I hate reading on a computer screen. I have been known to print out 300+ page fanfic novels at a huge expense of printer toner and paper rather than sit and read the text on the monitor.
I don't think there's any way the Peep war can NOT heat up. That's basically the cliffhanger "War of Honor" left us on. When we last left off, the Manties thought the Peeps had completely disregarded their sincere attempts at making peace and were lying to the newsies about it and Queen Elizabeth III was vowing to Honor and White Haven that there could be no peace with the Peeps. The Peeps thought the Manties had made a mockery of THEIR very sincere attempts at peace and were presently lying to the newsies about it and President Prichart was vowing that she would make the Manties pay for it.
And both sides are, essentially, right. From where the Peeps sit, with the information Prichart and Theisman have available to them, it honestly DOES look like the Manties are lying, and vice versa. Neither side realizes how they were deceived by the Peep Secretary of State in a ploy to undercut Prichart, and as such, both sides are CONVINCED they have the moral high ground. Oh yeah, it's definitely heating up, and it's going to be ugly, because few people are as intractible as those who are convinced of their own rectitude. And Weber has outright said Queen Elizabeth "holds a grudge until it dies of old age, then sends it to a taxidermist" and has given us every reason to believe that Prichart is much the same.
Personally, I think that Weber is shooting for the ultimate irony of having the peace decided by the warriors rather than the diplomats. There is a huge undercurrent of respect and understanding between Harrington and Theisman. They simply "get" each other. So at this point, my prediction is that at some point, Honor and Theisman are going to have to get their heads together and work something out, and both are probably going to have to take a HUGE risk, essentially going behind the backs of their respective leaders, to do it. Sorta a "they have to betray their country in order to save their country" situation. Either one of them could end up facing a firing squad for treason if their efforts don't succeed, and very well might end up facing a firing squad even if they do, depending on how loudly their political enemies throw back their heads and howl.
But...I could very well be wrong. Up until Theisman's revolt, the situation within the People's Republic of Haven had so closely paralleled the history of Revolutionary France that I was CERTAIN Theisman was going to end up being Napoleon to continue the parallel, and it didn't happen. Weber could quite easily fake me out again.
As for conflict with the Sollies...I just didn't get that sense of jeopardy in WoH. Sure, the Sollies weren't terribly thrilled with Manticore's acquisition of the real estate at the end of the new wormhole terminus, but I didn't see any sort of conflict brewing there, at least not immediately. But it will be very interesting to see what relations with the Anderman Empire are going to be like now that Manticore and the Andermani have essentially carved up Silesia between the two of them, and how the rest of the galaxy responds to that move.
Ambrya