What price victory? The war with the Republic of Haven has
resumed...disastrously for the Star Kingdom of Manticore. Admiral Lady
Dame Honor Harrington, Steadholder and Duchess Harrington, the single
victorious Allied commander of the opening phase of the new war, has
been recalled from the Sidemore System to command Eighth Fleet. Everyone
knows Eighth Fleet is the Alliance's primary offensive command, which
makes it the natural assignment for the woman the media calls "the
Salamander." But what most of the public doesn't know is that not only
are the Star Kingdom and its Allies badly outnumbered by the Republic's
new fleet, but that the odds are going to get steadily worse.
Eighth Fleet's job is to somehow prevent those odds from crushing the
Alliance before the Star Kingdom can regain its strategic balance. It's
a job which won't be done cheaply. Honor Harrington must meet her
formidable responsibilities with inferior forces even as she copes with
tumultuous changes in her personal and public life. The alternative to
victory is total defeat, yet this time the cost of victory will be
agonizingly high.