A Call to Arms

A Call to Arms is a military science fiction novel by David Weber, published in 2015 and set early in the history of the Star Kingdom of Manticore, whose Royal Manticoran Navy the book follows from the inside.

Lieutenant Travis Long is a mustang, an officer who came up through the ranks, and his problem is a familiar one: he believes in the rules and also recognises the moments when they are no use to anybody. Powerful figures in the young kingdom's parliament would rather spend the money elsewhere, so the service he belongs to is an argument as much as an institution. Unhappily for them, the edge of explored space turns out to be far more dangerous than anyone at home assumes, and the novel arranges events so that the argument is settled by what happens to the fleet rather than by speeches.

Weber's interest here is in how a navy builds its habits and its officers. The book follows Long through the years in which a small service with a small budget works out what it is actually for, and it takes its time over the people who have to serve in it.