Crown of Slaves

I decided this summer to catch up on the Honor Harrington books. A new novel was released in May, but the author, David Weber, was branching his stories into other supporting series. As I learned with AT ALL COSTS, if you didn't read the new series, you were missing details.

For example, I had no clue who Berry, Ruth Winton, or Victor Cachat were and no idea what Torch was about. This led to some confusion when someone tried to assassinate Berry and Ruth in the middle of the book. So I went back and read the sidebars in order of release. (I also read some of the supporting shorts to see where the characters started.)

Berry is Berry Zilwicki, adopted daughter of Anton Zilwilcki, intelligence officer for Manticore, and Cathy Montaigne, anti-slavery political leader and former countess. She is an orphan found in Old Chicago by Helen Zilwicki and saved by her, Zilwicki and Victor Cachat, Haven spy. She is not a genetic slave, but becomes endeared by them because of her nature.

Ruth Winton is the adopted niece of Queen Elizabeth III and a prodigious hacker and spy in training.

Victor Cachat is a spy for Haven who is a master improviser and heartless killer when necessary.

All of these characters and more come together as the independent republic of Erewhon is looking to ally with Haven as a result of the High Ridge government's diplomatic failures. As the story evolves, a Mesan colony is targeted as a potential genetic slave homeland - solving the problem of what to do with the former slaves as well as how to start dealing with Mesa.

The book reads like a political primer with guns and bombs. A lot of the discussion centers on how governments are created, why they act as they do and who actually runs things. It makes the book a bit of a drag and though the events are key, the story does not feel so. It is kind of like having to find that issue of Captain America that is necessary to understanding the conclusion of the Mark Gruenwald's Squadron Supreme story. It is interesting to see what else is happening, but a distraction to the main event.

I think I liked CROWN OF SLAVES less than any of the previous Honorverse books, but I undertand it's necessity in the underpinnings of the big story.