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War Maid's Choice (War God #4)

3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 · rating details · 443 ratings · 46 reviews

Bahzell of the Hradani is back! Exciting fantasy adventure by the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of the Honor Harrington series.In Wind Rider’s Oath, Bahzell became a wind rider—the first hradani wind rider in history. And, even if Bahzell is the War God’s champion, because the wind riders are the elite of the elite among the Sothoii, Bahzell’s ascension i...more

Hardcover, 598 pages

Published July 3rd 2012 by Baen (first published July 1st 2012)

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Feb 05, 2013 Jkweld rated it 2 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoy the War God series, and Weber was obviously thrilled to be back with some old and beloved characters again.

Unfortunately, he was more interested in the lives and patterns of old than he was in telling a new story. There were no surprises in this book, far too much foreshadowing and a lot of missed opportunities to develop and bring to the forefront some previously background characters.

The first two books progressed, advancing the story and expanding the world while ratcheting...more

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Aug 09, 2012 Mike rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, reviewed, military-fantasy, military-fiction

David Weber is a frustrating author for me to read. He has developed over the years a need to bloat, to pad, to use a thousand words to describe something when ten would. Or, if it was there in the beginning of his writing career, I over looked it when I first started reading him long long ago.

Somewhere in the reading of his books I think to myself, no more, never again will I read him. He has slowly driven me from his series. I've read my last Honor Harrington book - holding out longer than man...more David Weber is a frustrating author for me to read. He has developed over the years a need to bloat, to pad, to use a thousand words to describe something when ten would. Or, if it was there in the beginning of his writing career, I over looked it when I first started reading him long long ago.

Somewhere in the reading of his books I think to myself, no more, never again will I read him. He has slowly driven me from his series. I've read my last Honor Harrington book - holding out longer than many others. I've read my last Safehold book. Maybe. Probably. The bloat finally overwhelmed me in that one. I keep saying to myself that I'm done with Weber, but he keeps doing stuff that brings me back. I do not recall the order now, but several books back I was done with Weber. Then he released his next Honor book and I had to read it. Then he released his next Safehold book, and I had to read it. Then an extended version of his short work involving Stephanie Harrington. And I had to read that one as well. There, at least, finally, I found something worthwhile. Probably because he wrote it and released it as a young adult book. Maybe. That or the story was good enough to get past the massive overuse of words. Well, I figured I was done with Weber except maybe for his next Stephanie Harrington book. He kept releasing things in series I previously enjoyed, so I'd give him another chance. Which lead to War Maid's Choice. I rather enjoyed the previous books in this fantasy series.

The bloat? The need to write every bloody person’s thoughts, including parts where the person told himself to stop it? Yes, it was there. So tired of internal conversations. So tired of people berating themselves internally. bah. Ok, the book worked well enough for me to give it 3.4 out of 5 stars. Mostly the ending pulled the rating up. But I'm done with this series as well.

I'll probably get pulled into another Weber book; there are other series he wrote that I enjoyed. He could release something in one of those series. Entice me back. Though, in those series, he had a co-writer, just like his next Stephanie Harrington book has a listed co-writer. The bloat does seem to happen more often in his solo work. So I'm probably done with Weber as a solo author. Maybe. I should probably note somewhere that David Weber had, at some point, been on my list as a favorite author. It's the reason I keep giving him another chance, though he has long since fallen off the favorite author list.

Right. I would only recommend this book to those who previously read and enjoyed the series. Otherwise I'd advise to steer clear.(less)

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Mar 07, 2012 Jeremy Preacher rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

(This is a review of the ARC. Spoilers to follow.)

War Maid's Choice was... fine, I suppose. It does a lot of things that Wind Rider's Oath did, and in much the same ways. The one really notable thing it did was widen the scope of the series - we've gotten mutterings that something is going down, but now we get to see some pretty broad hints as to what it actually is.

My main problem is, of course, that the hints are so broad, and so obvious, that they're almost insulting. And what they're hinting...more

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Feb 25, 2013 Biffbolt rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

If I could, I'd give this book two ratings. The first two-thirds would rate a 1/5, whilst the final battle sequence(s), filling the final third of the book would get a 4/5.

I'm not sure whether it is a matter that David Weber's bad habits as a writer have worsened over the years, or whether my tolerance for them has diminished, but I think this book was the final straw for me. Whilst he is still capable of writing gripping action scenes and creating characters that you care about, by now the bagg...more If I could, I'd give this book two ratings. The first two-thirds would rate a 1/5, whilst the final battle sequence(s), filling the final third of the book would get a 4/5.

I'm not sure whether it is a matter that David Weber's bad habits as a writer have worsened over the years, or whether my tolerance for them has diminished, but I think this book was the final straw for me. Whilst he is still capable of writing gripping action scenes and creating characters that you care about, by now the baggage overwhelms the good stuff.

The biggest problem I have is that first two-thirds of the book is little more than an extended infodump. Initially, a great deal of pages are wasted while the book cycles through the stable of villains and protagonists, with all concerned filling in the reader on the background for the current book by reminiscing about the key events in their lives (particularly since the events of the prior book) that led up to the current situation, as well as paying due consideration as to how awesome/terrible the protagonists are, etc, etc, etc. With all the mustache twirling by the bad guys and fawning over the protagonists by the good, I was hard pressed to push on to the point where things actually started, more than 100 pages into the book.

Even there, however, the pacing was atrocious. A plot development would take place, and then the next chapter or so would consist of various groups of people considering or discussing that development at interminable length. There was more talking in this book than in most soap operas. Were all this discussion necessary to the plot, it wouldn't be so bad but way too much is extraneous. I don't need to read about how the villains feel about the latest development, I want Weber to show me their response instead! Alas show, don't tell is not a lesson to be gleaned from these pages.

(The choice about what discussions to have is also oddly made. There was one significant development that a character underwent that would have been very interesting to see how she divulged and explained it to her superior. Instead the book skipped that conversation to instead reveal how it was explained to another individual, with the superior already on-side. Moreover, thise whole segment rated only about a single page, compared to several pages discussing, say, the marriage plans of an unimportant tertiary character.)

When the major fighting started, about two thirds of the way through the book, the pacing picked up to Weber's norm, and most of the unecessary exposition disappeared or was reduced to manageable levels, but by then it was way too late. I would never have pushed through to this point had this been my first Weber novel, and as it is I think it will be my last, nevermind that I valued many of his older works enough to have more than a dozen of them in my collection.
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Aug 13, 2012 Jacob Proffitt rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

So here's the thing, I love David Weber's War God series. I reread all three books every year or so, even though I know that, objectively, they're not really that well written. I like the idealized fight between good and evil and that Bahzell kicks butt for justice while bantering with his friends. It's total wish-fulfillment fantasy but it just happens to be my favorite wish.

I noticed in the last book, Wind Rider's Oath, that some of my least-favorite of Weber's weaknesses seemed to be growing....more

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Jul 18, 2012 Jeffrey rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, read-in-2012

Weber's bloated War Maid’s Choice, the latest novel in his Oath of Swords series, is another bad addition to his oeuvre. Oath of Swords, which I recommend, was great light fantasy. Nothing too complicated. Great character, great concept. Each book in this series has gotten progressively worse as Weber has taken the simple fantasy action more seriously.

War Maid’s Choice has the makings of a decent story about vengeful evil gods and even a romance, but in order to find it, you will need to wade th...more Weber's bloated War Maid’s Choice, the latest novel in his Oath of Swords series, is another bad addition to his oeuvre. Oath of Swords, which I recommend, was great light fantasy. Nothing too complicated. Great character, great concept. Each book in this series has gotten progressively worse as Weber has taken the simple fantasy action more seriously.

War Maid’s Choice has the makings of a decent story about vengeful evil gods and even a romance, but in order to find it, you will need to wade through 100’s of pages of info bloat and unnecessary information. Essentially, Weber spends hundreds of pages detailing that the evil gods and their magical minions want to kill Bazhell because its important in a confrontation between the gods. In fact, Weber spends a Clancylike 400 pages before the novel finally kicks into high gear. It’s a journey that only Weber's most devoted fans should make.

Basically, the story is pretty simple. Weber's Prince Bahzell is a Horse Stealing Hradni, a member of a group of giant barbarian warriors, who for years have terrorized this world because of the Rage, a berserker fit that made them excellent warriors, but made them lose sense. Bazhell was finally able to bring some control to his people, when he became a mystical champion of the god Tomanak in earlier books in this series. Bazhell and his father have now led the Hrandi into an alliance with their hereditary enemies, the human Sothoii. In addition, Bazhell has also befriended the dwarves, who are expert rock workers. The Hrandi, the dwarves and the Sothoii are joining together to build a giant project that will enhance commerce between their people. There is the making of a huge alliance between the Sothoii and Hrandi and a confederation between the various Hrandi people. It does not bode well for the evil gods.

The Evil God Phrobus, the enemy of his brother god Tomanak, needs to conquer this world, but cannot work directly in the mortal plane. Phrobus enlists his daughter Carnadosa’s wizards to aid in destroying Bazhell and stopping the alliance in its tracks. Carnadosa’s wizards plan an attack on the alliance by going after the King of the Sothoii with a traitorous Sothoii nobel and Phrobus goes after Bazhell and the other champions of Tormanak with demons. Meanwhile Leeana Hanathafressa, a war maid of Sothoii, plots her own campaign – she wants Bazhell and she is prepared to risk it all to win his heart. A little romance, evil Wizards, nefarious plots, traitorous nobles and battle scenes. It could have been a good 300 page novel. Too bad this novel is 600 pages.
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Jun 09, 2013 QS rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, own, e-book, series

This book. Oh my god, this book. I didn't hate it. I want to get that out of the way right now, because I promise I didn't. There are good things to say about it! I'm just not going to say them.

Because where the HELL is Kaeritha throughout this entire monstrosity? Why build up her relationship with Bahzell so strongly in the last book only to drop her so completely in this book that we have literally no idea what she's doing or where she is? And what is up with Stormy switching hands? Weber, bel...more

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Jul 30, 2012 Sheri Nanny rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another David Weber, with lots of discussion of strategy based on details of weapons and situational placements of troops. However, he did not get too carried away where I had to finally skip ahead a few pages to get back to the plot like I did in the Honor Harrington series(though I read every one). Once I got over, again, the extremely long names that were a little too similar to each other and could chop them into recognizable names, I really like this book. I have read several of the previou...more

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Apr 22, 2013 Jen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed-books

Like the other Bahzell books, this was a fun read. They are light fantasy written with verve and a certain degree of sparkle.

However, War Maid's Choice was about three hundred pages too long. The action and plot could have been fitted into half the number of pages by cutting out lots of little vignettes of characters telling each other how they felt about events or third parties. Too often, the pace was broken up by yet another scene of people discussing events or people over drinks or chess, or...more Like the other Bahzell books, this was a fun read. They are light fantasy written with verve and a certain degree of sparkle.

However, War Maid's Choice was about three hundred pages too long. The action and plot could have been fitted into half the number of pages by cutting out lots of little vignettes of characters telling each other how they felt about events or third parties. Too often, the pace was broken up by yet another scene of people discussing events or people over drinks or chess, or whatever.

And the wit... I have never read a book where every single character is so ****ed witty. None of them can say anything straight out; they've all got this ironic understatement thing going, and after a while it made me want to scream. Not that I have any objection to ironic understatement itself - but every single character seemed to be doing it, and not only that, they all used the same phrases. It made a lot of the characters seem a bit interchangeable, so it was hard to really care about anyone but the main characters.

Other reviewers have commented that they didn't like the scenes where we found out what the Bad Guys were doing - actually, I like that. Done well, it's a way of ratcheting up the tension - the reader knows what's about to hit the oblivious Good Guys. The problem this time (apart from too much bright chit-chat) was that there just wasn't enough plot to go around. In Weber's Honor Harrington books, this works (although those, too, suffer lately from too much witty repartee) because the Honor books have a galactic scale and a cast to match, built up over well over ten books. Weber seems to be trying to do the cast-of-thousands thing with the Bahzell books, and it just doesn't work because we haven't been given the time to get to know all the characters. We get lots and lots of names thrown at us (at least three with semi-pronounceable names beginning with Y) and it's actually quite difficult to keep them all straight because we don't know any of them. And I like books with a big canvas.

Other reviewers have commented on the handling of the romance, and there I agree. Although you can spot it coming, once it arrives, it's all sorted out in a few pages. It would have been nice to have the course of true love not running quite so smoothly. More could have been made of it, given who the principals were - there's plenty of scope. But it was pretty much skipped over, in a sort of blink-and-you-missed it way.

Another problem with the broken narrative was that - oddly enough, given nearly 600 pages - stuff got missed out. An important character just showed up. No clues as to where he'd been or what he'd been doing. We just didn't stay with anyone long enough to really get to know what their plans were. Just as you start to get comfortable with one set of characters, zip, you're somewhere else, like someone flipping channels on the TV.

There's obviously going to be at least one more book in the series, and yes, I will probably read it. Despite all its faults, this was fun, and fun's important in life. I just hope that the next book in the series is a bit tighter.(less)

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Jul 23, 2012 Sue rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-reads

I enjoyed the previous books, there is great humour and good action in them, so was really looking forward to catching up with the characters.
I was disappointed in this book, the characters we've grown to love were almost cameos in the story (I think Brandark got 2-3 appearances), Wencit appeared went 'boo' and disappeared as quickly.
There was far too much politics in the book, to the disadvantage of the story, every noble man and minor character seemed to be up to some plotting and we had to si...more

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Feb 11, 2012 Liviu rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012_release_read, genre-fantasy, read_2012, review_fbc, t2_recommended_2012

The best Bazhell by far and finally a "real" ie great Weber fantasy novel as i have been accustomed in most all his sf. Will have a full rv closer to pub date in July, and I will just note that I finally became interested in Bazhell, Leanna, Brandark and Wencit's adventures. All the trademark stuff of DW is present for once (the scheming villains, nefarious plots, heroes trying to save the day in the last minute, brutal battles with lots of casualties including of main characters...) and the pre...more

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Aug 18, 2012 Jeffrey rated it 3 of 5 stars

Getting annoyed that only the last 100 pages or so of David Weber's books engage this reader. This reader has read most of what Weber has written in English. This reader reads them as they are released and this series hasn't had a book in a while. So while the author makes no attempt to give the reader a recap, the author keeps referring to events in the past books and this is frustrating, to put it mildly.
This book ends with just enough of a tease to make sure that when the next book comes out,...more

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May 25, 2013 Chris rated it 3 of 5 stars

I felt like I was being baited when the book started with poisonous green lightning on an endless plain. Weber toned it down but even the crazy evil gods acknowledge fairness in their fights. I wish I could say this was Weber flushing it all out in a low-value venue, but I know his other books are going to be just as noble/mushy/ennobling as always. The heroes are all mighty, large, noble, and fearless.

The dumb bad guys somehow don't know they're the bad guys, even when they are plotting treason...more

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Aug 10, 2012 Wildrose VuVu Magoo rated it 3 of 5 stars

I liked this book. It was a good, light read. David Weber's books are always engaging. However... I had a few issues. I was really hoping the main enemy diety would have more interesting minions, minions the good side could respect. Instead, we get more mindless evil. Leaving that aside, I was severely disappointed by what happened to some of the other bad guys. Maybe it's just me, but I get fond of recurring villains. I am sad when they're snuffed out so quickly. I'll keep reading the books bec...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Noel rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 07, 2012 Amber rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

This book is not one that can be read out of order. Some series you can get away with that, this would not be one of that type. I love Weber, but I can see where some would not like his verboseness. I would say that if you have read his scifi and didn't like it, you might still want to give his fantasy a try.
I rated this book as high as I did because I have been waiting and waiting for my OTP to finally get together. If I weren't as invested in the pairing I probably would have knocked a star o...more

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Jul 14, 2012 Julia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-series

Classic good-vs-evil. I had read and enjoyed the prior books in the series, but I would not recommend this one as a starting place. Many of the characters were introduced and developed in the previous books and were mentioned here without further description or character development.

There are a number of story lines, but the only one that I really enjoyed was Leeana's (the war maid of the title).

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Jan 03, 2013 Lucy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, library-book

I've liked much about David Weber's books, but they've been going gradually downhill. I've stopped reading the Honor Harrington books because of some of the same reasons I'm less than pleased with this latest book: far too much attention paid to the villains, giving them too many pages for their evil plotting and self-justifications. I just don't find them all that interesting.

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May 14, 2013 Will rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audible, fantasy

Much better than the 3rd book in the series. Actually has some action in the first third of this book. Although I gave it 4 stars, it is more 3 1/2. The action was much better this book than last, but the continued complexity of explaining all of the different plot possibilities over and over versus letting the story play out was a bit much. And the lead character is slowly becoming less and less of the focus. I want the first book again!

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Nov 13, 2012 Barbara rated it 3 of 5 stars

David Weber is one of those authors who never should have gotten so popular that his editors are afraid to do their jobs. The more popular one of his series gets the more overly verbose it becomes. I could see the signs in Wind Rider's Oath, but this one is over the top. Unfortunate. This is the only series by Weber that I still enjoyed.

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Feb 14, 2012 Alex Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars

Not sure why, but I didn't enjoy this as much as the earlier Bahzell books. It was slow to start, now this might just be because it's a couple of years since I read the last book, and it therefore took me a while to get into it. However, it really picked up towards the end and the climactic battles were tense and exciting.

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Apr 15, 2013 Jennavier rated it 4 of 5 stars

I should say in advance that I love this series. So no matter how this books turned out, I was at least going to like it. Barring a black hole where everyone dies that is. That being said, I still loved it. The beginning was dragging and confusing. The first seven chapters had seven different narrators, one of which wouldn't come up again so there was really no point. Weber spent way too much time giving us all the back story of the last few books, even stuff we could have done without. Once he...more

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Jan 23, 2013 J. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013

This was looking like another two-star book for a long time there, with lots and lots of dialogue, lots and lots of set-up, and lots of reminders of what happened in the previous three books, some of which I actually needed. Then I hit the last hundred or so pages and lost myself. The ending rocks. Can't overcome the dragging parts, but it made up for a lot.

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Jul 14, 2012 Andrzej is currently reading it

Lacks the sense of humor that was present in earlier 3 books. However it's still Bahzell, he is still fighting demon....but this time he faces more then darkness. He faces the unthinkable - young, determined Sothoii woman, iwth only one goal at her mind.

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Jul 11, 2012 Leons1701 rated it 3 of 5 stars

Not bad, but oh god the Weber infodump system is on full display. Normally I don't mind Weber's style, but it seemed more intrusive than usual here. Weber has always had a problem with "show don't tell" and this book suffers from it more than most.

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Jun 23, 2012 Greg rated it 4 of 5 stars

A fine fourth book in the series. If you enjoyed the earlier books you'll enjoy this one with some earlier story lines picked up and taken to a new stage. Comes to a satisfying ending where more books can follow.

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Nov 04, 2012 Loki rated it 2 of 5 stars

I wanted to like this work, as I inherited several other from my mother and have loved them. Unfortunately, the author has a tendency towards "padding". There’s really no need for a half page of nothing more than the description of a character’s shirt.

I feel my time was wasted and I wish I didn’t feel so.

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Dec 27, 2012 Brenda Wolfenbarger rated it 2 of 5 stars

I had to make myself finish this. Very formulaic. Disappointing, I love his Honor Harrington books. This series is OK, just lacks... something...

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Jul 30, 2012 Ron rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, magic

Interesting addition to an exciting series. Different twist to the boy falls for girl trope. And as always finishes with exciting battle scenes that the white hats manage to win at the last minute.

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Feb 23, 2012 Glenn Butcher rated it 4 of 5 stars

I knew exactly what I was going to get going in, and I got it.

Mikolaj: http://www.baenebooks.com/p-1591-war-... ;)

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About David Weber

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...

Books by David Weber

On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington, #1)

The Honor of the Queen (Honor Harrington, #2)

The Short Victorious War (Honor Harrington, #3)

Field of Dishonor (Honor Harrington, #4)

Honor Among Enemies (Honor Harrington, #6)

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War Maid's Choice (War God #4)

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