A Call to Arms (Manticore Ascendant series Book 2)

The authors are obviously trying to re-invent the Honor Harrington genre through a prequel series and "new" characters. The recipe works, and if you liked the first wave of Honor Harrington novels (the first six or seven--after that I am tending to agree with other reviewers that Mr. Weber has started to phone it in), this new series will appeal to you as well. However, the baseline characters and plot (outsider/true patriot/genius savant naval officer meets many obstacles on his way to ultimate recognition of his potential and value to the Manticore empire) sounded very familiar, and that familiarity just got stronger with the second novel. The names might be changed, but many of the Honorverse characters have been reconstituted for this series. Because this is a re-invention, you probably aren't going to be very surprised by any plot developments as the series expands, but, frankly, people like what they like, so there will be a large group of folks who will enjoy this new series. I am one, admitting that I like the recipe. I do wish though that the authors would avoid the repetitive mantras that leak out throughout this book, like the oft-repeated theme of "naval officers are supposed to run into danger," etc. I would roll my eyes less if that was uttered by only one character at only one point in the book, but that concept was aired multiple times, illustrating more heavily that it needs to that this is a book written to a formula. It would also be interesting if they could discover other characters which are not reincarnations of people in the later series. Enjoy as a lighting fast read on a quiet night.

An excellent space opera. A good balance between battle action and the political situation inherent in a evolving nation with two differing views as to how the nation should evolve, especially when neither side yet knows what it is about their system they need to protect. It's interesting to see how Weber envisioned Manticore evolving in its early stages in light of what we know it becomes. There is excellent character development across a fair number of characters. And we see that Travis Long finally begins to evolve as an individual.My only concern is how far away the next installment may be, since Weber has a number of different series going right now and Zahn has his own stories to tell.

I'd give this book 4½ stars if I could. It probably won't become a classic, but its a very fun book in the military sci-fi genre. If you don't like Weber's Honor Harrington series, you probably won't like this. This second book in the series is better than the first. More action, less filler. I don't care especially for the current fashion of multiple threaded stories, but this one makes the transitions between the ~5 threads fairly smoothly. As a narrative device, the one thing that really drives me batty is the discussions which seem to dog any order: Captain:"Helmsman: left 4 degrees" Helmsman:"Excuse me?" Captain:"I said left 4°!" Helmsman:"If I may, can I ask why, sir?" Captain:"Well, sure, golly me! I'd be happy to spend the next hour or so discussing my every order..." When the most likely scenario is Captain:Helmsman left 4° Helmsman:"Excuse me?" Captain:"XO, have that man spaced and find me someone who can obey orders or you'll be next." XO:"aye aye Captain" <the sound of a vacuum lock being opened and closed followed by a sucking sound can be faintly heard> The device is used to explain orders to the reader, and I try to pretend they really doesn't exist, but it gets a bit much at times. Anyway, that small quibble aside, I felt this book was better than the first in the series, and the trio of authors are to be congratulated. The book is structured towards an epic space battle at the end, so has just nibbles of adventure/action before that - enough to keep me reading, but not as exciting as the early Honor Harrington books, and the battle odds seem a bit too overwhelming, but those are imho minor. It's a good, and as is usual with military sci-fi, easy read. Weber, Zahn and Pope also seem determined to continue to ignore the fact that hominids are sexual creatures - the miniscule amount of "romance" present makes it seem the story is attempting for a G (movie) rating, but typical for Weber (and from what little I've read of Zahn too). One other flaw in the book, is that <spoiler alert> one of the diagrams in the front of the book is a spoiler. There's a bit too much telegraphing of outcome for much to be a surprise.Best military sci-fi I've read in the last half dozen or so.

Book number two of a three book space opera military SF series. This series is a prequel to the 19 ? 20 ? book Honorverse series. I read the well printed and bound MMPB published by Baen in 2016. I am reading the third book in the series now.The book is about the early days of the Manticore Kingdom, before the wormholes that made Manticore into a rich crossroads of merchant trade. Parliament is firmly in control of the kingdom's purse and the Royal Manticore Navy is barely existent with three obsolete cruisers and a few destroyers and corvettes. And pirates are plundering merchant ships in the voids between star systems. And the pirates are getting bolder.

I just competed all the Honor Harrington novels. Found the writing style enjoyable and only slightly repeditive - quite a complement given the length of the series. This prequel series lacks the strength of character the original author created in the original series. Given the consistency seen in the original series, even in volumes written after long gaps between novels, one can only conclude the problem is attributable to the co-authors and/or the process of novel-by-committee employed in this series.That being said, I will read all the rest of all the Honorverse novels I can find in hopes of a glimpse of the quality of the originals.

This book, "A Call to Arms" by David Weber, Timothy Zahn and Tom Pope, is the second in the "Manticore Ascendant" naval Science Fiction series which is set in the same Universe as the "Honor Harrington" books but nearly four centuries earlier. It follows on from  A Call to Duty (Manticore Ascendant) .Note that a significant proportion of this story had been previously published as a novella. This is a full-length (357 pages) version of the story with a lot of extra material, but the anthology " Beginnings: Worlds of Honor Book 6 (Honor Harrington)  includes a novella version of "A Call to Arms" by Timothy Zahn, which includes most of the part played by the main hero of the book, Travis Long, in the main battle in this book.Although I had already read the previous novella version, I personally don't regret reading this book - in fact, I couldn't put it down - because it fleshes out the stories of both the central character, Travis Long, and a number of the supporting characters, explains more about how the circumstances leading to the first battle of Manticore came about, and gives several more sides to that battle.Although even those who have not read the previous version know the Royal Manticoran Navy will defeat both the internal political opponents who want to close it down and the external bad guys who from the start of the book are planning an invasion - because the RMN is still around for Honor Harrington to serve in several centuries later - what you don't know is which of the supporting characters will survive so there is still plenty of tension.However, potential readers who have already read "Worlds of Honor 6" should be warned before buying this book that they already know a very significant part of the story. That may be a particular problem for those fans of David Weber who read him mainly for the space battles, although this book does give you more perspectives on the principal battle in the book from the viewpoint of characters other than Travis Long. In particular there are two characters who come over very badly in the novella but who in this full novel version given additional scenes which are much more to their credit, enabling the reader to realise that although they were seen at their worst in their relationships with Travis Long, both are actually heroes. The picture on the cover of this novel is one of very, very few "Honorverse" cover illustrations which closely corresponds to a key and identifiable moment in the book. To avoid a spoiler I'm not going to explain what's happening in that cover illustration beyond the fact that it shows one of the unsympathetic characters from the novellas in a much more favourable light.The Honor Harrington Books are set about two thousand years in the future, this series begins in 3532 AD, or 1529 "Post Diaspora" in the Honorverse calendar. That puts this story in the same century as the trilogy featuring Honor Harrington's ancestor Stephanie, which begins with " A Beautiful Friendship (Star Kingdom (Quality)) " and starts in 3521 AD/CE by our calendar. To date there has been no overlap between the two trilogies.The primary hero of the new series, Travis Long, was put onto the track for promotion to be an officer at the end of the first book: at the start of this one, about five years later, he is a Lieutenant (Junior Grade). Meanwhile his half brother is still allied to the idiotic politicians who are trying to shut down the navy in the mistaken belief that nobody is going to attack Manticore, and two of his old friends are about to go to the planet Casca on what had been expected to be a harmless "showing the flag" exercise but turns out to be a little more exciting than anyone expected ...This series fills in a lot of the backstory for the Honor Harrington Universe. At this time the Haven system has not yet become the "People's Republic of Haven" and they are still friends with Manticore. Gustav Anderman, the half-mad military genius who founded the Anderman Empire, has just begun his career of conquest. Anyone who has read the "Honor Harrington" books already knows that the Manticore system contains a wormhole junction of immense strategic and commercial value, but at the time of the first two books in this series that wormhole network has not yet been discovered and nobody on Manticore suspects it might be there. Which is why they don't realise they have anything which might make it worth anyone's while to invade them. But at the end of the book before this one, a scientist working for a very powerful, wealthy and greedy corporation called Axelrod had worked out that there might be one or more wormhole termini in the Manticore system ...I love the first two sentences on the dust jacket description of this book: "Lieutenant Travis Long of the Royal Manticoran Navy is the sort of person who likes an orderly universe. One where people follow the rules. Unfortunately he lives in the real universe."Most of us have met somebody of very high integrity and zero flexibility who is an absolute pain in the neck because they will not adjust to the real world. Most of us have also met people of equally high integrity and a bit more flexibility who are more likeable because they are open minded enough to make some attempt to allow for the needs and failings of other human beings, but who still attract trouble like a lightning rod because their constant attempts to do the right thing often cause more problems than they solve. Travis in the first two books of this trilogy is somewhere between those two positions. Consequently he has a bit of a gift for making enemies (this is not a spoiler as it is stated on the dust jacket.)This is not a good time to have such a gift because the story is set at a time when the human colony of Manticore, which is many light years from Earth in the back of beyond, has been at peace for a century and is facing arguments about whether it still needs a navy to defend itself. There are political factions which would dearly like to abolish the Royal Manticoran Navy, either to transfer its' resources to use on other priorities or to support their own power bases. They think that there are no threats against whom such a navy might be needed.Other people in Manticore think the last thing Manticore needs is politicians who think "the Universe is a safe and cozy place," as one of them ironically put it in the previous book.Readers of other books in the series such as " House of Steel (Honor Harrington) " will know that those who think the Universe is dangerous are absolutely right. They also know that the men and women of the Royal Manticoran Navy will not just be needed, but will find out just how dangerous the Universe really is, far sooner than anyone thinks. Spacers like Travis Long who want to make sure that ships and weapons actually work properly may soon be in desperately short supply ...I enjoyed both the first two books in this trilogy. I think Zahn and Pope have brought some good ideas and storytelling ability to the Honorverse and am very much looking forward to reading the final book in the series. A Call to Duty (Manticore Ascendant)Beginnings: Worlds of Honor Book 6 (Honor Harrington)A Beautiful Friendship (Star Kingdom (Quality))House of Steel (Honor Harrington)

A cogent and continuing account of the political affects on the evolution of the Manticoran fledgling navy. Good well-written storyline with a good mix of descriptive personalities, political dogma and spaceship battle action!Harast

Wow, what can you say? A major battle, spies, warring factions, politics and a hero with traits that do not endear him to most people especially the enlisted ones.

Great sequel. Looking forward to the next one.

Great story. Good follow up to the first Manticore Ascendant novel. Although it is a standalone story, better if it's read second.Can't wait for book 3.