Field of Dishonor
(Honor Harrington #4)

David Weber

Riverdale: Baen Books, 1994. ISBN: 0-7434-3574-5. Pp. 373

Review © 2006 Branislav L. Slantchev

This is the fourth Honor Harrington book and it does not have a single space battle in it! That's almost enough to disqualify it in my book, but at least Weber makes up for it (part way) by sticking the heroine smack in the middle of very nasty politics. There's also a neat commando raid by her friendly Marines and some neat homesteading Grayson-side, so it's not a total waste. Of course, this is the book where Honor suffers her greatest personal loss so far and where she sends her own career as an officer of the Manticoran Navy down the tubes, so to speak.

The People's Republic of Haven is in disarray and in the midst of vicious purges following the coup that overthrew the old regime. The Manticoran Navy, the Government, and the Queen believe this is the perfect opportunity to strike at the shattered adversary before it reorganizes itself for the inevitable rematch. However, the Opposition has other ideas and to secure the necessary votes by the House of Lords, the government may be forced to make some very unpleasant compromises.. one of which will affect Honor directly.

Pavel Young is being court-martialed for his desertion in the face of the enemy, and if convinced he can be sentenced to death. His powerful father has pulled out all stops in an attempt to save his dissolute son and his tentacles have reached some of the top military brass. As a result, the court-martial returns a semi-verdict: Pavel Young is dishonorably discharged from the Navy but is not put in from of a firing squad. Although the disgraceful outcome causes his father to suffer a fatal heart-attack, Pavel Young inherits the important earldom of North Hollow and is all set to exact his vendetta on the woman whose name he cannot even bring himself to pronounce. Of course, being the nasty person that he is, this revenge will not simply destroy her but hurt her really hard first where it hurts the most: her personal life.

Unlike the previous novel in which Honor was almost secondary to the plot, this novel centers intensely on her personal loss and the way she attempts to deal with it. Although Honor remains as ludicrously perfect as ever (see below), one may see one chink in her shiny armor: she is prepared to risk the future of her own country to exact her personal justice. While there is no doubt that her desire to bring Pavel Young to task for his cruel deeds is rational, moral, and just, her total disregard of her responsibilities as a citizen and an officer is a bit troubling. Even though the Queen (inexplicably, in my opinion) endorses her self-destructive actions, I still just cannot fathom how someone with a sense of duty as highly developed as Honor's can bring herself to abandon her country at the time of its gravest peril.

Without the flourish and the bravura descriptions of space engagements, some of the peripherally annoying aspects of Weber's story-telling now make it to the forefront. Honor Harrington is just too good to be true. While one can swallow her being the perfect Captain with an uncanny knack for tactical and strategic thought (although I wonder what Heinlein would have thought about her admitted lack of mathematical skill), we are now supposed to believe that she is not just an especially admirable diplomat (witness how well she performs on Grayson), a particularly skillful homesteader (witness the admiration of her conservative regent and adulation of her subjects), a gunslinger who brooks no rival (witness her prowess in shooting from the hip), and so on and so forth. At some point in the book, all these people (marines, guards, friends, admirals, whatever) professing their undying admiration for Honor just got tiresome and boring. I wish Weber would lay off a little; we all get it already... Dame Honor is the best... although I have a hard time accepting it, as I mentioned before.

The other problematic tendency of the writer that now shines in full dubious splendor is his indulgent desire to overanalyze every freaking word and gesture. It takes him a bazillion pages to get through three lines of dialogue. Weber is no Heinlein when it comes to a brisk repartee but even allowing for the occasional necessary clarification of emotion or intent, this just gets to be too much. This sin is compounded by the relative dearth of depth, so the speak, when it comes to divining emotions. We basically get raised (or lowered) eyebrows (lots of that), hidden (or ugly) smiles (by the score), suppressed laughter, or narrowed eyes with tightened lips. True, all are facial expressions, but I plead to be forgiven if I'd just as soon read the dialogue and imagine the rest without the exasperating omniscient running commentary.

Neat things to look out for: the description of Honor's taking of the oath of fealty on Grayson (which parallels quite closely our own medieval ritual) and the duels with pistols.

February 10, 2006