On The Nightstand – Uncompromising Honor – 10/9/2018

“The Honor Of A Nation Is Its Life”

Alexander Hamilton

There are literary figures that have truly stood out for me over the years – who have resonated so strongly that they became real – came to represent something far more than just a picture on a cover or a source of fictional satisfaction.  There are a very rare few who have, over the years, become symbols for me – iconic characters that I’ve chosen to elevate and aspire to – role models.  Aragorn is one such – Rudi MacKenzie is another – Paul Atreides is a third.  While they all lived in insanely complex, richly imagined, brilliantly conceived worlds that I fell in love with, it was the characters themselves that I fastened myself to and that became the book – characters who, over the course of the book, had me wishing that I’d been given the chance to follow them – to become a part of their story.

Honor has always been one of those characters – an ideal that has helped to define expectations that I have both for myself and for others. Like everyone else, I met her in the early nineties when I read “On Basilisk Station” – a book that had the benefit of being unburdened by all the accumulating history and increasing complexity of the subsequent 20 novels – just a young, relatively inexperienced Commander, a small ship and a nearly impossible military and political situation.  The way she navigated the circumstances in which she and her crew found themselves – the strength of her character – captured me and it’s held me for a quarter of a century now.  In the interests of full disclosure, I formed a similar connection to Horatio Hornblower – Honor’s fictional template – many years earlier when I read those books as a boy – but Honor somehow became far more tangible and real for me and managed to replace Hornblower in my fictional Hall Of Fame.

There have always been many things about these books that made them special for me – the first and most important being Honor herself.  The others, however, would likely have been compelling even had Honor not been present or had somehow been less powerfully conceived.  The first is the richness of the universe Weber has created – the history of humanity as it expanded into the galaxy and gave birth to the Constitutional Monarchy of the Kingdom of Manticore, the faith based Monarchy of Grayson, the People’s Republic of Haven, the Andermani Empire, the Solarian League and many, many others.  There’s so much here to play with I’ve always been a bit surprised that no one’s created a space combat sim set in this world.  Were someone to do so, I’d likely dive in and never come back up for air.

Another defining characteristic of the books has been the cast of supporting characters Weber introduces – particularly the men and women of the Royal Manticoran Navy (RMN) with whom Honor serves.  While the RMN begins this 21 book story as a robust institution with strong, defining traditions and values, Honor she sets a new and higher standard for a whole generation of new RMN officers as she progresses through her career – all of whom come from different backgrounds, have different life stories and represent unique individuals, but who adopt Honor’s code, her commitment to the RMN and her devotion to duty as their own.  Whether as a symbol or by virtue of her mentorship, she becomes the soul of the RMN.  As the books progress, her influence spreads beyond the political leaders and military officers of Manticore’s allies (Grayson) to – in the later books – the political leaders and military officers of their foes turned friends (The People’s Republic of Haven).  Honor’s virtue becomes a defining and unifying aspect of a disparate alliance that, in the end, redefines a power paradigm that has governed their universe for centuries.

A third aspect of the books that I’ve always found compelling is the pseudo-scientific and economic framework that Weber has built.  The technology that drives these kingdoms – both in war and peace – is meticulously created and faithfully adhered to – both with respect to it’s capabilities and it’s limitations.  That technology and the underlying scientific theory defines every aspect of the world – manufacturing, propulsion, weaponry and economics.  As you read, Weber does such a good job of weaving it into his narrative that you simply accept it, you adopt it’s vocabulary and you begin to anticipate it’s ramifications.  His extended story is incredibly faithful to his science and a large and fascinating part of his long tale is the opportunity to watch that science evolve and advance over time.

Finally, and in some ways, the most rewarding aspect of the books is the combat.  Weber set out to do something that all too many of his peers simply don’t have the courage to do – create a ship to ship, fleet to fleet, approach to combat that accepts the realities of physics and the limitations imposed by mundane things like gravity, inertia, acceleration, velocity and mass.  Every battle that Weber describes is a physics lesson and is so carefully crafted that I have to believe that, even if its not for sale, he’s created his own space combat sim that he uses to virtually model these episodes as he writes them.  There’s a remorseless and graceful beauty to the combat in these novels that I don’t think anyone has ever been able to recreate.

Having said all that, the series has had its ups and downs.  The first 5 of these books are devoted to a story arc that focuses exclusively on the war between the Star Kingdom of Manticore and the People’s Republic of Haven.  They’re based loosely on the Napoleonic War – as were the Horatio Hornblower novels – and they’re a very simple, straightforward pleasure.  It’s all about the war, the ships, the technology, the men and women who serve and the combat.  They’re easy to read, they’re straightforward and they represent military science fiction at it’s best.  As Weber moves deeper into his story, however, the politics of the primary players moves closer to the forefront and there are times when it detracts from the things that make these books such a pleasure.  More and more of the content shifts away from Honor, the RMN and the battles it fights to the politicians and the politics of the adversaries.  I can remember times when I hit chapter transitions that took me away from the Command Chair and into the offices of bureaucrats and it managed to deflate me – caused me to roll my eyes a bit and move to accelerated reading mode where I was sampling sentences within paragraphs just to progress as quickly as I could back to Honor and the ships and fleets she commands.  Weber is a superb writer of military science fiction but there’s a cliched, caricatured aspect to some of his political drama that can get a bit tiring.

This became particularly pronounced when he chose to create a second story arc within the larger narrative revolving around the Mesan Alignment and conflict with the Solarian League.  Weber acknowledges that his decision to do so – beginning with the book “Crown Of Slaves” (co-authored with Eric Flint) – radically altered his narrative focusing on the conflict between Manticore and Haven.  While it introduced a story line that will carry his series past Honor’s exit, it also led to a number of books focusing on political maneuverings, espionage and ground-based, planetary conflict that I found to be tiresome and decidedly mediocre.

Still, it was never so bad that it turned me away from the series and I have to say – getting finally to this last book in Honor’s story – that he brought it home in a very rewarding and satisfying way.  In this book, Weber spends far more time on the bridge of RMN warships and far more time in combat – particularly throughout the first half of the book.  He steps back a bit in the third quarter and returns to the offices of bureaucrats and the skullduggery that takes place within to set the stage for the final quarter and the concluding events but it wasn’t as burdensome or as distracting as it has been in past volumes.  Most importantly, when it ended, it was all Honor and it was rooted in all the things that have made her such a special character for so very long.  Her final solution is everything we’d expect from the Officer we’ve been following for twenty five years and it leaves both the galaxy and the person in a place that makes it possible to walk away with the satisfaction that comes from a job very well done.

The only bone I have to pick with the book is that Weber – on two occasions – allows his sentimentality get in the way of what would represent a tragic but relate-able outcome.  In the wake of two truly devastating episodes – one being the RMN’s defense of the Hypatia system and the second being the destruction of the orbital platforms around Beowulf – calamities that resulted in almost no survivors – Weber allows for a small number of critical characters to miraculously come through alive.  I would have made allowances for this once – and I have to admit that the survival of three pivotal characters in the wake of the Beowulf disaster is critical to the ending that Honor delivers and that delivers her – but twice is just too much.  He just should have let Hypatia stand as the tragically heroic episode that it was without the unnecessary miracle.

That, however, is a pretty minor criticism.  In almost every other aspect, this book is a fitting and truly rewarding final chapter in Honor’s story.  While Weber isn’t done with the Honorverse – there are still battles to be fought – Honor’s part of this story is largely over.  In his Afterword, Weber makes it clear that, while Honor may occasionally make an appearance or serve as a presence lurking in the background, she’ll be stepping out of the story and passing her torch onto a new generation.  I’m truly sad to know that she’ll no longer be there as a defining presence but I’m ready – after all she’s done, all the sacrifices she’s made, all the losses she’s endured – to grant her a very well deserved exit from the crucible of combat and give her the chance to spend time with her husband and her children.  I’ll also look forward to seeing those children grow into RMN officers in their own right and to enjoying a chance to experience their part in finally, once and for all, ending the threats posed to the Star Kingdom of Manticore.