A Rising Thunder

Honor Harrington, Book 13

By: David Weber

Narrated by: Allyson Johnson

Length: 17 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

Peril and strife strike on a double front for Honor Harrington and company. After a brutal attack on the Manticoran home system, Honor Harrington and the Star Kingdom she serves battle back against a new, technologically powerful, and utterly nefarious enemy. And as if that weren’t task enough, Honor must also face down a centuries-old nemesis in the crumbling, but still mighty, Solarian League.

The war between the People’s Republic of Haven and the Star Kingdom is finally won and peace established, but grave danger looms - for there is a plan well on its way to completion designed to enslave the entire human species. Behind that plan lies the shadowy organization known as the Mesan Alignment.

Task number one for Honor is to defend against another devastating Mesan strike - a strike that may well spell the doom of the Star Kingdom in one fell blow. It is time to shut down and secure the wormhole network that is the source of the Star Kingdom’s wealth and power - but also its greatest vulnerability. Yet this is an act that the Earth-based Solarian League inevitably will take as a declaration of war.

The thunder of battle rolls as the Solarian League directs its massive power against the Star Kingdom. And once again, Honor Harrington is thrust into a desperate battle that she must win if she is to survive to take the fight to the real enemy of galactic freedom: the insidious puppetmasters of war who lurk behind the Mesan Alignment!

©2012 Words of Weber, Inc. (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

The Intrigue!

Oh, the tangled web that is woven! There's such a nice amount of threads here, but overwhelmingly so.

Interesting conclusion

As with all of the books in this series another great read. Webber once again engages the reader through out the story that gets more complex as it progresses, but he throws in an interesting twist that clearly shows the reader that there is more to come. Enjoy

love this series, but less politics. more battles

Would you listen to A Rising Thunder again? Why?

yes. It is part of a memorable series. The author had built an amazingly complete and complicated universe. I would like the story to move a little faster and have more battles. In this book there was only one and it was not detailed. The politics were more important. and they are important to the story, but I wish for less emphasis on the politics. Never the less. I will grab anything in this series or from this author. Great stuff!! most of all I hate the wait for the next installment.

What was one of the most memorable moments of A Rising Thunder?

The treecats make a decision.

Which character ??? as performed by Allyson Johnson ??? was your favorite?

Honor, of course.

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

I wish it did not ring so true how vulnerable we are to the lies we are told by our leaders.

Any additional comments?

Start at the beginning of the series or you will be lost! but it is well worth the many hours of reading. I love the long books!!!!!

Good

The performance is better in this one. I think she's getting better. I enjoy the story. The thriller/intrigue elements are interesting. One thing, it's "delta vee" not "delta five", as in change in velocity. Not a big one, but it does shatter the suspension of disbelief.

Oh Boy, Book 13 of the Series is here!!

I have been anxiously waiting for this installment in the Honor Series and dropped everything to read it. We knew from the last book that Manticore and the People's Republic of Haven were going to ally themselves to fight the Solarian League and most important enemy the Mesa Alignment. In this book that comes about in a dramatic way. Weber had a great space battle scene between Honor's fleet and the Solarian League. Queen Elizabeth son got married. The surprise was Beowulf problems with it's fellow members of the League. Looks like the next book Shadow of Thunder will be the battle of Beowulf, I can hardly wait for the book to come out. Anyone thinking of starting to read this series I advise you to start at the beginning and read the books in order or else you will get totally lost. Allyson Johnson does a great job narrating the book. She is Honor to me. Hurry up David Weber and get book 14 out to us.

Well if You like David Weber You'll Like This

What did you love best about A Rising Thunder?

David Weber delivers more of the same which is fantastic ... if you like David Weber. Following his decade old formula for the Honor Harrington series, all the events that were planned two books ago come to pass while various people hatch new plots which will come to fruition two or three books from now. It would all be rather irritating if it weren't so darn compelling.

Would you be willing to try another book from David Weber? Why or why not?

New listeners should realize that this is not a series it is easy to jump into. Many volumes have created a dense series mythology which will leave new listeners lost, althouhg pleasantly suprised by events of the book not having been warned about every event in the book two volumes ago, so I imagine that would be a bit of a trade off.

Which character – as performed by Allyson Johnson – was your favorite?

After reading many volumes of this series Allyson Johnson has demonstrated that she may be learning to properly pronounce the word Manticoran, an important issue as most of the book takes place on the planet of Manticore. I'm sure she'll have it down in just a few more volumes. Beyond that she does a remarkable job with the exception that she uses a young and tenetaive voice for the central character of Honor Harrington, which after many many volumes is perhaps no longer appropriate for the now Admiral.

Can't wait for book 14!

After going through 12 books in the Honorverse - I wondered when the streak would end. It still hasn't. One problem: Book 14 isn't out yet! This book leaves the reader on a bit of a cliff hanger - and just makes me hope that book 14 comes out soon. A must read for Honor fans.

I enjoyed this whole series

If you could sum up A Rising Thunder in three words, what would they be?

Space Opera Lives!

What other book might you compare A Rising Thunder to and why?

Similiar to Elizabeth Moon's Herris Serrano and Thomas DePrima's Galaxy Unknown series with Jenetta Carver. Similar because they are all based around strong female miltiary officers, but Honor Harrington is a deeper series in terms of charaterization and scope.

Which scene was your favorite?

The scene when the single shuttle is fighting to destroy as much of the debris as it can over Sphinx.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

If you like space opera and sci fi and great characters you will like this latest entry to the Honor Harrington series.

Great book with conditions

Wonderful story but the first half is basically just a repeat of the previous book (granted from other viewpoints in many instances) so it’s not till the second half the plot really advances. Still good though.

A great and satisfying addition to the saga.

What was one of the most memorable moments of A Rising Thunder?

The most memorable moments in my mind was when one of the major trouble makers came to a realization of the truth moments before being forced to kill himself.

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

Allyson Johnson has kept the integrity of the characters throughout the series. When I hear a dialog between characters, just from her intonation, I know which character is speaking - she has kept the voice and manner of the characters throughout the entire series. This makes the story more believable - it enhances the suspension of disbelief.

Any additional comments?

This book is another great addition to the series - The whole series is an interesting read, although all the books are not equally interesting. Some of them take patience and endurance to read, others are a joy. In all, the series is worth the time, but it takes patience. This last book was a good continuation of the series. It was interesting and continued the story well.

If you are like me and are constantly looking for a new series and have done the greats (Wheel of Time, A song of Ice and Fire by G. R. R. Martin) you might like the Dresden Files - OK, I know there are some people that really love the Dresden Files, and there are others that are turned off it after watching the series on the SciFi channel. I was one of those that wasn't really interested in reading this series at all. First, I thought the series on TV weren't interesting, so why read the books? Then I thought - who wants to read about modern wizards who live in Chicago anyway? When I ran out of series to read, I bought the first one: Storm Front. I couldn't finish it at first. But I overcame my bias and finished listening to it. I decided to try the second and third books. After the third book, I was completely hooked on the series. This series may not be for you. Then again, it may. If you can overcome some of that bias, you might find this series quite interesting. Another recent series I read that was interesting was Artemis Fowl - it was an interesting read and held my interest throughout. Yet another interesting series I recently read was: Kris Longknife - the entire series was very enjoyable.

I will say that although I enjoyed the above series as I have described, everything is NOT for everyone. Before you decide, please read other reader's comments first to see if they will be good fits for you. If you have a series you have enjoyed, please share it. Thank you.