Brothers in Valor (Man o War #3) by H. Paul Honsinger

Military Science Fiction

From Goodreads:

It is the year 2315, the 33rd year of the Krag Wars. The tide has been running against humankind and its allies. One small destroyer, the USS Cumberland, under the command of its young Cajun skipper, Max Robichaux, fights along with the rest of the Union and Allied navies to preserve the very existence of the human race.

Having delivered the Union's response to the Krag ultimatum, the USS Cumberland is ambushed on its way home by an overwhelmingly powerful enemy task force. Max, with the brilliant Dr. Ibrahim Sahin at his side as ship's surgeon, adviser, and friend, must use all his skill to defeat the enemy, only to find that Admiral Hornmeyer has an even more challenging mission for the destroyer and her intrepid crew.

The Cumberland must slip deep into enemy held space and attack a key fuel and supply depot that the Krag must have to defeat an upcoming Union and allied offensive. And, if Max and his crew survive that, they must then hunt down a brilliant and elusive Krag commander, code named "Admiral Birch" to prevent him from masterminding the Krag defense to the impending attack.

Oh, and one more thing, not only is Admiral Birch hopping from star system to star system in an armed convoy, there is a very good chance that the whole mission is an elaborate trap designed to destroy the Cumberland and kill its promising new commander.

"Brothers in Valor" is the third volume of the "Man of War" military science fiction trilogy. It concludes the first phase of the continuing story of Captain Max Robichaux and Dr. Ibrahim Sahin during the Krag Wars, and sets up the next cycle of the story--the "Brothers of the Black Sky" trilogy, the first volume of which, "To Stations My Lads" is due out in late 2015.

I started reading this series with For Honor We Stand went on To Honor You Call Us and have been waiting for Brothers in Valor.  For me this is what a military science fiction series should be.  The writing is good and the plot is interesting.  The Krag are descended from a species that we have always disliked making them a natural enemy.

Max Robichaux is the perfect star ship captain.  He takes care of both his ship and under his leadership the crew now functions as a well-oiled machine.  The supporting characters are interesting allowing Max the support and sounding board he needs.

This time I found the action less intense.  There was more time for getting to know more about both Max and the crew.  They are on two different missions and small spoiler – they succeed in both.  While the last one is a success we leave Max and crew in major trouble. 

While Brothers in Valor could stand alone you should start this series at the beginnings for maximum enjoyment.

47 North published Brothers in Valor by H.Paul Honsinger in 2015.

I received an ARC of Brothers in Valor from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Musing Mondays, May 12, 2014.

TC is in the sun musing about the chipmunk she sees out the window.

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…Musing Mondays is sponsored by Should Be Reading.
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it! 
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!

• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

One of my son's was visiting last week.  We share some similar reading tastes and I pulled out several hard copy Military Science Fiction titles that I liked.  Two were part of new series, H. Paul Honsinger's Man of War Series,Marko Kloos'  Frontline Series and Gordon Savage's Peacemaker which is a stand-alone.  He looked them over and decided to give them a try.  The books were right in front of him but instead of reading the hard covers he purchased the ebook copies.  He told me he just could not read a paper copy any more.  (That meant he could not read Peacemaker as it is not available as an ebook.)  He only reads ebooks.  I was surprised as I read both.  I love paper but also like ebooks.  How about you?  Which do you prefer?  Do you know anyone else who will not read paper copies anymore? 

2014 Hugo Awards

2014 Hugo Award Nominee’s

The 2014 Hugo Award nominee’s are out.  I attended WorldCon last year so had a chance to nominate books I though should be considered.  One I nominated made the final list.  Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie was the one that made the final list.  The two others I nominated did not.  They were The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord and To Honor You Called Us by H. Paul Honsinger.  I really think that Karen Lord’s book should have made the cut.  To Honor You Called Us was a long shot but if a Military Science Fiction book was on the list I thought it should be the one. 

There are two I have not read on the list. I need to read Warbound (I have an ebook copy on my TBR pile) and The Wheel of Time before I vote.  Although I cannot attend I did purchase a supporting membership at Loncon 3 so I can vote.

2014 Hugo Award Nominees. 

Best Novel (1595 nominating ballots)

Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie (Orbit US/Orbit UK)

Neptune’s Brood, Charles Stross (Ace / Orbit UK)

Parasite, Mira Grant (Orbit US/Orbit UK)

Warbound, Book III of the Grimnoir Chronicles, Larry Correia (Baen Books)

The Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (Tor Books)     

1939 Retro-Hugo Awards

I did not nominate a novel in this category but have read several that made the cut.

Best Novel (208 nominating ballots)

Carson of Venus, Edgar Rice Burroughs (Argosy, February 1938)

Galactic Patrol, E. E. Smith (Astounding Stories, February 1938)

The Legion of Time, Jack Williamson (Astounding Science-Fiction, July 1938)

Out of the Silent Planet, C. S. Lewis (The Bodley Head)

The Sword in the Stone, T. H. White (Collins)

Follow this link to see all of the catagories for the 2014 Hugo Awards

Follow this link to see all of the catagories for the 1939Reto-Hugo Awards

Guest Post - H. Paul Honsinger Author of the Man of War Series

I read To Honor You Called Us (Click on the title to see my review) and loved the book.  One of the things that really fascinated me were the aliens that were created for the story.  One was a huge surprise even though there were hints along the way.  I wanted to know how they were created so I asked H. Paul Honsinger if he would do a guest post on how he came up with each of the alien species and he agreed.  Read his guest post first and then keep going to see my review of book two, For Honor We Stand.

H. Paul Honsinger

I tried to make my aliens scientifically plausible, just like everything else I write.  Like many writers, I started with where I wanted to go and worked backwards:  I wanted to be able to have story lines in which the enemy aliens in my books, the Krag, took over human occupied planets, lived on them and grew food on them.  For all sorts of complicated biochemical reasons having to do with stereochemistry, enzyme compatibility, and other arcane stuff, it is virtually impossible for aliens who evolved completely independently of us to be able to do that, so that is where I came up with the idea of the Krag being descended from life forms transplanted from Earth 11 million years ago. 

It was also important for me to have a plausible reason for their wanting to destroy us.  I wasn’t going to fall back on the old tropes about wanting our water or other natural resources because all the water anyone could want, as well as just about any other natural resource, is abundant in the galaxy and available in lots of places that don’t involve having to fight it out with pesky, pink-skinned, technologically capable bipeds.  It occurred to me that a scientifically capable race that evolved from transplanted life forms might develop a belief system that said that their world and, by extension, the universe, was made for them.  From there, I developed the Krag’s beliefs concerning their Creator-God and that it is blasphemy for us to believe in our own evolution on Earth and the Krag being offshoots of life on this planet. 

For the other aliens, I thought that there must be many, many biological pathways that lead to intelligence and that, accordingly, there would be intelligent life that grew out of all sorts of ecosystems and ecological niches.  The Pfelung are mudfish who grew big brains in the process of moving from sea to land, and who even have intelligent and totally aquatic adolescents who play a major role beginning in my second book.  Just because our ancestors were firmly established on land before the explosion in primate brain size doesn’t mean that it had to happen that way everywhere else.  I also made them very direct, ethical, and reasonable—which is probably just as much a function of their culture as their biology.   

The race I have the most fun writing, though, are the Vaaach.  They are an arboreal-hunter species, much larger than grizzly bears with claws as long as rifle bayonets and fangs like steak knives.  One could take down a grizzly without breaking a sweat.  They are also at least a thousand years ahead of us technologically and seem (at least at this point in the story) to be highly contemptuous of humans as tiny, weak, technologically primitive “fruit eaters.”  The encounters that our hero has with the Vaaach are terrifying (for the humans), made the more so because the Vaaach seem to need to be given cogent reasons, right now, for not destroying the humans on the spot.  Again, just because our ancestors came down from the trees before their brains got big, I saw no reason things had to happen in that order.  Intelligence would be a great trait for hunters in the treetops to have, particularly when the trees are as tall and the hunting as dangerous as it is on the Vaaach home world.  

H. Paul Honsinger

Author of the "Man of War" Military Science Fiction Series

Learn More at hpaulhonsinger.com

  

Stacking theShelves, March 29, 2014

Books Stacked on My Shelves

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books I added to my shelves this week. They may it be physical or virtual. I include books I buy in a physical store or online, books I borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!  Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews.  Follow the link to see what others have on their shelves.

From Amazon Vine:

For Honor We Stand (Man of War Series) by H. Paul Honsinger

Purchased:

To Do or Die by Mike Shepherd

Night Broken (A Mercy Thompson Novel) by Patricia Briggs

Won:

Obsidian Heart by Mark T. Barnes

For Review:

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E Pearson

The Escape by Mary Balogh

Rescue At Cardwell Ranch by B. J. Daniels

Deadly Curiosities  by Gail Z. Martin

Remains of Innocence by J. A. Jance

To Honor You Call Us (Man of War Book #1) by H. Paul Honsinger

Science Fiction/Space Opera

From Goodreads:

"The Terran Union is engaged in a vast interstellar war against the Krag Ruthless aliens intent on exterminating humankind. In 2315, the wily Max Robichaux is given command of the USS Cumberland, a destroyer with state-of-the-art capabilities but a combat record so bad, she's known as the Cumberland Gap. Capt. Robichaux's first mission: to take his warship to the Free Corridor, where the Krag have secretly been buying strategic materials, and to seize or destroy any ships carrying enemy cargo. Far from the fleet and under enforced radio silence, Max relies only on his determination and guile and the support and friendship of his chief medical officer, the brilliant Dr. Sahin. Because even as he deals with the ship's onboard problems and the stress of carrying out her risky assignment, Max and the doctor discover that the Cumberland and her misfit crew are all that stands in the way of a deadly Krag attack that threatens to end the war?and humanity once and for all. A far-future story in the tradition of ships of wood, men of iron.  To Honor You Call Us and the Man of War series combine the adventure of exploration, the excitement of war, and the dangers of the unknown through the eyes of a ship and her crew."

To Honor You Call Us is a must read for any Military Science Fiction fan.  Honsinger takes some familiar themes and gives them a new twist.

To Honor You Call Us starts with our hero, Max Robichaux, leading a successful raid against the enemy and ending up the senior officer left alive on his spaceship making him the acting Captain.  Fast forward another chapter and Max is given command of the Cumberland, a problem ship that when faced with action against the enemy was noted to come, see and run.   Certainly a theme that has been used before. 

What makes this a good read is that after that the book develops its own voice and becomes a unique story. 

There is great world building worked into the story and plot.  Part of the world building is done with information dumps but they are kept to a paragraph or two and do not run pages and pages. I also like the explanation of why there were no women on the ships and how they felt it was a loss to the Navy that they were no long part of the space going service.

The characters are interesting and very well developed.  Expect the unexpected from some of the characters.  The roles they play are flexible and unique adding to the depth of the story line.

Then there are the aliens.  Look for a big surprise about the enemy about 2/3 of the way through the book.

The plot is set up for a series. Max and crew are successful at their mission but their mission is only a small part of the war.  That leaves the ending up in the air with a lot of room for the action in the next book.

I liked the writing.  As I said there were some information dumps but not enough to interfere with the flow of the story and all had information that was needed.  I found it very easy to read and keep up.  The writing was very much in an active voice and kept my attention throughout the book.  Pick up To Honor You Call Us for an enjoyable read.  Book Two, For Honor We Stand, is already out in one addition and will be released again by 47 North on March 11, 2014.

47 North published To Honor You Call Us by H. Paul Honsinger in 2013.

Stacking the Shelves, Feburary 1, 2014

Some of the Books Stacked on My Shelves

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books I am adding to my shelves. They may it be physical or virtual. I include books I buy in a physical store or online, books I borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!  Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews.  Follow the link to see what others have on their shelves.

I was in Denver, CO most of last week.  At trip to the Tattered Cover is a must when visiting.  I purchased one book while I was there.  It is Science Fiction by a Colorado author. When I got home I had several books from Amazon Vine.  I also had a book and several nice bookmarks I won.

From the Tattered Cover:

Peacemaker (The Corona Rebellion, 2564 AD)  by Gordon Savage.

From Amazon Vine:

Home to Seaview Key by Sherryl Woods
To Honor You Call Us (Man of War Series)  by H. Paul Honsinger
Moth and Spark by Anne Leonard
Discover Europe published by Lonely Planet

Won:

The Christmas Cats Chase Christmas Rats by Constance Corcoran Wilson, Art by Gary McCluskey
Bookmarks from Cate Dean featuring The Claire Wiche Chronicles