Harrington back in spotlight with ‘Mission’

“Mission of Honor,” by David Weber, Baen Books, 2010, 864 pages, $27

Honor Harrington’s adventures have entertained science fiction readers for 17 years. David Weber — with friends — has related the exploits of Harrington and her friends and enemies through 16 novels and four short-story collections.

Since “At All Costs” appeared however, Harrington has played a supporting rather than a starring role in the stories.

She’s a victim of her own success. Now an admiral and senior government adviser, this limits opportunities to fight the desperate actions that serve as Weber’s trademark.

Weber started two sideline series with a new crop of characters to queue up a new challenge worthy of Harrington’s attention. Four novels and five years later, these sidelines reconverge with the Honorverse mainline. In “Mission of Honor” Honor Harrington is placed front and center.

The story picks up where “At All Costs” ends. The Star Empire of Manticore decisively defeated The Republic of Haven’s fleet at the Battle of Manticore but now must establish a lasting peace — not just a pause before resuming hostilities.

Reluctant to impose a Carthaginian solution, Elizabeth Winton, Queen of Manticore, dispatches Harrington to Haven’s capitol, New Paris, to negotiate the peace.

Harrington embraces the task. She believes that Haven was maneuvered into resuming its war against Manticore by a third party, intent on keeping the two star nations busy fighting each other.

Who is pulling the strings leading to war, and why? The who — Mesa and the genetic slavers of Manpower Inc. — was revealed in a previous novel. Two intelligence agents — one each from Haven and Manticore — jointly uncovered the plot, but “Mission of Honor” peels the onion to reveal the whys.

Meanwhile, as Harrington is off negotiating peace, Manticore faces a new war. The enemy is the Solarian League. Made up of the core human worlds, including Earth, the league can be thought of as the European Union on steroids. It is less a star nation than a conglomeration of planets run by an unmanageable bureaucracy.

Yet the Solarian League contains the majority of humans in the galaxy and is widely viewed as unbeatable. Manticore can win the initial battles, but in a war of attrition, it will be overwhelmed.

Whether you’re a longtime Honor Harrington fan or just discovering the series you will find “Mission of Honor” absorbing from the first page to the last. Indeed, David Weber’s last page contains the most satisfying ending in the entire series.

Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, amateur historian and model-maker, lives in League City.