Torch of Freedom (Honorverse)
by David Weber, Eric Flint
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Book Summary Information
Author: David Weber, Eric FlintEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-11-17
ISBN: 1439133050
Number of pages: 608
Publisher: Baen
Book Reviews of Torch of Freedom (Honorverse)
Book Review: Defending the Torch
Summary: 5 Stars
Torch of Freedom (2009) is the second SF novel in the Torch subseries of the Honorverse series, following Crown of Slaves. In the previous volume, a slave uprising on Congo threw off the yoke of Manpower and other Mesan transtellars. Berry calmed down the genetic slaves enough to spare technicians and other low level workers, but Manpower managers were slaughtered.
The Torch Liberation Army took the space station. Then a Mesan taskforce was confronted by Manticore and Mayan Sector ships and declined combat. The world and system were renamed Torch by its new citizens. Then the victorious former slaves selected Berry as their Queen.
Manticore, Haven, Erewhon and the Mayan Sector of the Solarian League quickly recognized the provisional government and signed defense treaties with the torch system. Audubon Ballroom also supported Torch with their ships and personnel. Torch opened their citizenship to all genetic slaves, who soon began to arrive by shiploads.
The Alignment is a secret organization within Manpower. Created by Leonard Detweiler, it is dedicated to improving the genetic inheritance of the human race. Beowulf rejected their arguments and now the Alignment cares little about whether the rest of humanity wants to be improved.
In this novel, Berry Zilwicki is the Queen of Torch. Berry is only seventeen years old, but has had a very perilous life before becoming Queen. She doesn't like to be called by her titles.
Anton Zilwicki is Berry's father. He was an intelligence analyst for Manticore. Now he is the common law husband of Catherine Montaigne and part of the Torch government.
Victor Cachat is a Haven FIS secret agent. He is Head of Station for Torch and Erewhon. He also works closely with Anton and the Torch government.
Ruth Winton is a Manticoran princess. She would rather be a spymaster and is rapidly learning the role from Anton and Victor.
Brice Miller is almost fifteen years old. He is a resident on Parmley Station, an exoatmospheric amusement park that has been losing money for decades.
Hugh Arai is a former genetic slave and an agent of the Biological Survey Corps, Beowulf's covert operations organization. He is the commander of the BSC ship Ouroboros.
Jack McBride is the security chief of the Alignment's Gamma Center, a hidden research facility on Mesa. He has been a field agent, but his superiors considered him too squeamish for field work.
Herlander Simoes is a mathematical physicist on the Alignment drive research team. He has played a key role is developing a new type of interstellar drive.
In this story, Queen Berry and her advisors begin to suspect that Manpower is not a normal transtellar corporation. They have too much money and are involved in too many operations. Then somebody tries to assassinate Berry.
Meanwhile, Parmley Station is visited by another ship. Although the Parmley family has resisted attempts by slavers to take over their station, they soon realized that the slavers have more resources. So now the slavers pay rent to live in the tower and to maintain a holding facility for slaves from occasional harvester ships.
However, the current visitor is not a slaver ship. Rather, it contains a BSC commando. As hidden observers from the Parmley family watch, the supposed slavers -- and their slaves -- wipe out all the slavers on the station.
The Parmley family are well shielded, so the BSC ship does not detect any other lifeforms on the station. When Hugh declares his intentions to nuke the station, Brice exposes himself and asks for further consideration. The BSC commando decides to link Parmley station with the Torch system.
Back on Mesa, Jack has a problem. Hedlander and his wife were asked to foster a baby from an experimental line that should have a very strong mathematical potential. Despite genetic tweaks, the previous clones had developed a form of autism.
The Long-Range Planning Board thought that the mathematical talents of the Simoes couple would carry the child through this problem. Indeed, the child passed the usual failure point with flying colors and gained the love of the Simoes. But then she suddenly starts losing touch with the outside world.
Hedlander points out that Francesca has done much better than the previous models, but LRPB decides to discontinue treatment and culls her. Hedlander is incensed over the LRPB decision. His moods alienate him from his colleagues and then his wife gets a divorce. Jack is asked to try to get Herlander through his current project.
Jack finds himself liking and sympathizing with Herlander. He begins to view the LRPB and the Alignment from a different point of view. He also begins to wonder about their relationships with the normals and slaves.
This tale focuses mostly on events within the Torch system and the Maya Sector. However, this novel parallels the other two storylines within the Honorverse, taking place during the same timeframe as At All Costs and Storm from the Shadows. The events in each storyline influence the other novels. Some characters play key roles across the storylines.
This story will influence events elsewhere within the Honorverse. The next volume in this series is the main sequence novel Mission of Honor. Read and enjoy!
Highly recommended for Weber fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of political intrigue, covert operations, and a bit of romance.
-Arthur W. Jordin
Summary of Torch of Freedom (Honorverse)
As the slavemasters of Mesa plot against the Star Empire of Manticore and the newly liberated slave planet of Torch, Anton Zilwicki and the notorious Havenite secret agent Victor Cachat set off on a dangerous mission to uncover the truth concerning a wave of mysterious assassinations that have been launched against Manticore and Torch. Most people are sure that the Republic of Haven is behind the assassinations, but Zilwicki and Cachat suspect others of being the guilty party.Queen Berry of Torch was one of the targets of the unknown assassins. The former head of the Ballroom slave liberation organization, Jeremy X?now one of Torch's top officials, but still considered by many the most dangerous terrorist in the galaxy?calls in some past favors owed to him. In response, a security officer from Beowulf arrives in Torch to take charge of Queen Berry's security?a task made doubly difficult by the young monarch's resentment of bodyguards and the security officer's own growing attachment to her.
Meanwhile, powerful forces in the Solarian League are maneuvering against each other to gain the upper hand in what they all expect to be an explosive crisis that threatens the very existence of the League itself.
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