Shadow of Freedom

By: David Weber

Narrated by: Allyson Johnson

Length: 16 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and international best-selling phenomenon David Weber delivers the next book in the multiple New York Times best-selling Honor Harrington series.

There are two sides to any quarrel... unless there are more. Queen Elizabeth of Manticore's first cousin and Honor Harrington's best friend Michelle Henke has just handed the "invincible" Solarian League Navy the most humiliating, one-sided defeat in its entire almost thousand-year history in defense of the people of the Star Empire's Talbott Quadrant. But the League is the most powerful star nation in the history of humanity. Its navy is going to be back – and this time with thousands of superdreadnoughts.

Yet she also knows scores of other star systems—some independent, some controlled by puppet regimes, and some simply conquered outright by the Solarian Office of Frontier Security—lie in the League's grip along its frontier with the Talbott Quadrant. As combat spreads from the initial confrontation, the entire frontier has begun to seethe with unrest, and Michelle sympathizes with the oppressed populations wanting only to be free of their hated masters.

That puts her in something of a quandary when a messenger from Mobius arrives, because someone's obviously gotten a wrong number. According to him, the Mobians’ uprising has been carefully planned to coordinate with a powerful outside ally: the Star Empire of Manticore. Only Manticore—and Mike Henke—have never even heard of the Mobius Liberation Front.

It's a set-up... and Michelle knows who's behind it. The shadowy Mesan Alignment has launched a bold move to destroy Manticore's reputation as the champion of freedom. And when the RMN doesn't arrive, when the MLF is brutally and bloodily crushed, no independent star system will ever trust Manticore again.

Mike Henke knows she has no orders from her government to assist any rebellions or liberation movements, that she has only so many ships, which can be in only so many places at a time... and that she can't possibly justify diverting any of her limited, outnumbered strength to missions of liberation the Star Empire never signed on for. She knows that... and she doesn't care.

No one is going to send thousands of patriots to their deaths, trusting in Manticoran help that will never come.

Not on Mike Henke's watch.

©2013 Words of Weber, Inc. (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Too much cut and paste

Alison Johnson does a great job reading this. Phenomenal.
That said, it bothers me more than a little that I buy a book that has entire chapters cut and pasted from previous books in the other side and main storylines. Yes, you read that right. Chapters with an "S".

Missing: Honor and Nimitz

If you love Honor Harrington and adore her treecat, Nimitz, you are going to be disappointed as neither makes an appearance in this novel; perhaps because it's the second half of "A Mighty Thunder," divided in half no doubt because of its extreme length. Well, "Shadow of Freedom" is still too long. Mr. Weber, always fond of using too many words, has padded this story out beyond easy comprehension. He introduces multiple new situations and multiple new characters to the point where the listener becomes confused and bored. About 25% of the novel is good, with great battle scenes, though they are a bit long. The rest is eminently forgettable. The author normally excels at keeping his plot lines and timeline consistent, but this time, he seems to have erred in a short Zilwicki sequence and a reference to Honor Harrington's role in constructing the peace agreement with Haven. The latter seems perfunctory and not consistent with the time frame of the rest of the story. I, along with other reviewers, would like to see the Mesan Alignment tale brought to a conclusion. Instead, 17 hours later, the plot has advanced only a little. Mr. Weber owes his readers, and listeners, a tighter, better-constructed story, with some kind of end in sight, rather than the ponderous unwieldy tale he just published. If the series continues in this bloated way, I am going to be rooting for Manpower to win!

Short on story but abundant on words

The Honor Harrington Series used to be action packed and fun. Now, it drags on and on like a half dead sloth. David Weber's new writing style seems to be, "Never use ten clear concise words to make a point when you have 900 available." He has also managed to Cut and Paste entire chapters from previous books into his new offerings. This book is short on story but abundant on words.

The Talbott Quadrant audio books have always been narrated by Jay Snyder. He has established the voices for everyone in the Quadrant and that section of the series belongs to him. Why they spoiled this book by substituting Allyson Johnson is beyond my comprehension. If they HAD to use Johnson, they should have let Snyder do the male voices and Johnson do the females. That mix, at least, would have made slightly more sense.

I love the Honourverse.... but

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Very Grudgingly yes i would.
Having read 90% of what david has written, having reread the first dozen books of this series so many times i've had to rebuy the paper backs after I've blown the spines.

This is plain filler. About 1/4 of it is pertinent to the actual story arc readers actually care about. WAAAYYY to much introspection is done by characters, having the same thing repeated over and over and over again by 3-4 different characters is just abusive. Especially as most of those characters are one offs we're not going to hear from again. It's like the old "Soap Opera" Mechanism, introduce a character so they can introduce a story point... then they go upstairs to the bathroom and never come down again, EVER! ;)

I think since Jim Baen died the quality of David's books, and a few other Baen books I have read, have become "wordy". Either there's a paid by the word mentality, or the editors aren't doing their jobs in reigning in David's tendency to be verbose in "details". I can't fathom which it is.

Would you recommend Shadow of Freedom to your friends? Why or why not?

very grudgingly

What three words best describe Allyson Johnson’s voice?

good voice crap accents - sorry

Did Shadow of Freedom inspire you to do anything?

pray for new editors, and for David to get his Mojo back.

Any additional comments?

buy an Oxford English Dictionary and learn how to pronounce the more esoteric names of ships that David uses. in-deee-phat-eh-gah-bull... not in-dee-fatigue-able. please for pitys sake, it's frustrating as hell to hear such a good voice foul up the words. And make up your mind what accent you're going to freaking use and stick to it!

Too Much in common with other books but still fun

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I love David Weber and the Honor Harrington franchise. It seemed to me these books Storm from the Shadows, A Rising Thunder, Shadow of Freedom could have been combined into one. In several cases complete conversations were duplicated from other books. I realize it was during the same time line and there was necessary over lap. Still one or even two longer books would have been better than three with so much duplication. I started to find it hard to pay attention at times as things were rehashed. Of course I did them almost one after another, had I read them as they were released my opinion might be different.

Gold Peak

Would you consider the audio edition of Shadow of Freedom to be better than the print version?

I have them together. I love the audio.. Always my fav.. Put it with e-book and I have the best of both worlds. The book helps lock in the names for my little brain.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Shadow of Freedom?

The end. She puts all the bad guys in a line and gets it right. Than she goes for it. Great Series.

What about Allyson Johnson’s performance did you like?

She catcher the humor and each personality.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

God bless, Beth. I love you.

Any additional comments?

I have enjoyed " The Honor Harrington " series very much. I also love the " Shadow Of Saganami Companion "series and " The Torch of Freedom". All part of the one. I just wish David Weber could write faster. I hop I live long enough for the end. I find I am ready for it.

Horrible.

Would you try another book from David Weber and/or Allyson Johnson?

Probably, but not this series.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Allyson Johnson?

She did okay. My "performance" issues are with the directors of the audiobook, but this may be misplaced, it may be that Weber, or his publisher is to blame. Someone made some very bad decisions in how this book/listen was assembled, with regard to the timeline. I quit about chapter 8, I couldn't take any more. I do not want to listen to the same EXACT parts of the story from the last book and the book before it. Stupid.

Any additional comments?

There are some SERIOUS time dependencies issues. It's as if chapters from 2 to 3 books ago, that were cut, were added back into a new book. This book actually starts out in a timeline BEFORE the book before the book before this one. Confused? You will be. It is as if previously deleted (and bad) chapters were cut, and reassembled. I'm done.