Classic Book review: "Flag in Exile" by David Weber (Honorverse 5)
"This war isn't about territory any more.
"It's become a war for survival: someone - either the Star Kingdom of Manticore and its' allies, including us, or the People's Republic of Haven - is going down this time, Your Grace. For good."
From a report from the High Admiral of Grayson, Wesley Matthews, to Protector Benjamin of Grayson, at the start of this book.
(See postscript on chrononology)
Following the shattering conclusion of the private war between Honor Harrington and her lifelong enemy Lord Pavel Young as described in the book "Field of Dishonor," Honor in in disgrace in the eyes of parliament. She has been expelled from the House of Lords, and the admiralty has been forced to take away from her the command of the battlecruiser Nike, and put her on half-pay.
So she's gone to Grayson, where she as she told Admiral White Haven at the end of that previous book, she has something useful to do: she's taken up her position as a Steadholder, one of the rulers of the planet, and the first woman ever to hold that office on Grayson.
Shortly after the start of this book, she has almost finished recovering from her physical wounds when she gets a visit from High Admiral Matthews, fresh from his conversation with the ruler of Grayson at which he made the comments quoted above at the top of this review.
Honor Harrington has more experience of space combat command than any ten officers in the Grayson navy, and they desperately need experienced commanders for the new and greatly expanded fleet they are building.
While Honor remains on half-pay without a post in the Manticoran navy, Admiral Matthews asks her to accept a commission in the Grayson navy, so they can use her experience while Manticore isn't. And he has a post in mind quite a bit more important than flag captain of a battlecruiser squadron.
But while Honor has left one bunch of political enemies behind in her home system, a small but vocal minority of reactionary religious extremists on Grayson who don't approve of women holding office or serving in the armed forces are just as hostile to her on Grayson. And just as dangerous and treacherous as the late Lord Pavel Young.
Meanwhile, in the bigger picture, the war for survival with the "Peeps" - the People's Republic of Haven - grinds on, and the Peeps have not forgotten about Grayson either. Neither Honor's office as a steadholder nor her new command in the Grayson navy will be uneventful ...
This is another well-written book, with some great imagining and explanation of what a far-future war in space might look and feel like.
You can find this book on Amazon at
Flag in Exile by David Weber (Honor Harrington Book 5): Amazon.co.uk
More details of the series as a whole are given on this site at
Book Series overview: David Weber's "Honor Harrington" universe book reviews.
I can strongly recommend "Flag in Exile" and indeed the whole series.
Mitth'raw'nuruodo
P.S. A note on chronology.
There is a bit of confusion about the exact date when "Flag in exile" is set. On re-reading the book before writing this review I was reminded that the Honorverse calendar has had to be changed.
This book takes place in the Yeltsin system whose inhabitants, the Graysons, still use the Gregorian calendar. Honor actually muses in this book that she can never remember whether the current date in the Gregorian calendar is 3919 AD or 3920 AD.
However, when the early Honorverse books were written in the late 20th century, it was assumed that the process of colonising the stars which forms the basis for the calendar used by most star nations in these far future stories would start in the second decade of the 21st century.
Oops.
Unfortunately the Gregorian calendar equivalent dates in the Honorverse series have all had to be retconned because of the irritating failure of our age to invent an interstellar drive, even a slower than light one let alone FTL, and start to colonise the stars.
So the date for the human Diaspora to the stars has been pushed back ninety years to the early 22nd century, starting in 2103 AD/CE to be precise, which means the date of "Flag in Exile," which is set in the year 1907 Post Diaspora by Manticore's internal calendar, would now correspond to 4010 AD by the old Earth Gregorian calendar.
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