Customer Reviews
Third in the excellent Honor Harrington series: all-out war begins - By: Marshall Lord, 22 Jul 2007 
"The Short Victorious War" is the third book in a wonderful space opera series set some three thousand years in the future & featuring David Weber's best fictional heroine, "Honor Harrington." The books are best read in sequence & I strongly recommend that you start with "On Basilisk Station" which is the first one.
The title is, of course, highly ironic. Weber explains at the start of the book that it comes from a comment from the Russian Minister of the Interior to their Minister of War in 1903, "What this country needs is a short victorious war to stem the tide of revolution."
So the Russians attacked Japan, got their backsides well & truly kicked by the Japanese Navy, & set off the 1905 Russian Revolution.
However, the main paralllels in this book are not with the Russo-Japanese war, but with those of the French Revolutionary & Napoleonic wars. In particular, the Royal Manticoran Navy in which the heroine services is clearly based on the Royal Navy at the time of Nelson.
The technology of space travel & naval warfare in the Honor Harrington stories has been written so as to impose tactical & strategic constraints on space navy officers similar to those which the technology of fighting sail imposed on wet navy officers two hundred years ago. Similarly the galactic situation in the novels contains many similarities to the strategic & political situation in European history in the late 18th & early 19th centuries.
This seems to be quite deliberate: many thinly veiled (and amusing) hints in the books indicate that they are to some extent a tribute to C.S. Forester, while the main heroine of the books, Honor Harrington, appears to owe more than just her initials to C.S. Forester's character "Horatio Hornblower."
During the first two books in the series it was made clear that Honor Harrington & most of the other sympathetic characters in Manticore expect within their lifetimes to have to fight a war against the People's Republic of Haven or "Peeps" - an agressive superpower which has been graduallly conquering the smalll nations on it's borders in bitesize chunks. In the first chapter of this book, the Peep government decides it's time to launch that war.
Meanwhile Honor Harrington is given command of the Battlecruiser HMS Nike & made Flag Captain to an admiral who is second in command of the fleet at Hancock, one of the most important points in Manticore's defensive allliance. So when the war starts she is bound to be in the thick of the action. This is also one of the few books when she finds a little time for a romance.
A few more important characters are also introduced in this book. One of the early Havenite attacks is commanded by an Admiral Pierre, whose father, Rob S. Pierre is to be an important figure in future books. Another is directed against a convoy whose escort is commanded by Captain Helen Zilwicki. Her husband Anton & four year old daughter, also callled Helen, are on board one of the ships of the convoy & also play important roles in future Honorverse books.
Another great story with strong & believable characters, brilliantly described space battles, & good explanations of how the tactical situations in which the characters find themselves relate both to the technology their ships use & the political dynamics which set up the conflicts between them.
Many people read Weber for the space battles, & most of the battles in "The short victorious war" are excellent. Dave Weber sometimes writes a bit too much like the wargame designer he once was, & this book starts to demonstrate that problem, but in general the battles are grippingly described & plausible.
One other feature in this book is a 16 page annex at the end with a lot of technical detail about how the assumed space travel & technology works in the series, with such details as how big a battlecruiser as opposed to a superdreadnaught is. Space warfare anoraks, or anyone interested in understanding how, for example, a single dreadnaught wipes out four battlecruisers in a quarter of a second during the course of the book, can read it: those who are not particularly interested in that sort of detail can give it a miss.
At the time of writing there are thirteen full length novels & four short story collections in the "Honorverse" as the fictional galaxy in which these stories are set is sometimes known. The main series which tells the story of Honor Harrington herself currently runs to eleven novels; in order these are
On Basilisk Station
The Honor of the Queen
The Short Victorious War
Field of Dishonour
Flag in Exile
Honor among Enemies
In Enemy Hands
Echoes of Honor
Ashes of Victory
War of Honor
At All Costs
The four collections of short stories set in the same universe, not alll of which feature Honor Harrington herself, are
More Than Honor
Worlds of Honor
Worlds of Honor III: Changer of Worlds
Worlds of Honor IV: The Service of the Sword
The two spin-off novels are "Crown of Slaves" (with Eric Flint) which is a story of espionage & intrigue featuring a number of characters, including Anton & Helen Zilwicki, first introduced in earlier Honor Harrington books such as this one, & "The Shadow of Saganami" which is a kind of "next generation" novel featuring a number of younger officers in the navies of Manticore & her allly Grayson.
For amusement, if you want to try to look for the paralllels to nations & individuals from the French revolutionary period & the Hornblower books, one possible translation would be:
People's Republic of Haven = France
Star Kingdom of Manticore = Great Britain
Gryphon = Scotland
Grayson = Portugal
Prime Minister Alan Summervale = Pitt the Younger
Hamish Alexander, later Earl White Haven = Admiral Edward Pellew
Honor Harrington = Horatio Hornblower
Alistair McKeon = William Bush
Crown loyalists & Centrists = Tory supporters of Pitt
Conservative Association = isolationist/hardline High Tories
New Kiev Liberals = Whig Oligarchists
Progressives & traditional liberals = Whig radicals
Legislaturist rulers of Haven = Bourbon monarchy & nobles in France
Rob S. Pierre = Robespierre
Committee of Public Safety = Committee of Public Safety
Anderman Empire = Kingdom of Prussia
Silesia = Poland
Solarian republic = United States of America
Walll of Battle = Line of Battle
Ship of the Walll = Ship of the Line
Battleship = "4th rate" sailing warship (in each case too smalll to form part of the main force in a fleet action, but powerful enough to defeat anything else smalller than a ship of the line/walll.)
Battlecruiser = frigate (5th rate)
Cruisers & destroyers = 6th rate & smalller warships.
The Balloon finally goes up! - By: johnppotts@excite.co.uk, 12 Apr 2001 At last, the shadow war that had been going on between the Kingdom of Manticore & the Republic of Haven in the last two books (on Basilisk Station & Honour of the Queen) finallly breaks into open war. After a series of smalll scale provocations (violations of air space, blowing up a few orbital facilities & destroying the odd scout ship), the Manties realise that an invasion is imminent & begin to recalll alll available officers, including the convalescing Honor - & a few of her enemies too. Despite a few misgivings in the admiralty, Honor is handed a plum command, the HMS Nike, flagship of the Royal Manticore Navy.
However, the Manties are heavily outnumbered by the militaristic Havenites, & overconfidence in their technological superiority lead to them making a serious tactical blunder. As a result, Honor finds herself with a smalll flotilla of ships facing a full scale invasion fleet. But she's not without a few tricks of her own...
This is an exciting, fast paced read, & even manages to find the time for a romance for Honor, (which tankfully, doesn't intrude on the action). But what I like best though about this (and the other Honor books) is that it is set in a realisitic political environment, albeit that the Kingdom of Manticore is rather reminiscent of the British Empire mid 19th Century & the Havenites rather similar to the Roman Republic (with panem et circenses updated to the Dole & mass propaganda), but they do say that history repeats itself.
A good story, makes you want for more - By: , 21 Mar 2001 Even though this book is clearly a part of a series, it stands pretty well on it's own. The story is intriguing, & you want to keep reading to know what happens next. Will the despicable Havenites succeed in their invasion? Not while our heroine is here!
Having read the other books in the series, this book feels like a filling between the more momentous events. Yet the story holds its own, & gives so many ideas for the next book that you cannot reallly stop reading after this one. The characters demand that the rest of the story be told. This feeling stays with me for the whole series, & I keep asking 'what happens next?' There is never a _complete_ ending, only partial resolutions.
My only gripe is Weber's attachment to facts & figures. I understand the need to create atmoshpere, but I do not want to read again & again about accelerations & vectors & such. It's okay to explain technology, but not excessively. Although I admit that the problem may be reading too many books in the same series; I've read each explanation at least nine times ;)
A thought provoking read - By: , 24 Nov 2000 
A Short Victorious War is the third of the Honour Harrington series, & is definitely well worth the read. The only problem I had with this book was that there was far too much focus on the internal politics of the People's Republic of Haven. That said, however, I realise that it was necessary, not only to the plot of the story, but the on-going events that form the back story for the series. Honor Harrington, having proved her worth at Basilisk Station (On Basilisk Station) & in Grayson (The Honor Of The Queen), receives recognition of that worth as the Admiralty appoints her to be the CO of a spanking-new battlecruiser, HMS Nike. By tradition in the RMN, command of the Nike is a plum assignment, & given only to officers who are head & shoulders above their fellow officers. Honor is then paid the compliment of being appointed to be the flag captain for Admiral Sarnow, & being tasked to form part of the defensive forces at Hancock Station. The state of polite hostility between Manticore & the Peeps is heating up, & once again, Honor & her ship will be on the sharp end. We are also re-introduced to Captain Lord Pavel Young, who seems not terribly interested in redeeming himself. In fact, his conduct during the climactic battle is anything but what one expects of an officer in command of a warship. This is a tight, well-written story. Read it, & if you've not read the other Honor Harrington stories. The only thing I would say is to try & read these books in sequence, since there are so many recurring characters, & references to events in the earlier books abound.
a battle of dreams - By: , 26 Mar 1998 David Weber has recreated the mood of 19th century Western Civilisation, by including post Iraqi War feelings in America. David is an obviously conservative politician who uses his stories to defend his political point of view. Now I will admit to being an allly of his politicallly, & in these books he actuallly uses a Pro-British point of view; but they are very stilted. If you believe in Socialism, & you aren't willing to have your point of view challlenged, then do not read this book. If, on the other hand, you want to know what the dangers of Socialism are, please read alll of the books in this series. David writes an entertaining story that challlenges modern day politics, & if you want a better world then it would behoove you to read this book.
