From: lynnmcguire5@gmail.com   
      
   On 11/9/2025 12:20 AM, Robert Woodward wrote:   
   > This is the 8th Honorverse anthology. While the cover claims that the   
   > stories are from the earliest days of the Star Kingdom of Manticore,   
   > IMHO, 2 of the 5 stories don¹t qualify. However, those 2 stories do   
   > feature two heroes of the RMN.   
   >   
   > ³One Controllable Step² by Marisa Wolf(1)   
   >   
   > A Beowulf medical team travels to Manticore to help fight the Plague.   
   > They succeeded in creating a vaccine for it, though several team members   
   > died the disease. The Bassingford that the RMN¹s chief medical center is   
   > named after appears. BTW, the vaccine they developed failed several   
   > years later when the virus mutated again.   
   >   
   > ³Deadly Delusions² by Jane Lindskold   
   >   
   > This is a prequel of ³The Stray² (which appeared in the 2nd anthology,   
   > _Worlds of Honor_, written by the late Linda Evans). We meet the people   
   > who were killed in that story in more happy times and two sisters, one   
   > of which had an imagination that could be described as excessive.   
   >   
   > ³The Great Condiment Caper² by Jacob Holo(2) with Thomas Pope   
   >   
   > Ensign Edward Saganami, assigned to the Stores Division of the RMN¹s   
   > first Dreadnought, the²Ad Astra², is ordered to help look for a missing   
   > pallet of barbecue sauce (600 liters worth). Since this takes place   
   > years after the first passage through the Manticore Junction, I don¹t   
   > consider this to be early Star Kingdom, struggling to survive. This is a   
   > baby titan, growing like a weed. BTW, Ensign Saganami found the pallet   
   > and impressed his superior and a chief petty officer in doing so.   
   >   
   > ³XO² by Daniel Allen Butler   
   >   
   > Lt. Commander Ellen D¹Orville takes command of an RMN frigate when the   
   > captain collapses due to a medical emergency (this takes place several   
   > decades after the previous story). The baby titan I referred to in the   
   > previous story is now old enough to kick ass and take names (which it   
   > had done several years before in Silesia). D¹Orville has the opportunity   
   > to do some kicking and name taking herself and does so. However, this   
   > was in somebody else¹s star system whose government was loudly annoyed   
   > (but several members of said government were privately thankful for her   
   > intervention).   
   >   
   > ³Crystal Singer¹s Song² by David Weber   
   >   
   > This takes place a couple of decades after ³One Controllable Step².   
   > Aldona (I believe that is her on the cover), a member of the Sphinx   
   > Forestry Service, is delivering emergency supplies during a major storm.   
   > Her transport is hit by a lightning bolt which took out all navigation   
   > equipment; she ended up lost over the ocean and crashing on an unnamed   
   > island. There she discovers a colony of treecats (note that this is   
   > several decades before Stephanie Harrington discovered them) - how they   
   > got there is a different epic of survival. She spends the rest of her   
   > 50+ years of life there, teaching the treecats some relatively advanced   
   > techniques, such as spears and spear throwers, primitive agriculture,   
   > pottery wheels, and klln-firing pottery. This is contained inside an   
   > envelope story (3) involving Honor Harrington (said unnamed island had   
   > been noticed and the treecat colony contacted several years before).   
   > IMHO, this envelope weakens the story.   
   >   
   > Notes:   
   >   
   > 1) I have heard that Marisa Wolf will be replacing the late Eric Flint   
   > as the co-author of the books dealing directly with the Mesan Alignment.   
   >   
   > 2) I have heard that Jacob Holo will be writing more Edward Saganami   
   > stories.   
   >   
   > 3) There is a reason why Honor was involved, but IMHO it would had been   
   > better as part of an epilogue. BTW, upon consideration, I find it  Š   
   > difficult Š to accept the premise that NOBODY had visited that island   
   > (and it was fairly large, between Sicily and Tasmania in size) for more   
   > then 4 centuries after Aldona crashed there. I don¹t care how close it   
   > is to the southern ice-cap of Sphinx. It had forests and thus was part   
   > of the responsibility of the Sphinx Forestry Service.   
      
      
   https://www.amazon.com/Challenges-Worlds-Honor-Weber-David/dp/1668072955/   
      
   3 stars, 4 stars, or 5 stars ?   
      
   Lynn   
      
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