** Exposition Ascendant **
With a lower overall rating than previous and subsequent entries, Rising Thunder seemed like a throwaway installment. It isn’t. By this point in the Honorverse, exposition is currency with which we pay for space battles. The focus shifts from space battles to political economy, and the main conflict ends through non-military means—a choice that frustrates tacticians but fits the logic of the world.
As one Army strategist told me: when you dominate the battle via conventional means, your enemies will go unconventional. Weber understands that, even if it costs readers their customary naval fix.
With only two books left, he spends most of the time building out a late-stage capitalist interstellar empire rather than moving the plot. I didn’t expect much story, and I wasn’t disappointed. At this point, it’s clearly one chapter in a larger design, not a novel meant to stand alone.
Still, it’s engaging enough to finish in a single sitting—and as the end approaches, I’m almost sorry there are only fourteen books, conspiracy theories and all.