Review: The Short Victorious War
I just finished The Short Victorious War by David Weber and I’m starting to notice a pattern here:
- Honor Harrington thrust into difficult situation complicated by politics.
- Honor thwarts an invasion while overcoming said politics.
- Profit.
Now, I understand these have to be somewhat formulaic, and this book was in fact, enjoyable, so I can’t complain excessively here. The real weakness of this book is that it’s so short, and Honor plays such a minimal part in the action. I’d almost even call this an “interim” novel.
It’s almost as if Weber painted himself into a corner temporarily by making the first two books give Honor such notoriety and career advancement, he had to pull back before it seemed too contrived. The Short Victorious War does provide some insight into where Haven may be evolving with the political and social unrest, and has some excellent battle scenes and tactics. It’s fairly clear at this point that, while the main assaults featured here are critical at this point in the war, it’s really all about Haven’s attempt to pull the trigger and not take the blame; Honor’s involvement is, at best, tangential.
I’ve started Field of Dishonor, and it’s evident Weber is going to concentrate on Politics for a while and attempt to make Honor’s character more resonant and sympathetic to the reader. We’ll see if he succeeds.