This is a unique book within the Honorverse. Mostly it’s a companion to the stories we’ve read, but it also contains a novella written by David Weber. The first third of the book is essentially a biography of King Roger III told through a story, beginning with his time as a young officer in the Royal Manticoran Navy and running through his reign. The story is titled “I Will Build My House of Steel”, from which the name of the book is derived. The remaining two-thirds of the book is the detailed companion full of history, military information, political / governmental information, ship classes, and so much more. It’s a must-read!

While published in May 2013, we decided to cover it out of publication order and when we reached the end of discussing all the books that have already been published and available. While that sets the novella out of order, the book really is primarily a companion volume with a lot of reference and background information on a host of topics.

In this episode we discussed the novella like we would any other story or novel, then each of us highlighted a favorite section from the companion. Of course, we’d love to hear from all of you with your thoughts on the novella and which section or sections of the companion were your favorites.

Your hosts rated “House of Steel” with a trio of 4s (out of 5), resulting in an overall rating of 4.

Back to what was mentioned above: there are currently no more already published books in the Honorverse, but don’t fear! The next book is scheduled to be published in July 2026—just a few months from when this episode was recorded and hits the feed. We’re going to cover that book, “A Call to Deception”, a month after it hits the streets. The book is titled “A Call to Deception”, written by David Weber, Timothy Zahn and Thomas Pope, and it’s the fifth novel in the Manticore Ascendent series. We’re excited to read it and hope you are, too!

You can preorder “A Call to Deception” at the time this episode releases. As always, grab a copy, invite a friend, get to reading and join us again (after a short delay) on our continuing voyage through the Honorverse! Also, please stay tuned for an announcement about another project we’re cooking up!

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

Now, let’s be about it!