This title of this book is misleading to the detriment of the book's sales by understating the book's focus.

The subject matter is really how to create new business models for outperforming competitors by taking advantage of the potential of computers and electronic communications. You can become more digital and not differentiate yourself in the eyes of customers, and that will be a losing strategy, as the authors make clear. In fact, almost all companies fall into that trap now.

I found this to be by far the best book that the authors have written. The ideas are immediately applicable, the concepts are clear, and the writing is especially transparent.

This book will be valuable to CEOs by making them more aware of how to redesign a business model, and to bring them up-to-date on the potential applications of information technology for this purpose. The book will be valuable to CIOs by making them aware of business model redesign as a discipline.

Companies usually make computer investments because the old system can't be kept running any more, or because of some potential for incremental cost savings. By contrast with those approaches, the authors' concept of Digital Business Design is "about using digital options to craft a business model that is not only superior, but unique."

So before you spend all that money to put in all kinds of new data processing capability, consider this book. It will be your best investment.

But realize that the book is also not focused on technology, per se. So if you want to learn specifically about which digital technologies you should be applying, look elsewhere.

The book is made practical by a four quadrant approach to help you diagnose the quality of your business model's design and how digital you are. Most companies will find themselves in the weak business design quadrant. The dot coms are highly digitalized, but usually have weak business models. Some innovative companies have great business models but are slow to put in computer technology. In a series of case histories, the authors make the case for having much more rapid revenue, profit, and stock price growth from using Digital Process Design. The examples include Dell versus Compaq, Cemex's computer-based dispatch of roving cement trucks in Mexico, Charles Schwab versus Merrill Lynch, Cisco Systems versus 3 Com et al, GE, IBM, AOL, eBay, and Yahoo! I enjoyed the way the authors posed the next set of business model challenges these companies face today.

The benefits of this new approach include improvements in knowledge, better fitting with customers, operating in real time to get results faster, customers happily serving themselves to create better results at lower cost, preventing errors rather than fixing them after the fact, enormous productivity improvements rather than small ones, and totally integrated business systems within and without your company.

The authors give you a set of questions to lead you through the analysis necessary to develop your new business model, based on market and information technology perspectives. They also show you how to establish an organizational culture that will facilitate these changes.

I particularly enjoyed the sections show examples of 1000 percent improvements and misconceptions that hinder progress.

The only significant limitation I found to this book is that it did not discuss enough the ways to use nondigital methods to create improved business models. For best results, you should combine digitial and nondigital approaches. Many people try to overturn communications barriers totally with technology, but bad personal habits can steal away most of the benefit. A small amount of training in better communication practices can improve the business results by several hundred percent, independent of any spending on technology. Combine the two approaches, and the results can be astoundingly good.

After you have finished reading and implementing what you have learned, I suggest that you ask yourself where else we need new models of focus and operation. How could the charity you give money to or volunteer for be improved ? How about the operations of the government in your city or town? The indicated changes described in this book can be even more dramatic and powerful if done in these institutions as well. Then the whole society can move forward more rapidly.

Make a difference that matters!

As the books about digital technologies continue to pile up, you may wonder which ones to read, if any. The authors readily acknowledge this in their introduction, but claim differentiation from their focus on strategy first and technology second.

They are smack on the money.

Almost all books today speak about how the "Internet changes everything," how there is "this technology" and "that technology" that can turn your company into a super power. What they don't consider is how your business model itself is affected. As a businessperson, it is the latter that I want to understand - how will my strategies need to change, and what are the new concepts I should integrate into my current strategy to ensure competitiveness over the next year or two. This is the focus of the book.

You have already seen many of the companies that are covered - Cisco, Dell, GE - but they are now dissected with a focus on their strategies rather than technologies. Much more interesting are the discussions of trends and concepts that you can apply right away. For example, as customers change from passive to active, how can you leverage that trend to enable faster growth and better service? A second example involves the Choiceboard, a strategic tool you can use to raise your business model. As I see dot.com's falling like flies, I continually consider how they would have fared if they could have focused on their business model rather than just introducing cool new technologies.

While the book was weak on the technology side, I was fine with that. My priority is to focus on my business model first, and then to understand which technologies will get me where I want to go.

Overall, I'd highly recommend it for any strategist. Those with a deep focus on technology may be dissatisfied, but anyone who is concerned with their business model will find much insight within.

This is not a book on the latest technology fad. Instead, it is about business strategy, and how to use technology to develop and execute the right strategy. The book has three key premises:

1) A business must be run according to its "business design" (the framework the authors use for developing and articulating the strategy a business should follow).

2) Digital technology dramatically enhances the strategic opportunities available to any business today -- even if it is not obvious at first how.

3) Business success (i.e. growth and profitability) depends crucially on figuring out what those opportunities are, determining how to exploit those opportunities, and then aligning the company around executing on those opportunities.

The natural audience for this book is anyone who has P&L responsibility (or aspires to have such responsibility) in a business or a division.

In my opinion, the message is dead-on. In particular, I think the "business design" construct they use is extremely powerful and actionable. My only complaint is that I wish they had spent a chapter explaining the "business design" construct in more detail for readers not already familiar with it. (The authors might respond that they have already done so in their earlier books -- "Value Migration" and "The Profit Zone" in particular -- but as they themselves say, you must repeat your message 700 times if you want it to be heard!)

The book is extremely readable:

* The first two chapters explain the basic concept.

* Many of the subsequent chapters are devoted to an analysis of a particular business and how that business used technology to its strategic advantage.

* A few chapters are devoted to particular digitally-enabled strategic options or themes that the authors believe deserve highlighting.

* The last chapter exhorts the reader to champion and execute digital opportunities tirelessly, and gives some tips for how to do so.

All in all, a great book for anyone interested in this topic.

First off, I want to say that I'm a huge David Weber fan, so naturally I devour his books like potato chips. I've read every book he's written and quite a few of the shorter stories that have appeared in anthologies. I love this guy!

Usually, David Weber's writing is right on, creating whole universes with imaginative merging of character, technology and action. This formula has made him an extremely popular author, and rightly so.

In Death Ground however falls short of his usual excellence. Based in the Starfire universe (in which other such books as Crusade and Insurrection are set), it follows a human federation's war against an insidious and non-understandable alien race.

Sounds good at first glance, but unfortunately, this book was a little too disjointed for my taste. There were a great number of sub-characters who showed up once and disappeared. That's all good and fine, but the sheer amount of them was overwhelming, and I for one like to see characters reoccur and develop over time. A few did, but that was the exception not the norm.

To make matters worse, the action got pretty disjointed at times. I found myself losing track of exactly what was going on. I got overwhelmed and had to set the book down.

The next book (this is the first volume in two about this war) comes out in the near future (of this review). I'm hoping that it is more carefully crafted.

I can't really recommend In Death Ground. If you enjoy David Weber, go for it, But my advice is to try 'Path of the Fury,' 'Insurrection,' or any of the earlier Honor Harrington novels if you haven't read him before. Any of those books are far better than this one.

When I first read the back cover of IN DEATH GROUND, it sounded suspiciously like a rip-off of the great STARSHIP TROOPERS, by Heinlein ("Bugs" and "Arachnids" as the enemy, for gosh sakes). But after the first chapter I was hooked. For readers of sci-fi military lore, this book satisfies on many levels. The detailed and innovative descripton of future military technology ("SBMHAWKS"), the breathtakingly original tactics for fighting battles in deep space between two entrance/exit points (almost like fighting in a 2-dimensional universe, which would be far more difficult than in 3 dimensions), were absolutely riveting. The intrepid admirals, the high-tech battlewagons and carriers fighting a numerically superior and brutally agressive foe, the exciting and dramatic accounts of the desperate battles, and the incredible but realistic casualty rates of such deadly battlegrounds in space kept me glued to the book from start to finish. The only flaw in the book was the somewhat unrealistic use the Bugs had for the inhabitants of their captive planets. However, it detracted very little from the storyline and was easily overlooked in the overall drama of this gigantic campaign for survival of humanity and other allied races. The particular process of interstellar travel in this book, and its implications on strategic thought in this future century, was original and spellbinding. All in all, one of my top ten of all sci-fi books I have read and the equal in many respects to the great STARSHIP TROOPERS (the book, not the film!). Mr. Weber and Mr. White, please write the sequel. I have to know how it ends.

I am a big DW fan, and this is the first DW book I read. I liked the cover, got it at the library. When I read the back, I almost didn't open the book. Bugs? Get real. Sounded like a bad Star Trek book.
Then I read the intro leaf. Kept reading. And reading. This is a long, long book. It's not easy going. You get attached to the characters, and Mr. Weber has no compuction about killing them off. This isn't Star Trek, and sometimes, the good guys die.
The story is of a future galactic society of Humans, Orions, Ophiuchi, and Gorm, who are all at peace. It has been 60 years since Crusade. Then a survey flotilla enters an uncharted system, and, well, all Hell breaks loose. I won't get into it too much but let's just say that the Bugs are perhaps the most chilling enemy you've seen in a long time.
They are alien beyond any concep of humanity. The book sometimes has their perspective, and it's chilling. Go read the book. Then go read The Shiva Option, which is the sequel, and just came out.

I've read roughly half the Honor Harrington books so far, and they're all decent reads, and interesting stories, but the emphasis on hardware DOES tend to get tedious after a while. Every book and/or story describes Honor with EXACTLY the same words, too, which doesn't add to the characterization at all (which is a tad disappointing).

I'm in love with the idea of treecats, and I recently checked out "Worlds of Honor", which is a collection of short stories set in Honor's universe, and the first few stories in that collection (not all written by Weber) are EXCELLENT, and they focus on the treecats (one even uses one of them for POV, which was fascinating).

So, I'll finish reading the series, but I'll continue to nod off during the detailed hardware descriptions.

A series that has a very similar "feel", but with more emphasis on characters and stories, rather than spaceships and guns, is Lois McMaster Bujold's Vokosigan series. I can't recommend THOSE books highly enough.

The first of the Honor Harrington series introduces us to Commander Honor Harrington, a woman of uncompromising courage and integrity. She's just been given command of HMS Fearless. What she doesn't know, as the book starts, is that she also gets to be the guinea pig for testing a new type of weapon system. When the tactical exercises designed to test the weapon provide less than stellar results, the Admiralty decides to sweep the problem under the carpet. What they don't realize is that Honor Harrington refuses to be swept.

What can I say? This is one of the best stories I've read in a long time. Despite its science-fiction setting, it is very much a 'people' story, and shows great promise for more tales. Speaking as a sailor myself, Commander Harrington, however fictional, is very much the kind of CO I want to ship out with.

i have read most of David Weber's books and like most of them. On Basilisk Station is the first book in the Honor Harrington series. Honour is a commander in the Manticoran Navy. The kingdom of Manticore is under threat from the People's republic of Haven (the peeps) and Honor finds herself on the front line. As captain of a light cruiser (Fearless) she is sent to Basilisk Station as punishment for embarassing an admiral, (She blew said admiral's ship away in a wargame scenario) and finds herself in conflict with a disillusioned crew and an old enemy from her past. Honor struggles agianst her crew's dislike and tries to perform her duties but then she discovers a plot to annexe the system she has been set to guard.

Now at times this serise get a little too bogged down in formality and a whole lot of Mantorian Navy red tape. At times such as this when you are tempted to put the book back on the self for good just hang on untill you hit the battle sceans.

After On Basilisk station RMN Captain Honor harrington is back with a vengence. In the last book she had to deal with earning the respect of her new crew. This Time It's a Planet. Fighting both Haven and a new Player The Masadans She is fighting almost a millenium of Misogyny and religious zealots she has fight not only for her Honor(No Pun unless you want) and the honor of her queen( there's that pun again). Again David Weber brings Old style sea battles to outer space. Like before these books have a slow build to an exciting climax. if you read the first you'l want to read it again just to see how NImitz and the rest are doing. and Nimitz has an active role this time

It's fair to call this (the second in the series) a very pivotal book, because the main character's entire future is completely transformed by its events. While the books are designed to stand alone well enough, the only way to understand some of the key relationships is to read them in sequence.

Religious and gender issues come to the forefront here, with Honor experiencing attitudes almost unheard of in her homeland. This is the only part of the book that is questionable in its consistency: Honor's emotional reaction to the situation is a little too emotional for someone supposedly raised in such an egalitarian society. Even allowing for a couple of very bad experiences in her career, and that words can hurt some people more than pulser fire, I can't see a character as strong as Honor taking her ball and going away--even briefly--just because the nasty sexists are rude to her. She's too strong a woman for that. However, that said, the remainder of the personal interaction picture in the book is creative, sensible and richly interesting. Weber is not afraid to have permanent consequences to characters and no one's future and health, not even Honor's, are certain.

Although Weber takes an awkward turn once in awhile, this is still some of the most engrossing space opera out there--especially in terms of a well-developed heroine who enjoys a growing position of authority and respect. This series will be of special interest to persons of the Christian faith; while the opening pages of this book make you think that you're on the way down the path of stereotyping, as the portrait of Grayson develops, even someone of entirely different beliefs (such as myself) comes to respect and like a lot about Graysons and their faith. Good stuff.

This book is an excellent piece of work, both from the perspective of character development and from the perspective of technical details. Weber develops highly enjoyable characters of considerable depth, but manages to include enough data regarding technological considerations to actually provide a plausible "guesstimate" of what future military personnel may face as humanity goes out into space. He also includes some interesting speculative sociology, as the star nation Honor Harrington is trying to help are the descendents of extremely conservative fundamentalist Christians, with some very outmoded and counterproductive ideas regarding the "proper place" of women in society. One of the most interesting themes in the book revolves around the mutual discomfort that Harrington and her prospective allies feel toward each other, and how this gradually evolves to respect. Do yourself a favor and read this book!

This is the first book that I've read by either author. This is also my first book of the Military Sci-Fi genre. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was suprisingly pleased!

To quickly summarize the plot: Prince Roger is the spoiled brat son of the Empress of Man. He is third in line to the throne and is basically considered useless by everyone. An unfortunate event causes the Prince and his reluctant Marine bodyguards to be shipwrecked on a primitive and hostile planet Marduk. To return home, Roger and his Marines must battle their way across half the planet. Even though their technology is superior, it is still a struggle to make the trek.

I found the style of the book interesting. Sometimes, the descriptions of flintlocks and other weapon technologies ran a bit too long. However, the characters in the book are great - especially Prince Roger who really changes as a person throughout the course of the book. Some characters are funny, in a way that made me chuckle and look forward to scenes that included them.

The book isn't perfect. There are some things that I bothered me. Like the fact that some characters are introduced and virtually forgotten. Some scenes are too long. Some battles are too repetitive. But the authors put forth a commendable effort into making each fight unique and overall, I found it very enjoyable and fun adventure reading. The characters are funny and not implausible, and the journey the endure poses interesting challnges. I look forward to reading the sequel.

I am a huge fan of Weber's 'Honor Harrington' series, read them all and eagerly await the next. It looks like this volume is the start of a new series (there is already a second volume) and I wholeheartedly approve.

This book is well written, with an interesting world and well developed characters. It is a mix of a military tale with a travel tale, a group of human soldiers travelling across a foreign and barely known world with the odd battle along the way.

I was also pleasantly suprised at the way some of the sub-plots either petered out or wandered off in unexpected directions rather than followed familiar old ways.

A well written military science fiction novel that grabbed me quickly and kept me reading.

I checked out this book solely based upon name recognition, Weber's name specifically. In retrospect, I would consider my choice a good one. The basic concepts that I looked forward from Weber, e.g. character development, integrity, honor, courage, ethics, determination, and emotion, were present in the protagonists. The military maxims used in this book are the same as the ones used in Weber and Ringo's books. This book, and consequently the future series, combines the strengths of both authors to create a work that none alone could have achieved.

This book can be categorized as an "adventure with sci-fi themes". Which means that the heroes will be enmeshed in local politics with no way to get home and have to use the "Peace through superior firepower maxim" through powered armor and energy weapons vs black powder firearms. The main character, Prince Roger, is a rather complex singularity in himself. This dude, is Heir Tertiary to the Empire of Man, which I can only guess at is one of a few galactic empires. The politics resemble The People's Republic of Haven, e.g. backstabbing, power plays, uprisings, chaotic controls, etc. Roger however is not cut out of the same cloth as the Empress. He is more accurately compared to those liberal aristocrats that get in the way of the military, the same military that is protecting everyone in the Empire. He acts like a spoiled child who wants attention. Out of this rough diamond stone, is a potential for greatness. Whether he survives the process remains to be seen.

The first part of the story highlights Weber's distinct touch. It classifies the rules of space combat in that particular universe. Something happens on Roger's assault transport and they have to fight off some enemies. The engagement is very reminiscent of skirmishes in Honor Harrington. This is opposite that of John Ringo's works. He only obliquely describes military naval engagements in his "6 billion Humans vs 6 trillion X 10 to the power 5 aliens" universe. Ringo's strength is that he has lived the life of an infrantry grunt. Therefore his writing reflects his ground pounder history. He has a flare for writing about power armor and plasma weapons. His theme is high quality, low quantity, superior mind vs low quality, high quantity, inferior mind. Which is similar to Weber's numerically superior Peeps vs the technologically superior Manticorans. The ideologies of the two writers fit together to create a series which features the Marine side and the Navy side. Once they get off the planet in Book 3, the politics of Weber starts.

To begin with, the Honor Harrington series (of which this is book 3) is a good read all the way through. Even when it's not at its best, it's still very good.

That said, this isn't the best of the bunch. Its strong points are Weber's character development (he can introduce a new character and in a few pages you have the 'feel' of him or her), the depth it adds to Honor herself in terms of romantic relationships, and our first real look at the inner workings of the main enemy's government. There are some really great moments. However, by and large, the middle of the book is taken up with somewhat mundane activities. Mundane, that is, by the standards of the series; normally, I have trouble putting them down once I pick them up. Everyone kind of seems to spend a lot of time in the middle waiting for The Big Event, which doesn't really quite come in this book. At the end it leaves you hanging, with war and revolution frozen in motion--very much a teaser for the next book. One nice point is the appendix at the end about 'Honor Harrington's Navy', which gives some 'technical' details.

Not a good first read in the series; start with _On Basilisk Station_ would be my advice. If you're reading the series, and already hooked, it'll be worth reading for you and will lead to more exciting things. Despite weak points, it's still great SF reading.

I just finished "A Short, Victorious War", the 3rd book in the series (the first two being "On Basilisk Station" and "Honor of the Queen"). All were excellent, and near the top of the line for a sci-fi series. By contrast, I might compare it to the "Star Trek" series as I would compare a filet mignon to a hamburger. Don't get me wrong; I enjoy Star Trek very much, but I feel that, if space travel to this degree was a reality, the Honor Harrington series does a much better job of reflecting that reality. That said, I have to suggest that a couple of additions to these books would enhance my enjoyment: A cast list of the major characters, with a few words about each, and a glossary of abbreviations/explanations (e.g. RMN-Royal Manticoran Navy). More than once, I found myself forgetting someone's earlier connection, and who can remember all the acronyms floating around in outer space? Nevertheless, I find myself anticipating the subsequent books in the series. I do recommend to anyone reading this: Do plan on reading these books in sequence, since there are so many recurring characters, and references to events in the earlier books abound.

"What this country needs is a short victorious war to stem the tide of revolution" and "The belief in a short decisive war
is the most dangerous of all human illusions." These two
quotes are on the quote page of the third book in the Honor
Harrington series, The Short Victorious War. The first was
said by the Russian Minister of War to the Russian Interior
Minister and the second is by Robert Lynd. So you know where this is headed. Right? Right! Honor Harrington, on medical leave since the events of The Honor of the Queen,
in which she'd foiled the attempt on the life of Protector Benjamin Mayhew, the leader of Grayson. When we first see
her, she's on a mountaintop overlooking the Tannerman Ocean on her homeworld of Sphinx. One of three planets in the binary Manticore System. She and her treecat, Nimitz,
are about to go hang gliding. She's getting bored with her life on Sphinx and wants to return to space. She finally gets her chance. She's given command of a battlecruiser with a
name that has a lot of history behind it. HMS NIKE. She's the
flag captain of Admiral Mark Sarnow. The Peeps have begun
their war against Manticore. Will Manticore and her allies win? That's for me to know and you to find out.

I have to admit I had extremely high expectations for March to the Stars, probably too high. After all March Upland and March to the Sea were two of the best books I have read in years. The characters, character development and action were superb. However this third installment left me a little unsatisfied.

In March to the Stars you have for the most part the same characters, same action, so where is the problem? The problem is that they are the same. I mean how many barbarian hordes can you slaughter before it gets a little old? How long can unrequited love continue before it gets stale and you begin to believe the characters involved are mere idiots instead of soul scared human beings? (I have to admit this part really bothered me, the romanticist in me wanted to see a lot more development in the relationship between the prince and Sergeant Despreaux and the turn it took disappointed me. My problem you say? Correct but it did not help to give me an overall "feel good" for the book.)

Another problem I had with this series is when will it end? In my opinion this could have been wrapped up in this volume ending what I would consider to be one of the best stories written in the past few years. But no, we are left on the hook again. Not necessary a bad thing but I fear that excessively prolonging it will diminish the excellent story that has already been written. I look to the Wheel of Time or the Sword of Truth series' as examples of authors who just don't know when to stop! I am sorry to see a good thing run into the ground and I fear it may happen here. John Ringo's A Hymn Before Battle series is heading down that path quickly. Every story needs closure or it becomes tedious and boring.

In summary this volume was average at best. The best I can say about it, since I will probably have to wait another year for the next one, is that I won't waiting around with that gut wrenching anticipation that March to the Sea gave me.

I am probably dating myself here, but I find Weber/Ringo's works to be every bit as entertaining as Robert Heinlein's and David Eddings stories. I don't think I can pay a higher compliment. It's very apparent that one or both have some combat experience, the battle descriptions and the mental attitudes of the characters are too close to reality to be "made" up.
March to the Stars did not disappoint me in any way. Nor did it proceed as I had thought it would. That was pleasant, I like a little surprise now and then. I am looking forward to the next installment. I agree that if this turns into a ten book series it may hard to keep it as exciting and fresh as it has been. But I could easily see it being a six book series. Doesn't matter I will still buy and read em all. To those Nay-sayers and armchair editors out there, write something better...I'll buy it and read it too. To David Weber and John Ringo...keep it up guys, in this old farts opinion, you're doin good. "nuff said".

During the first two books (MARCH UPCOUNTRY & MARCH TO THE SEA) spoiled Prince Roger transformed into a warrior. At the beginning of book three, Prince Roger Ramius Sergei Alexander Chiang MacClintock and his Marines have begun crossing a treacherous sea on the planet Marduk.

Many native Mardukan characters from the previous books had joined the Royal Marines. The Empire thought them all long dead. However, Roger's troop had to somehow get off the hot and boggy planet they had wrecked on before they could let the Empire know otherwise.

After six long months of marches and too many battles to recall, they were finally nearing the small and secluded space port which was their destination. Information made the port seem to be hostile instead of friendly, but since nothing had been easy up until now, the information did not come as a big surprise. The hostiles would just have to learn the old truism: You DON'T mess with a MacClintock.

***** Okay, I do not think it is a spoiler to tell you this much: There is going to be a fourth book. There HAS to be. By the time you are half way into the book you just KNOW that there is no way all this can be done in one book. The authors added a few new twists to ensure the necessity of another book. Personally, I believe this series is the best, with only the Honor Harrington series being better. There is just too much time in between each of these books though.

If you are just researching and have not read the first two books as yet, then do not bother to begin reading the series until after the next book comes out. You must read all the books, in order, to understand the major characters, as well as what is going on.

Each book left me begging for more and this one is no exception. This is an awesome series with two well known and brilliant authors creating spectacular characters and places for readers to lose themselves in. Highly recommended book. Part of a highly recommended series.

While the previous three Honor novels are driven by battles and the PRH, Field of Dishonor is planted firmly in Manticore's political arena. The characters are the same, but the fighting takes on a different direction. This novel shows Honor finally growing up as a public person.

Honor is thrown in the deep end of the shark tank when her long term adversry Pavel Young is court martialed. His smallness and obsession to destroy Honor move the book forward. In contrast, Honor's people stand in the gap for her, in order to level the playing field. Class warfare is in definite evidence here.

This book, more than the previous ones has a strongly "British" flavor. At times, it is anachronistic, but somehow works.

As part of the series, it's a "must read". Some men may find it to be too much of a "Chick" book.

But, for all of us women who have screamed at the movie screen for the girl to kill the thug attacking her boyfriend, this book is a true validation of our full femininity. We can be powerful both professionally and physically. We can beat the ones that come after our loved ones. But we still bleed.

I usually prefer Fantasy novels; but David Weber's strong female heroine lured me into this series and his writing has kept me comming back for more. I have to admidt that this particular book is the only one in my adult life to have me in tears from early in the book until the end. As much as I hated the character's death that made me cry - it was not a gratuitous death. This person's death not only defined the course of this novel, but also had a profound effect on the heroine's life and career. This effect has continued on into later books. This is the only time I have seen the death of a lover depicted as a life-altering event. Honor does not morn and then continue her life as before. This death effects her actions in this book, changes the path of her career and contiues to echo into later books about her. I hate seeing such an important character die, but David Weber made his death a major pivital part of the book and Honor's life

David Weber's books just keep getting better and better! Here's the fourth book of the series, and Honor Harrington must fight on a different battlefield.

Honor returns from Hancock Station (The Short Victorious War), transporting Captain Lord Pavel Young, who stands accused of cowardice in the face of the enemy. If found guilty, the sentence is death. However, through surprising twists and turns, someone else dies first.

Honor takes a sabbatical for a while, as her command, HMS Nike, is in the slips for major overhaul and refitting following the pounding she received at the hands of the Peeps. She returns to Grayson to take up her duties as Steadholder. When her former executive officer stops by, she receives news that causes her to hot-foot it back to Manticore. What happens next is the tale of her courageous fight for justice in the face of political intrigue and compromise, and how that same compromise winds up treating her even more unfairly than any enemy action.

Read it. Honor's legend keeps growing, and it is well justified. What keeps me reading, more than anything else, is that she continues to be a very real and sometimes vulnerable person, despite a record of achievement that is reaching mythic proportions. Did I say read it? No, absorb it, dwell in it. In an earlier review I said that, speaking as a sailor myself, Honor is the kind of CO I want to work for. I'll go farther - Honor's the kind of CO I'd kill for and die for. 'Nuff said.

A collection of stories about Honor Harrington, the heroine of the popular space warfare series, this book provides solid entertainment for the fans of Mr. Weber.

A Weber story of Honor's first cruise, combined with a treecat's view of some of the series developments, plus the story of McQueen's rebellion, form the bulk of this collection. Eric Flint provides a separate story, more loosely connected but still in the world and times of Honor's series.

Due to Weber's heavy contribution, this collection is more consistent and integrated than earlier Honor's World anthologies. --inotherworlds.com

This book contains 3 short stories by David Weber and one by Eric Flint. I enjoyed the 3 by Weber very much. His stories give a little more insight to some of the events in the novels about Honor Harrington. One of them is an enjoyable description of her first cruise.
The story by Eric Flint was a confusing hodge podge of plots and counter-plots. It was resolved, but not convincingly. However, the story did tell about the life of one of the less important characters from an earlier story. That was interesting.
Over all I recommend the book to those who love Honor.
It seems that Weber is not going to give us another novel anytime soon. Although, I would be very happy to be proven wrong.

First of all, I should say that I loved the first Harrington books so much, I would probably buy any book with David Weber's name on it. Granted, some of the later works have been a little less stellar, but the overall story still has me hooked. Now, on to the contents of this anthology. Three of the stories are by The Man himself, so I will discuss those first.

MS. MIDSHIPWOMAN HARRINGTON is a little piece detailing some of Honor's early exploits against Silesian pirates and Manticoran bigots. Solidly written, it will no doubt provide a base for future short stories or novels set before Basilisk Station.

CHANGER OF WORLDS is the first Harrington story told from the point of view of the 'cats. In it we learn Nimitz and Samantha's real names as they visit Nimitz's clan prior to the birth of their 'kittens. This story verifies some of the theories floated in previous novels as to why treecats decided to settle en masse on Grayson.

Like some of the other reviewers, I enjoyed NIGHTFALL as a stand-alone story. It describes in much greater detail Esther McQueen's aborted coup attempt. While I was glad to learn more about the incident, however, I feel that this should rightfully have been told as part of a novel format. Perhaps if it had been switched for some of the endless backstory in ASHES OF HONOR, I would feel better about both books.

Finally, Eric Flint's FROM THE HIGHLANDS is a nearly uncredited gem of a story. (You won't find his name anywhere on the cover.) We get to learn what happened to Anton Zilwicki after the death of his Navy-hero wife; it turns out he became a spy and went to Earth. When his daughter is kidnapped, several convergent story lines spring into action, leading to political disillusionment, True Romance, rioting in the streets, an assassination or two, and a general warm fuzzy feeling. I would be delighted if Flint wrote more in this vein, especially if he returned to characters like idealistic SS officer Victor Cachat. This could also be a chance for a lot of Weber fans to check out more of Flint's body of work. I know I will.

To sum up, the three Weber stories are fine appendages to his books. For the most part, they detail events already described in general. While they stand up fairly well as individual stories, they don't really compare to Flint's tale.

I picked up "Apocalypse Troll" to see if I liked David Weber. That is, this was a test run before I jumped into his Honor series. The result: I have already picked up "On Basilisk Station".

"Apocalypse Troll" begins with a riveting battle which runs for the first 65 pages or so. You won't want to put the book down for a break during this period. The story then slows down for a while before building to the climax. The book is well paced and rarely boring. It is not deep and thought provoking, so don't expect "Dune". But it is fun.

The book begins in the far future, where an alien race in mortal combat with humans is on the brink of annihilation. In an effort to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, the aliens take a desperate gamble to jump back in time and destroy the human race well before they develop any technologies. It some aspects, this reminded me of Star Trek's "First Contact" movie.

Through the heroic efforts of Battle Division 92 from the future, and a U.S. Carrier group from our present day which finds itself in the middle of the battle, the initial attack is thwarted. However, one part of the alien's forces, nicknamed a "troll" by the humans of the future, survives and begins a plan to carry out his original mission, and maybe more.

But a human from the future named Colonel Ludmilla Leonovna, a fighter pilot with decades of experience but a young hard female body that sci fi writers love, also survives. Now Ludmilla, along with a veteran Navy SEAL from present day, must begin the plan to defeat this Troll before he can destroy mankind.

Not a deep novel, but fast and fun.

Wow! This book was my introduction to the author David Weber. The characters are well developed. This book portrays a woman as the hero. The plot is rich and so is the action! I highly recommend this book and all of David Weber's books-especially all of the Honor Harrington Series! This is a must read SF book. Believe me you won't be disappointed spending the money AND THE PRICE IS RIGHT!

Apocolypse Troll in a nutshell is about a extremely xenophobic alien race from the future who go back in time to change the past in order to prevent themselves from being defeated. They use genetically manipulated humans called Trolls to fight for them.

Apocolypse Troll follows one woman from the future, and one troll as one works to take over the world, and the other works to stop it... in the early 21st century.

Although I'm a huge fan of David Weber, I must admit that many of his books of late have not been up to snuff. His earliest works, "Path of the Fury," "On Basalisk Station" and others appeal to me the most. I feel many of his later works (the later Honor books and the latest books he's co-authored) have lost something. What it is, I'm not sure.

That said, this particular book found it again. There was a freshness there that caught me off guard. The character interactions were believeable, and it had a flowing, continuous story line that made it hard to put down the book. When I read this book, I felt like I did when I read "Path of the Fury" or Mutineer's Moon." Excitment and all the good things that come with a well crafted story.

It's probably not the most original book, but it's fun. I really, really liked this one. For the military Sci-fi fan, this one's a gem.