What Price Victory?

In the seventh anthology in the Honorverse, David Weber and a host of other excellent authors bring us new stories from various eras in time across the universe Weber hath wrought. In doing so they ask the sobering question What Price Victory? This new anthology gives us five new stories which span a long chronological period across the Honorverse timeline and so necessarily some slight spoilers will follow!

First up, we have the prequel story to the amazing Manitcore Ascendant series Traitor by Timothy Zahn and Thomas Pope. Exploring the background of one of the main antagonists to this series, we are taken back to the early days of the Andermani Empire. Gustav Anderman is still powerful and respected, but getting into his elder years and his eccentricities, in spite of his victories, are becoming difficult for even many of his most loyal followers to ignore. Into this mix a young and fiercely ambitious Cutler Gustavus von Tischendorf is trying to make his mark. However, he feels slighted by the Emperor after the Second Battle of Tomlinson, and when intrigue creeps up on him, he finds himself roped into a conspiracy darker than he can imagine.

Like in their excellent main series, Zahn and Pope are building on their insight into the larger Honorverse and tapping into the rich vein of stories that can be told in Andermani space. The action is focused and tight, centering on the Sorgenfrei Palace on the capital world of Postdam. Some characters from A Call to Inssurection make an early appearance, and their actions may surprise you! What this story does excellently is also show us Gustav Anderman himself. While he's certainly crazy, he remains a very, very dangerous man!

Secondly we have Deception on Gryphon by Jane Lindskold. This one takes us back to the early years of Manticore before the colonization of the third habitable planet in the Manticore Binary system took place in earnest. Stephanie Harrington and her friend Karl, as well as their treecats Lionheart and Survivor are with her parents for a big science conference. They meet, and sort of befriend, a strange geologist who suddenly ends up dead. Was it suicide, or murder?

The story itself is fun because it explores the largely unexplored world of Gryphon. Fans of the Star Kingdom series about Stephanie Harrington and the treecats will definitely enjoy this new short story. The banter between the cats is quite amusing, and how they explore their new location no less so. Lindskold using a murder as a backdrop works well and she manages to bring the story together in a satisfying way.

Third is Jan Kotouč's The Silesian Command which takes place in the opening days of the Second Manticoran-Haven War as Manticore is currently trying to digest the Silesian Confederacy alongside the Anderman Empire. The Royal Navy is overworked, overwhelmed, and stretched very thin, leaving room for opportunists to cause quite bit of damage to the still chaotic former Confederacy.

Evelyn Chandler is working her way through grief after the loss of her daughter, and so much death in the previous war. The new Silesian members are chaotic, corrupt, and not yet resigned to their new roles as subjects of Manticore. Even worse, unscrupulous warlords and pirates are taking advantage of the chaos.

This was probably one of my favorite stories in the whole anthology. Packed with the intrigue, combat, and dilemmas I have come to love the Honorverse for, Kotouč manages to roll together the rich vein of stories in this part of the universe into an excellently self contained story. The characterization is excellent, the tactics of our protagonists and antagonists clever, and overall we get a great look at the wider issues of the local universe at this time.

Next is If Wishes Were Spacecutters by Joelle Presby. This is a little 'slice of life' story from the Protectorate of Grayson. Noah Bedlam is a down on his luck member of Grayson society who is living on social assistance and always just one step away from financial ruin or being run out of social housing. He find himself swept up in the expansion of work in the outbreak of the Second Manticore-Haven War as things go off the rails.

Presby tells a really good story in Grayson society that gives us some expansion and insight into how the 'little people' in Grayson get along. While we've become familiar with the Protector, many of the great Steadholders, and the various armsmen and wives who make up this society we only ever had a few looks at life on the bottom. This was a wonderful exploration of that kind of life, even in the future, and how it can affect peoples choices and outlooks. Presby wrote poverty and social stigma in this society so well! How the various characters bumped into one another and helped drive the plot was quite clever!

Finally we have David Weber's First Victory. This is a story that stretches way back in time, mostly within the Harrington family. It's a touching family drama I think many people can relate to. That said, it is cute to see the younger life of the Harrington clan explored, especially with young Honor and more casual references to greater series events.

This is another excellent addition to the broader universe of the Honor Harrington series. I definitely reccommend it to fans, and more cautiously to casual readers if only because of spoilers! Otherwise, I encourage you to thoroughly immerse yourself in this space opera epic!