(Be sure to listen all the way through the closing credits. There may be a small surprise…)
Time is flying as we work our way through the Honorverse! Here we are on the third anthology in the Worlds of Honor set: Changer of Worlds. It was first published in January 2001, comes in at 469 pages and contains four short stories.
As with the previous anthology, the title is apt, given these stories capture key people and events at various times that truly changed the worlds we’ve grown to know and love in the Honorverse. Three of these stories were penned by David Weber and one by Eric Flint. This is significant for several reasons. Eric’s story is our first taste of what’s to come down the road. He also collaborated with David on the Crown of Slaves story arc. It’s a real treat to read what Eric wrote for us here. It definitely has us looking forward to his other contributions. (There’s more to the story behind David and Eric’s friendship. We’ll discuss this more in a future episode.)
An important note: this anthology is extremely important, if not essential, to the second half of the Honor Harrington saga, and particularly important to a full understanding of the upcoming novel War of Honor.
The anthology kicks off, and not in a slow way, with Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington, penned by David Weber himself. In this story, we join Midshipwoman Harrington as she and some of her classmates embark on what is traditionally called their “Snotty” cruise aboard the HMS War Maiden, commanded by CAPT Thomas Bachfisch. These cruises are when the Middies get to see the Navy they’ve been training for so long to serve in as commissioned officers, and for the Navy to see them and put these youngsters through a few trials of their own. Now they’re in the fleet, and not the classroom to learn.
As readers we see what goes into the formation of officer Honor Harrington about as early as possible. Along the way we see a somewhat familiar set of personalities and predispositions in those around her: toward her (and her youthful looks and her early ability to command); her reputation (through CAPT Bachfisch and an officer onboard who is friends with Pavel Young), and her treecat (with many biases and misperceptions still in place about these “pets” not often seen among the fleet), to name a few. We also get to see CAPT Bachfisch directly influence and shape what will become a part of Honor’s command philosophy as she deals with issues and problems—some small and some significant. In this one short story we see snapshots and examples of officership and leadership, command (and how it’s not formulaic or one-dimensional), and to some extent the role and place of midshipmen in the Navy.
Three “thumbs-up” from your hosts.
The second story also was written by David Weber: Changer of Worlds. This was an interesting tangent in that we get a relatively significant glimpse into the inner workings of treecat polity and inter clan relations. The events in the story take place when Samantha and Nimitz visit the Brightwater Clan. The main point of the story, at least on the surface, is to show us what appears to be the initial proposal and discussion that occurs about possibly ending the treecats’ “Great Deception” and showing the humans their true intelligence. This also involves a related discussion about establishing the first-ever treecat colony in the Harrington Steading on Grayson.
The pressing and unaddressed question related to this: what happens if/when treecats begin pairing with those who aren’t aligned with humans in the Star Kingdom? If they’re willing to consider colonies, then they must know there will eventually be contact outside of the Harrington Steading and more broadly, the Star Kingdom. The treecats know humans go to war with each other, and that some are deemed to be bad/immoral, not only by other humans, but also by treecats. We’re left to wonder how this might play out…for now.
Three more “thumbs-up” from your hosts!
The third story is From the Highlands and was written by Eric Flint. In it we see events that appear to unfold at the same time as the government on Manticore is still in flux due to the death of Prime Minister Alan Summervale. As you’ll recall, the “domestic” consequence of his death resulted in the formation of a coalition government that opposes Queen Elizabeth, and bringing what some might perceive as an abruptly reckless “end” to the war with Haven.
On its face the story is about Helen Zilwicki, daughter of RMN CAPT Anton Zilwicki and CAPT Helen Zilwicki. We were briefly introduced to these three in the novel “The Short Victorious War” when CAPT Helen Zilwicki gave her life defending a Manticoran convoy to save the lives of thousands of RMN uniformed and civilian technician and their families, including her husband and daughter. In this story, young Helen (the daughter) is abducted by a faction known as the Skrags, with the help of Manpower, Inc., and Mesa. This act of planned desperation was intended to ultimately prevent or discredit the Manticoran government (specifically Naval Intelligence, of which Anton Zilwicki is a part) that exposes the slave trade and industry, and highlights members of the Peerage who are silent participants in and beneficiaries of it. This story also sets up a future role for Countess Catherine Montaigne, suggesting she may eventually be a part of the downfall of the three key players in the current government: Baron High Ridge, Countess New Kiev and Elaine Descrois. She is ultimately the one, along with Anton Zilwicki, to successfully bring the evidence to Manticore. One thing to keep in mind: this story is the foundation for the Crown of Slaves series (also known as Wages of Sin) and Helen (the daughter) becomes a main character in the Saganami Island series. Behind the face of this story, it’s really a crossover point in that Manpower and Mesa, the associated genetic slave trade, and the Solarian League will take an increasingly important role going forward.
This was a long story, packed full of details and with deliberate ties to the main set of books in the Honor Harrington storyline, including “D”, “I” and “M” of the “DIME model we’ve talked about so much. Eric wrote the story so well that one of you hosts kept attributing it to David Weber. Again, we’ll see more from Eric as he participates in these other upcoming novels.
And you get three more “thumbs-up” from us for this story.
The fourth and final story is called Nightfall, by David Weber. Recently we saw the events that surrounded the coup on Haven and the destruction of the Octagon, the event that ultimately allowed or significantly influenced St. Just’s to establish an outright dictatorship. This short story lets us see just what happened behind the scenes, to include why ADM McQueen started her own attempted coup early. Many seem to have felt that the details of what happened should have been in the story; some have commented that this short story should have been included in the book. Regardless, we have it here and it should satisfy anyone who wants to know just what happened tactically. There isn’t really much more to say about it. It’s a quick read, and full of action.
Your hosts once again all gave “thumbs-up” to this story.
Overall, we rated the “Changer of Worlds” with 5s all the way around the table, for an overall rating of 5.
Next up: we’re reading “War of Honor”, bringing us back to the main series.
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You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you.
Now, let’s be about it!