Background
Honor Among Enemies also depicts life in the lower ranks of the Royal Manticoran Navy, following young crewman Aubrey Wanderman through his adaptation to life onboard Wayfarer and his troubles with and eventual victory over a band of thug-like crewmen. The novel also plays up Honor Harrington's similarities with Horatio Hornblower, as one chapter shows Captain Harrington reading one of C.S. Forester's Hornblower novels and commenting that "the man writes a darned good novel".
Like previous books in the series, a good portion of the novel is told from the perspective of People's Navy officers, including the aforementioned Warner Caslet and his tactical officer Shannon Foraker, introduced in the preceding Flag in Exile. Their motivations and characters are more fully explored and shown to be in many ways the moral equal of the Manticorans, including Caslet's determination to pursue raiders whose actions have gone beyond the pale, far outside acceptable practice under the laws of war. It also introduced Admiral Javier Giscard, commander of the Havenite raiders, and his political watchdog (and lover) Eloise Pritchart.
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