Changer of Worlds - David Weber

Changer of Worlds
David Weber
Baen Books
Copyright: 2002
978-0743435208

The amazon.com product description:

The dangerous and multifaceted world of Honor Harrington-starship captain, admiral, and interstellar heroine-comes to life in a collection of short fiction that includes 'Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington', 'Changer of Worlds', 'From the Highlands', and more. 

 Not the most useful description, I'll admit, but there are some very good stories in this anthology set in the world of Honor Harrington. David Weber wrote up the novella of Honor Harrington's first cruise in Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington, and as you may expect, things really don't go as she'd expected them to. But, we see all the hallmarks of the commander to be that she has become by the days of On Basilisk Station. This is one of the "must-read" stories for any fan of the Honor Harrington world: there's the action, the surprises (both for us and for Honor herself) and success.

David Weber also wrote the story Changer of Worlds, which is almost entirely written from the perspective of the treecats. It's also a story that almost requres knowledge of the main books. Changer of Worlds is set after Nimitz and Samantha have their kittens, but most of the story is a discussion/conversation between the treecats themselves about the future. Actually, this story makes quite a bit of use of the stories A Beautiful Friendship and The Stray from earlier anthologies.

Eric Flint wrote a story that's tied in with Crown of Slaves and Torch of Freedom, the Honorverse books he co-wrote with David Weber: From The Highlands. This is the story that introduces us to the main characters of those two books: Helen Zilwicki, Berry and Lars. I always felt like I could have used an introduction to Berry at least before she turned up in Crown of Slaves. I guess I'd forgotten about this story then.

Then there's the story Nightfall, which is another David Weber one. It's about the changeover in government from Rob Pierre to Oscar St. Just. Yikes! Talk about nasty. Suspicion, ambition, viciousness all abound in this story. It really proves just how nasty the government of Haven can be, even to their own people. Not that we really need that reminder after what they did to Honor in the main books. It's also another story that makes use of previous short stories in other anthologies.

Overall, this is perhaps the best of the Honor Harrington anthologies, at least in my mind.