Honor Harrington - Should I pick it up?

[Carl]

Oh he sticks around, a lot. And yes, he's awesome. He's basically what the conservative association pretends it is but fails badly at actually being.

[The Glyphstone]

Oversteegen is The Man. He's one of the principal side characters in the Saganami side-series that SotS is a prelude to, so once you get around to them you'll get plenty of him.

Similarly, if you liked Flint's work in From The Highlands and Fanatic, which it sounds like you did, you'll definitely enjoy the Torch trilogy.

[Cikomyr]

All right.

Almost finished Service of the sword. Next is:

- Crown
- Shadow
- At all cost

? You like the order?

[The Glyphstone]

Yeah, that should be good. It's more or less chronological, so you won't get any rude spoilers, and it gives you a taste of both of the side series.

[Douglas]

I haven't double checked the timeline, but that's the order I have them on my shelf.

Crown and Shadow shake things up a bit with non-Haven antagonists. To summarize the premise of Shadow of Saganami:
Talbott Cluster: *grumble* OFS is moving in, we'll soon (low decades, probably) be forced to join the Solarian League and get economically exploited for generations to enrich the bureaucracy and megacorporations. We hate it, but there's nothing we can do.
Manticoran Survey Ship Harvest Joy: Hey guys, we just found the 7th terminus of the Manticore Junction is here. What do you think about that?
Talbott Cluster: *blink* *blink* *blink* HOLY CRAP THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING!!!
Solarian Office of Frontier Security: Hey! Uppity backwards non-Solarian space barbarians! Stop muscling in on our turf, it's ours!

...and the stage is set.

[The Glyphstone]

Meanwhile, Crown can be summarized as 'Members of 7+ different groups, with probably twice that many competing and secret agendas across them, all meet on one ostensibly neutral planet. Everyone's plans swiftly go straight to hell." Part spy thriller, part action novel, part watching the impending cataclysmic train crash of opponents who don't even know the other side or their plans exist and munching popcorn while Victor Cachat surfs the shockwave like a badass.

[Douglas]

while Victor Cachat surfs the shockwave like a badass.

Does he ever do anything not like a badass? Seems a redundant qualifier to me.

[Cikomyr]

Does he ever do anything not like a badass? Seems a redundant qualifier to me.

He was rather green before Usher got to him

[The Glyphstone]

There's an offhand mention in Crown about how he had the 3rd-highest pain tolerance ever recorded by StateSec Academy, so there was definitely some latent badassitude in him even before then. Usher took unshaped native potential and refined it.

[Gnoman]

There's an offhand mention in Crown about how he had the 3rd-highest pain tolerance ever recorded by StateSec Academy, so there was definitely some latent badassitude in him even before then. Usher took unshaped native potential and refined it.

It really is the subtle things that show just how creepy the PRH was.

[Cikomyr]

You crafty bastards.

You knew Oversteengen was part of the Crown series instead of the Saganami series. You saw no reason to mention that fact when i both talked about my enthusiasm regarding that character and the ordering of books i should read?!

[Khedrac]

You crafty bastards.

You knew Oversteengen was part of the Crown series instead of the Saganami series. You saw no reason to mention that fact when i both talked about my enthusiasm regarding that character and the ordering of books i should read?!

He's in both. Yes, he has a significant part in the first of the Torch series, but after that he's not in that area of the galaxy - he gets deployed to the Talbott quadrant, where, though a background character, he remains present.

[Cikomyr]

The WEB-Oversteengen debate is so damn entertaining.

I would buy a book of such debate.

[Carl]

The WEB-Oversteengen debate is so damn entertaining.

I would buy a book of such debate.

Indeed. +1

[The Glyphstone]

You crafty bastards.

You knew Oversteengen was part of the Crown series instead of the Saganami series. You saw no reason to mention that fact when i both talked about my enthusiasm regarding that character and the ordering of books i should read?!

It's more of a cameo than anything. He's there at the beginning, and there at the end, but isn't real relevant to the Torch books after Book 1. He's a permanent fixture in the Saganami series from Book 2 onwards, though.

[Cikomyr]

Seriously. Oversteengen is one massive breath of fresh air. Damn i wished we have had a character like him in War of Honor.

Every scene with him makes me want to come here to quote him.

Oversteengen: haha, you Sphynxians ate bad liars, compared to us Manticorians.
XO: i suppose so. By the way, the political situation is screwed up because of your cousin
Over: do you think its the place of an officer to criticise his political superiors?
XO: come on! Tell me you agree with the government's policy!
Over: off course i do. But then again, didnt i say we Manticorians are good liars?

[Cikomyr]

All right. Lets make a tally of involved parties.. and subparties. So far.

- Manticore
-- Zilwicki & co. (1)
- Haven
-- Ginny & Victor (2)
- Erewhon
-- the Imbesi Family (3)
-- All other Erewhon factions (4)
- the Renaissance Alliance
-- Jessica Stein (5)
- Solarian League
-- the Governor of Maya (?)
--- the Vice-Governor of Maya (6)
---- Capt Roszak and his crew (6+?)
----- Lieutenant Manson (7)
----- Lieutenant Palane's Amazonian Brigade of superwomen (8)
-- Manpower (9)
--- the Masadan Mercenaries (10)
---- The converted Superhumans (10?)

And perhaps more. Holy crap is this one massive cluster****.

I like Capt Roszak. He makes me think of an honest Galactic Empire officer similar to Pellaeon. He has to deal with an utterly corrupt government structure above him, and he has to deal with the inherent corrupt structure of bureaucratic politics of the Solarian League.

And yet, he seems to want to be as honest and ethics as he can pull of without endangering his career.

Maybe he will turn out to be one true *******. But until then, i kind of like him.

[The Glyphstone]

And that's not even counting the divisions within some of those subgroups. For example, the Manticoran delegation is several agendas in itself - officially they're paying respect to Stein. Unofficially they're giving Ruth Winton practical field training in espionage. Personally, Ruth + Berry are mostly into it for the awesome vacation.

[Gnoman]

It is "Renaissance Association", not "Renaissance Alliance". Not a major error, but it will keep coming up, and IIRC it sometimes referred to as just "The Association", so it could get confusing.

[Douglas]

The entire Maya sector leadership, Roszak included, is a shining beacon of Solarian leadership that actually has a clue. Unfortunately, if they tried to educate their superiors about this fact they'd get either ignored or punished. Fortunately, they realize this. It's kind of funny sometimes how much they conceal from their bosses, purely because of how incompetent those bosses are.

I'm pretty sure they're just as much in the dark about this particular cluster**** as everyone else, though.

[Khedrac]

All right. Lets make a tally of involved parties.. and subparties. So far.
- Manticore
-- Zilwicki & co. (1)

Manticore's ambassador to Erewhon is also there, but as a High Ridge government appointee they, well I think you can guess what they are like.
Also Ruth's bodyguards don't have the same objectives as Ruth and Berry (and Anton), so you might want to consider them separately.
(Just imagine the hassle they face of having to guard one person while being seen to guard a different person.)

- Solarian League
-- the Governor of Maya (?)
--- the Vice-Governor of Maya (6)
---- Capt Roszak and his crew (6+?)
----- Lieutenant Manson (7)
----- Lieutenant Palane's Amazonian Brigade of superwomen (8)

Orville Barregos is the name of the governor of the Maya sector. My memory says he is not actually there, just sent (some of) the others as his representatives.
Ingemar Cassetti is the lieutenant governor, present for the funeral as Orville's representative.
Captain Roszak actually has a small squadron of ships under his command (and present) not just one (not that it makes much difference).

Enjoy the shenanigans!

[Gnoman]

Now that I think of it, everything from this point forward is immensely more comprehensible if you know the early history of the Solarian Leage, but it is given in dribs and dabs from here out. Despite constant mentions of the Final War, for example, Weber doesn't tell you what happened in the Final War until two books ago.

[Douglas]

Now that I think of it, everything from this point forward is immensely more comprehensible if you know the early history of the Solarian Leage, but it is given in dribs and dabs from here out. Despite constant mentions of the Final War, for example, Weber doesn't tell you what happened in the Final War until two books ago.

Not really, in my opinion. It was on Earth, it was very nasty with lots of non-military damage, and it involved genetically engineered super soldiers who earned an extremely negative reputation during the war. That's all you really need to make sense of related current events, and that much is made clear right off the bat when it becomes relevant.

[The Glyphstone]

Yeah. The details of the Final War get shared later, but you don't need to know them to understand the plot here, only if you're the sort of person who likes worldbuilding/exploring fictional worlds. Still interesting on that scale, though, like how the aforementioned engineered supersoldiers were one of the less scary weapons deployed.

[russdm]

Any progress on the Reading? And any more details about the movie or TV series?

[Cikomyr]

Hehe, yhea. Maybe i should give an update.

I likd Crown of Slave. Gives me the feeling that.. something is happening. And its not offscreen between books, but actually happening as we speak. I am really curious about the upcoming dynamics developping within the Torch Kingdom. For sure, things wont remain in one big happy family forever...

Great Kaja is awesome. Cachat is awesome. Capt Rosznak is awesome. Everyone fears the shadow of Zilwicki, and that gives one hell of an ominous feel. Masadan keep being cartoon villains that you love to beat the **** out of.

Oversteengen is awesome.

The ending was a bit streched out in my taste. After the epic hostage situation at the Wages of Sin (from buildup to climax), the whole action piece conquest of Congo felt.. weak and streching the story beyond proper limit.

Oh well. On to Shadow of Saganami!!

[Lamech]

So the Renaissance Association and the Renaissance Factor are totally unrelated right?

[Gnoman]

So the Renaissance Association and the Renaissance Factor are totally unrelated right?

The Renaissance Association is a Solarian reform party. At the time the OP is at in the series, I'm pretty sure that nothing called the Renaissance Factor has shown up.

Spoiler: Mission of Honor

Show

We learn in book 12 that the Renaissance Factor, an extended political movement aligned with the Renaissance Association is really the public face of the Mesan Alignment, and is being used to prepare a core star nation for the purpose of conquering the known galaxy.

[Cikomyr]

I am sorry if people are awaiting impatiently my opinions of Shadow of Saganami. So far, its a good book. Albeit i find the anti-annexation supporters to be a bit strawmanshish.

Thing is.. i dont have lot of time to read recently. Only before going to bed, and i happen to fall asleep damn fast recently, so its quite a snail pace.

[Carl]

Thats ok :). Even your normal is a snail for me, i can re-read the entire main sequence in ohhh, 3 days. So your pace dosen;t bother me at either setting :p. Also which set of anti-annexation people, there's a few :p.

p.s. hope you had a good valentines day with Mr/Mrs Cikomyr :).