SPOILERS==Shadow of Victory Comments, Queries and Opinions

Indy and Abigail? hmm. don't think so myself. of course there is no-one else on the horizon for her, aside from some people suggesting the ex marine Armsman but to me that is even more unlikely that Oversteen. perhaps the astrogater from the Charles Ward. about right age and Ginger may set them up given her close ties to Niamoi and Abigail.

I'm thinking Scotty and Niomi would be an interesting match, or would it be Scotty and Ginger? hmm the more I think about Ginger could work very well. She has served with the Duchess so the Aura of having served (and survived) with Honor so often that Scotty has is at least partly negated. yes, an excellent choice for him, keep him grounded when the chief isn't around.

on the subject of Ginger, it was good/intresting/heart breaking to learn about Terekov's daughter. IF terekov is given a furry bodyguard it should be a sibling, if not the actual cat she died rescuing.

Scotty and Ginger? Always thought she and Wanderman would find some way to connect. Naomi and Scotty does seem ....right. Her hesitancy on offering opinions about subordinates and other non-physical.....risks?....suggests she needs to reflect on the subject of moral courage. Given Scotty stopped his captain from murdering a POW who was responsible for gang raping crew members that captain was ultimately responsible for, Naomi would find the relationship fulfilling.

JohnRoth wrote:

npadln" quote="JohnRoth wrote:
Some of these are not like the others. The thing about the Honorverse, the Game of Thrones series, the Wheel of Time and others is that the author thought of them as a single work that would be issued in multiple volumes.

The Barsoom series and the OZ series (past the first book) are simply stories with the same cast of characters in the same setting, but otherwise they're independent, just like Nancy Drew, Tom Swift, the Hardy Boys and too many others to remember that went to literally dozens of novels. And let's not forget Doc Savage, where the author of most of them, Lester Dent, reportedly had a placard on the wall in front of his desk titled "The Plot." Or Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poiroit, Nero Wolf and a gazillion others.

Interesting that you make that distinction. I always considered the HH books from OBS to Echoes part of a serial collection and all books after that then a single story spread out over multiple volumes (what do you call that?)

The comparison that comes to mind is the Horatio Hornblower series. That's a fictional biography where each novel has the same main character, and we see the character developing as the novels progress. This isn't the case with, for example, Tarzan or Sherlock Holmes. The characters don't develop.

Just like the first Honorverse series, most of the Horatio Hornblower novels can be read independently. The big difference is that RFC always had the conflict with Mesa and the MAlign in mind, although as a second series after Honor died at the Battle of Manticore. There was no such intent with the Horatio Hornblower series.

The second part of the Honorverse is more of a tapestry, where there are different threads in different areas. I'm not sure what to compare it to, since I haven't read either Game of Thrones or Wheel of Time, but from what I know from comments crossing my desk, these may be fair comparisons.[/quote]


The thing about the Hornblower series is that the books were written and published out of sequence. IIRC book four in the time line was the first written and published, book six was number two, book eight was number three etc. Also only the last three books were written as published.

I just put my finger on something that was bothering me....

The different rebellions in this book, such as the Polish one, would have made FANTASTIC individual parts of an anthology. Firebrand would have made an exceptional anthology story as well.

Reading a non-central character's story in entirety, knowing how things end but not how they got there, etc.. Would have allowed the full story to be told for the fans who really do love the deep backstory, while allowing more of Honor in this book.

shenick wrote:

munroburton wrote:
Earlier in the book, Harahap visited the Gamma Center. Whilst there, he was stuffed with Alignment nanotechnology, most likely including the same suicide protocols which ended Lajos Irvine's life when he started telling Cachat about the Alignment.

So interrogating Firebrand is a matter which has to be handled very delicately. And possibly with haste - Harahap himself speculated that there was a timer which would expire if he did not remain in contact with his handlers.

Granted, this time limit might provide a way of forcing Damien to cooperate. But he might not even be able to communicate that without triggering the Lajos protocol!

We had one potential source die in CoG. Also I think Zavala will do his best and utmost to preserve Harahap for as long as possible. Really interesting question is for how long Indiana and Zavala were in contact and how many live recordings there are of Firebrand 'working'.From what it seems now they just handed him over the moment Zavala contacted them. But that's for another thread.

I just hope we'll know one way or the other asap (before 2018)

His ship, which should have the refresh keys to keep his suicide switch from activating for a while, is "nearby." Which would also provide a real live streak drive. Just depends on how eager her Captain is to die for the Alignment when a Roland or three pops over the alpha wall.

"It's an onion."

[quote][ I'm not an historian, but I certainly know of no viable analogue cultural group in history that practiced an equivalent level of sociopathy and survived long in contact with other cultures as an intact entity/quote]

England!! Most intolerant group I can think of with Spain running a close second. Of course that may just be the conquest of "The New World" and taking/selling the natives into slavery. Then further trading with Africa to buy Black slaves to import into its colonies. The Forced removal of the Acadians from [the newly renamed] Nova Scotia and transport to the colonies to let nature dispose of them. I suppose it is not really genocide if they die of natural causes because of "benign neglect"
Then the conquest of the American West by England's step-children the US Government not exclusively under Andrew Jackson. And finally, the deliberate drawing of borders as the British Empire collapsed so that the new countries would be socially and politically unstable. Oops, not our fault, we were around the corner enjoying our High ea when all that ugliness broke out.
Neville Chamberlain was scapegoated for his deal with Hitler, but he had quite a bit of encouragement from the House of Lords (would be Conservative Alliance and somewhat the old Liberal Party with the Housemans). And Austrailia's treatment of the Aborigines is merely more of the same.

ChronicRder wrote:I haven't read the entire thread, but I have read the entire earc. Read further at your peril if you haven't read it all yet.


Can we please get positive traction on the story going forward? As it is, this book just seemed like a needless book designed to make quick cash and take advantage of readers. I feel really let down by this book, however well written it is.

You are, as anyone else --- and as I've said previously on this forum --- entitled to your personal opinion. You should, however, be aware, that I am seriously and sincerely pissed off by the section I've bolded above. You stated it as "just seemed like," which is a phrase often used by people fond of weasle-wording their accusations. I do not say that was your intention; I say it "just seemed like" that to me.

I have never and will never --- ever --- write a book or tell a story to "make quick cash and take advantage of readers." If that's what you genuinely think I've done in this case, then please punish me by never spending money on one of my books again.

runsforcelery wrote:

ChronicRder wrote:I haven't read the entire thread, but I have read the entire earc. Read further at your peril if you haven't read it all yet.


Can we please get positive traction on the story going forward? As it is, this book just seemed like a needless book designed to make quick cash and take advantage of readers. I feel really let down by this book, however well written it is.

You are, as anyone else --- and as I've said previously on this forum --- entitled to your personal opinion. You should, however, be aware, that I am seriously and sincerely pissed off by the section I've bolded above. You stated it as "just seemed like," which is a phrase often used by people fond of weasle-wording their accusations. I do not say that was your intention; I say it "just seemed like" that to me.

I have never and will never --- ever --- write a book or tell a story to "make quick cash and take advantage of readers." If that's what you genuinely think I've done in this case, then please punish me by never spending money on one of my books again.

This is the kind of blowback I criticized in my previous post. "Seemed like to me" aren't weasel words. Its acknowledging that he(or she) cant possibly know your intentions, no matter what you say on the forum. He is simply stating what he felt upon reading the book. I mean, its even giving you some of the benefit of the doubt. Reading the reviews, and including my own impressions, a not insignificant portion of the reader base feels the same way. I am most certainly not saying that is what the intent was, but that is response being generated by the book for a number of readers. Responses like the quoted one seriously lead me to consider the option you are giving of moving on with my readership.

ChronicRder wrote:I haven't read the entire thread, but I have read the entire earc. Read further at your peril if you haven't read it all yet.


Can we please get positive traction on the story going forward? As it is, this book just seemed like a needless book designed to make quick cash and take advantage of readers. I feel really let down by this book, however well written it is.

runsforcelery wrote:
You are, as anyone else --- and as I've said previously on this forum --- entitled to your personal opinion. You should, however, be aware, that I am seriously and sincerely pissed off by the section I've bolded above. You stated it as "just seemed like," which is a phrase often used by people fond of weasle-wording their accusations. I do not say that was your intention; I say it "just seemed like" that to me.

I have never and will never --- ever --- write a book or tell a story to "make quick cash and take advantage of readers." If that's what you genuinely think I've done in this case, then please punish me by never spending money on one of my books again.

Calth wrote:
This is the kind of blowback I criticized in my previous post. "Seemed like to me" aren't weasel words. Its acknowledging that he(or she) cant possibly know your intentions, no matter what you say on the forum. He is simply stating what he felt upon reading the book. I mean, its even giving you some of the benefit of the doubt. Reading the reviews, and including my own impressions, a not insignificant portion of the reader base feels the same way. I am most certainly not saying that is what the intent was, but that is response being generated by the book for a number of readers. Responses like the quoted one seriously lead me to consider the option you are giving of moving on with my readership.

“You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time”.” ― John Lydgate

Is it possible we are missing something?
Granted SOV does not advance the time frame by a great amount.
clearly its expands upon events both macro and character related

RFC did this for a reason by his own words.
So perhaps we are not yet seeing what it is that makes this book and its content needful.

It is very clear from RFC's comments that the larger meta story is not going to be completely wrapped up. there will be things left unsaid / undone / unanswered
I am beginning to think what we should be asking is what will the ending be