[bookshare-discuss] Re: crown of slaves
- From: "Gerald Hovas" <geraldhovas@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 18:38:03 -0500
Kasondra,
Crown of Slaves is by David Weber, and it's one of his Honorverse books.
That is, it's set in the same universe with his character Honor Harrington,
but the book isn't about her. She does make an appearance in one of the
chapters, though.
I looked to see if I could find a synopsis for Crown of Slaves, but didn't
find one. Well, if you're familiar with the series, then you probably don't
need one, and if you're not, then you should start with the first book in
the series: On Basilisk Station. I also tried finding a synopsis for it,
but couldn't find one.
If you like science fiction and/or military books, especially ones with a
strong female character, then you would probably like Weber's Honor
Harrington series. You might also want to give it a try just for her
treecat, Nimitz. Instead of trying to explain what a treecat is, I'll let
Weber explain. The first two of the books are free from the publisher as
e-books to promote the series, so I've included the first two or three pages
of chapter one of On Basilisk Station below in place of a synopsis.
BTW, welcome to Bookshare.
Gerald
CHAPTER ONE
The fluffy ball of fur in Honor Harrington?s lap stirred and put forth a
round, prick-eared head as the steady pulse of the shuttle?s thrusters died.
A
delicate mouth of needle-sharp fangs yawned, and then the treecat turned its
head to regard her with wide, grass-green eyes.
?Bleek?? it asked, and Honor chuckled softly.
??Bleek? yourself,? she said, rubbing the ridge of its muzzle. The green
eyes blinked, and four of the treecat?s six limbs reached out to grip her
wrist
in feather-gentle hand-paws. She chuckled again, pulling back to initiate a
playful tussle, and the treecat uncoiled to its full sixty-five centimeters
(discounting its tail) and buried its true-feet in her midriff with the
deep, buzzing hum of its purr. The hand-paws tightened their grip, but the
murderous
claws?a full centimeter of curved, knife-sharp ivory?were sheathed. Honor
had once seen similar claws used to rip apart the face of a human foolish
enough
to threaten a treecat?s companion, but she felt no concern. Except in
self-defense (or Honor?s defense) Nimitz would no more hurt a human being
than turn
vegetarian, and treecats never made mistakes in that respect.
She extricated herself from Nimitz?s grasp and lifted the long, sinuous
creature to her shoulder, a move he greeted with even more enthusiastic
purrs. Nimitz
was an old hand at space travel and understood shoulders were out of bounds
aboard small craft under power, but he also knew treecats belonged on their
companions? shoulders. That was where they?d ridden since the first ?cat
adopted its first human five Terran centuries before, and Nimitz was a
traditionalist.
A flat, furry jaw pressed against the top of her head as Nimitz sank his
four lower sets of claws into the specially padded shoulder of her uniform
tunic.
Despite his long, narrow body, he was a hefty weight?almost nine kilos?even
under the shuttle?s single gravity, but Honor was used to it, and Nimitz had
learned to move his center of balance in from the point of her shoulder. Now
he clung effortlessly to his perch while she collected her briefcase from
the empty seat beside her. Honor was the half-filled shuttle?s senior
passenger, which had given her the seat just inside the hatch. It was a
practical
as well as a courteous tradition, since the senior officer was always last
to board and first to exit.
The shuttle quivered gently as its tractors reached out to the
seventy-kilometer bulk of Her Majesty?s Space Station Hephaestus, the Royal
Manticoran Navy?s
premiere shipyard, and Nimitz sighed his relief into Honor?s short-cropped
mass of feathery, dark brown hair. She smothered another grin and rose from
her bucket seat to twitch her tunic straight. The shoulder seam had dipped
under Nimitz?s weight, and it took her a moment to get the red-and-gold navy
shoulder flash with its roaring, lion-headed, bat-winged manticore, spiked
tail poised to strike, back where it belonged. Then she plucked the beret
from
under her left epaulet. It was the special beret, the white one she?d bought
when they gave her Hawkwing, and she chivied Nimitz?s jaw gently aside and
settled it on her head. The treecat put up with her until she had it
adjusted just so, then shoved his chin back into its soft warmth, and she
felt her
face crease in a huge grin as she turned to the hatch.
That grin was a violation of her normally severe ?professional expression,?
but she was entitled. Indeed, she felt more than mildly virtuous for holding
herself to a grin when what she really wanted to do was spin on her toes,
fling her arms wide, and carol her delight to her no-doubt shocked fellow
passengers.
But she was almost twenty-four years old?over forty Terran standard
years?and it would never, never have done for a commander of the Royal
Manticoran Navy
to be so undignified, even if she was about to assume command of her first
cruiser.
She smothered another chuckle, luxuriating in the unusual sense of complete
and simple joy, and pressed a hand to the front of her tunic. The folded
sheaf
of archaic paper crackled at her touch?a curiously sensual, exciting
sound?and she closed her eyes to savor it even as she savored the moment she
?d worked
so hard to reach.
Fifteen years?twenty-five T-years?since that first exciting, terrifying day
on the Saganami campus. Two and a half years of Academy classes and running
till she dropped. Four years working her way without patronage or court
interest from ensign to lieutenant. Eleven months as sailing master aboard
the
frigate Osprey, and then her first command, a dinky little intrasystem LAC.
It had massed barely ten thousand tons, with only a hull number and not even
the dignity of a name, but God how she?d loved that tiny ship! Then more
time as executive officer, a turn as tactical officer on a massive
superdreadnought.
And then?finally!?the coveted commanding officer?s course after eleven
grueling years. She?d thought she?d died and gone to heaven when they gave
her Hawkwing,
for the middle-aged destroyer had been her very first hyper-capable command,
and the thirty-three months she?d spent in command had been pure, unalloyed
joy, capped by the coveted Fleet ?E? award for tactics in last year?s war
games. But this?!
-----Original Message-----
From: Kasondra payne [mailto:Kassyp36@xxxxxxx]
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2005 4:47 PM
To: bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: crown of slaves
What is it about? Who is it by? What series is it in?
Kasondra Payne
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