Field of Dishonor

Last updated

Field of Dishonor
FieldOfDishonor.jpg
First edition
Author David Weber
Cover artist Gary Ruddell
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Series Honor Harrington series
Genre Science fiction
Published24 November 1994 (Baen Books)
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Pages352 pp (first edition, paperback)
ISBN 0-671-87624-4 (first edition, paperback)
OCLC 43962041
Preceded by The Short Victorious War  
Followed by Flag in Exile  

Field of Dishonor is a science fiction novel by American writer David Weber, first published in 1994. It is the fourth book in the Honor Harrington series, the only book in the series to not feature space warfare.

Contents

Plot summary

Immediately following The Short Victorious War , Honor returns to Manticore as a hero following the victory at Hancock Station, her ship undergoing much needed repairs. Captain Pavel Young, Honor's bitterest enemy, is about to face a court-martial for cowardice before the enemy, punishable by death. Under threat from Young's father, Earl North Hollow, Young is instead demoted and dishonorably discharged from the Navy. Despite the reprieve, North Hollow suffers a fatal heart attack and Young becomes the new Earl of North Hollow. The Star Kingdom officially declares war on the People's Republic of Haven.

Seeking revenge on Honor, Pavel Young first tries to discredit her and then hires a professional duelist, former Royal Marine Denver Summervale, to challenge Honor's lover Paul Tankersley to a duel. Paul is killed by Summervale while Honor is on Grayson overseeing her Steading and formally being appointed Steadholder, as promised in The Honor of the Queen .

Paul's death is a severe blow to Honor, and she determines to kill Summervale no matter the cost to herself. Several of Honor's friends and comrades track Summervale to a hidden retreat where they force him to confess to being hired to kill Paul, though this immediately guarantees his immunity to prosecution given the way the confession is extracted.

Honor confronts Summervale and goads him into challenging her by calling him a paid assassin before witnesses. Both Young and Summervale are confidently expecting Honor to be killed, but she slaughters Summervale in the following duel. Honor then proclaims to the assembled media that Summervale was hired to kill Paul Tankersley and herself by Pavel Young.

Young goes into hiding, to deny Honor from an opportunity to challenge him, planning to wait until repairs on the Nike are completed and Honor is shipped back to the front. Despite being ordered by Earl White Haven to not pursue Young, Honor uses a technicality of the House of Lords chamber rules to demand that she be formally seated with them, and uses the opportunity to denounce Young publicly and challenge him to a duel. Risking total loss of face and political strength, Young is forced to agree.

In the duel, Young panics and turns, shooting Honor in the back, before being cut down by Honor before the Master of the field can even react. The outraged aristocracy removes Honor from the House of Lords and political pressure forces the navy to remove Honor from command and place her on half-pay, with no active assignment. Honor decides to return to Grayson until the crisis subsides. [1]

Reviews

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duel</span> Formalised type of single combat

A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people with matched weapons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Grayson</span> Fictional DC Comics superhero

DickGrayson is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Batman, Teen Titans and Justice League. Created by writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane, he first appeared in Detective Comics #38 in April 1940 as the original and most popular incarnation of Robin, Batman's crime-fighting partner. In Tales of the Teen Titans #44, the character, after becoming a young adult, retires his role as Robin and assumes the superhero persona of Nightwing. Grayson has donned the cape and cowl to replace Bruce Wayne as Batman. His most notable spell as Batman follows Bruce Wayne's supposed death in Final Crisis, and sees Grayson adopt Damian Wayne as his Robin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darth Bane</span> Fictional character in the Star Wars franchise

Darth Bane is a fictional character created by George Lucas in the Star Wars franchise. In the Star Wars universe, Darth Bane is a powerful Sith Lord who lived one thousand years before the events of the films and is known for being the originator of the Sith's "Rule of Two", which states: "One master and one apprentice can be the only Sith in the galaxy at a time". Before it the Sith empire was structured like the Jedi but due to their shortfalls he killed them and created this new rule.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lady Shiva</span> Fictional character

Lady Shiva is a character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was co-created by Dennis O'Neil and Ric Estrada, and first appeared in Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Fighter #5. Over time, she has become more closely associated with Batman and related characters, both as an enemy and an ally. She is a Chinese/Japanese martial arts grandmaster and one of the most skilled combatants in the DC Universe. She is an assassin-for-hire who specializes in killing her targets with her bare hands, and is the mother of Cassandra Cain, aka Batgirl.

<i>On Basilisk Station</i> 1993 novel by David Weber

On Basilisk Station is a science fiction novel by American writer David Weber, first published in 1993. It is the first book in his Honor Harrington series, and follows Commander Honor Harrington and Her Majesty’s light cruiser Fearless during their assignment to the Basilisk system. Though Basilisk Station and the planet of Medusa have become a dumping ground for military officers from Honor's home star system of Manticore who are currently in disfavor, she is determined to discharge her duty regardless of the circumstances.

<i>The Short Victorious War</i> 1994 science fiction novel by David Weber

The Short Victorious War is a science fiction novel by American writer David Weber, first published in 1994. It is the third book in the Honor Harrington series.

<i>Flag in Exile</i> 1995 novel by David Weber

Flag in Exile is a science fiction novel by American writer David Weber, first published in 1995. It is the fifth book in the Honor Harrington series. In the story, the disgraced Honor enters a self-imposed exile on Grayson.

<i>In Enemy Hands</i> (novel) 1996 novel by David Weber

In Enemy Hands is a military science fiction novel by American writer David Weber, first published in 1996. It is the seventh book in the Honor Harrington series and Like most novels in the series, its text is available in the Baen Free Library.

<i>Changer of Worlds</i>

Changer of Worlds, published in 2001, was the third anthology of stories set in the Honor Harrington universe or Honorverse. The stories in the anthologies serve to introduce characters, provide deeper more complete backstory and flesh out the universe, so claim the same canonical relevance as exposition in the main series. David Weber, author of the mainline Honor Harrington series, serves as editor for the anthologies, maintaining fidelity to the series canons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Mohun, 4th Baron Mohun of Okehampton</span> English politician and duellist (c. 1675–1712)

Charles Mohun, 4th Baron Mohun was an English politician best known for his frequent participation in duels. He was killed in the Hamilton–Mohun Duel in Hyde Park.

<i>The Three Musketeers</i> (1993 film) 1993 film by Stephen Herek

The Three Musketeers is a 1993 action-adventure comedy film from Walt Disney Pictures, Caravan Pictures, and The Kerner Entertainment Company, directed by Stephen Herek from a screenplay by David Loughery. It stars Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Chris O'Donnell, Oliver Platt, Tim Curry and Rebecca De Mornay.

<i>Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades</i> 1972 Japanese film

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades, is the third in a series of six Japanese martial arts films based on the long-running Lone Wolf and Cub manga series about Ogami Ittō, a wandering assassin for hire who is accompanied by his young son, Daigoro.

The Twelve Brothers in Silk, also known as The Silk Brothers, is a group of fictional comic book villains, a family of killers that have fought the Birds of Prey in the DC Comics Universe. They were created by artist Joe Bennett and writer Gail Simone.

<i>Dishonored</i> (film) 1931 American film

Dishonored is a 1931 American pre-Code romantic spy film directed and edited by Josef von Sternberg, who also co-wrote the film with Daniel N. Rubin. It was produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film stars Marlene Dietrich, Victor McLaglen, Gustav von Seyffertitz, and Warner Oland, and follows a female spy (Dietrich) for Austria-Hungary during World War I. Costume design was provided by Travis Banton, in one of his several collaborations with Dietrich.

<i>The Phoenix Guards</i> 1991 novel in the Khaavren Romances series by Steven Brust

The Phoenix Guards is a fantasy novel by American writer Steven Brust, the first novel in the Khaavren Romances series, set in the fictional world of Dragaera. Like the other books in that series, the novel is heavily influenced by the d'Artagnan Romances written by Alexandre Dumas and is written by Brust in the voice and persona of a Dragaeran novelist, Paarfi of Roundwood, whose style is a tongue-in-cheek parody of Dumas, matching both his swashbuckling sense of adventure and his penchant for tangents and longwindedness. Brust describes the book as "a blatant ripoff of The Three Musketeers." The Khaavren Romances books have all used Dumas novels as their chief inspiration, recasting the plots of those novels to fit within Brust's established world of Dragaera. The next several books in the cycle are inspired by the subsequent Musketeers books, while 2020's The Baron of Magister Valley uses The Count of Monte Cristo as a starting point.

The Honest Man's Fortune is a Jacobean era stage play, a tragicomedy written by Nathan Field, John Fletcher, and Philip Massinger. It was apparently the earliest of the works produced by this trio of writers, the others being The Queen of Corinth and The Knight of Malta.

The Lovers' Progress is an early seventeenth-century stage play, a tragicomedy written by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger. As its multiple titles indicate, the play has a complex history and has been a focus of controversy among scholars and critics.

<i>My American Wife</i> (1922 film) 1922 film

My American Wife is a 1922 American silent drama film directed by Sam Wood and starring Gloria Swanson. The film was produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It is not known whether the film currently survives, which suggests that it is a lost film.

References

  1. David Weber (1994). Field of Dishonor. Baen Books. ISBN   978-1-55594-065-2.
Preceded by Honor Harrington books Succeeded by