A Rising Thunder (Honor Harrington #13)
by
David Weber
Peril and strife strike on a double front for Honor Harrington and company. After a brutal attack on the Manticoran home system, Honor Harrington and the Star Kingdom she serves battle back against a new, technologically powerful, and utterly nefarious enemy. And as if that weren’t task enough, Honor must also face down a centuries-old nemesis in the crumbling, but still m...more
Hardcover, 1st Edition, 458 pages
Published
March 6th 2012
by Baen
(first published March 1st 2012)
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Book number 13 in the Honor Harrington series and substantially shorter than the most recent volumes. Unfortunately, not much happens in this book, and much of that action that does take place, happens off camera with the reader only hearing about what happened and not actually witnessing the events. The title seems to indicate that it is a precursor to the next volume(s) but I cannot say that I am interested enough to continue. After 17 books, I’ve realized that I no longer like Harrington, I c...more
Not too sure what to say about this book. I got addicted to the Honor series a few years ago, and I do have a habit of keeping on reading a series once I have started, but sometimes you have to wonder why.
An appreciable percentage of this is devoted to different characters telling Honor how wonderful, honest, clever, morally superior, beautiful and above all how RIGHT she is about everything, and how stupid / genetically inferior anyone who opposes her is. Big yawns... When did the population of...more
An appreciable percentage of this is devoted to different characters telling Honor how wonderful, honest, clever, morally superior, beautiful and above all how RIGHT she is about everything, and how stupid / genetically inferior anyone who opposes her is. Big yawns... When did the population of...more
A Bridge To Bear Between the Manticoran Alliance and the Solarian League
“A Rising Thunder” reads like the unfinished prelude to the grand finale of the “Honor Harrington” saga; not surprisingly, it is the first half of a manuscript Weber has written already chronicling the war between the Solarian League and the Star Empire of Manticore and its allies. While this isn’t by far the best in the “Honor Harrington” series, it is not the worst, and is commendable to the extent in which Weber describes...more
“A Rising Thunder” reads like the unfinished prelude to the grand finale of the “Honor Harrington” saga; not surprisingly, it is the first half of a manuscript Weber has written already chronicling the war between the Solarian League and the Star Empire of Manticore and its allies. While this isn’t by far the best in the “Honor Harrington” series, it is not the worst, and is commendable to the extent in which Weber describes...more
I think I've finally reached my David Weber "People sit around talking and talking and talking until the part where stuff goes boom" limit. Nothing happens in this book that couldn't have happened in a tenth of the pages with a hundredth of the endless, droning, repetitive verbiage.
And the eyes -- my god, the eyes. They twinkle, they narrow, they offer insights into the soul with a crinkle, they're the goddamn full-wall windows into the soul.
All while nothing much really happens, and you'll nee...more
And the eyes -- my god, the eyes. They twinkle, they narrow, they offer insights into the soul with a crinkle, they're the goddamn full-wall windows into the soul.
All while nothing much really happens, and you'll nee...more
Thirteenth in the Honor Harrington military science fiction series revolving around Honor Harrington and the strategies required to keep the Kingdom of Manticore free.
You may want to wait and read A Rising Thunder after the next installment is published in 2013...2013??!!…'cause it is just making me nutso cuckoo to have to wait for Shadow of Freedom and find out what happens next...the pins and needles are just killin' me!!
My Take
It's a lovely tale of a corrupt government system being taken dow...more
You may want to wait and read A Rising Thunder after the next installment is published in 2013...2013??!!…'cause it is just making me nutso cuckoo to have to wait for Shadow of Freedom and find out what happens next...the pins and needles are just killin' me!!
My Take
It's a lovely tale of a corrupt government system being taken dow...more
13 books into the series and I'm done. The first several books are not too bad, if you can see beyond the main character who is the best there is at everything. At least the first few books have a somewhat tight character focus. The last several books in the series are nothing but conference room meetings with people we only know from other conference room meetings, with one utterly predictable set piece battle per book.
If you like "Space Opera" kind of stories you'll probably enjoy the first fe...more
If you like "Space Opera" kind of stories you'll probably enjoy the first fe...more
On the positive side, I can always count on a new Weber Honorverse book to grab my attention and give me a few days of plain ol' popcorn-munching fun. I can also count in them making want to go back and reread the whole series.
Unfortunately, "A Rising Thunder" is more like the bottom half of the popcorn bowl -- cooled off, not as salty, still absently enjoyable but not as satisfying as you'd want it to be.
The Honorverse is space opera, straight up -- massive space battles interspersed with scene...more
Unfortunately, "A Rising Thunder" is more like the bottom half of the popcorn bowl -- cooled off, not as salty, still absently enjoyable but not as satisfying as you'd want it to be.
The Honorverse is space opera, straight up -- massive space battles interspersed with scene...more
I think David Weber has reached the breaking point. "A Rising Thunder" is continuing a trend that I find distasteful -- the stretching of a multi-book storyline to a point where the reader no longer cares. In my opinion this book should have been condensed to maybe three chapters and put at the beginning of his next Honorverse book -- one that I hope puts an end to the whole arc.
The earlier Honorverse books were always part of a larger story, but each was a fairly self-contained . . . chapter ....more
The earlier Honorverse books were always part of a larger story, but each was a fairly self-contained . . . chapter ....more
David Weber continues to write the best space battles in the business. Unfortunately, every poor habit he has just keeps getting worse. He badly needs an editor, and we have yet another half-book. There are pages and pages of 'behind the scenes' plotting, very little of which is interesting, and very little meat. The plot then cuts out mid-book. Apparently there is a cross over novel (another in Eric Flint's Crown of Slaves series) which is supposed to take place in the middle of this novel's ti...more
I was prepared to only slightly like this book because the prior ones have been lacking and this is in the primary story arc involving Honor. I was pleasantly surprised with this volume, although Mr Weber has fallen into a pattern with lots of background characters and with the main plot spanning multiple books. We spend a fair amount of this book waiting to hear from Victor Cachat and Anton Zilwiky and their adventures in Torch of Freedom. The results of the massive attack by the Mesan alignmen...more
Read the ARC version in January 2012. I did see a small number of typos and miss-spellings. I am a long time Honor Harrington reader, so I've been reading the series since the beginning. Like other long time readers, I felt the stories later in the series are different. Honor is older and different. Weber the author has not frozen Honor chronologically, but has has her age. So it has made the stories different, because her position, role, physical fighting activities have all changed. I was feel...more
Back in the 90's one of Weber's books featured a flip-movie of an exploding spaceship in the upper-right corner. That is all anyone needs to know about his books and his qualities as a writer. Weber is a hack, but once upon a time he was a mildly entertaining hack, at least if you like -- or can stand -- two-dimensional characters, predictable plots, flabby dialog, ridiculous villians straight from the Evil League of Evil, and assorted (and generally painful) silliness when he takes a break from...more
For some reason, I still find the central character, Honor Harrington, compelling, and keep reading these. What's bothersome, however, is that David Weber does not seem to know his own strengths, nor his weaknesses. He is among the best in the business in writing battle scenes, right alongside someone like Bernard Cornwell, for example. He is also interesting in his imaginings of future technologies and the tactical situations that result from them.
Unfortunately however, these talents are littl...more
Unfortunately however, these talents are littl...more
Another great addition to the series. A lot more time is spent in the Sol system on the politics there. Weber's points on how the bureaucracy is running the system are extreme, but too believable. The ghostly hand of Manpower is in evidence & very well done.
On the downside, there is a LOT of politics without nearly the action that made the earlier novels so enjoyable, so be warned. If the growing political complexity is turning you off, this one won't make you happy. I know it got to me the...more
On the downside, there is a LOT of politics without nearly the action that made the earlier novels so enjoyable, so be warned. If the growing political complexity is turning you off, this one won't make you happy. I know it got to me the...more
When I realized that the eARC for this had come out, I (figuratively) dashed out to get my copy. I devoured it rapidly, and now I have some thoughts.
1. I liked it just fine. It moved along at a good pace, and Weber paid off his promises fairly well (to keep your precious eyes from spoilers, I shan't say anything more specific). I don't think I would say that it's my favorite installment in the series*, but it's, at the very least, adequate.
2. For a book ostensibly about Honor Harrington, there w...more
1. I liked it just fine. It moved along at a good pace, and Weber paid off his promises fairly well (to keep your precious eyes from spoilers, I shan't say anything more specific). I don't think I would say that it's my favorite installment in the series*, but it's, at the very least, adequate.
2. For a book ostensibly about Honor Harrington, there w...more
Here is a soon to not be secret about me: I love space opera. More specifically, I love the Honor Harrington series by David Weber. I have since I was 13, and I've never been able to find a way to give it up. So when I heard that there was a new addition to the much beloved Honor saga, I couldn't wait to jump on it.
I was a little disappointed, to be honest. As I read from one Amazon reviewer, it's too much exposition and not enough action. You get a few good space battles, but there's a little...more
I was a little disappointed, to be honest. As I read from one Amazon reviewer, it's too much exposition and not enough action. You get a few good space battles, but there's a little...more
If you like political intrigue and political maneuvering, this is the story for you. There is relatively little action of the space-ship battle sort in this episode of the Honor Harrington series and not very much of Honor either. This story takes us all around the universe but seems to concentrate on the actions of the handful of upper level bureaucrats who really run the Solarian League. I feel that Permanent Senior Undersecretary Kolokoltsov of the Solarian League, one of those bureaucrats, g...more
I am a David Drake, Honor Harrington fan! So I grabbed this new release the minute it appeared. I'm only half-way through this now but it has been dissapointing. I'm at page 170 and I'm still waiting for the story to start. There's endless dialog between the various characters, page after page, but the shoe hasn't dropped yet. I expect there will be a cataclysmic space battle sometime soon. Hopefully it will be done in typical David Drake "I can't put it down until I see what happens" style. But...more
This series is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. Firstly, it takes itself much too seriously considering that it prominently features a species of psychic six-legged cat. Secondly, many of the heroes are cartoonishly heroic and good. The pacing is often glacial, and the cast is bloated by interchangeable supporting characters. I often find myself rolling my eyes as yet another villain chews the scenery like an overexcited beaver.
So why do I read it? This series features the most gripping and ex...more
So why do I read it? This series features the most gripping and ex...more
A veritable snoozefest. Weber's pontificating style of long extended conversations between political leaders and military leaders knows no bounds. One has to employ the art of skipping huge swaths of the book to get to through it to the maybe makings of a good story. Except there really is no great story here. Its obvious that this book is solely designed to set the stage for more new books in this long series.
Weber needed to transition to a new enemy. This book is clearly a transitioning volume...more
Weber needed to transition to a new enemy. This book is clearly a transitioning volume...more
Now I know that the Honor Harrington series has been going on for many years and I have been a loyal reader of that series.
I was really disappointed that Honor didn't appear until about a quarter of the way of the book, but once she did, she was still the Honor that I remember.
This series has gone from from of space battles to politics, at first I wasn't happy with that change, but if you think that Honor could stay a Captain in charge of a space ship you are definitely deluding yourself and hol...more
I was really disappointed that Honor didn't appear until about a quarter of the way of the book, but once she did, she was still the Honor that I remember.
This series has gone from from of space battles to politics, at first I wasn't happy with that change, but if you think that Honor could stay a Captain in charge of a space ship you are definitely deluding yourself and hol...more
This is the 13th book in David Weber’s Honor Harrington series. When the series started, back in 1992, it was pretty easy to follow. Sequel followed sequel and each book picked up where the last left off. More recently, in 2002, Weber approved the creation of two sub-series. The result is that the plotline and scope of the “Honorverse” expanded dramatically
The first sub-series was “The Wages of Sin”, starting with Crown of Slaves, which follows book #10, War of Honor. The second sub-series was
...more
This is an ARC, e-book copy.
This book is a little unusual for Weber. No lengthy descriptions of technology or weaponry. No lengthy space battles; what confrontations do occur are averted or resolved quickly. Also, not very much Honor Harrington.
However, it's well written and engrossing as usual. And it's a logical progression in the saga of the Star Empire of Manticore and the very complex political situation of human space.
I enjoyed this book. My two complaints are:
(1) It's lack of focus on...more
This book is a little unusual for Weber. No lengthy descriptions of technology or weaponry. No lengthy space battles; what confrontations do occur are averted or resolved quickly. Also, not very much Honor Harrington.
However, it's well written and engrossing as usual. And it's a logical progression in the saga of the Star Empire of Manticore and the very complex political situation of human space.
I enjoyed this book. My two complaints are:
(1) It's lack of focus on...more
I am thankful I bought this book used, as I'm tired of funding a series that is slowly going nowhere. I have enjoyed the series and like to re-read the earlier books. It was a series of military sci-fi, but is now full of political dialogue. For nearly every event, we have the politicians discussing what they should do, doing it and then more politicians discussing what happened. And many events need several perspectives reflected in the dialogue. Where once books covered entire years, now we mu...more
My general opinion of this series could be summed up as "love the Honorverse, hate Honor Harrington." I enjoyed this book because of the great expansion of the setting, while minimizing the most annoying aspects of Harrington. See my review of At All Costs for if you want an explanation for my disdain of the Duchess.
In answer to those claiming that the book is too slow or that much of it could have been edited out, I couldn't disagree more! This is space opera. Building a universe and wandering...more
In answer to those claiming that the book is too slow or that much of it could have been edited out, I couldn't disagree more! This is space opera. Building a universe and wandering...more
Oct 30, 2012
Bill VanderGiesen
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Nobody
Recommended to Bill by:
Nobody
Shelves:
science-fiction
Unfortunately, as much as I have enjoyed David Weber and the Honor Harrington series over the years, this book was relatively boring to read. There were a few nuggets to be found, and an obvious attempt to try to bring the multiverse stories back into a comprehensive whole. Unfortunately, it really does not do that. A large portion of the book is about tertiary characters that you just can't care about. Yes, some of it is probably necessary to reach the big conclusions (in later books of course)...more
I LOVE the Honor Harrington series. About time a strong, smart female character takes political and military lead.
This book was a tiny disappointment, if only because the others have excelled all expectations. First, there were a number of copy editing errors (boo!), and the book spent more time on political development than with any people. To this point, Weber has phenomenal with his ability to balance talk on technology and politics with moments of delightfully well executed social interactio...more
This book was a tiny disappointment, if only because the others have excelled all expectations. First, there were a number of copy editing errors (boo!), and the book spent more time on political development than with any people. To this point, Weber has phenomenal with his ability to balance talk on technology and politics with moments of delightfully well executed social interactio...more
Book 13 in a series that I'm not sure WHY I like it anymore, there sure are a lot of things I don't like in them. Yet I found myself staying up past midnight both nights this weekend. I just wanted to read one more page, one more scene, one more chapter.
I think the two biggest draws to me are that I know the characters and setting, and I look forward to the "gotcha" moments that they set up against the bad guys: there's always at least one.
Yet, the characters are too numerous for many of them to...more
I think the two biggest draws to me are that I know the characters and setting, and I look forward to the "gotcha" moments that they set up against the bad guys: there's always at least one.
Yet, the characters are too numerous for many of them to...more
A pretty great book of this series. As any series this long, the story has grown from one about one person to a much broader cast of characters... The twists and turns from the last book continues in this one, setting the ground work for many more books. :)
I had a minor beef with the kindle formatting, the indent for the paragraphs was only 1 space and that made it hard to catch them as a break.
Also I'm not sure if it was due to the fact that I read the previous book as an ARC or not, but when d...more
I had a minor beef with the kindle formatting, the indent for the paragraphs was only 1 space and that made it hard to catch them as a break.
Also I'm not sure if it was due to the fact that I read the previous book as an ARC or not, but when d...more
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| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beyond Reality: A Rising Thunder - Finished Reading (SPOILERS) | 9 | 16 | Apr 03, 2013 05:57pm | |
| Beyond Reality: A Rising Thunder - Roll Call and First Impressions (NO SPOILERS) | 10 | 19 | Mar 14, 2013 10:03am |
David Mark Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1952.
Many of his stories have military, particularly naval, themes, and fit into the military science fiction genre. He frequently places female leading characters in what have been traditionally male roles.
One of his most popular and enduring characters is Honor Harrington whose alliterated name...more
More about David Weber...
Many of his stories have military, particularly naval, themes, and fit into the military science fiction genre. He frequently places female leading characters in what have been traditionally male roles.
One of his most popular and enduring characters is Honor Harrington whose alliterated name...more
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