books, here is a description of the sequence of the first 17 novels. The main sequence of thirteen novels to date follows the "big picture" and the career of Honor Harrington herself, and consists of

1) On Basilisk Station
2) The Honor of the Queen
3) The Short Victorious War
4) Field of Dishonour
5) Flag in Exile
6) Honor among Enemies
7) In Enemy Hands
8) Echoes of Honor
9) Ashes of Victory
10) War of Honor
11) At All Costs
12) Mission of Honour
13) A Rising Thunder

The author's website lists the first twelve novels above as the "Honor Harrington" books and then describes all subsequent novels in the same universe including "A Rising Thunder" as "Honorverse" books. I presume this is because, although she is still a major character, Honor herself does not dominate this book to the extent she does most of the first twelve listed above.

The "Torch" or anti-slavery sequence (with Eric Flint as co-author) focusses on the battle for freedom of people who have been held in slavery by "Manpower," which at first is seen as a huge and corrupt company corresponding to the slave trader interests in Britain and America some two hundred years ago. The books with this focus are

(i) Crown of Slaves (set at about the same time as "War of Honor"), and
(ii) Torch of Freedom (set at about the same time as "At All Costs").

The "Shadow" or Talbot Quadrant sequence consists of three books which focus on that area of the Galaxy, and particularly on the rapidly worsening crisis between Honor Harrington's home star nation of Manticore and the Solarian republic. The books to date in this sub-series are

(a) The Shadow of Saganami (overlaps the 1st half of "At All Costs"), and
(b) Storm from the Shadows (overlaps "At All Costs" but starts and finishes later.)
(c) Shadow of Freedom (set at about the same time as "A Rising Thunder")

According to David Weber's website, he is collaborating with Eric Flint to write another Honorverse book which will have a title influenced by Shakespeare's Macbeth: assuming this isn't an April Fool for next year this can now be pre-ordered from the store and will come out on 1st April 2014 under the title of "Cauldron of Ghosts." (His website suggested that this was the original planned title but that he had considered changing this to "Cauldron Boil, Cauldron Bubble" - presumably he decided not to.)

"Mission of Honor" pulled the threads together again, beginning shortly after the end of "Storm from the Shadows" and taking forward the characters and stories from that book, "At All Costs" and "Torch of Freedom." As explained above, "A Rising Thunder" then carries the story on after "Mission of Honor."

I ought for completeness to add that besides the volumes listed above there are several collections in the "Worlds of Honor" series of short stories by Weber and co-authors set in the same universe, and featuring a range of characters, some from the main series of books, others new.

One of these short stories was extended to form the first of a new Honorverse series for young adults, with the eponymous novel "A Beautiful Friendship" released in October 2011. It features Stephanie Harrington, a member of an earlier generation of Honor Harrington's family, who lived four hundred years before Honor and in 1518 PD (3621 AD) became the first human to be "adopted" by a "Treecat," a member of the planet Sphinx's native intelligent species. The Treecats are telepaths among themselves and can read human emotions, and some of them form a lifelong telepathic bond with humans: for example Honor Harrington has been adopted by a treecat called Nimitz.

At the time of writing this review the second book and third books in the prequel series has been published and are called "Fire Season (Star Kingdom)" and "Treecat wars."

Some of the information in this book is very relevant to the Stephanie Harrington series, such as a chapter on treecats. We also get one intriguing hint, which doesn't really count as a spoiler, about Stephanie's future - the chapter on treecats refers to her as DAME Stephanie Harrington so at some stage she is going to be knighted.

With regard to the "Mesan Alignment" story arc: this follows on from the point in Honorverse history to which "The Honorverse companion" takes you.

The best way I can think of to give a potentially interested reader a hint to help you decide whether you want to read about the Mesans, without spoiling the story, is to say that their leader Albrecht Detweiler is what you might get by combining

* Dr Soong from Star Trek Enterprise but without the scruples,

* the rulers of Lois McMaster Bujold's Cetaganda but without the humour, and

* the arch-villian from the James Bond stories, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, without the cat. Honor and some of her friends are the ones with cats - or rather treecats - in this series.

I can recommend this book. My biggest concern about David Weber is that he has so many projects on the go: he says on his own website that

"I have more stories I want to tell than I have time in which to tell them."

He quite rightly adds that this is a better problem than the reverse. At the moment he is working on or considering books in no fewer than eight different series. These are

1) the Honorverse (with sub-series set in various quadrants and different centuries),
2) the Multiverse series which begins with "Hell's Gate" although this one is stalled for the moment while he works on other things,
3) the Bahzell Bahnahkson/War God series in which book four "War Maid's choice" has just come out and there will be at least one more,
4) The Safehold/Nimue Alban series which begins with Off Armageddon Reef); the most recent in this series was "Midst Toil and Tribulation" and the next one will be "Like a mighty army" due February 2014.
5) The Prince Roger/Empire of Man series in which a prequel about the founding of the empire, "Empire of Man" is due for release in February 2014
6) The Dahak trilogy which he would like to expand to five books by adding a prequel to the currently first book "Mutineer's Moon" and a sequel to the third one, "Heirs of Empire."
7) Dave Weber would also like to write a couple of additional books in the "In Fury Born" universe, and
8) His editor has asked him to consider extending the book "Out of the Dark" to a series.

Wow! That should keep him busy for a few decades!

An Honorverse Companion revolving around the Honor Harrington military science fiction series.

My Take
It's gotta have a "5" if only for the amount of work the BuNine have put into this. House of Steel provides a tremendous amount of back history on how the People's Republic of Haven descended into the mess its in while the majority of the book is a history, a look at cultural development, wars, and an analysis of the different parts of space of Manticoran and Grayson governments (the Manticoran is in much more depth) and a detailed look at the evolution of the Manticoran Navy, Army, and Marines, and the ships with a less detailed look at the Grayson Navy's ship designs. There's a look at important people in the series---Manticoran and Grayson---and discusses the weapons. There are some briefer looks at other planetary systems and how they tie in with Manticore.

Weber provides a look at nonhuman sentient species including a terrific back history on the treecats from the earliest Manticoran discovery of them and their adoption of the Wintons through history including how they're treated, their protections, and their emigration.

He also provides a great deal more information about King Roger's grav-ski accident and the investigation's results. And I cried...

It's so frustrating to read of Roger's struggle to build up the Navy, especially when I know what's coming! And I'm just dying to re-read the series. It's been too long since I read the start of the series; I'm just gonna hafta pick up the prequel, Worlds of Weber: Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington , and start again.

Of course, I adored the story, although Roger's ending did make me cry and I did prefer the history and political bits---the huge chunk about the ships was tedious. I found myself wishing I had each book in the series by my side where I could try and pinpoint when each ship occurred in the stories and what actions they took part in, for a better sense of connection.

Between the short story and the histories and analyses is a section of color plates displaying flags, uniforms, military awards, insignia, crests, badges and pins, and starships.

Writers should consider reading the Afterword as it analyzes what went into building this world of navies and all the concerns which Weber had to take into account. The FAQs section is more of a tease; I do suggest reading About BuNine at the end where it introduces the people behind this creation of history and all. It's an interesting introduction and funny.

The Story
There is a short story at the start about the Royal Manticore Navy's build-up from Queen Samantha's encouragement of Crown Prince Roger, his courtship of Angelique and her brother's involvement in R&D, and his relationship with his children on through to his death.

There's a nice bit in here about Elizabeth's courtship with Justin Zyrr, a chem grad.

The Characters and Rest of the Story
We start in 1844 PD with Lieutenant Roger Winton; Monroe is his treecat. Sir Frederick Truman is First Space Lord and against the buildup of the Navy while Sir Abner Laidlaw, Baron of Castle Rock, is the First Lord of Admiralty and agrees with the Queen. Edward Janacek appears in this time as well, so we view his progress through the Navy and government. Sir William Spruance is Rear Admiral of the Green, Fifth Space Lord, and the head of the Bureau of Personnel. As the years go by, Murdoch Alexander, the twelfth Earl of White Haven, becomes First Space Lord---his son is Hamish Alexander, a Lieutenant Commander at this point, and we learn of his feud with Janacek (his anti-R&D stance comes up and I'm just dying to re-read his encounter with Honor about weapons improvement); Lieutenant Commander Sonja Hemphill comes onto the scene, and we learn of her, um, personality in the early days; and, Sir Thomas Caparelli.

Queen Samantha II is Roger's mother; Magnus is her treecat. Caitrin, Roger's sister, is twelve years younger than him; she marries Edward Henke, the Earl of Gold Peak. Naturally, Michelle Henke receives a mention.

Commander Jonas Adcock is in charge of Admiral Dame Carrie Lomax's secret R&D division at BuWeaps; his gift is in seeing connections and possibilities. It's impressive how accepting he is of how Roger has to treat him. It's also where the government plants Commander Winton when they can no longer tolerate his being aboard combat ships. Sebastian D'Orville is also in their R&D group. Angelique Adcock is Jonas' sister who bedazzles young Roger. She lives on Gryphon and works as a silviculturalist, a forestry expert.

Sir Casper O'Grady, the Earl of Mortenson, is the current Prime Minister, anxious for Roger to leave the Navy. Godfrey Bannister is the senior social columnist for the Landing Times who saddles Angelique with the title that becomes a barrier to Angelique saying yes.

When Roger ascends the throne, Allen Summervale, Duke of Cromarty, is the new Prime Minister. Elizabeth (Ariel, her treecat, adopts her when Elizabeth is 15) and Michael are born.

Lady Emily Alexander's accident is mentioned. Padraic Dover is a major in Palace Security. We also learn of others who are involved in Roger's assassination.

Peeps mentioned include:
Citizen Commissioner Sandra Connors shows up at DuQuesne Base with Citizen Admiral Alec Dimitri when White Haven takes it out. Thomas Theisman and Denis LePic are mentioned.

The Cover
The cover is a collage of bits and pieces from House of Steel with a proud King Roger and his treecat, Monroe; Honor Harrington in beret; skinsuited men with a treecat; and, a variety of ships.

The title is the House of Winton---it is indeed a House of Steel.

Readers rejoice, Weber now has a place to post his infodumps!

All joking aside though this is what the Honorverse books sincerely needs. A companion piece where one can sort through the vast amounts of information laid out in this series and find it all put down in one little piece. Everything you ever wanted to know about Manticore and Grayson is right here! From politics to religion we have all the details in this neat little book.

What I liked was the detailed description of each nations history, it gave us background into the nations we have come to know, and it gives us a good look at what the background details of the Honorverse are like. It serves the dual purpose of answering questions the readers might have and hopefully saving later novels from infodumps on these very subjects!

The list of ship classes, their duties, and specifications was wonderful. Though not a naval historian myself the ships of the Honorverse are so varied and wonderfully detailed they are a beauty to read about. Having in my hands a list of specs and capabilities is great for when I'm reading through the books and I want a quick glance at the ship in questions specifications.

The filler material for the Manitcoran Marines and Army was great as these other branches tend to be side notes beside the mighty starships so I was very glad to see it as well.

All in all its everything an Honorverse fan could want, I loved it and others will to. I look forward to the other companion books with great reassurance for their success.

Oh, and the short story is good too! A Weber staple and fun for a ride in the Star Kingdom's past.

Only about a third of this book is short stories. The rest is a history of the Honor Harrington universe and technical data on ships, weapons. Along with background on characters and planets. Not what I expected.

I'm a huge fan of the Honor Harrington series -- I've been reading sci fi for a LONG time, and I think it's one of the greatest future sagas ever written. But as the story has progressed, I've noticed a tendency on the part of Weber (and his publisher) to get somewhat self-indulgent -- side-stories and details that offer color but don't really advance or have bearing on the story have proliferated. I really don't mind, as the side-stories and details are always interesting, but this book seems to me to be pure self-indulgence -- two-thirds of it is straight technical details that only the most ardent fans will enjoy, and the novella isn't really a coherent story as much as a series of historical vignettes. So as I read the novella and glanced through the other material, I wanted to ask Weber why he was spending (to my mind, wasting) his time on this book when he could've been writing another novel in the Harrington series, or in one of his other great series (the Multiverse, for example).

Love most of Weber's books, but this is a thinly fleshed out version of a lot of history that we already know. It also suffers from "prequelitous", in which a lot of the story consists merely of moving characters like Hamish Alexander and Sonja Hemphill into place. Hamish? Check. Sonja? Check. Creation of WDB? Check. Development of the phaser? Check. Luke's father? Check. (A little hyperbole there, but you get the point.)

King Roger's death, of course, was already covered in greater detail in one of the World's of Honor collections. In fact, this story probably would have been better suited to one of those collections. And it suffers yet again from Weber's recent habit of pulling chapters from previous books and dropping them wholesale into other novels. Here, it's the attack on Barnett from Ashes of Victory.

All while major plot elements like the fall of Trevor's Star to the Peeps gets a build up... and then we're told, "Oh, yeah. The Peeps grabbed it." It also lacks Weber's fondness for showing us what's going on behind the scenes in Haven. This makes House of Steel a one-sided, watered-down, monochromatic view of history.

And to make matters worse, the short story covers just over a third of the book. The rest is dedicated to a reference that covers information about the Star Kingdom, ships, uniforms, insignia, and so on. Look. If I wanted a Star KIngdom encyclopedia, I'd buy one as a separate book. If, of course, Weber actually wrote it from scratch and not pulled much of the information from the afterwards and glossaries of previous books.

So. If you're a fan and you have to have it, just get the Kindle or paperback version and don't reward David with a hardback sale. This time, unfortunately, he just doesn't deserve it.

The Honor Harrington Series is over as far as I can see. I bought 13 in this series but I WILL NOT BUY ANY MORE. Sad. He had so much to work with. I guess I will never know the story of THE BIG BAD ONES and the 600 year evil plain. Oh well, I will live. Good buy David Weber. Thanks for" Honor" and her family and friends but you have lost the story. I do not want to go back in time. You did make a great here and now. I will miss it.