How the mighty have fallen.....
Dec. 4th, 2005 01:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
patgundBy which I mean "David Weber".
Finished the latest "Honor Harrington" novel last night. Oh, excuse me, I should have said "Finished the latest 'Honor Alexander-Harrington" book last night.
And resolving that particular love triangle was about the only thing in the book I found satisfactory. Even if it was exactly what I expected would happen, given the time Honor has spent on Grayson. More on that in a minute.
Politically, I have fast gotten to the "pox on both their houses" feeling when it comes to Manticore vs. Republic of Haven. Yes, Haven has gotten softer and fuzzier since they've been reformed, while Manticore seems to be going straight around the bend. The revelation that Manticore and Haven were both being manipulated into fighting was supposed to add come tragic element to it, the "all those lives tossed away for nothing" feel. It didn't. It made one go "batch of idiots, the universe is better off without them"
And Weber is still doing the "isn't that awfully special" deux ex machina about the characters. Listening to Allison Harrington's previous complaints about the nobility in Manticore *and* Grayson are now hollow when one finds out she's decended from two of her planets medical "nobility".
On the military side, I used to enjoy the infamous Weber "data dumps". Now, it's just noise. I found myself actually flipping though the battle scenes in this one, because it's tedious to plod though them. Anymore, it's like:
"What's the flight range and speed of a Multi-Drive Missle"
"Manticoran or Peep?"
"I don't know AHHHHHHH.........."
And at the casualty rates both side have suffered, you would think that Manticore, at least, would be suffering severe depopulation, even with Grayson and Andermani support. Not to mention the StateSec purges that the erstwhile People's Republic of Haven did to that nation's population.
Both sides have lost huge numbers of their best and brightest, and huge numbers of their workforce. While the increase in ship automation is a help, I still feel like there would have been a huge economical and technological collapse long before now.
The resolution to the Honor-Hamish-Emily triangle, as I said, made sense. I suspected that with Emily's tacit nod to Hamish and Honor's relationship, that a marriage between the three of them made sense *and* would appeal to her Grayson steaders as well. Especially after Honor found herself in a family way. (Side note, the sequence where their son is "born" from the artificial womb felt *very* Bujoldian to me. As did the comment later when their daughter was born while she was out in battle)
Though the last freaking thing Honor needed was YET ANOTHER FREAKING TITLE!! Or two, given that she's now honorary CO of the Royal Manticorian Navy's museum ship. Let's see if I can get them all right at this point:
"Admiral of the Red Lady Dame Honor Alexander-Harrington, Steadholder & Duchess Harrington, Countess White Haven". Followed by the entire range of alphabet soup.
Mind you, that's assuming she gets the Countess White Haven part, since Emily also has that title. I suspect that, since plural marriage doesn't seem to be against Manticorian law, that the titles are also granted to all the consorts of a title holder. Which means that Hamish and Emily also get the consort-titles of Honor's peerages as well, (which is further confirmed by the fact they both now have Harrington Armsmen assigned to them. I suspect Emily's will be getting additional training down the line to deal with elements of her medical care, the life-support chair, etc. (And, with the sole exception of military rank, Hamish's jr. wife is actually his superior.)
And it makes me wonder about the children. The son, being Honor and Hamish's, does inherit her Steadholder rank, and I would presume her Ducal rank as well, unless they decide to give Honor's second born the ducal rank, and split the two peerages. But does he also inherit the Earldom of White Haven, being Hamish's first born? Or will that title go instead to the daughter, being Emily and Hamish's, and therefore born of the older portion of the marriage. I suspect the people in Manticore that rule on such matters are going though fits at the moment.
And, once things quiet down a bit, they're going to have to do a public ceremony as well. I can't see either the Manticoran or Grayson population being quiet over the simple, private wedding the three of them had, especially given the "tragic love story" elements of Hamish and Emily's marriage in the Manticoran mind, and the military heroics and respect of both Honor *and* Hamish in the Grayson mind. No, they're going to have to do something public, unless they plead Emily's health and caring for the children.
The social elements of the book I enjoyed. The rest? (empty throwing away motion) Not impressed. I think it's time to give Honor a chance to rest. If Weber wants to play in that universe, he's got other subseries to work on.
But please, let him GET A FREAKING EDITOR FIRST!!!!
Finished the latest "Honor Harrington" novel last night. Oh, excuse me, I should have said "Finished the latest 'Honor Alexander-Harrington" book last night.
And resolving that particular love triangle was about the only thing in the book I found satisfactory. Even if it was exactly what I expected would happen, given the time Honor has spent on Grayson. More on that in a minute.
Politically, I have fast gotten to the "pox on both their houses" feeling when it comes to Manticore vs. Republic of Haven. Yes, Haven has gotten softer and fuzzier since they've been reformed, while Manticore seems to be going straight around the bend. The revelation that Manticore and Haven were both being manipulated into fighting was supposed to add come tragic element to it, the "all those lives tossed away for nothing" feel. It didn't. It made one go "batch of idiots, the universe is better off without them"
And Weber is still doing the "isn't that awfully special" deux ex machina about the characters. Listening to Allison Harrington's previous complaints about the nobility in Manticore *and* Grayson are now hollow when one finds out she's decended from two of her planets medical "nobility".
On the military side, I used to enjoy the infamous Weber "data dumps". Now, it's just noise. I found myself actually flipping though the battle scenes in this one, because it's tedious to plod though them. Anymore, it's like:
"What's the flight range and speed of a Multi-Drive Missle"
"Manticoran or Peep?"
"I don't know AHHHHHHH.........."
And at the casualty rates both side have suffered, you would think that Manticore, at least, would be suffering severe depopulation, even with Grayson and Andermani support. Not to mention the StateSec purges that the erstwhile People's Republic of Haven did to that nation's population.
Both sides have lost huge numbers of their best and brightest, and huge numbers of their workforce. While the increase in ship automation is a help, I still feel like there would have been a huge economical and technological collapse long before now.
The resolution to the Honor-Hamish-Emily triangle, as I said, made sense. I suspected that with Emily's tacit nod to Hamish and Honor's relationship, that a marriage between the three of them made sense *and* would appeal to her Grayson steaders as well. Especially after Honor found herself in a family way. (Side note, the sequence where their son is "born" from the artificial womb felt *very* Bujoldian to me. As did the comment later when their daughter was born while she was out in battle)
Though the last freaking thing Honor needed was YET ANOTHER FREAKING TITLE!! Or two, given that she's now honorary CO of the Royal Manticorian Navy's museum ship. Let's see if I can get them all right at this point:
"Admiral of the Red Lady Dame Honor Alexander-Harrington, Steadholder & Duchess Harrington, Countess White Haven". Followed by the entire range of alphabet soup.
Mind you, that's assuming she gets the Countess White Haven part, since Emily also has that title. I suspect that, since plural marriage doesn't seem to be against Manticorian law, that the titles are also granted to all the consorts of a title holder. Which means that Hamish and Emily also get the consort-titles of Honor's peerages as well, (which is further confirmed by the fact they both now have Harrington Armsmen assigned to them. I suspect Emily's will be getting additional training down the line to deal with elements of her medical care, the life-support chair, etc. (And, with the sole exception of military rank, Hamish's jr. wife is actually his superior.)
And it makes me wonder about the children. The son, being Honor and Hamish's, does inherit her Steadholder rank, and I would presume her Ducal rank as well, unless they decide to give Honor's second born the ducal rank, and split the two peerages. But does he also inherit the Earldom of White Haven, being Hamish's first born? Or will that title go instead to the daughter, being Emily and Hamish's, and therefore born of the older portion of the marriage. I suspect the people in Manticore that rule on such matters are going though fits at the moment.
And, once things quiet down a bit, they're going to have to do a public ceremony as well. I can't see either the Manticoran or Grayson population being quiet over the simple, private wedding the three of them had, especially given the "tragic love story" elements of Hamish and Emily's marriage in the Manticoran mind, and the military heroics and respect of both Honor *and* Hamish in the Grayson mind. No, they're going to have to do something public, unless they plead Emily's health and caring for the children.
The social elements of the book I enjoyed. The rest? (empty throwing away motion) Not impressed. I think it's time to give Honor a chance to rest. If Weber wants to play in that universe, he's got other subseries to work on.
But please, let him GET A FREAKING EDITOR FIRST!!!!
