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Field of Dishonor [4]
Slid to rock bottom.
The "good" people on the investigation board and court martial state that Harrington should not be held accountable for violating the Articles of War. However, they agree that Pavel Young should be held accountable for his violations. These views are formed because Honor was victorious and Pavel was defeated.
If another techno-thriller author, who cares about realism, had written this book then this is what would have happened:
----Both Pavel and Honor would have faced a court martial.
----Pavel would be censored and reassigned to an office job. Reason: he disobeyed orders.
----Honor would have been forced to resign or dishonorably discharged. Reason: she exceeded her authority and did not follow the chain of command.
----There would have been a debate about the morality of the policy: "the victor is always moral; the defeated is always immoral". This is part of the current debate over the legality of war crimes and the concept of "Victor's justice".
Harrington is still in command of a warship despite her questionable and illegal actions in the past. In the real world, an officer who recieves a reprimand (The Honor of the Queen [2]) is usually forbidden from any and all future combat assigments and promotions.
It would have been more realistic if Weber had included a conversation where the queen and the prime minister agree that subjecting Harrington to a court martial would be political suicide.
Honor uses evidence, for her duels, that was obtained through torture. However, in the later books she demands that her subordinates follow the letter and spirit of the law.
The marine officer on her flagship agrees to ignore regulations and lets the Graysons keep their weapons in violation of Manticorian law. The Graysons state they chose to serve her since Honor insisted on rescuing the life-pods after the First Battle of Grayson, despite the fact that she was recklessly endangering her warship.
Honor is automatically suspicious of anyone who criticizes her bodyguards. Even law enforcement is not spared her high-handed and self-righteous attitude.
The queen says that Honor should be allowed to pursue her vengeance/vendetta despite the fact that it will damage the prime minister's efforts to obtain needed political support for a declaration of war.
The prime minister states that Honor has the right to use the parliament for declaring a dueling challenge. If another noble had issued the challenge then the prime minister would have demanded his/her exile.
Harrington has been given too much respect and glory. She is Manticore's only hero/heroine, White Haven and the other admirals/captains are written as second-rate and/or third-rate officers.
The treecats have been given too many privileges and exceptions, however they are not held responsible for anything.
Weber needs to write that genetic engineering is not evil. Genetic engineering has always been portrayed as causing people to become/stay evil. He has never written about the evils of cybernetic surgery. The ethics of genetic engineering have always been written in good-and-evil terms. Cybernetics have been written as being irrelevant to a person's morality.
The things that Honor Harrington can do without failure
----tactics
----strategy
----martial arts
----duels using a gun or sword
----hang gliding
----politics
----leadership
----character judgment
----emotional control
----ethical behavior
----moral behavior
----bravery
----courage
----integrity
----honor
----common decency
----non biased actions
If you want excellent writing with the correct shades of gray/grey then read the books by Tom Clancy, Patrick Robinson, Joe Buff, and John Ringo.
Expect this style of good-and-evil writing in all of the anthology short story collections.
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After reading this book I realized that The Short Victorious War was just a prelude to what Weber wanted to do here. While Harrington was barely a player in that novel, she is the center of this one. And while all the other novels of this series have indulged in a large amount of militaristic (as well as political) strategy , this focuses on the character development of Honor Harrington herself more than any other portion of the series I have read yet.
It is a story of loss and dealing with that loss. Of controlling hatred and seeking justice instead of revenge. The previous books have displayed Harrington's military and tactical prowess, her innate ability to command and lead, but this book really reveals the cold killer that she can unleash from within as well.
But don't let that deter you from reading it. It is really wonderfully written, with a rather relentless pace. Though the politics from the previous novels are still running in the background they take a backseat to the primary story. The war with Haven still looms, but it has yet to have been realized at this point.
The book starts with the total disgracing of Pavel Young, who is virtually Honor's sworn enemy. He blames her for all his misfortune and disgrace and is almost insane with his need to destroy her. [slight SPOILER ahead...] He hires a professional dueler to instigate a duel with Paul Tankersley to kill him - because Pavel knows that will hurt Harrington. He also has hired the dueler to instigate a duel with Honor and kill her as well - but they all underestimate her. All Young really manages to do is awake her full wrath and bring it upon himself
I highly recommend this book, especially to those who love and enjoy any of the other Harrington novels. I would recommend reading The Short Victorious War, as it leads directly into this one. It actually sets up several plot lines which are not concluded until this novel.
As a standalone science fiction novel it doesn't quite meet the standard of the genre - mainly that if you remove the science or technology there would be no story. No, I think this story could have been told in a historical narrative as well - but it would lack Harrington, and that makes all the difference in my mind. Weber has woven quite a driving tale full of intriguing characters once again, and it is definitely well worth the read.
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This, the fourth novel in the author's ongoing Honor Harrington series has no naval battles. But there's plenty of action anyway:
Picking up where the third tale, "A Short Victorious War," left off, Pavel Young, who acted cowardly in the action against the People's Republic of Haven in the last novel, is being court martialed for desertion. By all rights, he should have been executed for his crimes, but--as is usual in the Honorverse--politics intervened, a compromise is reached, and he's spared the death sentence, although he's cashiered from the Navy.
He immediately starts scheming to eliminate Honor. She fights back. There's murder, mayhem, a couple of duels, and an exile. And it's a great character study, too. The author this time fleshes out some of the quirks we've seen in Honor--and now she seems like a real person, not just a space opera heroine.
This one's strictly for fans of the series and probably will baffle newbies, who ought, of course, to start with "On Baselisk Station," the very first book in the series, which has now reached 11 novels.
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Very entertaining even though there are no space ship battles. Really focuses on Honor's character.
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Less spaceships blowing up, more political infighting. Honor has an enemy who is now in disgrace. Her society, with all its advanced
technology and space fleets, has duelling. Said enemy manoeuvres Harrington's bed warmer into such an event, to get back at her. This is where I started to lose interest in the serious. Definitely more on the melodramatic side, with dastardly villainous types and whatnot.