The Short Victorious War by David Weber (Honor Harrington #3)

The Short Victorious War by David Weber

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


Jacket Blurb:  The proles are revolting. The families who rule the People's Republic of Haven are in trouble. The treasury's empty, the Proles are restless, and civil war is imminent.

But the ruling class knows what they need to keep in power; another short, victorious war to unite the people and fill the treasury once more. It's a card they've played often in the last half-century, always successfully, and all that stands in their way is the Star Kingdom of Manticore and its threadbare allies.

Only this time the Peeps face something different. This time they're up against Captain Honor Harrington and a Royal Manticoran Navy that's prepared to give them a war that's far from short...and anything but victorious

This is the second time I've read this book, but I wasn't posting reviews at the time of the first reading.  I also "read" this as an audiobook.  As I've mentioned before, a narrator can make or break a book for a reader, and I'm bouncing off this narrator.  The voices and accents just aren't working for me. 

I recall detesting this book the first time I read it (I'm guessing it was about 15 years ago?), but not having anything to review, I couldn't recall exactly why.  Well, time didn't make this book better - I still loathed it and contemplated returning it unfinished to the library.
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What didn't work for me? 

• The over-the-top minor antagonist of Pavel Young.  The sexual innuendo and outright blantant language didn't fit the book.  Yes, we find out the details of Honor's sexual assult while at Saganami Island, but having to listen to Pavel talk about "another notch in his headboard" when he is an officer of HMS didn't seem congruent.
• 
  So Admiral Parks doesn't like his assigned Flag Officer (Honor) and so he doesn't invite her to The Meetings.  Didn't make sense given the military hierarchy Weber has established; so an officer doesn't like another, you still act and behave in accordance with RMN protocol - as Admiral Parks told Honor to do at the end of the book when instructed to bring Pavel Young back for a military court marshal. 
• 
  The Peoples Republic of Haven "revolution" - the reader really doesn't have enough background information to be able to tell if this whole subplot works - and in my opinion, it didn't. 
• 
  Too much tactical information.  A peeve of mine.  I really don't care to know how fast a missle is going in deep space, nor the logistics of trying to turn a Reliant Class dreadnought in the heat of battle and which nodes are exploding.  
• 
  Romance in scifi/space opera rarely works. 

Ultimately, this wasn't the book for me.  If you like in depth and detailed space tactics thinly disguised under the guise of a military engagement, this would be a book for you.   



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