Storm from the Shadows by David Weber

Michelle, or Mike, Henke is a close relative to the Throne of the Star Kingdom of Manticore, which is slowly expanding into a Star Empire. She is fifth in line to the throne, and a close friend of Duchess Honor Harrington, but in one battle together, Mike's ship is badly damaged, and Honor is forced to leave her friend behind. Mike manages to cover Honor's escape with a deadly fusilade of missiles, which destroys her own ship in the process.

But Mike survives to be taken prisoner by the People's Republic of Haven, and during her recovery from her injuries sustained in battle, is approached by the head of the People's Republic, President Eloise Pritchart, to deliver a message to Mike's cousin and Queen, Elizabeth. The message is: let us meet on a neutral place of your selection to discuss making peace. In return for being released to carry the message, Mike must agree to not fight against the Peeps until after the peace summit.

Elizabeth is persuaded to agree, and Mike, because the navy needs as many commanders as it can get, recieves a promotion to Vice-Admiral, a new ship and a posting to the Talbott Cluster, a group of worlds near one end of a wormhole terminus, formerly independent, but now part of the Star Empire of Manticore, by their own request. Because it has just become part of their empire, the former Kingdom of Manticore must work with their new worlds to bring up their technology, education and wealth to the level enjoyed by the original citizens of the Star Kingdom.

But all this has made the hidden masters of Manpower, a company based on the planet Mesa and trafficking in genetic slaves, very antsy. Neither the Peeps nor the Manticoreans like slavery. Whereas once the People's Republic had a strong ruling power who might have been able to wipe out Manpower, Manpower meddled in their planet until they became fractured and cruel, making them have so many other problems that they couldn't trouble Manpower at all. Manticore, meanwhile, was far enough away not to pose any kind of significant threat, but since they were at war with the Peeps, they had other problems besides Manpower.

Now, with the more enlightened rule by Eloise Pritchart in place in the People's Republic, and with Manticore coming much closer to their borders, Manpower decides to do something about both Star Nations. First, they pull assassination attempts on two Manticoreans on Earth, but make it seem like the Peeps were responsible. This causes Queen (now Empress) Elizabeth's temper to flare, and she calls off the peace process. And in the Talbott Cluster, Manpower uses the only world who voted not to join the Empire to ensnare the Manticoreans in War with the Solarian Empire, aka The Sollies.

The Solarian Empire is centered around Earth, aka Sol, and they think of themselves as the pinnacle of technology and culture, thinking of the Manticoreans, Andermanni and Peeps as "Neobarbs". Even if they are no longer the most technologically advanced empire around, they certainly are the largest, and there is no way the Manticoreans can win in a fight with the Sollies... or can they?

As Manpower draws the Manticoreans and the Sollies into a conflict with a Solarian Officer who hates the Manties, the two forces are being manipulated by powers they hardly even know exist. But can they discover the truth before both are led inexorably to war?

Mike Henke is a familliar character to those who have read the Honor Harrington series. She's Honor's best friend and a damned fine commander on her own. But while both are strong female characters, Mike is less bothered by killing than Honor is. If someone has done her a wrong, and Mike has a chance to get revenge in honest, open battle, she'd go for it. Honor might as well, but she'd lose sleep over it. Mike wouldn't.

But in this story, Mike has been in a losing battle and lost many people she was close to, which despite her survival, created scars on her soul. She must learn to open up and reconnect with her new officers and underlings and not allow the grief and stress she underwent to crack her open like a badly-fractured pot. As well, Mike also doesn't have her friend Honor's Treecat, Nimitz, although Weber can't help but throw another feline into the mix in Dicey, a Maine Coon Cat rescued by Mike's steward. Dicey is only mentioned a few times, thank goodness, so its not like Dicey is a Nimitz stand-in.

And yet, with this book, the series seems to be turning in a much darker direction. Sure, the war with the Peeps was perilous, but not quite in the way a war with the Sollies would be. And while Honor lets everyone around her see that her tactical prowess isn't limited solely to battles with the Peeps, the answers she gives for how a War with the Sollies must be won isn't very palatable, to either her friends and relatives (and Queen) or to the readers, either.

The battle scenes are well-done as always, but the story surrounding this one is much more like real politics than the War between Manticore (read America and/or Canada) and the Peeps (Soviet Russia). Or maybe the Sollies are more like America, convinced they are the best in everything, and so large and powerful that for a small Star Kingdom or Empire, going up against them seems a lot like suicide. But as this book shows, their ships are way behind on the tech curve, and their fleet has been unchallenged for so long that all their captains and admirals tend to be of the armchair sort who pooh-pooh the idea that anyone could defeat them in anything.

Meedless to say, Manpower must die, but even so, the conflict may already have started and be unable to stop. The writing is crisp and cracking, and the battle scenes will put you on the edge of your seat and keep you there. This is one series you will definitely want to read, and re-read. It offers just about everything- characterization, battle scenes, and plenty of exposition about weapons and combat to appeal to the more hard-science readers, and despite all the exposition, the book is still amazingly good to read. Highly recommended, as with all books in the Honorverse.