Very much enjoyed. ( )

Weber, David, Timothy Zahn, and Thomas Pope. A Call to Arms. Honorverse: Manticore Ascendant No. 2. Baen, 2015.
In A Call to Arms, the second novel in the Honorverse spinoff series Manticore Ascendant, Travis Long is now an officer. As in the first novel, his character is defined by two seemingly incompatible traits: a penchant for following rules and an unusual ability to “think outside the lines.” These qualities are keys to the character dynamics in the novel and the theme that people are not always what they seem at first glance. Combine that with some political skullduggery, some space pirating, and an epic space battle and you have the makings of a more than usually satisfying space war story. ( )

This is the second book in the Manticore Ascendant series and follows the further adventures of Travis Uriah Long. Travis has been sent to further schooling and is now a Lieutenant JG in the Navy. He goes through various problems on a couple of ships when he insists that people under his command follow the rules no matter who their relatives are. Travis hasn't learned to balance rigid rule following with people skills.

Meanwhile, a large Solarian corporation is eyeing Manticore because of the potential wormhole that might exist in the system. They have sent out their spy Jeremiah Llyn to manipulate events to learn about the possible wormhole and plan for a conquest of the Manticore system which must definitely leave their name out of it while still letting them ultimately take control.

From the murder of one of the captured pirates held in Havenite prison to the murder of a dictator is exile and his supporters to hiring a mercenary space fleet, the spy is busy trying to acquire Manticore for his masters. Most of his activities are well below the radar of anyone on Manticore except for a few people in the Navy who just gets a quick look at his activities but can't find him.

But on Manticore politics is proceeding as usual with a faction wanting to stop what they see as the financial drain of the Royal Navy from eating the budget. Of course, Earl Breakwater wants to divert assets from the Navy to MPARS (Manticore Patrol and Rescue Service) which is under his control and which he and his supporters feel are certainly enough to protect Manticore. Among his strongest supporters is Baron Winterfall who happens to be Travis Long's half-brother.

The book is filled with complicated political maneuvering and space battles which brings a lot of action to the story. It was an entertaining story to listen to even though some of the transitions were a bit jarring as locations and characters changed from one sentence to the next. ( )

This is the second book in the Manticore Ascendant series and follows the further adventures of Travis Uriah Long. Travis has been sent to further schooling and is now a Lieutenant JG in the Navy. He goes through various problems on a couple of ships when he insists that people under his command follow the rules no matter who their relatives are. Travis hasn't learned to balance rigid rule following with people skills.

Meanwhile, a large Solarian corporation is eyeing Manticore because of the potential wormhole that might exist in the system. They have sent out their spy Jeremiah Llyn to manipulate events to learn about the possible wormhole and plan for a conquest of the Manticore system which must definitely leave their name out of it while still letting them ultimately take control.

From the murder of one of the captured pirates held in Havenite prison to the murder of a dictator is exile and his supporters to hiring a mercenary space fleet, the spy is busy trying to acquire Manticore for his masters. Most of his activities are well below the radar of anyone on Manticore except for a few people in the Navy who just gets a quick look at his activities but can't find him.

But on Manticore politics is proceeding as usual with a faction wanting to stop what they see as the financial drain of the Royal Navy from eating the budget. Of course, Earl Breakwater wants to divert assets from the Navy to MPARS (Manticore Patrol and Rescue Service) which is under his control and which he and his supporters feel are certainly enough to protect Manticore. Among his strongest supporters is Baron Winterfall who happens to be Travis Long's half-brother.

The book is filled with complicated political maneuvering and space battles which brings a lot of action to the story. It was an entertaining story to listen to even though some of the transitions were a bit jarring as locations and characters changed from one sentence to the next. ( )

The second book in the series continues with following Travis Long’s career but it also keeps tabs on other people you meet in the previous book. Travis has the same problems with his desire to always stick to the rulebook no matter what and that hurts him both professionally and personally. I actually preferred the other characters in this book to him. Hopefully at some point in the future he will actually see what he is doing to himself with this desire to always play by the rules. The politics are still there in this book and that both Travis and his brother don’t really think about the connection they have to one another in their day to day lives everyone is very happy to take advantage of it and get even with one or the other by sabotaging stuff where they can. Maybe later books will have them getting in better contact with each other to the betterment of both.

Physical review copy provided by the publisher.
( )