4/5 stars.
With just four stories in 350+ pages these are more novellas than short stories and very good they are too, except possibly Eric Flint’s contribution, but I’ve never got on that well with the little of Flint’s writing that I’ve read. The three stories from Weber are very good indeed, though I did find coming to a junior Honor after years of reading about her purely as captain through to admiral a little disconcerting! And maybe Weber does present the seventeen-year-old Ms Midshipmwoman Harrington as a little too accomplished and perfect for her age. But, never mind, the story is still great as are his other stories in this book; one enjoyable one about treecats and another set in the People’s Republic of Haven. Flint’s story, set in the Solarian League (Chicago in fact), was actually quite a good story; just not very well told. It’s difficult to explain but, somehow, I always find Flint seems, as a writer, to be trying too hard; trying to be too clever with his use of words, resulting in dialogue that doesn’t feel realistic to me for the people who are doing the speaking.
With just four stories in 350+ pages these are more novellas than short stories and very good they are too, except possibly Eric Flint’s contribution, but I’ve never got on that well with the little of Flint’s writing that I’ve read. The three stories from Weber are very good indeed, though I did find coming to a junior Honor after years of reading about her purely as captain through to admiral a little disconcerting! And maybe Weber does present the seventeen-year-old Ms Midshipmwoman Harrington as a little too accomplished and perfect for her age. But, never mind, the story is still great as are his other stories in this book; one enjoyable one about treecats and another set in the People’s Republic of Haven. Flint’s story, set in the Solarian League (Chicago in fact), was actually quite a good story; just not very well told. It’s difficult to explain but, somehow, I always find Flint seems, as a writer, to be trying too hard; trying to be too clever with his use of words, resulting in dialogue that doesn’t feel realistic to me for the people who are doing the speaking.
