| $@%&! level: High “Bedroom” level: Medium (There's a good bit of it, but what you get is mostly the aftermath) Violence level: Medium-High (Space warfare, you know. And an unfortunate flashback.) Back Cover: “The families who rule the People's Republic of Haven are in trouble. The treasury's empty, the Proles are restless, and civil war is imminent. But the ruling class knows what they need to keep in power: another short, victorious war to unite the people and fill the treasury once more. It's a card they've played often in the last half-century, always successfully, and all that stands in their way is the Star Kingdom of Manticore and its threadbare allies. Enemies who in the past have always backed down. Only this time the Peeps face something different. This time they're up against Captain Honor Harrington and a Royal Manticoran Navy that's prepared to give them a war that's far from short...and anything but victorious.” |
Here's one interesting thing I noticed when I first read it. David Weber gives his characters names, whether they're in it for two paragraphs or the whole series, but some names he puts more thought into than others. When I saw the name Robert Stanton Pierre, I knew right then that he was going to be an important and long-standing character (because I paid attention to the French Revolution during history class). I believe it was David Weber who once said that in the sci-fi business, those who don't remember history are unable to retell it as the future, and this novel was when I first realized that's what he was doing. (I still haven't figured out what country the Graysons are supposed to represent, though.)
In this novel, Honor finally gets a boyfriend and confronts and overcomes a lot of her self-image and self-confidence issues in that area of her life. She realizes that she is not, in fact, homely as she had previously believed, which is going to end up helping her a lot in the future. One of the pleasures of such a very long series is watching the characters grow and progress over the long term, and while Honor continues to be just as good a leader and strategist, she has a lot to learn about confidence and interacting with others. I think this is where she first really begins that process.
And yes, the war with Haven really does start, after just pretending for the first two novels. It really does take the Peeps a bit of time to get any traction.