George J. Smith wrote:roseandheather wrote:Not to mention his execution would have quite forcefully put the kibosh on any declaration of war passing through Parliament, something which Sonja - who was keenly aware of what Haven was up to - very much wished to avoid.
I disagree heartily with several of these.
Honor was not banished from Manticore. She was simply beached. She could have lived quite nicely without having any navy role. This had happened to other naval people as well. And she had a nice role waiting for her in Grayson. Also, Beth did not really know Honor well at that point. After the fact, they became friends but not then. And Cromarty was the one who made the key decision there. Remember that his brother was in the middle of things and it was clearly a fragile coalition. It fell apart at his death.
As for Honor and the rape, a real lot of women hid all of that until fairly recently (remember that those scenes came from the 1990's). A lot of the problem was Honor's view of herself. That changed, that was part of the plot. If everything is sweet and fun, there is no story. She considered herself plain and gawky and from a yeoman family. He was from a power aristo family.
As for Hemphill and that court decision, remember that she was from the opposition group. And she at that time disliked White Haven and had issues with Harrington. And she was the one who set up the deal to get rid of him. That his father died right then and that left him with more power was hardly her fault.
Eloise holding back on things from Beth. Keep in mind that they had been at war. When Eloise found out about the betrayal, she asked for a peace meeting but it didn't happen because of the assassination stuff. When they actually met, it came out fast. And keep in mind that you don't casually give these things away in negotiations while at war.