SPOILERS==Shadow of Victory Comments, Queries and Opinions

OrlandoNative wrote:For that matter, how many can remember what Odyssyus's wife's name was, without looking it up?

adammada wrote:I'm a little bit confused here. I see complains about book not moving main line forward, questions about new book.

I assumed, that what you get is just half of the book:

http://www.baen.com/w201611-november-20 ... undle.html

So, you already got whole book?

runsforcelery wrote:

Trevin wrote:Bottom line, it is what it is, and if the disappointment is too severe for some of my readers, I'm sorry but not at all apologeitc for the story or for the quality of the storytelling.

dscott8 wrote:

OrlandoNative wrote:For that matter, how many can remember what Odyssyus's wife's name was, without looking it up?

Penelope. And I didn't look it up.

OrlandoNative wrote:Yes, and of all the folks who read this thread, it took a day for someone to come up with it.

Even with Greek mythology always having been an interesting subject.

I think you're missing the point from Albrecht's perspective.

He is an absolute, 100% certified Believer, and so is his wife. He's just authorized the deaths of thousands, and more thousands are going to be killed, to be certain the onion's membership disappears tracelessly. His survival isn't necessary to the working out of the plan that's been put into motion, and — believe it or not — he actually feels a sense of responsibility and (dare I say it?) guilt over the cost of the accelerated Houdini. He now has a fleet in-system that isn't going to let a microbe leave the planet — or the system – until it has been thoroughly inspected, and the very act of thermonuclear destruction he's about to carry out — which has to be carried out under Houdini is going to start investigators trying to figure out what got covered up and what might be trying to hide.

Under the circumstances, his actions are — in his opinion — necessary, and trying to "hide in the general population" would risk undoing the very thing he killed all those people to accomplish.

And that's why he did it.

OrlandoNative wrote:For that matter, how many can remember what Odyssyus's wife's name was, without looking it up?

dscott8 wrote:Penelope. And I didn't look it up.

OrlandoNative wrote:Yes, and of all the folks who read this thread, it took a day for someone to come up with it.

Even with Greek mythology always having been an interesting subject.

And what would be interesting to know is what all the *other* readers who didn't post would have said it was.

BobG wrote:runsforcelery wrote:

I think you're missing the point from Albrecht's perspective.

He is an absolute, 100% certified Believer, and so is his wife. He's just authorized the deaths of thousands, and more thousands are going to be killed, to be certain the onion's membership disappears tracelessly. His survival isn't necessary to the working out of the plan that's been put into motion, and — believe it or not — he actually feels a sense of responsibility and (dare I say it?) guilt over the cost of the accelerated Houdini. He now has a fleet in-system that isn't going to let a microbe leave the planet — or the system – until it has been thoroughly inspected, and the very act of thermonuclear destruction he's about to carry out — which has to be carried out under Houdini is going to start investigators trying to figure out what got covered up and what might be trying to hide.

Under the circumstances, his actions are — in his opinion — necessary, and trying to "hide in the general population" would risk undoing the very thing he killed all those people to accomplish.

And that's why he did it.

Albrecht was a sociopath of the highest order. Beyond maintaining Manpower, beyond the murder of tens of thousands of innocent individuals to cover up his actions, the murder of thousands of his own people for any reason is clearly insane, by any normal definition.

I can understand his motivation, but he, far more than Cachat, owns the title "fanatic".

If that is a result of the genetic tinkering for all of the MA, then the human race can do totally without it and them. (I wonder if Honor's mom can isolate the genes that promote that degree if fanaticism and use it as a test for MA-modified individuals?) OTOH, we know of at least 2 (or 3) members or former members of the MA that didn't feel that way, so maybe most of the non-leadership still has some humanity left in them.

I see two ramifications for the MA: first, probably minor, is that they will now be headed by a committee unless one of the sons grabs the reins - although, to be fair, committees made up of people with the same genetics and the same environments should probably disagree and scheme less than normal ones.

The more significant issue is that, since the surviving MA people are all very very smart, they should figure out that it wasn't the GA that killed them, but Albrecht. I don't know how many of them will agree with them, but I'd be surprised if a lot of them were really P.O.ed. Are they going to cull all the ones who might be angry as well? Or am I wrong, will most of them agree with Albrecht's motivation?

-- Bob G

Sharidann wrote:OK, Point taken.

And I admit that the time constraints make for many balls to Keep in the air at once.

Not knowing what Comes next, it is of Course quite difficult to decide whether the book was really needed in the Story line or not (i.e. some Nuggets of Information or some vital characters for the next book(s) are getting some needed stage time...)

Of Course, the Honorverse has grown over the years but do we need that level of detail and so many more characters to love or hate or despise or cry about ?

That being said, can you give us a minimum count of books befote the Main Story is done ? 25 years after OBS is a possibility or just a dream, as you need more than a couple of books to reach a point where you can claim, it is done ?

Thanks for taking the time to read the thread and to respond to it. I belong to those disappointed by the book, probably because I would really much know the ending,having began to read about Honor Harrington over 20 years ago.

runsforcelery wrote:

Trevin wrote:Bottom line, it is what it is, and if the disappointment is too severe for some of my readers, I'm sorry but not at all apologeitc for the story or for the quality of the storytelling.

runsforcelery wrote:I, personally, like this book a lot although I do rather resent the comparison to self indulging in a guitar solo at a concert. I wrote the story I thought --- and think --- needed writing within the in-universe time constraints that were set in stone. Now, i could have just waved my hands and said "The hell with the timing; it turns out they can get people back and forth five times as rapidly as the streak drive. Just take my word for it." But I don't do that. My characters have to live with the constraints of the technology and the transit times I gave them in the beginning. Obviously, a lot of people wish I'd done just that, and to those who do feel that way, all I can say is it's not going to happen.

This book is what I wanted it to be from the time I started actually writing on it. It may not be what I would have wanted --- and written --- if my characters' constraints had been different, but they weren't, and one reason the series as a whole works is because I refuse to just slide around those constraints. i did not "phone it in" (and, BTW, I resent the hell out of that particular implication), I did not decide to "indulge" myself (in fact, I worked my butt off to get it done, including 14-hour days. Trust me, you are not "indulging" yourself), and there was not a single scene in the book that I had cut from an earlier book and decided to just shove in to make up word count.

Bottom line, it is what it is, and if the disappointment is too severe for some of my readers, I'm sorry but not at all apologeitc for the story or for the quality of the storytelling.