Saturday, March 08, 2003

The Honor of the Queen, by David Weber.



Second of the series. Tremendous. I had some concern with the "religous" angle - conflict in two star systems settled by, umm, something like quasi-Christian-fundamenatalist's. In a way it is just window dressing, a way to create tension, and have extremists to deal with. So far there is no notion of what religion, if any, Manticore has (though there are certainly people who use mild oaths that imply a Judeo-Christian faith exists among them).

Of the two star system's, the Moderate one's are seeking Honor's Navy's help (though horror! they use women!). The extremist system has the help of Haven, the socialist star "republic". Lots of things go wrong. Lots of battles, and interesting tactical problems. Honor is heroic. Good stuff - military SF, and clearly pro-military. But VERY egalitarian, and not glorying in battle for its own sake.