We’re back in the “main series” to discuss the eleventh novel entitled “At All Costs”. While this is the eleventh of fourteen novels in this set of books, we’re only about halfway through all the complete Honorverse content, so if you’re enjoying the podcast don’t worry, there’s lots more to come!
The timeframe for this novel continues to overlap the previous several, but only some of the events we saw in “The Shadow of Saganami”. Again, there’s plenty of new content here and the events we’ve seen before aren’t just rehashes as David Weber continues to bring us a fuller understanding of very central events that are critical to the entire Honorverse. With so many threads of storyline happening on such a large scale, this was really the only way David could truly and effectively fill in the incredible amount of richness needed for us to see just how complex what we’re seeing (and will see) actually are. You’re not going to get bored, so fasten your seatbelts and get ready for the ride.
The title says it all. We’re witnessing the climax of the Manticoran – Havenite War. With a momentary pause in the fighting where peace talks might have happened, a series of truly unfortunate circumstances result in both sides resuming combat operations with a ferocity that can only represent conducting warfare in a manner that the victory will come at all costs to one side or the other.
What we see confirmed in this book is the previous appearance of a somewhat mysterious third party that’s been involved in the war—a party that isn’t Manticore or Haven, or one of their allies: the Alignment. We definitely have some idea who it is, but what we know appears to only scratch the surface. The Alignment has its own selfish interests and agenda on the universal stage, and it wants to see Manticore and Haven continue to attrit each other’s militaries and economies down to a level that leaves them ineffective to deal with anything else to a great degree. Then, this mysterious Alignment would presumably be able to operate relatively freely and maybe openly, unopposed by either of these primary star nations. When they sabotage the intended peace talks, war resumes and it resumes on an incredible scale and with stunning violence. We watch what is described as the largest naval battle in history. When the story ends, we see both Haven and Manticore having lost the preponderance of their navies, with Manticore only effectively retaining 8th Fleet under the command of Admiral Honor Harrington. The stage is set at the end of the novel for the Alignment to become more fully known and begin to take advantage of the new “international” political and military landscape.
We rated “At All Costs” with a 5, a 5 and another 5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of a perfect 5 from your hosts.
As always, we truly appreciate the support of everyone who takes the time to wander through the Honorverse with us. Special thanks for those of you who like and/or comment on our posts, and even reach out and send us a note.
Next, we’re going to return to the Saganami Island series to read and discuss book two: “Storm from the Shadows”. It’s going to continue this wild ride we’re on, so grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again next time!
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!