In space nobody can hear crying Andromache

This fourth volume is certainly the immediate continuation of the previous, but it is totally atypical of the first three rounds.
Because if it is a direct continuation of the events of "short and victorious war" (which I really dislike) this suite is centered on the character of Honor and this saga is never better than when centered on its main character.
No space battle in this volume, we have this time in the hands a great tragedy. We will find later the famous clashes armadas that characterize the series, but in the meantime this disenchanted parenthesis is of very high quality.

While Weber's own faults are always present: unnecessary technical descriptions, a swim, some redundancies, but these defects are here as choked with emotion. And what emotions! This mixture of love, dignity, suffering, restraint, hatred and despair is a rare accuracy. Some would surely find the strings of this somewhat thick history, but I have plunged into it as if I was reading it for the first time. Yet (and this is a sign not mistaken), is one of the few adventures of Honor I remembered the place with precision. That did not stop me repeatedly to be taken as the guts rarely by the power of narrative. Weber The gift for the exaltation of feelings and noblest behavior (friendship, honor, dedication, sacrifice or selflessness) is probably not abroad.

This is to me the strongest volume of the series (for which I have read so far).