Ashes of Victory

Honor Harrington, Book 9

By: David Weber

Narrated by: Allyson Johnson

The People's Republic of Haven made a tiny mistake when it announced the execution of Honor Harrington. It seemed safe enough. After all, she was already dead. Unfortunately, they were wrong. Now Honor has escaped from the prison planet called Hell and returned to the Manticoran Alliance with a few friends. Almost half a million of them, to be precise including some who know what really happened when the Committee of Public Safety seized power in the PRH. Honor's return from the dead comes at a critical time, providing a huge, much-needed lift for the Allies' morale, for the war is rapidly entering a decisive phase. Both sides believe that victory lies within their grasp at last, but dangers no one could foresee await them both. New weapons, new strategies, new tactics, spies, diplomacy, and assassination all are coming into deadly focus, and Honor Harrington, the woman the newsies call "the Salamander," once more finds herself at the heart of them all. But this time, the furnace may be too furious for even a salamander to survive.

A Note from Author David Weber
There's been some confusion—not to say, um, energetic debate, readers and fans being readers and fans—about the correct pronunciation of "Manticoran." The truth, alas, is that a stitch was dropped. An error occurred. A mistake was made… and it wasn't Audible's fault. It was mine. Before Audible recorded the very first Honor Harrington book, narrator Allyson Johnson and I not only corresponded by e-mail but actually spoke to one another by phone. She wanted to make absolutely certain she had the correct pronunciations for names, places, star nations, etc., and I tried to make certain all of her questions were answered. And so they were. Unfortunately, at some point in the process, I replied to one of her e-mails by telling her that "Man-ti-core-ahn" was pronounced "Man-tik-er-ahn." Exactly how this happened is more than I can say at this point, except to blushingly disclose that the original e-mail remains intact, confirming to all the world that it was, indeed, my fault. I can ascribe it only to a temporary mental hiccup on my part and crave your forgiveness. If, however, you must blame someone for the mix-up, that someone should be me and not Audible, who have done everything they could to get it right.

Listen to another Honor Harrington adventure.©2001 David Weber (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The new Honor Harrington novel is the longest yet, but justifies its length and complexity by greatly advancing the story of Honor and her universe. Honor has triumphally returned from Hades, at the head of a fleet of liberated POWs. Her reward is to become an admiral, a duchess, and a billionaire. She also becomes an elder sister of twins and, since Nimitz has lost some of his telepathy to war wounds, helps the ever delightful treecats learn signing, thereby proving they are fully sapient. But the war goes on, and the Star Kingdom's superior technology and training increasingly give it the advantage....Factor in Honor's personal and professional dilemmas, realistic R&D and procurement problems, spine-tingling action, and the series' usual dry wit, and it is clear that Weber has produced another mandatory acquisition." ( Booklist)

Ashes of Victory

I could not put this book down. Honor comes back from 2 years at a prison camp and rebuilds her life. She is moving from an battle action person, except at the end of the book to flag command. The interaction with her Mother and the increasing role with the Queen is interesting. Enjoyed the parts with the tree cats. Nemitz injury and all the cats learning to communicate by other than telepathy was great. The ending makes me want to start on the next book in the series right away.

sci-fi operatic story telling, best I've ever read

unbelievable amount of crafting goes into this series. amazing, thought provoking, ruthlessly logical. the writer is so pragmatic in his approach, I OFTEN forget I'm listening to a made-up space adventure, and instead find myself rubbing my chin in general agreement: yes... that is the way a ship operates at a wormhole junction...

Another great HH story, but politics are tedious!

Would you consider the audio edition of Ashes of Victory to be better than the print version?

I have not read the print edition

What did you like best about this story?

How the war was being driven to a successful conclusion. The long-running nature of it was causing unconscionably large casualties.

What does Allyson Johnson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The varied voices, inflections and accents help differentiate the large cast of characters.

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

The loss of still more of Honor's past comrades-in-arms is a sad part of the story, but inevitable given the long-running heavy fighting and their propensity for being where the action is.

Any additional comments?

The re-emergence of characters from Masada brings a note of extremism and intolerance that is unpleasant. Sort of matches the real world in a sad way.

No battles for Honor

Honor is out of the battles for this one. Others are taking the war to the peeps.

This installment is the most tedious so far. There are some very nice sections, like teaching the tree cats to sign, the effects of the jump in technology, the assassination attempt. But it drags and parts.

More Honor Fun

I just had to jump in here and address the multiple comments that I have seen in reviews clearly written by Americans about the politics in these books. One person even calling these books woke, and others analyzing the government as if it is the American government. So I just have to say that this government in these books is not based on the American government (2025) it is more akin to the British, Canadian or Australian political system where there is a parliament. Ti me it seems most like the British system which is why you have a monarchy (duh). Adtessing specific complaints I have seen, conservatives and liberals can indeed get together and create a coalition government and have done so in the UK, including in 2010. The political parties with names like the centrists, conservatives, liberals, crown royalist, these do not equate with American political parties, and it's not a two-party system like what we have in the US. So there's no point in comparing these books to politics in the United States which is just going to be a downer anyway so please don't go there. if you're so wrapped up in American politics that you can't enjoy a novel then don't bother to read.

As far as the rest of my review, I love the honor series although there's definitely positives and negatives. One of the main negatives that I've seen people mention in the reviews is sometimes Weber does drone on and on about stuff that he's explaining and it's a bit like a lecture in a class, lool. And oftentimes it's the same topics that have been covered in previous books that you've now heard for the umpteenth time how they work. etc. so sometimes I find myself actually fast forwarding through some of this stuff. although nowadays I listen to audiobooks a significant period of the time so it's not that big of a deal for me to listen to it in the background while I'm doing other stuff. The books are still great and honor is still fun. nothing better than having some kick ass hero who can just cream everybody else write and left it's a lot of fun. So just enjoy.