On Monday afternoon, Baen Books released the eARC (electronic Advanced Reader Copy) of the Shadow of Victory, the latest installment in David Weber's Honor Harrington series. Without getting into details that might serve as spoilers, I'll provide a very brief review.
First, let me start by saying that I enjoyed the book. Most of the individual scenes were enjoyable, and there were few glaring typos or errors that distracted from the writing. There were excellent action sequences, and there were scenes of old favorites we'd not spent time much time with in a while. It was a lot of fun.
Alas, I have two complaints. The first is that much of the book focused on various revolutionary/insurgent groups introduced in the previous book, Shadow of Freedom, rather than on Our Heroes. The second is that by the end of the novel, the Honorverse has chronologically advanced perhaps a couple days at most from where things were left at the ends of Shadow of Freedom and Cauldron of Ghosts.
Would I recommend this book? Absolutely. Do I regret having spent $15 on the eARC? No. Would I recommend you buy an eARC just so you can find out early what happens next in the Honorverse? Not really.
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I am slogging through the book now and there I shout answer...slogging. Time was I could start a Weber Honorverse novel and keep reading...because it progressed and moved along. Now...I am content to put the book down for hours or a day or two, to return. So far I have put it aside after a couple of chapters. Sigh. Fortunately there are other authors out there to entertain me in the space opera vein but I like Honor Harrington. She doesn't get much exposure in her own books anymore. I might even consider starting the series all over again. We'all see.
ReplyDeleteI didn't find it a slog, but it wasn't as gripping, as exciting, as most previous volumes. "Shadow of Freedom" had planetary interludes much like "Shadow of Victory", but they were interspersed with a lot more action, and a lot fewer only-yakking scenes. Hopefully things pick up as the series nears its conclusion.
ReplyDeleteI'm fortunate I had my pal's iPad which he left me while he went on the CAMINO de Santiago walk. He didn't want any devices on his trip, so I'm actually going through his digital book collection. I'm not savvy enough to know how to just copy them onto my own machine and frankly, am unsure about the legal and ethical aspect, either.
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