A Call to Duty

Book I of Manticore Ascendant

By: David Weber, Timothy Zahn

Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer

Growing up, Travis Uriah Long yearned for order and discipline in his life...the two things his neglectful mother couldn’t or wouldn’t provide. So when Travis enlisted in the Royal Manticoran Navy, he thought he’d finally found the structure he’d always wanted so desperately.

But life in the RMN isn’t exactly what he expected. Boot camp is rough and frustrating; his first ship assignment lax and disorderly; and with the Star Kingdom of Manticore still recovering from a devastating plague, the Navy is possibly on the edge of budgetary extinction.

The Star Kingdom is a minor nation among the worlds of the Diaspora, its closest neighbors weeks or months away, with little in the way of resources. With only modest interstellar trade, no foreign contacts to speak of, a plague ravaged economy to rebuild, and no enemies looming at the hyper limit, there are factions in Parliament who want nothing more than to scrap the Navy and shift its resources and manpower elsewhere.

But those factions are mistaken. The universe is not a safe place.

Travis Long is about to find that out.

©2014 Words of Weber, Inc. & Timothy Zahn (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Great book, but ......

Honor and the Characters in her series seemed more decisive. The beginning of the Manticoran Navy appears to be run by idiots. A little infuriating! Still it was a good Listen.

Really enjoyed this book

I liked this early take on the manticoran navy. It felt fresh and I hope they can bring this feeling back to the main honorverse books.

AWESOME 👍

amazing book, and a great start to the entire story of manticore. Honor Harrington series starts here.

The back story

The story got off to a slow start, but once it got rolling there was action to satisfy. it also sets the stage for the books to come and what's the appetite for more.

I'm not sure yet if this series is quite up to par with past David Weber series, but I bieve I'll try the next book in the series.

A slow start and gets a Lot Better

I was wondering, at the beginning, if this was what I wanted to listen to for the first four chapters. Then I not only got into the characters but also the story. Looking forward to the next book.

Narrator can't keep his characters straight!

Would you try another book from David Weber and Timothy Zahn and/or Eric Michael Summerer?

By David Weber and Timothy Zahn, but not for Eric Michael Summerer!

Do you think A Call to Duty needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Yes, it seems to be a springboard to more books about Travis Long.

A new promising series.

I hope future books for this series will keep building up and not stall like the safehold series.

Half the chapters are pretty good

This is a hard one to review. It feels like the book was written by 2 authors. there are chapters that focus on political intrigue with dozens and dozens of characters and motivations and all that and those chapters are just awful. impossible to follow without taking notes and just a chore to get through. On the other hand there are these fantastic chapters that detail the progress and life of the MC Travis Long and his associates. Those chapters are so good it makes the other chapters worth slogging through.

The narrator is good. A little funny to hear him as a narrator after hearing his intro/outro for all the dice tower youtube videos.

Good over comes stupid

Great read but very wordy. Weber has a nack for creating characters you grow to care about.

Great story

More Honorverse goodness! A really worthy entry covering the early days of the RMS and Manticore.