We’ve already put out toes in the water of the Wages of Sin series (more commonly known as the Crown of Slaves series), and we’ll return to it soon enough. In this episode we discuss the first book in the Saganami Island series, entitled “The Shadow of Saganami”.

Events in this novel overlap with and complement, to some extent, events we read about in “Service of the Sword”, “War of Honor” and “Crown of Slaves”. Don’t worry though, there is zero redundancy. What David Weber is doing is giving us more depth and breadth than what we already had. Your hosts all felt this could have been two novels on some level. That said, breaking it into two would have damaged what Mr. Weber does for us by keeping the multiple storylines within a single book. For that, we’re thankful for this lengthy and satisfying book!

With the resumption of hostilities between the Star Kingdom and Haven, the story shifts to the relatively new Lynx Terminus of the Manticoran Wormhole Junction. This junction is located in the economically poor Talbott Cluster. Manticore has offered the benefits of annexation to the systems in the Talbott Cluster, which would benefit all parties involved. It would not necessarily benefit other players on the Honorverse stage. It certainly causes issues and concerns for Mesa, and perhaps, to others. This novel captures the story of the resultant honorable (and less than honorable) maneuvering within the Cluster.

We’ve used the “DIME'' construct to analyze the story as it’s unfolded in the previous novels. That continues here, but now we see a very clear shift from a focus on the military instrument of power (the “M”) to a much heavier emphasis on diplomacy and economics (the “D” and “E”). For those of you who have been on this adventure for a while, you’ll remember we’ve anticipated this happening.

The book is aptly named. We experience a part of the fatal battle Edward Saganami is known for, and we see why he’s regarded as highly as he is within the Royal Manticoran Navy. We get to hear Honor’s words to a graduating class at the Academy at Saganami Island, and then we roll into political intrigue, diplomatic (and less than diplomatic) posturing and maneuvering, piracy, terrorism, and even a large and very significant naval battle. The naval operations and ultimately combat requires the RMN officers, women and men assigned to the ships involved to make comparably difficult decisions to those made by Edward Saganami. They’re inspired by what they know of him, strive to honor his legacy, and ultimately live in the shadow of this great man. It seems this book has something for everyone!

We rated “The Shadow of Saganami” with a 5, a 5 and another 5 (out of 5), for an overall rating of a perfect 5 from your hosts.

As always, we truly appreciate the support of everyone who takes the time to wander through the Honorverse with us. Special thanks for those of you who like and/or comment on our posts, and even reach out and send us a note.

Next, we’re going to return to the “main story line” with our discussion of “At All Costs”. Grab your copy, invite a friend, and join us again next time!

You can find us, and all our episodes at http://honorverse.net, and email us at honorverse@tpenetwork.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Now, let’s be about it!