Audiobook: War of Honor by David Weber

War of Honor
Author: David Weber
Series: Honor Harrington, Book 10
Narrator: Allyson Johnson
Publication: Audible Studios (Dec. 15, 2009)
Length: 35 hours and 58 minutes

Description: NO ONE WANTED ANOTHER WAR

Thomas Theisman didn't. After risking his life and a fresh round of civil war to overthrow the Committee of Public Safety's reign of terror and restore the Republic of Haven's ancient Constitution, an interstellar war was the last thing he wanted.

Baron High Ridge didn't. The Prime Minister of Manticore was perfectly happy with the war he had. No one was shooting anyone else at the moment, and as long as he could spin out negotiations on the formal treaty of peace, his government could continue to milk all those ''hostilities only'' tax measures for their own partisan projects.

His Imperial Majesty Gustav didn't. Now that the fighting between the Star Kingdom and the Havenites had ended, the Andermani Emperor had his own plans for Silesia, and he was confident he could achieve them without a war of his own.

Protector Benjamin didn't. His people had made too deep a commitment to the Manticoran Alliance, in blood as well as treasure, for him to want to risk seeing it all thrown away.

And Honor Harrington certainly didn't. The ''Salamander'' had seen the inside of too many furnaces already, knew too much about how much war cost.

Unfortunately, what they wanted didn't matter....

My Thoughts: This massive episode in the Honor Harrington series was filled with all sorts of political maneuvering.

In Manticore, High Ridge's government is too busy with their pork barrel projects and fear of needing to call a general election to put any effort into actually forging a peace treaty with Haven. High Ridge's government is a loose group of politicians who have very little in common except their desire to have power and push their own projects. The admiralty is in the hands of a politician masquerading as an admiral who is more interested in pushing his own agenda and covering his butt to actually do anything. He is proud of the way he is gutting the navy and putting all the good officers on the beach.

In Haven, President Pritchart is trying to form a democracy but she is being undermined by her Secretary of State who has his own agenda. He wants her job and he wants power and he is willing to do anything including "adjusting" the messages that go back and forth in the peace process to slant them in ways that make him look good and Pritchart look bad.

While Manticore's navy is contracting and deteriorating Haven is busy building new ships and developing new techniques under the supervision of Admiral Foraker. They have managed to keep their new developments secret which is helping to build the High Ridge government's sense of false security.

This is also the book where Honor and Hamish Alexander become the victims of a smear campaign which says that they are lovers and are cheating on Hamish's wife. Now, Hamish and Honor are in love but both are too honorable to do anything to hurt Emily Alexander. And it takes a while before either is willing to admit what they feel to each other. However, the smear campaign does its bit to turn public opinion against them and distract them from things High Ridge and his cronies are doing. It is also one more straw that is wrecking Manticore's alliance with Grayson since the Graysons strongly dislike the way Honor is being treated.

As diplomacy fails, Haven gears up for war against the alliance. Honor is in Silesia where she is having problems with the Andermani who are getting more aggressive. Turns out that the scheming Secretary of State from Haven has been whispering in their ears about what they should be doing in Silesia. Luckily, Protector Benjamin has sent the Protector's Own to Silesia as backup for Honor's forces because a large Havenite force has plans there. Of course they also have plans at a number of the other frontier areas that Manticore had taken away from them during the war and they are much more successful there as the Manticorans are dealing with the admiralty's cost-saving measures and are under strength and under armed.

This wasn't really my favorite of the series because there was just so much political stuff. I think a couple of hundred pages of it could have been deleted. I am looking forward to what is going to happen next in the series though.

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.