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.