Storm from the Shadows (Disciples of Honor Series #3)

Wait for the next book.

Nothing much new just a lot of words. It was all in previous books, and it should have been about 95% shorter. It would have made a good intro for the next book.
If you liked war and peace for it's Brevity, like angst (of all age groups), and character expansion, this might be the book for you. If you expect action, a decent story, and continuation of the Honorverse plot. Wait for the next book.
In short save at least one tree, and twenty hours of your valuable time.

WAIT FOR THE NEXT BOOK!

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Most Disappointing

If you liked Robert Jordan spinning out his Wheel of Time series, this might appeal to you. Very little new material in this book and all the previous books have had a conclusion. Yes they left us all wondering and wanting to know what is going to happen next but non of them ended without some sort of conclusion to that particular story. This one however does and it was most disappointing to get to the end of the book and have SO many things still unresolved. The writing style was very Weber, the way the story was handled was NOT. Knowing what I know now I'd buy the book just to keep my series up to date but I'd certainly wait for the paperback version.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

An excellent continuation of a great series

Storm from the Shadows is a sequel to The Shadow of Saganami, and as such advances the general history in the Honorverse only a little bit beyond the end of At All Costs.

I had read some reviews that said that this book ended on a cliffhanger, but I had generally dismissed those. David Weber always leaves lots of interesting things to wonder about, which makes one wait eagerly for the next book. But I was wrong. This is, even compared to a normal Weber ending, a cliffhanger.

Many times as I read a series I get less and less enchanted with the books as I go along. It seems that authors are so anxious to keep things exciting that later books often look like science fiction as it might have been written in their science fiction universe.

In the David Weber's case, and particularly in the Honorverse, while I think the situation has been escalating, it is not out of hand. I like the characterization, but even more importantly the development of cultures and backgrounds. If I were to have my choice in details, I probably would have had less conversations amongst the Manpower folks (or their even more secret higher-ups), but even that is well done provided one wants to really get involved in the universe as opposed to simply following a few characters for a story.

This book remains five out of five starts for me. There were a couple of earlier books in the series that weren't quite fives in my book, but they were still very good books, and there is no doubt that I will read every book in this series, some more than once.

Storm from the Shadows follows Michelle Henke for the most part, and she is an interesting character herself. We do see some additional pieces of Aivars Terekhov, who is definitely a character worth watching, and Admiral Khumalo has a substantial role to play. We get passing glances at Abigail Hearns and several other interesting folks we have met in previous books.

There is somewhat less fleet action and a bit more politics, but in my view, that balance can shift quite a bit through the series and I'll still be happy. I disagree with reviewers I have read who don't like the way Weber does politics. I do think he follows some improbable tracks, given his characters and background, but he doesn't go out of the realm of possibility and do things that look ridiculous within the universe he has created.

All in all, I think this is an exceptionally good continuation of an exceptionally good series.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Too Much Talk, Not Enough Action

First, I enjoy the "Honorverse" and have since the initial novel, so I'd likely buy any book in the series just to see what's happening if not to keep it complete. While Weber usually likes to have his characters explain what they are thinking and why (not bad in itself in moderation) this volume has so much exegesis and introspection that it is just plain overwhelming, and I found myself skipping large portions of the text just to get to the relatively few action sequences. One of the fundamental rules of writing, especially in action adventure series, is "show, don't tell," and that rule is blatantly unobserved here. The other problem to me was that the close of the book wasn't even a temporaty ending, and while I'm delighted that there will be more books in the series, at least there ought to be a minor bit of breathing space. Constantly starting in medias res and then constantly ending there is becoming a bit off-putting. I know that no plan survives first contact with the enemy, so preparation for unexpected events is a part of strategy as well as tactics, but give it a small break!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Nobody writes better military outer space fiction starring heroic females than David Weber has consistently done for years

The Republic of Haven and the Star Kingdom is at war and Rear Admiral Michelle Henke is in the middle of a pitched battle. On board her flagship the Ajax, Michele knows the Manticore Navy is losing the fight; she and others go to escape pods before blowing up her vessel so the technology does not fall into enemy hands. She wakes up in a Havenite medical facility before being sent to an island with other POWs. She is shocked to meet Haven President Eloise Pritchett.

Pritchett is willing to free Michelle if she agrees to no longer fight against them and if she passes on a message to Queen Elizabeth III for a summit meeting to discuss peace. After coming home, Michelle is sent to the Talbott Quadrant which is far from the war zone to patrol the newestt star systems of the Star Empire. On the planet Monica, Solarian ships were going to be used to remove Manticore from the new system, but a Manicoran captain destroyed their fleet. In the cluster New Tuscan which did not want to join the empire, they deliberately try to push the Manticorans into a war with the Solarian League. The peace talks end abruptly when the Havenites kill two high profile officials. No one understands that the Havenites, Manticorans, and the Soalarans are being cleverly maneuvered by a fourth party with plans to take over the stars once each group devastates one another.

Nobody writes better military outer space fiction starring heroic females than David Weber has consistently done for years. The protagonist is Michelle who is as honorable and courageous as Harrington is as her tale which fills in the blanks in the story arc and provides a differing perspective to AT ALL COSTS. Both are strong-willed and do what they believe is right regardless of what others might think. There is plenty of action and suspense leading up to the military engagements. Yet with so much going on, the cast is solid and most significant realistic as fans will consider whether the Weber mantle of greatness has moved the torch from Honor to Michelle proving there is life after a hero ¿falls¿.

Harriet Klausner

1 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Storm from the Shadows is up to par for this series. .

There are so many characters, plots and subplots that I sometimbs get lost among them all, especially since it is sometimes quite a while between reading the series

I've tried to get into this for 3 weeks and can't make a dent in it.

I have purchased everything David Weber has written (usually in hardcover) for the last 10 years, and this is without doubt his dreariest work ever. He's brilliant, talented and engaging when he's on his game, and while I believe that everyone owes an author a bad book once, maybe twice at most, it's two strikes and you're out for me. David, I'm sorry but this is your first strike. Now go back and work on the sequels to Off Armageddon Reef. That story is obviously where your heart is these days, and it''s certainly better than stringing the Honorverse out again.

If I only had a scintilla of this man's ability I'd rule the SF world.

Obviously a "bridge book"

This book was obviously written to fill in the background for a future "Honor" book climax. It contained too much of what I disliked in some of his other "Honor" novels: talk, talk, talk... I realize some discussion is germane to the plot, but this story was basically all talk. No action or big battle scenes. However, Mr. Weber did leave us on the edge of our respected seats waiting to see what horrendous "surprise" Manpower has for Manticore.

IT's COMING

If you want a preview go to BAEN.COM they have the first eight chapters up for reading. It will give you just enough to maybe wait until the book is out on March 3rd. From what I've already IT'S a WEBER all the way!!!

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

This is a strange request

Being a big David Weber fan I have no doubt that I will like the book when I receive it. However, as of this date, I have not received it. If you sent it perhaps you should try again.

Since I have to indicate a rating to send this I am giving it a 5 star, sight unseen, although it may turn out to be a 4 but if less that that I would be disappointed.

0 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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