“To Honor You Call Us” eBook was published in 2014 and was written by H. Paul Honsinger (http://hpaulhonsinger.com). Mr. Honsinger has published two novels in the ‘Man of War’ series, this being the first.
I obtained a galley of this novel for review through https://www.netgalley.com. I would categorize this novel as ‘R’ as there are instances of Violence and Mature Language. This Science Fiction novel is set in a far future where humanity is under attack by the Krag – a bipedal humanoid species that evolved from a rat-like rodent.
The war has been raging for over 30 years and humanity is loosing. The Krag launched a sneak attack that set humanity behind, then they launched a successful biological attack that killed off the majority of humanity’s female population. Now those that are left are in an all-out struggle for survival.
The primary characters in this series are Captain Maxime “Max” Robichaux, commander of the destroyer class starship the USS Cumberland, and Dr. Ibrahim Sahin, his chief medical officer. The Cumberland is Robichaux’s first command, and Sahin’s first post aboard a naval vessel. Because of the long term nature of the war, and the shortage of available manpower, many of the crew begin their Navy service as pre-teens. The weapons they carry not only consist of projectile weapons, but more ancient bladed weapons, like swords, because of hand-to-hand combat aboard ship.
The Cumberland is sent out to identify and seize cargo that the Krag are getting from traitors to humanity. Not only are they faced with long odds because they are operating far from the fleet, but the ship, due to poor officers in the past, is considered one of the worst in the fleet.
I spent about 10.5 hours with this novel and enjoyed every bit of it. It reminded me a lot of the “Honor Harrington” and “Lost Fleet” series. The starships in this universe are very reminiscent of the British sailing ships of the 18th and 19th centuries on Earth. Look forward to reading the next installment in this series. I give this novel a 5 out of 5.
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John's Notes 