SPOILERS: Continuity Errors — A Challenge

I don't know that this constitutes a continuity error or not, but on at least two occasions, it is mentioned that Jacob Zavala had three destroyers with him in Saltash when he took out the SLN Battlecruisers.

Shadow of Freedom is very clear that he had all FIVE of his squadron's Rolands with him at Saltash opposing the Frontier Fleets four BC's.

Normally I'd chalk this up to a typing error, but it occurs at least twice in the textex (and I think a third one, not going back to look), so I would count it as a continuity error.

I think the one continuity error that stuck out to me was that Damien Harahap was busy fomenting rebellion all over the verge but in Storm From the Shadows he found time to be on Valery Otweiler's staff in Myers.

The new book was entertaining, but oh I do wish that the timeline was advanced a wee bit more. I also kind of expected some new revelation that some characters in the book have really been working for the Alignment all along (my bet was on one or more of the Mandarins, although any members of the triumvirate in Erewhon were also a possibility).

runsforcelery wrote:I am actually a bit surprised that the people commenting on typos and other errata in the EARC haven't picked up on two major continuity errors. One of them has already been fixed; one of them hasn't . . . and won't be. The second one, which won't be fixed, was injected accidentally but I liked the scene so much that I decided I would do a little revisionist history and let it stand.

So, I now issue a formal challenge. I am not saying that these are the only continuity errors in the book. (Note: I am not saying that they aren't the only continuity errors, either.) I am simply saying that these two should have already drawn fire and I challenge my faithful readers to be the first to report these two.

There will be a prize for the first correct answer.

Well, this isn't specific to Shadows of Victory, and it MIGHT not be a continuity error, but--when Albrecht Detweiler and his sons were first introduced, it was a secret that they were his clone children.

'But whatever the rest of humanity might have thought, the Detweiler line was far from extinct. In fact, the Detweiler genome was one of the—if not the—most improved within the entire Alignment. And Albrecht Detweiler's "sons" were also his genetic clones. Bardasano, for one, he felt certain, had figured that out, despite how closely held a secret it was supposed to be. It was possible Kyprianou had, as well, given how closely he worked with Daniel. For that matter, Jerome Sandusky might cherish a few suspicions of his own, not that any of that trio was going to breathe a word of any such suspicions to anyone else.' -Storm from the Shadows, Chapter 10

But subsequent developments have shown that cloning is a pretty common thing in the Mesan alignment, e.g.

'Like a great many—indeed, the vast majority—of the alpha line pairings the Long-Range Planning Board arranged, Herlander and Harriet had been steered together because of the way their genomes complemented one another. Despite that, they'd had no children of their own yet. At fifty-seven, Herlander was still a very young man for a third-generation prolong recipient—especially one whose carefully improved body would probably have been good for at least a couple of centuries even without the artificial therapies. Harriet was a few T-years older than he was, but not enough to matter, and the two of them had been far too deeply buried in their careers to comfortably free up the amount of time required to properly rear children. They'd planned on having several biologicals of their own—all star line couples were encouraged to do that, in addition to the cloned pairings the Board produced—but they'd also planned on waiting several more years, at a minimum.' -Torch of Freedom, Chapter Six

I have trouble believing that there could be any real doubt in Bardasano's mind or anyone else's that Albrecht's sons could be his clones, since cloning yourself is apparently SOP for alphas! I suppose Albrecht's case in particular could still be a secret for some reason, but to me it looks like a continuity revision.

Okay, I just got to Chapter Forty-Eight, and the continuity error leapt out at me:

In Shadow of Freedom, Chapter Twenty-four, Ankenbrandt contacts Westman essentially at random, just because he's a large beef exporter.

“’Scuse me for asking this, Mr. Ankenbrandt, but you said somebody gave you my name because I might ‘be willing’ to sort of introduce you around. Exactly why did whoever it was seem to think I might be willing to do any such thing? And what made ’em choose me over all the other lunatics on this planet?”
“I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to either of those questions,” the purchasing agent replied. “Except for the obvious, that is.”
“Obvious?” Westman chuckled sourly. “Pardon me for saying this, but nothing about this strikes me as ‘obvious.’”
“Sorry.” Ankenbrandt smiled briefly. “What I meant was that Trifecta really is interested in exploring the market in Mobius for Montana beef. That means nobody’s going to ask any questions about my happening to meet with somebody who exports beef from Montana. Aside from that, I really don’t know why they put your name on my list of contacts.”

However, in Shadow of Victory, he was sent to speak with Westman specifically because of his involvement in the Monica situation:

“Then why did you come here?” Terekhov asked.
“Actually, what I was supposed to do when I got here was to send a prearranged, coded message on to Spindle,” Ankenbrandt said. “No one in Mobius expected Admiral Gold Peak to actually be here, in Montana, when I arrived. This information needs to get to her absolutely ASAP, and when I realized she was here, I also realized this was the best opportunity to get it delivered. And my…superiors were paying pretty close attention to the rumors coming out of the Quadrant after the Battle of Monica. They briefed me on everything they knew about it, and that suggested to me that Mister Westman here might be able to…facilitate contact with her.”
“Why not go directly to the Navy? Or to someone in the Montana system government?”
“Because my initial contact with Mister Westman could be covered by my employer’s instructions to find a source of beef here in Montana,” Ankenbrandt replied reasonably. “To be honest, I’m not fully comfortable about talking to two uniformed RMN officers in a public place, but Mister Westman insisted I had to…pass muster with you before I’d have any chance of reaching Admiral Gold Peak. Things are moving so fast in Mobius that I decided I had no choice but to take the chance.”

I have to admit that I like the Shadow of Victory version better. I'm now retconning it in my mind.

Not sure if RFC is aware of this, but in musing about the Havenite senior officers she's working with, Michelle Henke thinks of Jennifer Bellefeuille as someone who "crossed swords with Honor and lived to tell the tale", specifically in reference to Eighth Fleet's deep raids during Operation Sanskrit (::sob::).

But Honor wasn't at the Battle of Chantilly; the commanding officer of the task force involved was, in fact, Michelle herself, and I distinctly recall her being quite impressed with Jennifer's deviousness after her "Smoke and Mirrors" stunt.

...incontrovertibly obsessed with all things Havenite? Me? Well I never.

Oh I just spotted a continuity error last night while re-reading the eARC. Been such a long time lurker (since Bean Bar days) that I've forgotten my old account for this forum so just made a new one to post up my 'spot' on the 'Errors' thread.

Something to do with Paulo being in two different interstellar locations within a month... must have a streak drive in his pocket somewhere:

Chapter Sixty Six (August 1922 PD)
Paulo d'Arezzo is on Montana while in the very next scene Task Force 10.2.9 leaves Golem.

Chapter Seventy-One (September 1922 PD)
Paulo d'Arezzo now on-board the CW with TF10.2.9 in Wloclawek.

Possible continuity error: in Shadow of Freedom, Indy and Max share an apartment. (They get mugged outside of "their" apartment.) In Shadow of Victory, Max has her own place before Firebrand contacts Indy.

It's possible that they later moved in together, but given the reasons in SoV (she has her own separate persona as an IT person for the regime) it seems unlikely that doing so would have made them more secure rather than less. So, probably a continuity error.

Minor continuity error: When Tourville's flag Lt was talking to Sinnead about how he covered up Honor's escape from Tepes, she said it was two pinnaces. In actuality, Honor & crew escaped in a pair of assault shuttles, while a pinnace was sent out as a decoy.

MaxxQ wrote:Minor continuity error: When Tourville's flag Lt was talking to Sinnead about how he covered up Honor's escape from Tepes, she said it was two pinnaces. In actuality, Honor & crew escaped in a pair of assault shuttles, while a pinnace was sent out as a decoy.

We don't know how difficult is to distinguish between a assault shuttle and a pinnace. The Lt. May well have thought is was a pinnace.

fallsfromtrees wrote:

MaxxQ wrote:Minor continuity error: When Tourville's flag Lt was talking to Sinnead about how he covered up Honor's escape from Tepes, she said it was two pinnaces. In actuality, Honor & crew escaped in a pair of assault shuttles, while a pinnace was sent out as a decoy.

We don't know how difficult is to distinguish between a assault shuttle and a pinnace. The Lt. May well have thought is was a pinnace.

A Havenite assault shuttle is twice the size as a Havenite pinnace, and anyone in any navy should be able to differentiate between their own ships/small craft, even a lowly middy. Don't forget that the escapees were trying not to be noticed, so they were drifting along, and NOT under power, which means they weren't being picked up by sensors. It was a visual that Shannon and Tourville were looking at.