Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Torch of Freedom  By  cover art

Torch of Freedom

By: David Weber, Eric Flint
Narrated by: Peter Larkin
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $24.95

Buy for $24.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

As the slavemasters of Mesa plot against the Star Empire of Manticore and the newly liberated slave planet of Torch, Anton Zilwicki and the notorious Havenite secret agent Victor Cachat set off on a dangerous mission to uncover the truth concerning a wave of mysterious assassinations that have been launched against Manticore and Torch.

Most people are sure that the Republic of Haven is behind the assassinations, but Zilwicki and Cachat suspect others of being the guilty party.

Queen Berry of Torch was one of the targets of the unknown assassins. The former head of the Ballroom slave liberation organization, Jeremy Xnow one of Torch's top officials, but still considered by many the most dangerous terrorist in the galaxycalls in some past favors owed to him.

In response, a security officer from Beowulf arrives in Torch to take charge of Queen Berry's securitya task made doubly difficult by the young monarch's resentment of bodyguards and the security officer's own growing attachment to her.

Meanwhile, powerful forces in the Solarian League are maneuvering against each other to gain the upper hand in what they all expect to be an explosive crisis that threatens the very existence of the League itself.

©2009 David Weber and Eric Flint (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Torch of Freedom

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    497
  • 4 Stars
    211
  • 3 Stars
    75
  • 2 Stars
    21
  • 1 Stars
    8
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    419
  • 4 Stars
    160
  • 3 Stars
    63
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    10
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    433
  • 4 Stars
    177
  • 3 Stars
    42
  • 2 Stars
    13
  • 1 Stars
    7

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Honor Harrington Universe Book 20

"Fall of the Empire"

Every time Empire crumbles, provinces are the first who try to gain independence and grab something more, usually nearest to them.

Torch is settling, and getting ready to research it's own wormhole. Try to guess where it leads?
Erewhon is arming, perhaps not on the same scale as PRH and Manticore, but still Mafia blood has some influence.
Local SLN Commanding Officer trying to get a piece of his personal Empire.
And a pair of Super Spooks are going into the jaws of the beast.

PS
The book takes place sometime from the middle of the "At ALL Costs" to the beginning of "Mission of Honor"


NEXT BOOK IS "Mission of Honor"

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Torch of Freedom

Peter Larkin did a good job with the narration. The book does have a great battle scene in the battle of Torch and a bit of suspense with the spies in Mesa but the long and often repetitive dialog which is to help one under stand the history and politics of the situation was over done in this book. Would like more in-depth character building of Queen Berry and of Torch. With all the people (former slaves) coming into Torch one should be able to build all types of stories about building a new homeland.
Looking forward to more in this series.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

surprisingly bad

I've read a number of books by David Weber and considered him the most talented Sci Fi writer I'd come across in a long time but I've changed my opinion after finally wading through this one. The plot and action sequences are up to Weber's usual excellent standards but somewhere along the line he apparently has become convinced that his books have to be very thick to be good. I was through over half the book before anything resembling actual action had occurred. The inane sequences in the ice cream shop and at the dinner table had a Brady Bunch quality to them that was almost intolerable. I've gone back to listen to a number of my favorite audio books over more than once and have even brought the print version so enjoy them more fully - I doubt many readers would say that about this book. I also agree with one previous reviewer that the reader doesn't help the book at all - his attempts at a Scottish accent are pretty woeful. I'm through with being Torch-ered - and off to find a new favorite author.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

He talks alot, but doesn't have much to say

This is the most disappointing novel I've yet read from David Weber. The characters spend a LOT of time just talking, and their witty reparte (somehow they're almost all witty with a wry sense of humour and sarcasm) takes up the bulk of the book. There's very little combat or action, and very little new plot. What plot there is, is really just a bit of backstory on some of the happenings in the larger Honorverse. I won't say it should be avoided, but it might be better to read it where you can skim through some of the boring bits - like the beginning, when almost 1 hour or more is spent on a long, drawn out political discussion with little context as to what it has to do with the rest of the story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

What? Huh? Argh? Where am I? Wait-What?

WOW! I don't know what to say...

I absolutely love David Weber's work and Peter Larkin is one of my favorite performers, but the wheels really fell off this one. I don't blame Mr. Larkin, he did his best. He is very polished, but this book, like some other types of matter, just can't be polished.

This is the first co-authored Weber/Flint series I have started and I choose to believe that the co-author, Eric Flint, wrote the entirety of this novel and David Weber made the monumental mistake of signing off on it before reading the thing. The first offering was not on the same level as the Safehold, Honor Harrington or Prince Roger series, but good all the same. This one can knock the stink off a gut wagon.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Boring!

I'm a David Weber fan from the beginnings of the Honorverse. I enjoyed the first Torch novel, "Crown of Slaves" I also like Eric Flint's work. But in this book, the whole is definitely not greater than the sum of the parts.

There are some memorable characters and situations, but as I listened to this book on a couple of long trips, (I do service work and do a LOT of driving) I found that the book just couldn't keep my attention.

The Honorverse books are long and feature a lot of political detail. But the stellar character of Honor Harrington made it tolerable. This book doesn't have a strong character to carry it and simply falls short.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Filled in the blanks on the main story line.

What did you love best about Torch of Freedom?

It filled the back story in for Torch. More detail on the trip to Mesa and the Green Pines event. If you have read or listened through the main story and loved them, you should listen to this.

What did you like best about this story?

More Detail on the tertiary characters and sets the stage as the story on the main line completes.

Have you listened to any of Peter Larkin’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I love listening to his performances, but I like Alyson Johnson's reading better on the main books. Part of it is that pronunciations of some names are not the same and it tripped me up a bit while listening. Part of it is Alyson Johnson's reading has cemented character voices in my head. But still a good listen.

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

Yes, I ended up listening to it until I fell asleep and had to restart the next morning to finish the story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Horrible Narrator

Wonderful book. The narrator on the otherhand speaks way to fast and his fake accents are horrible. In some places pretty much impossible to make out what is actually being said.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

If you need noise in your head while you work...

Any additional comments?

I ended up just listening to this book while I was working. Since my work requires reading and writing all day long, and I was still able to follow the story, there wasn't a lot of substance that required close attention.

I got the book because I have liked other things by Weber, but ouch. Next time I will pay more attention to other reviews.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

put me to sleep...

Just couldn't take it....the first book in the series finally had activity/action in the last third of the book. I just couldn't force myself to pay attention to this one like I did with the first. I was hoping it would be better but no.... All dialogue about the history, politics and context....kind of like an extended "feather dusting" scene (look it up!)

I want my credit back!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful