Please help me name the last HH-novel I read? (novel ending)

Theemile wrote:A pinnance is ~250-300 tons, an Assault Shuttle, ~600 tons. A Shrike is 20,000 tons. It is a space based design with no atmospheric capability.

Literally flies like a brick.

tlb wrote:I think you can can read SoS before CoS, but there are references that you may not appreciate until you read the earlier book. You should read the short story "THE SERVICE OF THE SWORD" before SoS; but if it is too late to say that, don't worry, you will just appreciate it more. So do not neglect the short stories, because some of them are important (in particular those by Weber and Flint).

The stories are independent from one another, however there's a minor character overlap. CoS centres on Anton and Berry Zilwicki, with some flashbacks that include Helen Zilwicki (like the "I'm only good for a housewife" scene), while SoS features Helen. I don't remember if she makes reference to what's happened to her father and sister, so maybe don't read them out of order to not spoil the story.

Captain Oversteegen (who's introduced in that short story) will switch series twice. He features in the main series for At All Costs (which you've read, but wouldn't have recognised him -- he's given command of the new HMS Nike because of his actions in the short story and in CoS), but will then switch again to the Saganami Island sub-series for Storm from the Shadows. So CoS must definitely be read before SftS.

Not to mention the whole Mesan Alignment thing. So the stories are no longer independent after those first two installments in each sub-series.

PS: Terekhov's wife is descended from both Travis Long and Chomps, but that's inconsequential to the story and you wouldn't notice unless you've already read A Call to Duty so you'd know who those two worthies are.

ThinksMarkedly wrote:The stories are independent from one another, however there's a minor character overlap.

Chronological it is.

Even though it's been 20 years I remember the HMS Nike. I remember being a real bait-and-switch. Literally the second Honor is given the keys to the Nike she's arrested for a made-up crime and marched off in shame. I don't remember the Nike ever being brought up again after that. If the Nike finally gets some action with this character mentioned then I'm really interested in reading that.

Mersal wrote:

ThinksMarkedly wrote:The stories are independent from one another, however there's a minor character overlap.

Chronological it is.

Even though it's been 20 years I remember the HMS Nike. I remember being a real bait-and-switch. Literally the second Honor is given the keys to the Nike she's arrested for a made-up crime and marched off in shame. I don't remember the Nike ever being brought up again after that. If the Nike finally gets some action with this character mentioned then I'm really interested in reading that.

I won't spoil things, but...

Remember this - A Nike has always been a BC - the biggest, baddest BC at that, and there has always been a Nike in the RMN.

So, more than 1 Nike....

Theemile wrote:
I won't spoil things, but...

Remember this - A Nike has always been a BC - the biggest, baddest BC at that, and there has always been a Nike in the RMN.

So, more than 1 Nike....

Hey, happy to hear it! Also, that's my name, so another reason it's my favorite ship. Until I finally get to SoS. I read there was a Saganami-C there to be shaken down. Very appealing.

Mersal wrote:Even though it's been 20 years I remember the HMS Nike. I remember being a real bait-and-switch. Literally the second Honor is given the keys to the Nike she's arrested for a made-up crime and marched off in shame. I don't remember the Nike ever being brought up again after that. If the Nike finally gets some action with this character mentioned then I'm really interested in reading that.

Then Oversteegen's participation was really overlooked, because there's more to HMS Nike than BC-413 where Honor was captain and Mike Henke was her XO. Indeed, in AAC he didn't do much. He was assigned to Eighth Fleet with HMS Nike, so he worked with Honor and Henke, who at this time was an admiral flying her flag aboard HMS Ajax. But he was soon reassigned to Tenth Fleet (under Henke). Like I said, if you'd known him from "Service of the Sword" and Crown of Slaves, you'd have paid more attention to him and his ship. And he will become more important, and so will HMS Nike again.

There's also the fact that Pres. Pritchart was offering a peace summit because of what happened in Shadow of Saganami... at a location that we were introduced to in CoS.

ThinksMarkedly wrote:

Theemile wrote:A pinnance is ~250-300 tons, an Assault Shuttle, ~600 tons. A Shrike is 20,000 tons. It is a space based design with no atmospheric capability.

Literally flies like a brick.

And requires a huge wedge to do so. Damage caused will not be covered by the RMN standard insurance policy.

Mersal wrote:
Hey, that is great. I will check this out, and elect to buy the ones that are given page-turners, because nothing beats turning real pages.

2nd hand bookstore is your friend. There are several online if you do not have one in your area. Most of mine I picked up out of the library who have more money than god and dump books after a few years and who demonstrate the NEED for a MASSIVE budget cut. It is beyond pathetic they are now down to 1.5m high shelves with a VERY tall base cutting off an entire row at the bottom and anotehr 2 rows at the top instead of 2+m tall shelves. Non Fiction is down to half the books they used to have and Fiction down to under half... but they have lots of computer space for playing games on... and more chairs... instead of a library... Oh yea, and an ever expanding play area for kids... Welcome to modern "society" based on atheism, information is dangerous(to them) and must be "protected" from and curtailed by only the ivory tower they control...

Relax wrote: Welcome to modern "society" based on atheism, information is dangerous(to them) and must be "protected" from and curtailed by only the ivory tower they control...

I wonder if it's the Atheist librarians who follow through with banned-book lists 30 titles long (byebye Holden Caulfield), and carry out book burnings in Tennessee and Texas as recently as February. Those godless disgusting heathens.

Anyway, thanks for the mentions about Nike, guys, now I am very committed to both starting with Crown of Slaves and trying to get the short stories. I will pursue the Baen books digital copies and maybe try second-hand books too.

Here is another happy side question (since a whole separate thread for pne question maybe is too much): from AAC and onwards, is any story length ever situated on Beowulf?

I've heard about Beowulf and its high gravity and crazy storm weather for 22 years, but never ever seen it up close. Does this ever happen?

Mersal wrote:Here is another happy side question (since a whole separate thread for pne question maybe is too much): from AAC and onwards, is any story length ever situated on Beowulf?

I've heard about Beowulf and its high gravity and crazy storm weather for 22 years, but never ever seen it up close. Does this ever happen?

There are short stories and story lines that occur on each of the planets in the Manticore system (I am not positive about one of them, Gryphon) and on Beowulf. But Beowulf is not the one with high gravity and crazy storm weather; that sounds more like Honor's home planet of Sphinx (which explains why many of its inhabitants have a genetic modification for heavy gravity).

However Sphinx is not close to being the inhabited planet with the heaviest gravity.