More Than Honor
(Worlds of Honor #1)

David Weber / David Drake / S. M. Stirling

Riverdale: Baen, 1998. ISBN: 0-671-87857-3. Pp. 371

Review © 2007 Branislav L. Slantchev

This is the first volume edited by Weber and consisting of stories set in the Honorverse. Some stories reveal details about events mentioned in the mainline Honor Harrington novels and others just expand and speculate on the worlds created by Weber. As a first entry, this is barely passable. Weber's own contribution aside, the two other stories are disappointing, to say the most charitable thing that comes to mind.

A Beautiful Friendship by David Weber is about the first contact between a treecat and a human in the sense that the 'cats become aware of the human's mind-glow and the humans become aware that the 'cats are sentient and intelligent. The story also records the first bonding between a 'cat and a human: Climbs Quickly of the Bright Water Clan (which, of course, is where Nimitz would come from years later) and Stephanie Harrington, our Honor's ancestor. Unlike the later story about the 'cats which veered too close to sentimental romanticism modeled after idealized accounts of pre-Columbian native Americans, this one is a brisk and eventful read. The wonder of the encounter that evolves into a strong bond between two strangers and culminates with self-sacrifices in defense of each other is compelling. By far the best contribution to this volume.

A Grand Tour by David Drake is horrible. It is very, very tangentially related to the Honorverse. The events take place on a remote planet under Solarian jurisdiction, there's a lot (and I mean a lot) of quite boring set up in which characters arrive, wander about, interact with the locals, talk, and nothing much happens except the reader's patience which gets sorely tested. The uninspired story about an archaeological excavation (well, a treasure hunt really) by some ill-educated brute from another uninteresting planet getting interrupted by a Manticoran aristocrat is then followed by an utterly unconvincing account of same aristocrat leading a bunch of survivors from a warship into a confrontation with a Peep ship several times more powerful than his. Suffice to say that the only way this encounter could have ended is... thwarter by a ridiculous last-second twist. This one is best avoided.

A Whiff of Grapeshot by S. M. Stirling is just plain. It's as if Weber regretted not giving McQueen enough time before having her nuked by Saint-Just. Here we get a bit of a detail about how come she was thrust into the graces of Rob Pierre. We know that she helped put down an uprising against his regime by an unwholesome band calling themselves the Levelers, and this story is essentially the account of that incident that ended up with huge civilian casualties in Nouveau Paris. Again we glimpse her determination and ruthlessness, as well as ability to inspire followers to obey her commands. Little would any of this avail her in the end. This one is at least intimately related to the main line. For some reason the narrative left me cold: too clinical given the horrors it was describing.

The Universe of Honor Harrington by David Weber is not a story but the Mother of All Infodumps. Here you will find more than anyone ever needed to know about travel in hyper-space, Warshawski Sails, speeds of warships and merchies, and what not. It's more fascinating in the level of detail a dedicated writer would go into when creating a plausible universe than for the contribution to enjoyment of the main novels. (In fact, I quite enjoyed them without being burdened by this information.) The more interesting (for my money) bits are on the history of Manticore's colonization (some justification for it being a kingdom) and on the decline of Haven (the impetus behind its violent expansion is still unconvincing). For hardcore fans only. Like me.

May 9, 2007