Crown of Slaves

This companion series to the mainline Honor Harrington series takes place on Erewhon which has become a gathering point for all sorts of political opinions. While the new High Ridge government seems to be trying to destroy their alliance with Erewhon, the Queen decides to send delegates of her own to the funeral of a noted politician. She chooses her niece Ruth and also sends Anton Zilwicki and his adopted daughter Berry.

To provide more security for Princess Ruth, she and Berry change places. It takes some nanotech intervention which just makes Berry and Ruth closer. The girls are quite different. Ruth has been raised in the isolation of the Mantacoran Royal Family but as the adopted daughter of the Queen's brother, she is not in the show more line of succession. In fact, Ruth really wants to be a spy. Traveling with the Zilwickis gives her a great opportunity since Anton is likely one of the best spies Manticore has. Berry doesn't have the same goals. She is good at all sorts of things but doesn't have a focus for her future yet since she's only seventeen. She does think her talents would make her a good queen but there aren't any openings for queens right now.

Also converging on Erewhon to attend the funeral are Victor Cachat who is a very talented intelligence agent for the new Republic of Haven and Ginny Usher who is the wife of Kevin Usher who is Haven's best spy. They are sent to try to convince Erewhon that Haven would be interested in an alliance with them since the government of Manticore doesn't seem to value them at all.

Throw in a Solarian Captain with a plot to gain power in the Solarian League, some Masadan terrorists who want to capture Princess Ruth, and a wide variety of anti-slavery terrorists and you have a complex and engaging adventure.

I liked the focus on these new characters. I liked the political wrangling and dealing and liked the different look at Haven we get. This was a great beginning to a new series. show less

This companion series to the mainline Honor Harrington series takes place on Erewhon which has become a gathering point for all sorts of political opinions. While the new High Ridge government seems to be trying to destroy their alliance with Erewhon, the Queen decides to send delegates of her own to the funeral of a noted politician. She chooses her niece Ruth and also sends Anton Zilwicki and his adopted daughter Berry.

To provide more security for Princess Ruth, she and Berry change places. It takes some nanotech intervention which just makes Berry and Ruth closer. The girls are quite different. Ruth has been raised in the isolation of the Mantacoran Royal Family but as the adopted daughter of the Queen's brother, she is not in the show more line of succession. In fact, Ruth really wants to be a spy. Traveling with the Zilwickis gives her a great opportunity since Anton is likely one of the best spies Manticore has. Berry doesn't have the same goals. She is good at all sorts of things but doesn't have a focus for her future yet since she's only seventeen. She does think her talents would make her a good queen but there aren't any openings for queens right now.

Also converging on Erewhon to attend the funeral are Victor Cachat who is a very talented intelligence agent for the new Republic of Haven and Ginny Usher who is the wife of Kevin Usher who is Haven's best spy. They are sent to try to convince Erewhon that Haven would be interested in an alliance with them since the government of Manticore doesn't seem to value them at all.

Throw in a Solarian Captain with a plot to gain power in the Solarian League, some Masadan terrorists who want to capture Princess Ruth, and a wide variety of anti-slavery terrorists and you have a complex and engaging adventure.

I liked the focus on these new characters. I liked the political wrangling and dealing and liked the different look at Haven we get. This was a great beginning to a new series. show less

Way too many coincidences and hard to imagine alliances, no matter how temporary, in this story. Yes, I know it's science fiction, but it really strained the bounds of believability on so many levels.

Having said that, however, I did enjoy it and the story moved right along. I had some trouble keeping all the conspirators and their changing allegiances straight, but it wasn't boring.

Interesting to see how this will fit into the larger Honor Harrington series.

It is easy to detect Eric Flint's hand in this book as it seems a bit lighter in some ways. There is still a good amount of darkness about it as the reader is no doubt aware of what is going on in Manticore and Haven, not to mention the whole topic of genetic slavery.

So Anton Zilwicki, Berry Zilwicki (Anton's adopted daughter), and Ruth Winton (Queen Elizabeth's niece) are sent off to Erewhon as an informal delegation from Manticore. Then there is Victor Cachat and Ginny Usher from Haven. Add in Solarians, Erewhonese, Masadans, and slavers and there is bound to be enough action to satisfy the heart of any James Bond fan.

While in many ways a stand-alone novel, this benefits from having read From the Highlands (short novel in Changer of show more Worlds) and Fanatic (novella in The Service of the Sword) first. That said, I would recommend it to fans of the Honor Harrington series and to people who enjoy action and politics in their science fiction. It certainly had me turning the pages. show less

Good but not magnificent. The beginning, especially - Anton's 'interview' with the Queen - was a little Mary Sue, the way he kept coming up with answers before she asked the questions. Cute, but it didn't feel right to me. And again, his hieing off to Smoking Frog and leaving the girls alone (admittedly with the Princess's bodyguards and du Havel, but still) doesn't feel right. Once the action starts, given the characters delineated in the first part of the book (and in previous books), there's really not much choice about paths - though I was amused at what made Oversteegan change his mind and support the scheme. He's right, it's totally insane on many levels - but given the alternatives... And the early foreshadowing about what Berry show more would end up doing. Helen was almost right... Lots of good bits. It only stays together _while_ I'm reading, though - when I think about it afterward it makes a lot of no sense. But while it's in process, I can't see any alternatives (that those particular characters would choose) either. And I do like Victor. Oh, and there are a lot of Flint-style actions/reactions - I noticed it in several parts, including the interview with the Queen. It's not bad - I like Flint's style, actually - but it's quite different from Weber's usual descriptions. I think I noticed it more than usual since I had just read 1632.
On reread, and without reading this review: liked it better. Very rich. I'd read this before, but not reviewed it - when I first read it I was amazed at all the plots and overlapping conspiracies going on. But compared to Torch of Freedom, this is simple and straightforward. Only two major plots - well, three. Or four, if you count Victor's original aim in going to Erewhon. Or maybe - OK, lots of plots. But still simpler than Torch. The whole thing with Berry and Ruth doubling is - interesting, and conductive to mass confusion. Then Zilwicki gets lured off - I don't think I've read the story of what happened in Smoking Frog, I'm not sure anyone's written it. The expanded Masadans take their chance, the Solarians and Cachat step in, Ruth and Berry play their parts, and then things get - _interesting_. The joke around the dinner table suddenly becomes not a joke.... Flint's writing style is all over this - people 'hiss' their words, repeat things multiple times for emphasis, shake their heads a dozen different ways...I notice it more on rereading, for whatever reason. It does convey emotion quite strongly, but it's a very distinctive style - I can spot a Flint-written scene just about every time. show less

Crown of Slaves is the first book in a new Honor Harrington sub-series called Wages of Sin focusing on Mesa-Manpower and the newly liberated ex-slaver planet of Torch. As I have figured out, these several sub-series’ are really required reading if one wants to get additional necessary pieces of information to fill in the gaps in the Honor series when it comes to things such as Torch, the Zilwickis, Haven super spy Victor Cachat, the whole Mesa-Manpower mystery/disaster in action, etc. This is a truly necessary series. This is a pretty good book and I’m already halfway through the second one.

Due to the complete incompetence of Manticore’s Queen Elizabeth's current government, the tenuous alliance between the Star Kingdom of show more Manticore and its ally Erewhon is on the verge of dissolution, so the queen sends her niece, Ruth Winton, a spy-wannabe in training, as an “unofficial” representative to a state funeral to try to patch things up. And that’s where the story starts. The mission begins with Ruth, led by Manticore’s super spy, Anton Zilwicki, and his teenage daughter, Berry, off to Erewhon. It turns into quite the espionage incident, as Manticore, Solarian League, Havenite, Erewhon, Masadan fanatics, and Mesan groups all meet and engage in some way in this book, at times quite violently, while Berry and Ruth survive an assassination attempt with the help of Havenite Cachat, aided by Solarian marine lieutenant Thandi Palane, a most larger-than-life character. The two of them develop a relationship that is sweet and readers will quickly come to like the two characters, even if Victor is a cold-blooded killer.

Before the blood can dry, Victor leads a group of people on a mission to the planet, Congo, Manpower’s slave planet, to liberate the slaves and the planet. He and they do and for some bizarre reason, 17-year-old Berry, with a phenomenal personality who has really taken to the ex-slaves, is elected queen of the inhabitants of the newly renamed planet of Torch, with Ruth her intelligence director and Thandi, with the help of her “Amazon” warriors (who are a fun group of women in this book) installed as her military leader, and Audubon Ballroom terrorist leader Jeremy X installed as Minister of War. Of course, her father Anton will stay and help out with intelligence for an indefinite period of time, as will Victor. Both are intent upon penetrating Mesa-Manpower. And both are concerned about Mesa-Manpower’s attempts to get to Berry and others on Torch, with good reason, as we shall see.

This isn’t necessarily the best Honorverse book I’ve read, but I’d be hard pressed to name another that’s better. Of course, none of them really measure up to one of the better Honor books, but that’s to be expected. Still, it’s a good sub-series and I’m enjoying the second book more than the first. I’d love to give this book five stars, but I don’t think it’s a five star book. Still, it’s a solid four star book and easily recommended. show less

Although David Weber shares the writing credits, and the book is most definitely set in the Honorverse, It's most definite that Eric Flint has had the most influence on the novel. Focusing on Anton Zwilicki's adopted daughter, Berry and the queen's niece Ruth Winton as they attempt to head off the damage done to Manticore's relationship with Erewhon by the Manticoran government. There's plenty of action throughout the book but it's fairly low key small unit stuff, which gave it a rather poignant feel though there were also plenty of comedy, especially the analysis of Captain Zilwicki's career as a spy near the start of the book