This is the fifth Honor Harrington book, and it’s probably my
favorite…except for certain parts which I skipped.

As a result of the way she settled with Pavel Young in the previous book,
Honor is on the beach; politically, the Manticoran government
can’t afford to give her a ship. Not to worry; she bops off to Grayson,
where (thanks to her actions in The Honor of the Queen) she
is not only a planetary heroine but also Steadholder Harrington, ruler of
the newly established Harrington Steading. She’s a member of the
planetary nobility, and legally has more power over her Steading than any
Manticoran noble–the Queen quite possibly not excepted.

On top of that, the Graysons are expanding their navy as quickly as they
can, and they need experienced commanders. Which is why Steadholder
Harrington soon finds herself serving the Grayson Space Navy as…Admiral
Harrington.

All is not perfectly rosy, of course; Haven is plotting an attack, and
hyper-conservative forces on Grayson itself practically think she’s the
devil incarnate. (It’s some of those sequences that I skipped on this
reading; the characters are thoroughly unpleasant, and so are the things
they do. I know how it comes out, and see no point in subjecting myself
to evil tedium.)

The book has certain features in common with its predecessor, especially
as regards the climax; suffice it to say that Graysons aren’t
Manticorans, and that sometimes this is a good thing.