Torch of Freedom

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.

Great

Another great addition to the Honor verse. Read the book , you'll like it seriously.

Much improved audio levels, and a bang-up story

The first volume had all sorts of audio level and other issues. The only issue still remaining is the lack of any pause between the last word of a chapter and the “Chapter x” of the following chapter.

The story is still awesome! I’ve read/listened to this story many times, and I thoroughly enjoy it every time. The characters are interesting, and the plot and pacing are great.

Fun Sidequest

The action in this book is contemporaneous with that in At All Costs. It's not necessary to read the main Honor Harrington series to enjoy this book, since the necessary information is recapitulated here (which is sometimes redundant if you <i>are</i> reading the main series).

The new parts of the story mostly cover a deep insertion spy mission by Anton Zilwicki and Victor Cachat, which makes for an interesting change of pace from the space battles and inter-polity political maneuvering of the corresponding parts of the main series. I will say that the ending felt forced, in that it couldn't be allowed to interfere too much with the main series events, which resulted in events that could have happened, but that didn't feel especially organic.

The story focused more on plot than on character this time (which is something of a hallmark of Eric Flint's writing). Flint is good at plot, so this was still a satisfying story, but I did miss Weber's hand on the characters at times.

The events in this book do fold back into the main story at the end of Mission of Honor and beginning of A Rising Thunder, and they're very important to that narrative. But the details important to the main story are recapitulated in those book.

Overall, this was quite entertaining, but not among the best books in the main storyline. Still recommended, but not essential.

good story but does jump around and past areas

good book but skipped some areas I would have liked to have more details. narration was outstanding.

THE background story. One sidelight.

The vignettes of the Honorverse torch style. Certainly filled with the subplots worthy of the Great Granddame of all the Honor Harrington tapestry.