Picking up soon after the events of WAR OF HONOR, AT ALL
COSTS covers the next moves in the Manticore-Haven war,
taking the scale of the action yet another level higher.
More importantly, the book is laying the ground work for
what will come next for the Star Kingdom. For fans of the
series, this book is as good as the rest of them, and that
should sell you on it right there.
For those of you who haven't read any of the series: AT ALL
COSTS is the eleventh book in the Honor Harrington series.
Best categorized as military science fiction, Weber has very
carefully constructed an elaborately detailed universe, with
the very conscious intent of mirroring 18th century politics
and warfare in a science fiction setting. In many
(deliberate) ways, reading these books is like reading
Horatio Hornblower or Master & Commander - but
instead of boats & cannons, you have space ships and X-ray
lasers. The series tracks the career of one Honor
Harrington as she rises through the ranks of the Navy of the
Star Kingdom of Manticore. At the start of the series, ON
BASILISK STATION, she is a small player in the grand game of
interstellar politics. By AT ALL COSTS, she is one of the
key figures in a sweeping tale of war and intrigue.
As a writer, Weber is clear and direct, without the
flourishes of a more literary sort. He is focused on
telling his story, and not essaying literary heights of
composition. Even so, he is quite good at what he does,
able to deftly switch between grand space battles,
techno-babble, characterizations and political intrigue.
There are three problems with this book, none of which are
the fault of the author, per se. The first is that it is
unashamedly the next book in a long series. Weber doesn't
waste time with exposition trying to bring new readers up to
speed. This isn't to say that there isn't exposition...
because there is a lot of it. The "Honor-verse" has become
so wide in scope and detailed in nature that the plots have
become quite intricate. Weber doesn't appear to be in
danger of collapsing under his own narrative (like Robert
Jordan appears to be doing), but it becomes a bit exhausting
at times. It's not so much that the writer is being overly
explanatory, but that the characters are dealing with
extremely complex problems, and you have to pay attention to
work out what it is they are doing and saying.
The last problem is that the series is not entirely
contained to the series itself. AT ALL COSTS references a
number of other stories and books that aren't strictly in
the Honor Harrington series. While it doesn't detract from
the book, it does mean that I'll now be going out and
reading those other books as well. This would be a problem
if they weren't so darn good.
AT ALL COSTS delivers more of what makes the series great.
Fans will eat it up, and if you aren't a fan you are missing
out.
What price victory? The war with the Republic of Haven has
resumed... disastrously for the Star Kingdom of Manticore.
Admiral Lady Dame Honor Harrington, Steadholder and Duchess
Harrington, the single victorious Allied commander of the
opening phase of the new war, has been recalled from the
Sidemore System to command Eighth Fleet. Everyone knows
Eighth Fleet is the Alliance's primary offensive command,
which makes it the natural assignment for the woman the
media calls "the Salamander." But what most of the public
DOESN'T know is that not only are the Star Kingdom and its
Allies badly outnumbered by the Republic's new fleet, but
that the odds are going to get steadily worse. Eighth
Fleet's job is to somehow prevent those odds from crushing
the Alliance before the Star Kingdom can regain its
strategic balance. It's a job which won't be done cheaply.
Honor Harrington must meet her formidable responsibilities
with inferior forces even as she copes with tumultuous
changes in her personal and public life. The alternative to
victory is total defeat, yet this time the COST of victory
will be agonizingly high.
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