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Honor Harrington #1
On Basilisk Station
Honor Harrington in trouble: Having made him look the fool, she's been exiled to Basilisk Station in disgrace and set up for ruin by a superior who hates her. Her demoralized crew blames her for their ship's humiliating posting to an out-of-the-way picket station. The aborigines of the system's only habitable planet are smoking homicide-inducing hallucinogens. Parliament isn't sure it wants to keep the place; the major local industry is smuggling, the merchant cartels want her head; the star-conquering, so-called "Republic" of Haven is Up to Something; and Honor Harrington has a single, over-age light cruiser with an armament that doesn't work to police the entire star system.
But the people out to get her have made one mistake.
They've made her mad!
But the people out to get her have made one mistake.
They've made her mad!
464 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
About the author
David Weber
358 books4,403 followersDavid Mark Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1952.
Many of his stories have military, particularly naval, themes, and fit into the military science fiction genre. He frequently places female leading characters in what have been traditionally male roles.
One of his most popular and enduring characters is Honor Harrington whose alliterated name is an homage to C.S. Forester's character Horatio Hornblower and her last name from a fleet doctor in Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander . Her story, together with the "Honorverse" she inhabits, has been developed through 16 novels and six shared-universe anthologies, as of spring 2013 (other works are in production). In 2008, he donated his archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.
Many of his books are available online, either in their entirety as part of the Baen Free Library or, in the case of more recent books, in the form of sample chapters (typically the first 25-33% of the work).
http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidw...
Many of his stories have military, particularly naval, themes, and fit into the military science fiction genre. He frequently places female leading characters in what have been traditionally male roles.
One of his most popular and enduring characters is Honor Harrington whose alliterated name is an homage to C.S. Forester's character Horatio Hornblower and her last name from a fleet doctor in Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander . Her story, together with the "Honorverse" she inhabits, has been developed through 16 novels and six shared-universe anthologies, as of spring 2013 (other works are in production). In 2008, he donated his archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.
Many of his books are available online, either in their entirety as part of the Baen Free Library or, in the case of more recent books, in the form of sample chapters (typically the first 25-33% of the work).
http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidw...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,330 reviews
May 23, 2021
The longest and most detailed character evolution in known to man Sci-Fi in the space we can see from the pale blue dot, mixing lengthy and info dumpy military tactics in space with power politics and the ingeniously developed lead female protagonist.
Weber´s work is uncomparable, he put something for everyone into his epos, sense of wonders with different fractions of humankind and the common sci-fi trope suspects, the extremely difficult task of writing kind of intuitively four dimensional space battles in comparison to conventional 3D ground battle, and, most important, Honor, because writing credible and cool female characters is something enough male author´s hilariously failed at.
She is a badass superwoman style commander, having a network of reappearing friends and foes Weber uses to implant many philosophical, equality, and feminism related topics into his work while macroeconomy, diplomacy, and politics have their places too. Readers who are more into character should enjoy these parts and speedread, skim, and scan the more techy passages to enjoy a very long journey with a marvelous character. It´s quite unusual that there is everything, the kind of hard military sci fi fights, the characters with social sci-fi attitudes, the world and, maybe, I haven´t read that far, even aliens?
That´s, if one wants to spoil it and be pessimistic, the only problem with Weber´s work, that he is dancing at different subgenre weddings, trying to unite the hard sci-fi and kind of space opera social sci-fi aspect in one work, which isn´t as appreciated by all audiences as it should be. That´s why I am suggesting to differentiate the reading speed, I am luckily into all three, character, plot, and infodump nerdgasms, oh yea, but others might miss an incredible series because they aren´t interested in one of the different narrative device options.
I´ve just read a few of these, it´s just too time intensive and I honestly am not so into one protagonist with no other well developed main characters, more dynamic plotlines, and, in general, an end to see after the more conventional 3 to 5 parts of a series that finally ends. But both enthusiastic fandom and great ratings should let one consider giving this behemoth beast of a series a try.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
Weber´s work is uncomparable, he put something for everyone into his epos, sense of wonders with different fractions of humankind and the common sci-fi trope suspects, the extremely difficult task of writing kind of intuitively four dimensional space battles in comparison to conventional 3D ground battle, and, most important, Honor, because writing credible and cool female characters is something enough male author´s hilariously failed at.
She is a badass superwoman style commander, having a network of reappearing friends and foes Weber uses to implant many philosophical, equality, and feminism related topics into his work while macroeconomy, diplomacy, and politics have their places too. Readers who are more into character should enjoy these parts and speedread, skim, and scan the more techy passages to enjoy a very long journey with a marvelous character. It´s quite unusual that there is everything, the kind of hard military sci fi fights, the characters with social sci-fi attitudes, the world and, maybe, I haven´t read that far, even aliens?
That´s, if one wants to spoil it and be pessimistic, the only problem with Weber´s work, that he is dancing at different subgenre weddings, trying to unite the hard sci-fi and kind of space opera social sci-fi aspect in one work, which isn´t as appreciated by all audiences as it should be. That´s why I am suggesting to differentiate the reading speed, I am luckily into all three, character, plot, and infodump nerdgasms, oh yea, but others might miss an incredible series because they aren´t interested in one of the different narrative device options.
I´ve just read a few of these, it´s just too time intensive and I honestly am not so into one protagonist with no other well developed main characters, more dynamic plotlines, and, in general, an end to see after the more conventional 3 to 5 parts of a series that finally ends. But both enthusiastic fandom and great ratings should let one consider giving this behemoth beast of a series a try.
Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...
December 3, 2019
broken finger review #3:
first of all, people, i wanted to call this the 'one-handed review series,' as i'm typing entirely with one hand (at one point, my prior rate was over 100 words a minute, so maybe you can feel my pain), but i know you people and that is just asking for trouble.
that said, this is david weber's first entry into a series aboutcaptain picard honor harrington, a kick-ass woman in the royal navy that has the ice-queen routine down pat. except for her empathetic cat--i said, stop it. she doesn't think she's beautiful, being so tall and strong from a high-grav planet, but pretty much everyone else admires the almond eyes and short brown curly hair and sees a regal ice goddess. thank goodness--i just hate vain heroines, amirite? we know she's stunning, especially when she's being all authoratative, because lots of other people tell us so (hello, male gaze. literally).
she's just been made captain of some class of spaceship or another, although a bureaucrat has made disturbing weapons modifications that seem to cripple their offense. the first mate is envious. they kick ass in a war maneuver and are promptly demoted to a forgotten corner of the realm, assigned to be TSA and Customs. the current commander there hates her because , so he bales back home on a flimsy pretext and leaves her with the mess. harrington and elderly Dame Kick-Ass decide it is time for order, so harrington starts enforcing rules and pissing off every smuggler in the galaxy.
so. plotting fairly predictable. pace had potential but was interrupted by long info-dumps about weapons, cruisers, military strategy, and a whole bunch of stuff about physics that i skimmed over, because vicodin brain don't care (just like honey badger)
acceptable but ethnocentric world-building of weird non-bipedal aliens (savages, the lot). really didn't move discussion of political protectorates beyond surface level.
i liked the building of camaraderie, because everybody loves star trek when the team comes together (i believe she actually had a 'make it so' line). the ending... i feel was a problem. character--kind of fun, but generic. weber jumps into various character heads at times for more thinkingness and to create tension not achieved by info-dumps.
so, how do you rate a book like this? i enjoyed the sections i read, but brain mostly turned off and i skimmed a lot. call it a 2.25.
first of all, people, i wanted to call this the 'one-handed review series,' as i'm typing entirely with one hand (at one point, my prior rate was over 100 words a minute, so maybe you can feel my pain), but i know you people and that is just asking for trouble.
that said, this is david weber's first entry into a series about
she's just been made captain of some class of spaceship or another, although a bureaucrat has made disturbing weapons modifications that seem to cripple their offense. the first mate is envious. they kick ass in a war maneuver and are promptly demoted to a forgotten corner of the realm, assigned to be TSA and Customs. the current commander there hates her because , so he bales back home on a flimsy pretext and leaves her with the mess. harrington and elderly Dame Kick-Ass decide it is time for order, so harrington starts enforcing rules and pissing off every smuggler in the galaxy.
so. plotting fairly predictable. pace had potential but was interrupted by long info-dumps about weapons, cruisers, military strategy, and a whole bunch of stuff about physics that i skimmed over, because vicodin brain don't care (just like honey badger)
acceptable but ethnocentric world-building of weird non-bipedal aliens (savages, the lot). really didn't move discussion of political protectorates beyond surface level.
i liked the building of camaraderie, because everybody loves star trek when the team comes together (i believe she actually had a 'make it so' line). the ending... i feel was a problem. character--kind of fun, but generic. weber jumps into various character heads at times for more thinkingness and to create tension not achieved by info-dumps.
so, how do you rate a book like this? i enjoyed the sections i read, but brain mostly turned off and i skimmed a lot. call it a 2.25.
December 28, 2008
First three Honor Harrington books, in which aforesaid officer of the Royal Manticoran Navy (the space kind) and her – I kid you not – empathically bonded feline animal companion have military adventures. In the first, Honor is sent to a backwater outpost where she stumbles on corruption and thwarts an invasion. In the second, Honor is sent to a backwater system where she battles sexism and thwarts an invasion. In the third, Honor is sent to the front line where she, uh, I’ve got nothing for this slot and thwarts an invasion.
Weber does that old Star Wars trick of alternating POVs with Honor and the bad guys, relieving the reader of having to do any actual thinking by explaining everyone’s plans pages in advance. But to be fair I think Weber’s impulse to break up the POV is a sound one; spending a hundred thousand words in the head of the moral center of the universe Mary-Sue Honor would make anyone want to kill themselves. And, I mean, switching POVs allows Weber to deliver lines of unmatched hilarity like these.
“He’d reduced her cruiser to a wreck – she must be some kind of wizard to keep coming after him, let alone keep shooting at him”!
““This medal is our highest award for valor,” he told her quietly. “Over the years, it has been worn by some truly extraordinary men, but never, I think, by one more extraordinary than the woman who has received it today.””
Which is why I kept reading, because you can’t get comedy like that just anywhere.
To be fair, this is acceptably competent military SF in the military sense. Weber has clearly put some of the time he never spent thinking about adding a third dimension to his characters or making his heroine interesting in considering the physics and strategy of space battles. His editor has let him put a giddily burbling pseudo-scientific essay at the end of each book to talk about ship construction and weapons evolution and strategy. And it’s endearing that he clearly stopped writing in the middle of scenes to go do math. (Though I wonder what it says about me that I stopped reading to double-check some figures for fun – if ship A is accelerating at 450 g and ship B follows at 500 g from xxx million Km, how long will intercept take and where will they be?) Weber also has an excellent grasp of the sheer grinding time involved in space battles, and a surprisingly light touch in showing the nature of war from every level of military experience. Two-thirds of The Short Victorious War (no, in fact, you don't get to leave the comma out just because it's a title, copyediting fuckwit), is all about moving ships all over the map, and there's some nicely considered detail about how maneuvers work in vast, three-dimensional spaces.
Anyway. Unless someone can reassure me that this series gets appreciably better in the next dozen books, I’m done save for possible snortgiggling forays when I’m particularly bored.
Weber does that old Star Wars trick of alternating POVs with Honor and the bad guys, relieving the reader of having to do any actual thinking by explaining everyone’s plans pages in advance. But to be fair I think Weber’s impulse to break up the POV is a sound one; spending a hundred thousand words in the head of the moral center of the universe Mary-Sue Honor would make anyone want to kill themselves. And, I mean, switching POVs allows Weber to deliver lines of unmatched hilarity like these.
“He’d reduced her cruiser to a wreck – she must be some kind of wizard to keep coming after him, let alone keep shooting at him”!
““This medal is our highest award for valor,” he told her quietly. “Over the years, it has been worn by some truly extraordinary men, but never, I think, by one more extraordinary than the woman who has received it today.””
Which is why I kept reading, because you can’t get comedy like that just anywhere.
To be fair, this is acceptably competent military SF in the military sense. Weber has clearly put some of the time he never spent thinking about adding a third dimension to his characters or making his heroine interesting in considering the physics and strategy of space battles. His editor has let him put a giddily burbling pseudo-scientific essay at the end of each book to talk about ship construction and weapons evolution and strategy. And it’s endearing that he clearly stopped writing in the middle of scenes to go do math. (Though I wonder what it says about me that I stopped reading to double-check some figures for fun – if ship A is accelerating at 450 g and ship B follows at 500 g from xxx million Km, how long will intercept take and where will they be?) Weber also has an excellent grasp of the sheer grinding time involved in space battles, and a surprisingly light touch in showing the nature of war from every level of military experience. Two-thirds of The Short Victorious War (no, in fact, you don't get to leave the comma out just because it's a title, copyediting fuckwit), is all about moving ships all over the map, and there's some nicely considered detail about how maneuvers work in vast, three-dimensional spaces.
Anyway. Unless someone can reassure me that this series gets appreciably better in the next dozen books, I’m done save for possible snortgiggling forays when I’m particularly bored.
December 27, 2009
I feel it necessary to admit a few things before starting this review proper.
1. I have watched the Horatio Hornblower movies that were shown on A&E (you know, back when A&E actually could be called Arts and Entertainment as opposed to Tattoo TV). I liked them. (Okay, I really liked LT. Bush {Paul McGann}, but who didn't? The only thing better was The Hanging Gale when all the McGann brothers were working together). I also saw the Peck movie.
2. I have only read one Hornblower novel. I didn't really like it. Then I read a plot synopsis in Masterplots, don't get me started.
3. I have only read two Patrick O'Brian books. I felt one was okay, and other was :yawn:.
4. #s 2 and 3 are weird because I liked the Hornblower movies, and the Master and Commander movie (maybe, because it had Pippin in it). This has made me frightened to read the Sharpe novels. I want to like them beause I like the movies. (Did anyone else laugh when Bean picked up the sword in LOTR and said, "still sharp"?)
5. Why am I telling you this?
Because On Basilisk Station is Hornblower in space.
And it doesn't suck! (Can I use that word here?)
Weber is up-front about his inspiration material. Look at the dedication to the book. I love up-front advertising. It is also extremely honest because some of the themes are from Hornblower (at least from the movies). You have the really intelligent officer trying to work with a somewhat resentful crew who come around in the end. you have the intelligent officer who makes enemies in high ranking and powerful officers, and said intelligent officer gains protection in some places. Some of the references to the names are blatantly obvious (Honor as a first name. Of course, Horatio was rather obvious as well).
But Weber makes it more. Instead of making Honor a Hornblower with boobs, Weber makes her a believable woman. And she is a woman, not a girl. What I liked was that Weber didn't make her command style touchy feely (like Janeway in Voyager), but allowed us to see her thoughts as well as her actions. We could see her thinking her way though the decisions she made. This made her more human than Hornblower, more sympathetic, and more real. Weber also gives us a more plausible reason for her intelligence. Though she is young looking, she is really around what we would call her 40s. Weber explains this by that vague anti-aging drugs or process that works it's way into every other SF novel. Strangely, it didn't bug me here.
What I really liked about this book was Honor's interactions with other women. Too often in books with a chosen woman, the other women are made to look bad (for example, Anita Blake or Blood and Chocolate. Here, Weber does for women exactly what he did for the male characters. You have good and bad ones. (Though the bad guys are really guys). There is a female doctor that Honor can't get along with, but there is also Dame Estelle who Honor does get along with. You also have Young, a male officer who is worthless. No one sex is made to look bad. I loved that. I loved the interactions between Honor and Estelle (or any of the female crew for that matter). No girl talk, all business. I never understood the rule about 40% of the talk being about men meant that the writers was portraying women in a positive way. Really? Would you have a book geared towards males where 40% of the talk was about their relationships or hair or make-up? No, you wouldn't.
I love Weber for this.
There were some things that didn't quite work for me. I felt the inclusion of a treecat, while a cool sounding animal, made Honor too special, or meaning of the animal was too obvious. A bit heavy handed. I felt that making Honor stronger than some of the other characters too, was something that wasn't totally needed. I must give Weber credit. Honor is stronger because of her home planet, so her strength and treecat are not unusual for where she comes from.
I did think that Weber did a wonderful job with supporting characters, in particular with McKeon. The last few chapters, the major space battle, were thrilling.
I'm kicking myself for not picking up this series sooner.
1. I have watched the Horatio Hornblower movies that were shown on A&E (you know, back when A&E actually could be called Arts and Entertainment as opposed to Tattoo TV). I liked them. (Okay, I really liked LT. Bush {Paul McGann}, but who didn't? The only thing better was The Hanging Gale when all the McGann brothers were working together). I also saw the Peck movie.
2. I have only read one Hornblower novel. I didn't really like it. Then I read a plot synopsis in Masterplots, don't get me started.
3. I have only read two Patrick O'Brian books. I felt one was okay, and other was :yawn:.
4. #s 2 and 3 are weird because I liked the Hornblower movies, and the Master and Commander movie (maybe, because it had Pippin in it). This has made me frightened to read the Sharpe novels. I want to like them beause I like the movies. (Did anyone else laugh when Bean picked up the sword in LOTR and said, "still sharp"?)
5. Why am I telling you this?
Because On Basilisk Station is Hornblower in space.
And it doesn't suck! (Can I use that word here?)
Weber is up-front about his inspiration material. Look at the dedication to the book. I love up-front advertising. It is also extremely honest because some of the themes are from Hornblower (at least from the movies). You have the really intelligent officer trying to work with a somewhat resentful crew who come around in the end. you have the intelligent officer who makes enemies in high ranking and powerful officers, and said intelligent officer gains protection in some places. Some of the references to the names are blatantly obvious (Honor as a first name. Of course, Horatio was rather obvious as well).
But Weber makes it more. Instead of making Honor a Hornblower with boobs, Weber makes her a believable woman. And she is a woman, not a girl. What I liked was that Weber didn't make her command style touchy feely (like Janeway in Voyager), but allowed us to see her thoughts as well as her actions. We could see her thinking her way though the decisions she made. This made her more human than Hornblower, more sympathetic, and more real. Weber also gives us a more plausible reason for her intelligence. Though she is young looking, she is really around what we would call her 40s. Weber explains this by that vague anti-aging drugs or process that works it's way into every other SF novel. Strangely, it didn't bug me here.
What I really liked about this book was Honor's interactions with other women. Too often in books with a chosen woman, the other women are made to look bad (for example, Anita Blake or Blood and Chocolate. Here, Weber does for women exactly what he did for the male characters. You have good and bad ones. (Though the bad guys are really guys). There is a female doctor that Honor can't get along with, but there is also Dame Estelle who Honor does get along with. You also have Young, a male officer who is worthless. No one sex is made to look bad. I loved that. I loved the interactions between Honor and Estelle (or any of the female crew for that matter). No girl talk, all business. I never understood the rule about 40% of the talk being about men meant that the writers was portraying women in a positive way. Really? Would you have a book geared towards males where 40% of the talk was about their relationships or hair or make-up? No, you wouldn't.
I love Weber for this.
There were some things that didn't quite work for me. I felt the inclusion of a treecat, while a cool sounding animal, made Honor too special, or meaning of the animal was too obvious. A bit heavy handed. I felt that making Honor stronger than some of the other characters too, was something that wasn't totally needed. I must give Weber credit. Honor is stronger because of her home planet, so her strength and treecat are not unusual for where she comes from.
I did think that Weber did a wonderful job with supporting characters, in particular with McKeon. The last few chapters, the major space battle, were thrilling.
I'm kicking myself for not picking up this series sooner.
June 18, 2018
Years and years and years ago, in a mental galaxy far, far away, a boy saw a ton of Star-Trek Military Mary Sue Hard-SF novels on the shelves of his local bookstore and collectively went...
Eh? No.
So boy read everything else. And everything else. And everything else.
Enter GoodReads.
Boy asks himself if he's been entirely fair to said Mil-SF titles so summarily dismissed. Is frankly amazed that it's been generally highly received and it's still getting written. To high praise.
Boy wonders. And ponders. And finally decides to throw out preconceptions. To read for himself.
And guess what? The boy was entertained.
There's surprisingly little sexualization at all. It follows the long tradition of Military Competence Porn, where meritocracy is faced with the evils of privilege and overconfidence. A severely handicapped heroine is given few resources, a dead-end station (thanks to her kicking the ass of an almost-rapist privileged jerk). She brushes her shoulders and sets to work with tons of misfits and maladjusted crewmembers and whips the Bad News Bears into shape.
And they turn this backwater system into something they can be proud of.
Awww!
I admit it. I was charmed. The only cliches were the non-embarrassing ones. It was all-competence, all the time.
The only thing I got lost at, unfortunately, was the long sequences of actual BATTLE later in the novel. Yeah. That's kinda embarrassing. I mean, it's a MILSF. But unless I'm looking at a ton of flashy lights on the screen or the author is extraordinarily gifted at description (read: less info-dumping, or at least restrain the info-dumping to something that's interesting to me, read: dry military blah blah,) I kinda need my battles to be fairly quick and telegraphed easily. :)
Maybe that's just me.
HOWEVER, all that wasn't much of a dealbreaker for me because I'm kinda used to it with all the other MILSFs I've read. I just don't go nuts over that particular aspect of the novels.
Characters make me fall for the stories. Not the space-battles. :) Fortunately, I had a great time. It's a pretty simple take, but the adventure is well thought-out and we're given the full run from misfits to supreme lords of this backwater system. I call that a win. :)
Eh? No.
So boy read everything else. And everything else. And everything else.
Enter GoodReads.
Boy asks himself if he's been entirely fair to said Mil-SF titles so summarily dismissed. Is frankly amazed that it's been generally highly received and it's still getting written. To high praise.
Boy wonders. And ponders. And finally decides to throw out preconceptions. To read for himself.
And guess what? The boy was entertained.
There's surprisingly little sexualization at all. It follows the long tradition of Military Competence Porn, where meritocracy is faced with the evils of privilege and overconfidence. A severely handicapped heroine is given few resources, a dead-end station (thanks to her kicking the ass of an almost-rapist privileged jerk). She brushes her shoulders and sets to work with tons of misfits and maladjusted crewmembers and whips the Bad News Bears into shape.
And they turn this backwater system into something they can be proud of.
Awww!
I admit it. I was charmed. The only cliches were the non-embarrassing ones. It was all-competence, all the time.
The only thing I got lost at, unfortunately, was the long sequences of actual BATTLE later in the novel. Yeah. That's kinda embarrassing. I mean, it's a MILSF. But unless I'm looking at a ton of flashy lights on the screen or the author is extraordinarily gifted at description (read: less info-dumping, or at least restrain the info-dumping to something that's interesting to me, read: dry military blah blah,) I kinda need my battles to be fairly quick and telegraphed easily. :)
Maybe that's just me.
HOWEVER, all that wasn't much of a dealbreaker for me because I'm kinda used to it with all the other MILSFs I've read. I just don't go nuts over that particular aspect of the novels.
Characters make me fall for the stories. Not the space-battles. :) Fortunately, I had a great time. It's a pretty simple take, but the adventure is well thought-out and we're given the full run from misfits to supreme lords of this backwater system. I call that a win. :)
November 26, 2018
I found this one thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable, although maybe a little on the long side. It starts slowly but gathers speed and by the end it is unputdownable!
I liked Honor Harrington and found it made for comfortable reading to have a reliable main character for once. I felt I could trust that she would do the right thing and also never fall apart and flood the place in tears. She just soldiered on through thick and thin and, being totally brilliant and super talented, she performed miracles. Not realistic but still fun.
The author had a tendency to info dump, especially when it concerned his space technology, and I have to confess to a little personal skimming over these sections. This is the reason for four stars instead of five. However I am sure there are many readers who found his details fascinating.
I found Honor to be an interesting character and I liked the world she lived in. It goes without saying that I enjoyed Nimitz. I will definitely be reading more about the Honorverse in the future.
I liked Honor Harrington and found it made for comfortable reading to have a reliable main character for once. I felt I could trust that she would do the right thing and also never fall apart and flood the place in tears. She just soldiered on through thick and thin and, being totally brilliant and super talented, she performed miracles. Not realistic but still fun.
The author had a tendency to info dump, especially when it concerned his space technology, and I have to confess to a little personal skimming over these sections. This is the reason for four stars instead of five. However I am sure there are many readers who found his details fascinating.
I found Honor to be an interesting character and I liked the world she lived in. It goes without saying that I enjoyed Nimitz. I will definitely be reading more about the Honorverse in the future.
February 7, 2013
According to some googling and some calculations (oooo, fractions), I made it through 54% of this book. A search using Amazon's Look Inside feature tells me I got to page 253.
253!
And I still couldn't tell the characters apart.
Okay, that's an exaggeration. I knew who Honor was, and her exec, and...her cat. And maybe one or two others. Weber introduces us to a rather large cast, but he fails to give each personality an individual stamp. I couldn't even describe anyone physically, apart from Honor and her frequently mentioned hard, narrowed, unblinking, flashing, all over the place brown eyes. And her white cap. That white cap is über important.
Weber is far more in love with his techobabble, military strategy, and political history than he is with his characters. Which is all well and good, but a successful piece of fiction gives the reader someone or at least something to root for. I couldn’t care less whether Honor and her crew succeed in their search for…whatever they’re hunting.
The soporific and often incomprehensible descriptions of defense tactics, ship construction, and long-warring government factions made me incapable of appreciating the rare moments of plot development. Who can concentrate on putting together the pieces when I’m still trying to figure out the difference between real years and T-years as described in chapter one?
There was one terrible aspect of this book that I can’t blame the author for: ebook formatting. Weber frequently switches his point of view mid-chapter, which wouldn’t be so bad if the sections were clearly delineated. Unfortunately, my version of the book did no such thing, leaving me flailing in confusion for every scene change.
It’s so rare that I DNF a book; the very idea is abhorrent to me. But for this book alone a new shelf has been born. Sorry, Honor Harrington, but I canna do it, Cap’n.
253!
And I still couldn't tell the characters apart.
Okay, that's an exaggeration. I knew who Honor was, and her exec, and...her cat. And maybe one or two others. Weber introduces us to a rather large cast, but he fails to give each personality an individual stamp. I couldn't even describe anyone physically, apart from Honor and her frequently mentioned hard, narrowed, unblinking, flashing, all over the place brown eyes. And her white cap. That white cap is über important.
Weber is far more in love with his techobabble, military strategy, and political history than he is with his characters. Which is all well and good, but a successful piece of fiction gives the reader someone or at least something to root for. I couldn’t care less whether Honor and her crew succeed in their search for…whatever they’re hunting.
The soporific and often incomprehensible descriptions of defense tactics, ship construction, and long-warring government factions made me incapable of appreciating the rare moments of plot development. Who can concentrate on putting together the pieces when I’m still trying to figure out the difference between real years and T-years as described in chapter one?
There was one terrible aspect of this book that I can’t blame the author for: ebook formatting. Weber frequently switches his point of view mid-chapter, which wouldn’t be so bad if the sections were clearly delineated. Unfortunately, my version of the book did no such thing, leaving me flailing in confusion for every scene change.
It’s so rare that I DNF a book; the very idea is abhorrent to me. But for this book alone a new shelf has been born. Sorry, Honor Harrington, but I canna do it, Cap’n.
July 19, 2014
This series opener is one that's been on my radar for a long time, and I'm delighted to have finally read it! Although I'm a science fiction fan, I'm not generally attracted to military SF, which of course this is. But that's mostly because my impression is that much of that sub-genre concentrates heavily on futuristic military hardware, to the neglect of the human element (and I think the human element is what good literature is all about). But that's not a problem here. To be sure, there's futuristic military hardware, and techno-babble (see below). But the human element, and a rousing tale of human adventure, is the core of the book.
Ever since junior high school, I've appreciated historical fiction about the British Navy in the age of sail; I like the ambiance, the ethos, and the action of the storylines. Weber's a kindred spirit in this respect, and particularly a fan of C. S. Forester (to whom he dedicates this novel). The latter's Horatio Hornblower series provides the inspiration for Weber's series, and the identity of the initials of the respective protagonists is no coincidence. This has led some Hornblower fans to cry "Foul!" and "Rip-off!" I'm not joining in those cries, however. Yes, Weber has definitely brought something of the flavor of the earlier novels, set in the life of an ocean-going navy in the Napoleonic Wars, to this tale of a space-faring navy in the far future. Honor's Manticore is a kingdom with an aristocracy and a political system reminiscent of Regency England (the author actually provides a plausible historical explanation for this!), while its rival, Haven, has affinities to revolutionary France. And Honor has heroic qualities in common with Hornblower, as well as her initials. But that's where the parallels end. She's her own person, not a Hornblower clone, and I did not see the plot as duplicating anything from the earlier series; it's original. (Granted, I've only read one Hornblower novel.) What we have here, IMO, is an SF homage to Forester's canon, not a plagiarized rip-off.
Of course, it's an updated homage, most noticeably in that the all-male world of Hornblower's navy has finally met the world of women's liberation. Not only do we have a female protagonist; women in Manticore (which currently happens to have a ruling Queen) enjoy full role equality with men, can occupy positions of power, and serve in the space navy on an equal footing with males. Being an (equalitarian) feminist myself, that's music to my ears! Moreover, I'm a long-standing admirer of strong, take-charge, combat-capable heroines, and that definitely describes Honor. She's got the smarts, guts, determination and decisiveness to captain a warship; but more than that, she's a person of integrity, ethics, loyalty, and moral courage. (Honor isn't just her name; it's a quality that defines her.) No, she's not perfect (she's got a temper, that she sometimes has to fight to control!); but she's a woman you can respect and admire. Weber's supporting cast is life-like as well. His plotting is good, carefully developed and well-paced, with real suspense that rises to nail-biting intensity at the climax. Likewise, his world-building is capable and vivid. Spot-on political commentary with real contemporary relevance is embedded naturally in the storyline; and in the tradition of heroic action adventure, the moral message here is one that's supportive of virtue, duty, patriotism, and loyalty.
That's not to say it's an unflawed debut. As other reviewers have noted, Weber's partial to the info-dump technique. There are a couple of long ones here. The first one explains Manticore's political system, and at least has the merit of being interesting in its own right. The second attempts to explain the mechanics of FTL space travel and hyper-space currents, as they work in the author's imaginary view of the galaxy, in such a way as to provide a veneer of hard science. How valid any of this is (even by the standards of modern quantum theory, which I don't understand or necessarily even fully accept!) I don't know, and don't care; and the excursion through it left me slightly glassy-eyed. I don't have to have a solid basis in known science for my SF, so I'd have been happy with much less explanation --just a basic indication of what the spaceships can or can't do. (If he wanted to include all this techno-babble, IMO, Weber would have been better off to put it in an appendix, as he does with his extensive discussion of Manticorean chronology --though my copy is missing a page of this. I didn't miss it!) There's also a significant amount of profanity and obscenity here (though not from Honor); mostly from villains or military types under severe stress. (Readers who dislike extremely grisly violence should be warned that they'll find some of that here, too!) Because of the language and info-dumps, this was technically a four-and-a-half star read for me, but I rounded up. After all, that's the least any gentleman can do for a lady like Honor!
Ever since junior high school, I've appreciated historical fiction about the British Navy in the age of sail; I like the ambiance, the ethos, and the action of the storylines. Weber's a kindred spirit in this respect, and particularly a fan of C. S. Forester (to whom he dedicates this novel). The latter's Horatio Hornblower series provides the inspiration for Weber's series, and the identity of the initials of the respective protagonists is no coincidence. This has led some Hornblower fans to cry "Foul!" and "Rip-off!" I'm not joining in those cries, however. Yes, Weber has definitely brought something of the flavor of the earlier novels, set in the life of an ocean-going navy in the Napoleonic Wars, to this tale of a space-faring navy in the far future. Honor's Manticore is a kingdom with an aristocracy and a political system reminiscent of Regency England (the author actually provides a plausible historical explanation for this!), while its rival, Haven, has affinities to revolutionary France. And Honor has heroic qualities in common with Hornblower, as well as her initials. But that's where the parallels end. She's her own person, not a Hornblower clone, and I did not see the plot as duplicating anything from the earlier series; it's original. (Granted, I've only read one Hornblower novel.) What we have here, IMO, is an SF homage to Forester's canon, not a plagiarized rip-off.
Of course, it's an updated homage, most noticeably in that the all-male world of Hornblower's navy has finally met the world of women's liberation. Not only do we have a female protagonist; women in Manticore (which currently happens to have a ruling Queen) enjoy full role equality with men, can occupy positions of power, and serve in the space navy on an equal footing with males. Being an (equalitarian) feminist myself, that's music to my ears! Moreover, I'm a long-standing admirer of strong, take-charge, combat-capable heroines, and that definitely describes Honor. She's got the smarts, guts, determination and decisiveness to captain a warship; but more than that, she's a person of integrity, ethics, loyalty, and moral courage. (Honor isn't just her name; it's a quality that defines her.) No, she's not perfect (she's got a temper, that she sometimes has to fight to control!); but she's a woman you can respect and admire. Weber's supporting cast is life-like as well. His plotting is good, carefully developed and well-paced, with real suspense that rises to nail-biting intensity at the climax. Likewise, his world-building is capable and vivid. Spot-on political commentary with real contemporary relevance is embedded naturally in the storyline; and in the tradition of heroic action adventure, the moral message here is one that's supportive of virtue, duty, patriotism, and loyalty.
That's not to say it's an unflawed debut. As other reviewers have noted, Weber's partial to the info-dump technique. There are a couple of long ones here. The first one explains Manticore's political system, and at least has the merit of being interesting in its own right. The second attempts to explain the mechanics of FTL space travel and hyper-space currents, as they work in the author's imaginary view of the galaxy, in such a way as to provide a veneer of hard science. How valid any of this is (even by the standards of modern quantum theory, which I don't understand or necessarily even fully accept!) I don't know, and don't care; and the excursion through it left me slightly glassy-eyed. I don't have to have a solid basis in known science for my SF, so I'd have been happy with much less explanation --just a basic indication of what the spaceships can or can't do. (If he wanted to include all this techno-babble, IMO, Weber would have been better off to put it in an appendix, as he does with his extensive discussion of Manticorean chronology --though my copy is missing a page of this. I didn't miss it!) There's also a significant amount of profanity and obscenity here (though not from Honor); mostly from villains or military types under severe stress. (Readers who dislike extremely grisly violence should be warned that they'll find some of that here, too!) Because of the language and info-dumps, this was technically a four-and-a-half star read for me, but I rounded up. After all, that's the least any gentleman can do for a lady like Honor!
September 7, 2022
4.0 Stars
Military Science Fiction isn't always my thing, but wow this one was good! I have had so many people recommend this one to me and I am glad I finally checked it out.
First, I loved the main character who was a strong, well developed female commander. I am looking forward to seeing how her character grows in the later books. And of course, I also loved her treecat companion.
The setup for the story itself was fantastic. The plot was an excellent balance of action and political intrigue. I often struggle with military focused sci fi but this one completely worked for me and hit all the right notes. It was just such an engrossing story.
This is the first book in a long running series and I am definitely interested in reading more!
I would highly recommend this series to any fan of space operas and military science fiction.
Military Science Fiction isn't always my thing, but wow this one was good! I have had so many people recommend this one to me and I am glad I finally checked it out.
First, I loved the main character who was a strong, well developed female commander. I am looking forward to seeing how her character grows in the later books. And of course, I also loved her treecat companion.
The setup for the story itself was fantastic. The plot was an excellent balance of action and political intrigue. I often struggle with military focused sci fi but this one completely worked for me and hit all the right notes. It was just such an engrossing story.
This is the first book in a long running series and I am definitely interested in reading more!
I would highly recommend this series to any fan of space operas and military science fiction.
April 21, 2013
There are many faults with On Basilisk Station. I'm not going to deny that. The bit where a tense action scene was interrupted for eight pages of background on the ins and outs of space travel was a particularly egregious one, and David Weber is quite frankly, to judge on this, not that good a writer at all. I also understand people who think Honor is a bit of a "Mary Sue", a bit too perfect. I understand, but I don't agree -- at least not at this stage in the series, though I've read analyses which suggests it definitely gets that way.
But for me I was mesmerised. Hard SF with a strong, non-sexualised female lead, absolutely no romantic plot, platonic relationships with multiple male characters... A female lead who is resourceful, determined, and quite frankly does her superiors' jobs better than they were doing them themselves. She isn't faultless. She isn't even pretty. There's nothing about her which implies Weber thought sex appeal would be important, and good god that should not be so refreshing in SF.
I think Weber's worldbuilding really shines: he's clearly thought through all the political situations and the exact details of the technology involved, too. Granted, he doesn't deploy this with the greatest of subtlety -- holy infodump, Batman! -- but the planning is all there.
To top all that off, I got very involved with the characters, my heart was in my mouth during the action scenes (bar the bit with the eight page digression) and I was willing to overlook all its flaws because of that. It gets four stars not for being a brilliant piece of writing, but for taking a firm grip on my heart.
But for me I was mesmerised. Hard SF with a strong, non-sexualised female lead, absolutely no romantic plot, platonic relationships with multiple male characters... A female lead who is resourceful, determined, and quite frankly does her superiors' jobs better than they were doing them themselves. She isn't faultless. She isn't even pretty. There's nothing about her which implies Weber thought sex appeal would be important, and good god that should not be so refreshing in SF.
I think Weber's worldbuilding really shines: he's clearly thought through all the political situations and the exact details of the technology involved, too. Granted, he doesn't deploy this with the greatest of subtlety -- holy infodump, Batman! -- but the planning is all there.
To top all that off, I got very involved with the characters, my heart was in my mouth during the action scenes (bar the bit with the eight page digression) and I was willing to overlook all its flaws because of that. It gets four stars not for being a brilliant piece of writing, but for taking a firm grip on my heart.
November 23, 2022
On Basilisk Station is the first in a space opera, science fiction series of books about Honor Harrington (in the pattern of Captain Janeway of Star Trek fame). She comes off as mostly emotionless, but she has a telepathic cat that generally sits on her shoulder and telegraphs the internal turmoil of being the stalwart leader (Commanding Officer) of a space faring vessel. Her abilities are demonstrated from the first novel as she is promoted and given her own command. The vessel she commands is an out-of-date relic named the H. M. S. Fearless, which is “updated” with an experimental toothless weapons system that has very little bite. During a war game, she not only manages to demonstrate her capacity as a tactician, but she also manages to embarrass her superiors. Her crew marvels at Honor Harrington’s skill as a leader, but when they are given an unattractive posting akin to banishment, they begin to question whether siding with their commander was wise. Despite the posting, Harrington organizes, and plans shifts and patrols to best utilize the very limited resources at her disposal. She takes her responsibilities seriously and refuses to relent to what many of her crew view as babysitting. She forces her crew to behave in similar fashion, such that when an attack invariably occurs, they are prepared. Awesome story with MANY sci-fi tropes and sufficient technobabble to make the most jaded geek (of which I count myself) go yaya.
October 9, 2007
Supposedly CS Forster set in space, this novel is more Mercedes Lackey. Honor Harrington is the new captain of an old warship. Within a few paragraphs of meeting her we're told she has a psychic connection with her alien cat, is beautiful and looks far younger than her age, graduated top of her class and is oh so much more sensible than any of her commanding officers. From then on, she's the bestest captain ever. All the good characters love and admire her, and all the bad characters hate her for being so smart and messing up their fiendish plans. There are a few paragraphs that aren't lavishing praise on Honor or showing how evil her enemies are. These paragraphs are meaningless infodumps.
March 12, 2011
If the rest of this novel had been as good as the last third I would probably have given it a 5 star rating. As it is...excellent book and as our friends in the UK might say, smashing climax in the books tie-up.
There were times in this book where my mind wandered off and I had to grab it and drag it back to the subject at hand. Oddly (or maybe not) enough the very thing(s) that caused me to gig the book a star in my rating are probably the same things that will(have) cause(ed) others to rat it a full 5. There are times here when the plot exposition seemed (to me) to go on, even wander on forever. To some I suppose this "insight" into the feelings and so on of the participants is very welcome. To me it "usually" added little to the story. BUT there are other conversations, as when Weber uses Honor to show the nonsense in the reasoning of some....person, that I enjoyed greatly. So, I realize it's a matter of taste.
I also really wasn't all that caught up in Mr. Weber's care to be sure we saw that his science was at least based in solid theory. I didn't even read the "Appendix on Time" after the book.
Still, this is a good story, with good characters with plenty of plot, depth, and action.
I like it.
By the way: I can see why some may see a resemblance to the Hornblower novels. However, I really don't think there are a huge number of crossed ideas. Hornblower starts out as a Midshipman and doesn't get command for quite a while. When he does hostilities end and he finds himself beached for a while with a reduction in grade. The book here opens with Honor taking command and moving from there (I won't list details as I've avoided spoilers...so far). The use of HMS as a ship prefix obviously hearkens back to the UK Navy and the ships in Hornblower and it is the story of a young navel officer starting out and growing. But, I'm a big fan of the Hornblower books and had I not been actively looking for resemblances I doubt they would have jumped out at me all that much. BUT you get two good books and characters that can both be read and enjoyed, Hornblower and Honor, that's always a good thing.
There were times in this book where my mind wandered off and I had to grab it and drag it back to the subject at hand. Oddly (or maybe not) enough the very thing(s) that caused me to gig the book a star in my rating are probably the same things that will(have) cause(ed) others to rat it a full 5. There are times here when the plot exposition seemed (to me) to go on, even wander on forever. To some I suppose this "insight" into the feelings and so on of the participants is very welcome. To me it "usually" added little to the story. BUT there are other conversations, as when Weber uses Honor to show the nonsense in the reasoning of some....person, that I enjoyed greatly. So, I realize it's a matter of taste.
I also really wasn't all that caught up in Mr. Weber's care to be sure we saw that his science was at least based in solid theory. I didn't even read the "Appendix on Time" after the book.
Still, this is a good story, with good characters with plenty of plot, depth, and action.
I like it.
By the way: I can see why some may see a resemblance to the Hornblower novels. However, I really don't think there are a huge number of crossed ideas. Hornblower starts out as a Midshipman and doesn't get command for quite a while. When he does hostilities end and he finds himself beached for a while with a reduction in grade. The book here opens with Honor taking command and moving from there (I won't list details as I've avoided spoilers...so far). The use of HMS as a ship prefix obviously hearkens back to the UK Navy and the ships in Hornblower and it is the story of a young navel officer starting out and growing. But, I'm a big fan of the Hornblower books and had I not been actively looking for resemblances I doubt they would have jumped out at me all that much. BUT you get two good books and characters that can both be read and enjoyed, Hornblower and Honor, that's always a good thing.
September 8, 2017
“The translation into or out of any given band of hyper-space was a complex energy transfer that cost the translating vessel most of its original velocity—as much as ninety-two percent of it, in the case of the alpha band. The energy loss dropped slightly with each "higher" hyper band, but its presence remained a constant, and for over five standard centuries, all hyper ships had relied on reaction drives.”
I am not sure what that stuff above means, I suspect it is pseudoscience (is hyperspace a thing?) but I have to admit it sounds pretty cool.
The Honorverse, a long running popular military sci-fi series that I have never read until now. I am actually very well read in sci-fi (to the detriment of being generally well read) but nobody can read everything, even some popular titles are often overlooked. Besides, I am not big on military sci-fi (imagine all the people, living life in peace, woo-hooo). Still, I do like Old Man’s War and The Forever War, Starship Troopers not so much. Anyway, On Basilisk Station is the first book of this Honorverse series.
First of all, if you are an e-book reader I can immediately recommend that you download a copy of this book as it is legitimately free from the publisher Baen Books. You can get your free e-book copy from Amazon, Google Play, Baen’s website and probably a few other venues I am not aware of. So value for money is not a problem, as for the time investment, read on!
The “Honorverse” series is mostly about the female protagonist Honor Harrington,a Mary Sue an extremely gifted naval spaceship commander who is usually accompanied by a “treecat” called Nimitz, perched on her shoulder. On Basilisk Station introduces her as a newly minted starship captain, assigned to her first small-ish ship called HMS Fearless. After some battle simulations, the Fearless crew is assigned to the titular Basilisk Station, in a backwater of the unfashionable end of the Star Kingdom of Manticore to help with the picket duty. Basilisk’s picket fleet commander has a “history” with Captain Harrington, and soon after her arrival there he leaves the station for the planet Manticore, ostensibly to have his spaceship repaired, but really to jeopardize Harrington’s career. However, with insufficient resources and personnel at her command, Harrington still manages to greatly improve the station’s performance and effectiveness. Unbeknown to her, a rival empire, the Republic of Haven, has a nefarious plan to take over the Basilisk system. How will Captain Harrington protect the station with access to so little firepower?
I first dipped into On Basilisk Station a few months ago and decided to drop it after reading the prologue which I thought was confusing rubbish. The prologue depicts a high-level military meeting in the antagonist’s Republic of Haven. I had no idea who/what/where the characters are talking about and did not have the patience to read on and find out more. So I gave up the attempt but kept the e-book. Then I read an interesting discussion of this series on Reddit and thought I would try again and persevere to the end; it must be popular for a reason (not necessarily because it is great). I still think the prologue contains too many references to strange names, places, and political situations. However, the actual first chapter is a breeze, Weber vividly describes his heroine both physically and mentally. I thought this was going to be a “pew! pew!” pulpy alien blasting kind of book. There is very little of that in the first half of the book. The narrative is all about character motivations, politics, and world building. I like the characterizations and world building but the politics bored me a little, as politics always do. At the heart of the book, it is a story of a woman overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds through her intelligence, courage, and determination. The novel examines the interrelationship between a commander and her crew, how loyalty is earned and the sort of personality and decision making that makes a great military leader. That is all very well, and the narrative is mostly a pretty good read, but surely most military sci-fi fans want to see some villains (preferably aliens) have their backsides kicked. I am happy to report that the tension does mount as the narrative proceeds, and there is an abundance of asskickery in the last 100 pages of the book. As for aliens, there is a species called the Medusans who have Bronze Age technology and are more like side characters, and none of them have a speaking part. The humans’ worst enemies are – as usual – fellow humans.
The character of Honor Harrington is very well developed, she reminds me of the formidable Captain Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager. Her crew and enemies are not so memorable, perhaps because there are so many of them. Executive Officer Alistair McKeon is only memorable because of his tiresome angst throughout most of the book. As for the ever present treecat Nimitz, I thought he was going to claw the ass off some men of low moral fibre but this does not happen; hopefully, he will have more to do in later books in the series. When the narrative kicks into high gear it is quite exciting, featuring favorite military SF tropes like space dogfights, high tech battle armors, nukes, evasive flight patterns etc. I don’t understand most of the engineering science Weber describes but he does make the expositions quite interesting most of the time.
I enjoy On Basilisk Station in spite of a rough start and some dull politics. As it is free, if you are a military SF fan, I urge you to give it a shot. The next book in the series, The Honor of the Queen is also available free from Baen as an e-book, so I am going to read that!
Notes:
• Book 1 – 13 of the series all have 4+ average Goodreads rating, but the discussions I read on Reddit tend to mention that the first seven or so are good, then the series goes into decline. I will surely read a few, but probably less than seven.
• Some of The Honorverse books have made The New York Times Best Seller list (according to Wikipedia).
• This series is inspired by the Horatio Hornblower series by C.S. Forester. Never read 'em!
Quotes:
“For an instant no chronometer or human sense could measure, HMS Fearless ceased to exist. One moment she was here, in Manticore space; the next she was there, six hundred light-minutes from the star named Basilisk, just over two hundred and ten light-years distant in Einsteinian space.”
“Honor had decided long ago there was no point trying to make herself something she was not. Her hair-style was practical, with no pretensions to glamour. It was clipped short to accommodate vac helmets and bouts of zero-gee, and if its two-centimeter strands had a stubborn tendency to curl, it was neither blond, nor red, nor even black, just a highly practical, completely unspectacular dark brown.”
“It was relatively simple to hide even a capital ship (at longer ranges, anyway) by simply shutting down her impellers and dropping off the enemy's passive scanners, but the impeller drive wasn't magic. Even at the five hundred-plus gravities a destroyer or light cruiser could manage, it took time to generate respectable vector changes, so hiding by cutting power was of strictly limited utility.” What? 😕
I am not sure what that stuff above means, I suspect it is pseudoscience (is hyperspace a thing?) but I have to admit it sounds pretty cool.
The Honorverse, a long running popular military sci-fi series that I have never read until now. I am actually very well read in sci-fi (to the detriment of being generally well read) but nobody can read everything, even some popular titles are often overlooked. Besides, I am not big on military sci-fi (imagine all the people, living life in peace, woo-hooo). Still, I do like Old Man’s War and The Forever War, Starship Troopers not so much. Anyway, On Basilisk Station is the first book of this Honorverse series.
First of all, if you are an e-book reader I can immediately recommend that you download a copy of this book as it is legitimately free from the publisher Baen Books. You can get your free e-book copy from Amazon, Google Play, Baen’s website and probably a few other venues I am not aware of. So value for money is not a problem, as for the time investment, read on!
The “Honorverse” series is mostly about the female protagonist Honor Harrington,
I first dipped into On Basilisk Station a few months ago and decided to drop it after reading the prologue which I thought was confusing rubbish. The prologue depicts a high-level military meeting in the antagonist’s Republic of Haven. I had no idea who/what/where the characters are talking about and did not have the patience to read on and find out more. So I gave up the attempt but kept the e-book. Then I read an interesting discussion of this series on Reddit and thought I would try again and persevere to the end; it must be popular for a reason (not necessarily because it is great). I still think the prologue contains too many references to strange names, places, and political situations. However, the actual first chapter is a breeze, Weber vividly describes his heroine both physically and mentally. I thought this was going to be a “pew! pew!” pulpy alien blasting kind of book. There is very little of that in the first half of the book. The narrative is all about character motivations, politics, and world building. I like the characterizations and world building but the politics bored me a little, as politics always do. At the heart of the book, it is a story of a woman overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds through her intelligence, courage, and determination. The novel examines the interrelationship between a commander and her crew, how loyalty is earned and the sort of personality and decision making that makes a great military leader. That is all very well, and the narrative is mostly a pretty good read, but surely most military sci-fi fans want to see some villains (preferably aliens) have their backsides kicked. I am happy to report that the tension does mount as the narrative proceeds, and there is an abundance of asskickery in the last 100 pages of the book. As for aliens, there is a species called the Medusans who have Bronze Age technology and are more like side characters, and none of them have a speaking part. The humans’ worst enemies are – as usual – fellow humans.
The character of Honor Harrington is very well developed, she reminds me of the formidable Captain Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager. Her crew and enemies are not so memorable, perhaps because there are so many of them. Executive Officer Alistair McKeon is only memorable because of his tiresome angst throughout most of the book. As for the ever present treecat Nimitz, I thought he was going to claw the ass off some men of low moral fibre but this does not happen; hopefully, he will have more to do in later books in the series. When the narrative kicks into high gear it is quite exciting, featuring favorite military SF tropes like space dogfights, high tech battle armors, nukes, evasive flight patterns etc. I don’t understand most of the engineering science Weber describes but he does make the expositions quite interesting most of the time.
I enjoy On Basilisk Station in spite of a rough start and some dull politics. As it is free, if you are a military SF fan, I urge you to give it a shot. The next book in the series, The Honor of the Queen is also available free from Baen as an e-book, so I am going to read that!
Notes:
• Book 1 – 13 of the series all have 4+ average Goodreads rating, but the discussions I read on Reddit tend to mention that the first seven or so are good, then the series goes into decline. I will surely read a few, but probably less than seven.
• Some of The Honorverse books have made The New York Times Best Seller list (according to Wikipedia).
• This series is inspired by the Horatio Hornblower series by C.S. Forester. Never read 'em!
Quotes:
“For an instant no chronometer or human sense could measure, HMS Fearless ceased to exist. One moment she was here, in Manticore space; the next she was there, six hundred light-minutes from the star named Basilisk, just over two hundred and ten light-years distant in Einsteinian space.”
“Honor had decided long ago there was no point trying to make herself something she was not. Her hair-style was practical, with no pretensions to glamour. It was clipped short to accommodate vac helmets and bouts of zero-gee, and if its two-centimeter strands had a stubborn tendency to curl, it was neither blond, nor red, nor even black, just a highly practical, completely unspectacular dark brown.”
“It was relatively simple to hide even a capital ship (at longer ranges, anyway) by simply shutting down her impellers and dropping off the enemy's passive scanners, but the impeller drive wasn't magic. Even at the five hundred-plus gravities a destroyer or light cruiser could manage, it took time to generate respectable vector changes, so hiding by cutting power was of strictly limited utility.” What? 😕
October 22, 2014
Aug2011: Reread for the Beyond Reality group & I want to read the 2d book immediately, even though I only read it a few years ago. I love Honor. According to some other sources, she's Horatio Hornblower & Admiral Nelson, just set in a future civilization. (Weber does have a dedication to the former at the start of the book.) He succeeded in creating a wonderful heroine set in a very realistic future society with all the colonization & empire problems of old England.
I think that if you've spent any time in the military, you'll appreciate these books more. Honor is the epitome of a military officer. She is just getting to the point in her career where she is gaining real responsibility & thus winds up in some dicey situations, both military & politic.
Weber feeds us a LOT of information in this first book. He sets up an entire galactic civilization which is very similar to that of our world in the 18th century. There are Colonial powers, distant political fights, economics, scientific realities, & all the other issues that plague a commander out in the field weeks away from their superiors. Unfortunately, quite a bit of this information is handed to us in info dumps, some more interesting than others. Most are necessary as the strategy & tactics to deal with them are central to the story. There were a couple that weren't really needed & could have been put off to later books or given to us in smaller bites.
His characterization is a bit flat. I'm not sure that's a bad thing. With all the complexities in the story & quite a few characters, having B&W characters helps keep the story tighter. If there had been too many folks with complex motivations or issues, the story probably would have spun out of control into a brick. This isn't. It's a highly readable, swiftly moving story & I appreciated that.
-----------------
2008: A fairly long series of a dozen books or so - not counting all the spin-offs - it's one of the most well written, I've had the pleasure to read. His development of characters, politics & adherence to the physical laws of his world make it a great yarn. Through every book, I was biting my nails & rooting for Honor!
I think that if you've spent any time in the military, you'll appreciate these books more. Honor is the epitome of a military officer. She is just getting to the point in her career where she is gaining real responsibility & thus winds up in some dicey situations, both military & politic.
Weber feeds us a LOT of information in this first book. He sets up an entire galactic civilization which is very similar to that of our world in the 18th century. There are Colonial powers, distant political fights, economics, scientific realities, & all the other issues that plague a commander out in the field weeks away from their superiors. Unfortunately, quite a bit of this information is handed to us in info dumps, some more interesting than others. Most are necessary as the strategy & tactics to deal with them are central to the story. There were a couple that weren't really needed & could have been put off to later books or given to us in smaller bites.
His characterization is a bit flat. I'm not sure that's a bad thing. With all the complexities in the story & quite a few characters, having B&W characters helps keep the story tighter. If there had been too many folks with complex motivations or issues, the story probably would have spun out of control into a brick. This isn't. It's a highly readable, swiftly moving story & I appreciated that.
-----------------
2008: A fairly long series of a dozen books or so - not counting all the spin-offs - it's one of the most well written, I've had the pleasure to read. His development of characters, politics & adherence to the physical laws of his world make it a great yarn. Through every book, I was biting my nails & rooting for Honor!
April 13, 2013
The first book of the Honor Harrington saga may be light on action, but there's still plenty of wonder and intrigue to be found On Basilisk Station!
When Honor Harrington became a Captain in the Royal Manticorian Navy, she never imagined her first assignment would turn out like this! A spoiled senior officer shifts the blame for her own failures onto Honor. As a result, Honor and her crew aboard the light cruiser Fearless have been banished to Basilisk Station, an unpopular dumping ground for screw-ups with no real future in the Royal Navy. As if having to contend with a crew that resents her and a local government that distrusts her wasn't bad enough, Honor soon begins to suspect that a far greater threat endangers everyone under her protection. Someone has been supplying the natives with mind-altering drugs and weapons in an attempt to inspire a revolt against the officers of Basilisk Station. And to make matters worse, an empire with far greater power and influence than the Royal Navy is rattling their sabers and looking to take over control of the station. Now Honor must prepare to stop a war armed with only one spaceship, a modestly-sized crew, and her brilliantly tactical mind. Honor's enemies may have her outnumbered, but they certainly don't have her outmatched!
I always try to avoid spoilers before reading a book...which sometimes works against me...like when I went into "Game of Thrones" thinking it would be a more innocent kind of fantasy like "Lord of the Rings"...as you can imagine, I was caught completely off-guard when I found out what Cersei's dirty little secret was!
That said, even though I avoid spoilers, I usually have a pretty good idea of what the tone of a book is going to be. If I pick up a Dresden Files book, I know I'm getting an action-packed urban fantasy. If I delve into a Christopher Moore book, I'm ready for some bizarre, off-beat humor. But every once in a while, a book comes along that is not at all what I expected...something that recalls the great philosopher Mick Jagger when he said, "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you just might find, you get what you need"! Yes, "On Basilisk Station" was not at all what I expected it to be...and for the most part, I couldn't be happier about that!
Since space operas often feature epic battles, I was all geared up for plenty of action. As it turns out, there's almost no action in this book until the final 25% (more on that later). However, even though I was initially disappointed when I realized Honor wasn't going to be whipping out a laser rifle anytime soon, I found myself more and more enthralled by the world David Weber has created in this series. Much of the first half of the book is dedicated to revealing how Honor and her crew fix everything that is broken on Basilisk Station, and it is truly fascinating to experience. Honor often develops intricate plans for many different situations, which gives the story much variety. Very few chapters are the same, as Honor's approach differs from case to case. Honor plays several roles throughout the story, including pilot, teacher, ambassador, and diplomat, and every one of them brings out a different side to her. As I got further and further into the story, I soon found that watching Honor develop her strategies and seeing how her crew carried them out was far more interesting than just seeing two opponents fire ray guns at each other!
Honor is by far the most prominently displayed character in the book, which means there is a lot riding on her shoulders. Fortunately, she is more than up to the task! Honor is a perfectly endearing heroine. She is tough, but never bullying. She is brilliantly analytical, as well as compassionate. She is charismatic but sometimes also insecure. Weber even avoids the trap have having Honor be too perfect, as she occasionally makes mistakes and lets her pride and emotions cloud her judgment. And while Honor may be the star of the book, her crew often helps her to shine. While I didn't find any other character nearly as engaging as Honor (except maybe for her adorable treecat, Nimitz), many of them had their own personalities and quirks that made them interesting, too. But what really helps make this a somewhat unique reading experience is that the reader often learns more about Honor by experiencing things vicariously through her shipmates. At first, the crew sees Honor as cold and aloof, and she often comes across that way. But Honor's distance is actually a calculated strategy to force her crew members to find their own solutions and become better at what they do. As the crew got to know the real Honor, so did I, and the way they warmed up to her mirrored my own experience while reading about her. At times I wasn't just reading the book, I was feeling it as well.
However, as good as this book is, it may not be for everyone. There were times when I felt Weber dedicated an excruciating amount of time explaining the science behind much of his world. I can easily see someone with a great passion for science giving this book 5 stars, but I had to knock one off, as there were too many parts where the scientific discussions just felt long-winded and plodding to me. Also, the lack of action throughout most of the book may be off-putting to some, although in fairness, Weber makes up for this in the last quarter of the novel, when the action is pretty much non-stop and climaxes into one of the most exciting sequences I've ever read!
I can't wait to delve further into the Honorverse! As for who I picture portraying the leading lady...let's see, we need an actress with experience playing someone who's strong and brilliant. Someone who's charming, but also has a thousand-yard stare that can intimidate anyone in her sights. Paging Stana Katic...
"I reserve this glare for Richard Castle...and for anyone who ever mentions that I was in "The Spirit"!!!"
When Honor Harrington became a Captain in the Royal Manticorian Navy, she never imagined her first assignment would turn out like this! A spoiled senior officer shifts the blame for her own failures onto Honor. As a result, Honor and her crew aboard the light cruiser Fearless have been banished to Basilisk Station, an unpopular dumping ground for screw-ups with no real future in the Royal Navy. As if having to contend with a crew that resents her and a local government that distrusts her wasn't bad enough, Honor soon begins to suspect that a far greater threat endangers everyone under her protection. Someone has been supplying the natives with mind-altering drugs and weapons in an attempt to inspire a revolt against the officers of Basilisk Station. And to make matters worse, an empire with far greater power and influence than the Royal Navy is rattling their sabers and looking to take over control of the station. Now Honor must prepare to stop a war armed with only one spaceship, a modestly-sized crew, and her brilliantly tactical mind. Honor's enemies may have her outnumbered, but they certainly don't have her outmatched!
I always try to avoid spoilers before reading a book...which sometimes works against me...like when I went into "Game of Thrones" thinking it would be a more innocent kind of fantasy like "Lord of the Rings"...as you can imagine, I was caught completely off-guard when I found out what Cersei's dirty little secret was!
That said, even though I avoid spoilers, I usually have a pretty good idea of what the tone of a book is going to be. If I pick up a Dresden Files book, I know I'm getting an action-packed urban fantasy. If I delve into a Christopher Moore book, I'm ready for some bizarre, off-beat humor. But every once in a while, a book comes along that is not at all what I expected...something that recalls the great philosopher Mick Jagger when he said, "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you just might find, you get what you need"! Yes, "On Basilisk Station" was not at all what I expected it to be...and for the most part, I couldn't be happier about that!
Since space operas often feature epic battles, I was all geared up for plenty of action. As it turns out, there's almost no action in this book until the final 25% (more on that later). However, even though I was initially disappointed when I realized Honor wasn't going to be whipping out a laser rifle anytime soon, I found myself more and more enthralled by the world David Weber has created in this series. Much of the first half of the book is dedicated to revealing how Honor and her crew fix everything that is broken on Basilisk Station, and it is truly fascinating to experience. Honor often develops intricate plans for many different situations, which gives the story much variety. Very few chapters are the same, as Honor's approach differs from case to case. Honor plays several roles throughout the story, including pilot, teacher, ambassador, and diplomat, and every one of them brings out a different side to her. As I got further and further into the story, I soon found that watching Honor develop her strategies and seeing how her crew carried them out was far more interesting than just seeing two opponents fire ray guns at each other!
Honor is by far the most prominently displayed character in the book, which means there is a lot riding on her shoulders. Fortunately, she is more than up to the task! Honor is a perfectly endearing heroine. She is tough, but never bullying. She is brilliantly analytical, as well as compassionate. She is charismatic but sometimes also insecure. Weber even avoids the trap have having Honor be too perfect, as she occasionally makes mistakes and lets her pride and emotions cloud her judgment. And while Honor may be the star of the book, her crew often helps her to shine. While I didn't find any other character nearly as engaging as Honor (except maybe for her adorable treecat, Nimitz), many of them had their own personalities and quirks that made them interesting, too. But what really helps make this a somewhat unique reading experience is that the reader often learns more about Honor by experiencing things vicariously through her shipmates. At first, the crew sees Honor as cold and aloof, and she often comes across that way. But Honor's distance is actually a calculated strategy to force her crew members to find their own solutions and become better at what they do. As the crew got to know the real Honor, so did I, and the way they warmed up to her mirrored my own experience while reading about her. At times I wasn't just reading the book, I was feeling it as well.
However, as good as this book is, it may not be for everyone. There were times when I felt Weber dedicated an excruciating amount of time explaining the science behind much of his world. I can easily see someone with a great passion for science giving this book 5 stars, but I had to knock one off, as there were too many parts where the scientific discussions just felt long-winded and plodding to me. Also, the lack of action throughout most of the book may be off-putting to some, although in fairness, Weber makes up for this in the last quarter of the novel, when the action is pretty much non-stop and climaxes into one of the most exciting sequences I've ever read!
I can't wait to delve further into the Honorverse! As for who I picture portraying the leading lady...let's see, we need an actress with experience playing someone who's strong and brilliant. Someone who's charming, but also has a thousand-yard stare that can intimidate anyone in her sights. Paging Stana Katic...
"I reserve this glare for Richard Castle...and for anyone who ever mentions that I was in "The Spirit"!!!"
March 25, 2017
DNF at 20%.
Hated the writing. Too many info dumps (sometimes ended with exclamation points) between scenes. Lots of snortworthy sentences. Show and don't tell, please.
The main character is totally a Mary Sue. Stop telling me she is the top of her class and has 'unique elegant feature, but not pretty of course, but still looks young and attractive'. And what's with the cat obsession? I did not need be informed in every single time Honor stroke her cat's various body parts.
Honor's hand froze three centimeters from her cup, then continued its progress. It was a tiny hesitation, no more than a second in length...it was a subtle thing, more sensed than seen, an infinitesimal tightening of her lips. The ridges of sharply-defined cheekbones stood out for just an instant, and her nostrils flared.
What a waste of page. If I had to take a shot everytime she bit her lip, gritted her teeth, tucked her beret I would be wasted before even 1/5 of the book.
Last but not least. I did not understand the technobabble at all. Maybe the info dumps ruined it. Or just poor, soporific writing. Or both. I did not even have any inclination to know what was what. For comparison, reading Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series with its nautical lingo still made me actually look for what actually a mizzen topgallant staysail is, since the story is so engaging and immersive.
So yeah, not for me.
Hated the writing. Too many info dumps (sometimes ended with exclamation points) between scenes. Lots of snortworthy sentences. Show and don't tell, please.
The main character is totally a Mary Sue. Stop telling me she is the top of her class and has 'unique elegant feature, but not pretty of course, but still looks young and attractive'. And what's with the cat obsession? I did not need be informed in every single time Honor stroke her cat's various body parts.
Honor's hand froze three centimeters from her cup, then continued its progress. It was a tiny hesitation, no more than a second in length...it was a subtle thing, more sensed than seen, an infinitesimal tightening of her lips. The ridges of sharply-defined cheekbones stood out for just an instant, and her nostrils flared.
What a waste of page. If I had to take a shot everytime she bit her lip, gritted her teeth, tucked her beret I would be wasted before even 1/5 of the book.
Last but not least. I did not understand the technobabble at all. Maybe the info dumps ruined it. Or just poor, soporific writing. Or both. I did not even have any inclination to know what was what. For comparison, reading Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series with its nautical lingo still made me actually look for what actually a mizzen topgallant staysail is, since the story is so engaging and immersive.
So yeah, not for me.
September 13, 2011
ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.
Honor Harrington, newly-promoted Captain in the Queen’s Royal Manticoran Navy, has taken command of her first space cruiser, Fearless. Sadly, she and her crew have been deployed to Basilisk Station, a low-status drudge assignment that mostly involves checking cargoes for contraband. Morale aboard Fearless is low, but things are about to change. Unbeknownst to Manticore, The Republic of Haven, which hopes to better its economy by conquering resource-wealthy planets, plans to invade Manticore by way of the wormhole junction terminus at Basilisk Station. Can Honor and her crew uncover the plot and save Manticore?
David Weber’s On Basilisk Station is classic space opera loaded with lots of exposition about military tactics, weaponry, hyperspace, calculation of acceleration rates, etc., etc. This isn’t my favorite genre of science fiction, but I was hoping that a female protagonist might make it more fun.
Not really. At least, not in this case. Honor Harrington is admirable — she’s smart, proud, loyal, and completely reliable. She doesn’t back down in the face of opposition. She figures out all the stealthy plans of her enemies and she gets the job done. All the bad guys hate her and all the good guys love her (that’s how you can tell if they’re good guys or bad guys). In fact, Honor is so perfect that she’s downright dull. She’s the biggest Mary Sue in space. She hardly even flinches when she has to make the choice between her duty and the lives of her crew.
Honor’s courage and determination work out in the end only because she happens to correctly guess what the bad guys are up to. There’s no mystery for the reader, who knows Haven’s plans, but I was never convinced that Honor made the right judgments based on the facts she had. Her decisions were based on strings of guesses she made under the assumption that she understood the bad guys’ logic. For that reason, I couldn’t respect her cold-hearted commands, or her responses to their consequences.
Perhaps part of my problem was Allyson Johnson’s narration in the audio version (Brilliance Audio). Though she did a good job with most of the characters, her reading of the many expository portions of the text was dull (perhaps it was difficult to make this part interesting!). But my main complaint is that she used a high-pitched lilting voice for Honor. Weber’s text mentions that Honor is a soprano, but the cheery voice was probably unsuitable for the stressful scenes in which Honor has to make her harsh and deadly commands. Her seeming lack of grief, or even of any struggle at all, makes it hard to relate to Honor. It makes it hard to like her. But I think the narrator may have done a disservice to the text, and I’m willing to give Honor another chance (mainly because I already own the next few volumes in the series).
On Basilisk Station would have been a better book if Weber had spent less time explaining space-battle tactics and more time letting us get to know Honor Harrington. She feels cold and severe, but I don’t think this is really Weber’s intention. He just hasn’t let us in yet. I am hoping this improves in future installments and that Honor Harrington will start to feel more real.
Honor Harrington, newly-promoted Captain in the Queen’s Royal Manticoran Navy, has taken command of her first space cruiser, Fearless. Sadly, she and her crew have been deployed to Basilisk Station, a low-status drudge assignment that mostly involves checking cargoes for contraband. Morale aboard Fearless is low, but things are about to change. Unbeknownst to Manticore, The Republic of Haven, which hopes to better its economy by conquering resource-wealthy planets, plans to invade Manticore by way of the wormhole junction terminus at Basilisk Station. Can Honor and her crew uncover the plot and save Manticore?
David Weber’s On Basilisk Station is classic space opera loaded with lots of exposition about military tactics, weaponry, hyperspace, calculation of acceleration rates, etc., etc. This isn’t my favorite genre of science fiction, but I was hoping that a female protagonist might make it more fun.
Not really. At least, not in this case. Honor Harrington is admirable — she’s smart, proud, loyal, and completely reliable. She doesn’t back down in the face of opposition. She figures out all the stealthy plans of her enemies and she gets the job done. All the bad guys hate her and all the good guys love her (that’s how you can tell if they’re good guys or bad guys). In fact, Honor is so perfect that she’s downright dull. She’s the biggest Mary Sue in space. She hardly even flinches when she has to make the choice between her duty and the lives of her crew.
Honor’s courage and determination work out in the end only because she happens to correctly guess what the bad guys are up to. There’s no mystery for the reader, who knows Haven’s plans, but I was never convinced that Honor made the right judgments based on the facts she had. Her decisions were based on strings of guesses she made under the assumption that she understood the bad guys’ logic. For that reason, I couldn’t respect her cold-hearted commands, or her responses to their consequences.
Perhaps part of my problem was Allyson Johnson’s narration in the audio version (Brilliance Audio). Though she did a good job with most of the characters, her reading of the many expository portions of the text was dull (perhaps it was difficult to make this part interesting!). But my main complaint is that she used a high-pitched lilting voice for Honor. Weber’s text mentions that Honor is a soprano, but the cheery voice was probably unsuitable for the stressful scenes in which Honor has to make her harsh and deadly commands. Her seeming lack of grief, or even of any struggle at all, makes it hard to relate to Honor. It makes it hard to like her. But I think the narrator may have done a disservice to the text, and I’m willing to give Honor another chance (mainly because I already own the next few volumes in the series).
On Basilisk Station would have been a better book if Weber had spent less time explaining space-battle tactics and more time letting us get to know Honor Harrington. She feels cold and severe, but I don’t think this is really Weber’s intention. He just hasn’t let us in yet. I am hoping this improves in future installments and that Honor Harrington will start to feel more real.
February 12, 2017
Well this was my first dip into the "Honorverse" and I really enjoyed it. Some reviews have complained about the technobabble and the lack of characterisation, I personally did not think that at all. I quickly warmed to the characters (and not just Nimitz) and found them all individuals. As to the "technobabble, and over complicated political situation " complaints, again, I found no such thing. Sci-fi can be technical, it just depends if you are into that or not. Personally I found it intrinsic to the story line in the end, as it explained the limitations as to what could happen in certain situations (no spoiler intended). As to the political situation and its complexities, you just have to look at the world today and realise it was in fact probably under complicated in this book.
So will I continue in this universe, I think the answer is a resounding but qualified yes. Qualified as in there are so many good books, or books I want to read around at the moment, as well as those i read 40 years ago that I want to go back to, and I haven't read the LOTR for some years, nor the 11 or 12 book Asimov (and killer Bs) Foundation Saga (does one start with the Robot stories , hmmmm) for a number of years as well, agh.
Add to that the number of non Sci-fi books I want to read and well, I am beginning to realise I don't have that much time available.
So was this a good book, yes, very enjoyable. And yes I have ordered book 2 to carry on the series ( how did i miss it 20 years ago ?? )
So will I continue in this universe, I think the answer is a resounding but qualified yes. Qualified as in there are so many good books, or books I want to read around at the moment, as well as those i read 40 years ago that I want to go back to, and I haven't read the LOTR for some years, nor the 11 or 12 book Asimov (and killer Bs) Foundation Saga (does one start with the Robot stories , hmmmm) for a number of years as well, agh.
Add to that the number of non Sci-fi books I want to read and well, I am beginning to realise I don't have that much time available.
So was this a good book, yes, very enjoyable. And yes I have ordered book 2 to carry on the series ( how did i miss it 20 years ago ?? )
February 14, 2018
This is David Weber's first (of a series) effort with Honor Harrington in a futuristic military yarn. It is a winner.
Weber has given a lot of thought to his universe and we benefit from his careful crafting of the background, the technology and the characterization. Weber's universe is primarily humanoid. All the major players have their origins in Old Earth. Some left for reasons of pollution and over-population. Others left for religious reasons. That was a long time ago.
Manticore is a high tech world based on a trading economy that has a government that we would call a representative monarchy. Haven is a religion-based "republic." Their expansions have put them into conflict. Harrington has recently received promotion to commanding her first vessel in the Manticore Navy. This navy and its Haven counterpart have the ability to travel vast distances at speeds far greater than light. (For the sake of simplification, this is based on faster-than-light technology and worm-holes.) Weber can approach the poetic when he is describing his "system." "It's huge, immaterial Warshawski sails were circular, azure mirrors, bright and brilliant for just an instant as radiant transit energy bled quickly into nothingness, and then it folded its wings. The invisible sails reconfigured into impeller stress bands, and the freighter slowly gathered way, accelerating out of the nexus while it cleared its final destination with Junction Central and requested insertion into the proper outbound lane to continue its voyage."
Now we can discuss the plot.
Honor Harrington is an over-achiever, with some anxiety about what she has to prove...and to whom. Harrington tries to make the best of her first command, on a old ship with some new weaponry. That she fails isn't her fault. The price she pays is being detailed to back-water patrol duty at Basilisk Station. Is she being set up to fail? If so, they picked on the wrong person and the wrong place. The value of Basilisk Station is that it is the junction of multiple worm-holes. Manticore controls it and profits from it. "Manticore's tolls were among the lowest in the galaxy, but simple logistics meant they generated enormous revenues, and the Kingdom served as a central warehousing and commercial node for hundreds of other worlds." Vessels, both military and commercial use it as a precious short cut. Harrington's assignment is basically boring smuggler control.
There is a complex plot here that will serve as the background for successive stories. What Harrington discovers is a threat to Manticore that may come from Haven or the big trading companies or both. Her ethics, courage and intuition serve her well. We get a rich soup of characters and plenty of action. But, unlike similar authors, Weber doesn't let the technology dominate. Much like the best of historical military novels, we get to see a young officer grow into her command (think Sharpe or Hornblower). Weber also shows some courage in his willingness to kill-off key characters for the sake of the plot.
All in all this is an engaging read with lots of promise for future adventures.
Weber has given a lot of thought to his universe and we benefit from his careful crafting of the background, the technology and the characterization. Weber's universe is primarily humanoid. All the major players have their origins in Old Earth. Some left for reasons of pollution and over-population. Others left for religious reasons. That was a long time ago.
Manticore is a high tech world based on a trading economy that has a government that we would call a representative monarchy. Haven is a religion-based "republic." Their expansions have put them into conflict. Harrington has recently received promotion to commanding her first vessel in the Manticore Navy. This navy and its Haven counterpart have the ability to travel vast distances at speeds far greater than light. (For the sake of simplification, this is based on faster-than-light technology and worm-holes.) Weber can approach the poetic when he is describing his "system." "It's huge, immaterial Warshawski sails were circular, azure mirrors, bright and brilliant for just an instant as radiant transit energy bled quickly into nothingness, and then it folded its wings. The invisible sails reconfigured into impeller stress bands, and the freighter slowly gathered way, accelerating out of the nexus while it cleared its final destination with Junction Central and requested insertion into the proper outbound lane to continue its voyage."
Now we can discuss the plot.
Honor Harrington is an over-achiever, with some anxiety about what she has to prove...and to whom. Harrington tries to make the best of her first command, on a old ship with some new weaponry. That she fails isn't her fault. The price she pays is being detailed to back-water patrol duty at Basilisk Station. Is she being set up to fail? If so, they picked on the wrong person and the wrong place. The value of Basilisk Station is that it is the junction of multiple worm-holes. Manticore controls it and profits from it. "Manticore's tolls were among the lowest in the galaxy, but simple logistics meant they generated enormous revenues, and the Kingdom served as a central warehousing and commercial node for hundreds of other worlds." Vessels, both military and commercial use it as a precious short cut. Harrington's assignment is basically boring smuggler control.
There is a complex plot here that will serve as the background for successive stories. What Harrington discovers is a threat to Manticore that may come from Haven or the big trading companies or both. Her ethics, courage and intuition serve her well. We get a rich soup of characters and plenty of action. But, unlike similar authors, Weber doesn't let the technology dominate. Much like the best of historical military novels, we get to see a young officer grow into her command (think Sharpe or Hornblower). Weber also shows some courage in his willingness to kill-off key characters for the sake of the plot.
All in all this is an engaging read with lots of promise for future adventures.
March 25, 2013
I do wish Goodreads allowed more granularity, because I'd peg this as a 3.5 rather than a 3.
Much more favorably impressed by this one than I expected to be. The story keeps its head out of the sand by revealing the intricate balance of economic, diplomatic, and personal factors behind all the space opera. Some of the antagonists are sketched competently and sympathetically; some of the characters on Honor Harrington's side are neither competent nor sympathetic.
The gender parity in this novel is admirable, especially considering that it was written more than twenty years ago. Women are portrayed in every rank and sector of Manticoran society, and every level of the military from the enlisted to the high command.
Scientifically speaking, ON BASILISK STATION is written in a "wink-and-a-nudge" style that admirably simulates a near flavor of hard SF; there are three or four distinct means of high-velocity space travel described, and they're all pure bullshit handwavium, but their consequences and secondary effects are exhaustively explored and rigidly applied. Essentially, once Weber sets up his handwavium, he always plays the game with scrupulous fairness thereafter. The rules are the rules, and there's no increasing the power to the main deflector dish by 300% to somersault over any given chapter's cliffhanger.
There is a whiff of unfortunate colonialism to the book (and a one-sided massacre of drug-crazed aboriginal sentients that is made necessary by the plot but is nonetheless flatly impossible to portray in any kind of savory light), and a sense in several scenes that Weber has his infodumps and revelations a little out of order. The most egregious comes near the very end, when the climactic space battle (which is quite tense and harrowing) is put on hold for a multi-page lecture on the functions, history, and inventors of each method of FTL travel.
Also, the homage to the age of sail and the books of C.S. Forester does occasionally go more than a little over the top, as when supply (star)ships are referred to as "colliers." I'm a great appreciator of homage, but that's too precious by half.
Those complaints aside, I did enjoy this, and will at least continue to the next in the series.
Much more favorably impressed by this one than I expected to be. The story keeps its head out of the sand by revealing the intricate balance of economic, diplomatic, and personal factors behind all the space opera. Some of the antagonists are sketched competently and sympathetically; some of the characters on Honor Harrington's side are neither competent nor sympathetic.
The gender parity in this novel is admirable, especially considering that it was written more than twenty years ago. Women are portrayed in every rank and sector of Manticoran society, and every level of the military from the enlisted to the high command.
Scientifically speaking, ON BASILISK STATION is written in a "wink-and-a-nudge" style that admirably simulates a near flavor of hard SF; there are three or four distinct means of high-velocity space travel described, and they're all pure bullshit handwavium, but their consequences and secondary effects are exhaustively explored and rigidly applied. Essentially, once Weber sets up his handwavium, he always plays the game with scrupulous fairness thereafter. The rules are the rules, and there's no increasing the power to the main deflector dish by 300% to somersault over any given chapter's cliffhanger.
There is a whiff of unfortunate colonialism to the book (and a one-sided massacre of drug-crazed aboriginal sentients that is made necessary by the plot but is nonetheless flatly impossible to portray in any kind of savory light), and a sense in several scenes that Weber has his infodumps and revelations a little out of order. The most egregious comes near the very end, when the climactic space battle (which is quite tense and harrowing) is put on hold for a multi-page lecture on the functions, history, and inventors of each method of FTL travel.
Also, the homage to the age of sail and the books of C.S. Forester does occasionally go more than a little over the top, as when supply (star)ships are referred to as "colliers." I'm a great appreciator of homage, but that's too precious by half.
Those complaints aside, I did enjoy this, and will at least continue to the next in the series.
November 7, 2023
This series has been on my read list for years and recommended to me by almost every military friend I have. I have finally got around to starting it. While Mr. Weber has never been in the military according to his Wikipedia entry he writes an absolutely fabulous military SiFi story. His characters are very realistic, at least from my 21+ years in the U.S. Navy viewpoint. Looking forward to this excellent adventure with the main character. Highly recommended
May 8, 2019
Honor Harrington—a very obviously virtuous name for a woman who is going to be all about her own personal integrity. I liked Honor as a character because Weber depicts her as a strong, decisive leader. Mind you, he throws in a few stereotypes as well—she’s “not good at math,” she has striking good looks but thinks she’s lumpy and unattractive, and she’s single, so she has to have a cat (because we single women are always just steps away from being crazy cat ladies). Nevertheless, if anyone can make lemonade out of the lemons that life handed her, it’s Honor.
There’s lots of good action, but Weber could take some lessons from Lois McMaster Bujold and her Vorkosigan series on how to keep the plot flowing. (I found quite a few similarities in how talented both Miles Vokosign and Honor Harrington are). Unfortunately, OBS has pages and pages of different commanders going on and on about what they were going to do plus how and why they were going to do it. *Yawn!* Also, during the final, dramatic space chase, there were more pages and pages devoted to the history of hyperdrive. Really? In the middle of the supposedly high stakes chase? Dude, I’m glad you thought about these things, they’re great background info for you as author, but why are you dumping them on your readers? I almost never skim and I skimmed until I found action again.
I also had to go back and re-read bits, where the space Navy and the Marines annihilate thousands of Medusan aborigines! I just couldn’t believe what I was reading and that they were completely unconcerned about repercussions of such an act. Seen through a 2019 lens, that just seems wildly out of touch. How times have changed!
Still, it was a pretty good story and I’m glad that I read it. I’m maybe not excited enough to pursue the series, however.
Book number 317 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy reading project.
There’s lots of good action, but Weber could take some lessons from Lois McMaster Bujold and her Vorkosigan series on how to keep the plot flowing. (I found quite a few similarities in how talented both Miles Vokosign and Honor Harrington are). Unfortunately, OBS has pages and pages of different commanders going on and on about what they were going to do plus how and why they were going to do it. *Yawn!* Also, during the final, dramatic space chase, there were more pages and pages devoted to the history of hyperdrive. Really? In the middle of the supposedly high stakes chase? Dude, I’m glad you thought about these things, they’re great background info for you as author, but why are you dumping them on your readers? I almost never skim and I skimmed until I found action again.
I also had to go back and re-read bits, where the space Navy and the Marines annihilate thousands of Medusan aborigines! I just couldn’t believe what I was reading and that they were completely unconcerned about repercussions of such an act. Seen through a 2019 lens, that just seems wildly out of touch. How times have changed!
Still, it was a pretty good story and I’m glad that I read it. I’m maybe not excited enough to pursue the series, however.
Book number 317 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy reading project.
June 10, 2017
The Good:
There is a cat. Also, the setting is interesting and very detailed. Very, very detailed. The end is exciting – an extended action sequence that is gripping, evocative and again, very detailed.
The Bad:
Far too much exposition. There is just so much explaining going on. Characters stop and think for pages at a time just to allow the author to tell us something new, or remind us of something we’ve been told before and maybe hadn’t thought to jot down. The characters are cardboard cutouts of the type dreamed up by men who fetishise the military.
'Friends' character the protagonist is most like:
Honor Harrington is smart and determined and a bit dull, like Monica.
There is a cat. Also, the setting is interesting and very detailed. Very, very detailed. The end is exciting – an extended action sequence that is gripping, evocative and again, very detailed.
The Bad:
Far too much exposition. There is just so much explaining going on. Characters stop and think for pages at a time just to allow the author to tell us something new, or remind us of something we’ve been told before and maybe hadn’t thought to jot down. The characters are cardboard cutouts of the type dreamed up by men who fetishise the military.
'Friends' character the protagonist is most like:
Honor Harrington is smart and determined and a bit dull, like Monica.
December 1, 2008
This was my first David Weber novel and my introduction to Honor Harrington. And what a ride it was. The only time I had any thought of boredom was whenever the Marines were discussing and planning. Otherwise, I could hardly put the book down. And the climactic chase was heart pounding in intensity, tragedy and triumph.
I will definitely be reading more of this series.
I will definitely be reading more of this series.
August 4, 2019
2019 review Reading with the Evolution of SF group here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
It's been 5 years since I last read this & I didn't mind the data dumps nearly as much even in audio format. It's a big universe, so complex. The tech is well crafted to its purpose, but that also makes it complex. For instance, the way impeller bands & sidewalls work on ships leads to a lot of interesting tactics that are very reminiscent of the Horatio Hornblower series which dealt with sailing ships during the Napoleonic Wars. Since the setting is also a navy, albeit in space, there are even more similarities.
Dealing with an aboriginal species & the machinations of Haven made for a pretty good mystery. The politics behind the scenes were well done. I also really liked how even some of the better secondary characters didn't make it out alive & yet there weren't any Red Shirts. The final battle was nasty & very well described.
While this is definitely a space opera, therefore fairly simplistic in its overall theme, it's definitely one of the better ones. Sure, the heroine is a bit too good to be true & there's little moral ambiguity, but that's OK. It makes for a very entertaining read with enough complexity to keep it really interesting.
I wasn't planning on it, but I'm going to continue reading the series. Now that the universe is established, Weber can go on to tackle a really interesting issue - a colony that was set up along religious lines & keeps women as second class citizens. With their isolation broken, that is changing, but there are some very real issues that are too obvious in our own society. Sending Honor in as the head of the task force is really pushing everyone's boundaries, including hers. Haven & a second planet settled by fanatics are also involved & it leads to a fairly complex mess on several fronts.
Well narrated & highly recommended. I'm also bumping the review up one star to four. Weber's data dumps read far better this time. I'm sure they'll get irritating in later books since many are copied verbatim from earlier books, but this format is fine for the first book(s).
2014 review I've read this book a couple of times before beginning with a free version from Baen's site. I'm proof that a free book can bring in a great return. After reading this, I went on to buy it in paperback & a dozen more books in the series, including the later ones in hardback plus quite a few of Weber's other books. The "Action Heroine Fans" group
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
is reading this in February & it's been a while, so I downloaded this from my local library to listen to. I hope it's as good in this format. I gave it 4 stars in paper.
I only gave it 3 stars in this format. Weber is setting up a big universe & a plot that is based on naval (space) warfare which runs into technicalities, so he succumbs to a lot of technical dumps. He also goes into far more detail than necessary in some cases. While I found them easy to skim over in paper format, in audio they dragged. Luckily, I've been busy in the shop & trying to chase winter away, so I could tune out for a while. I had to.
The reader wasn't bad, but she gave a lot of the characters accents & many of the men had higher pitched voices than I liked. Some didn't, though. Anyway, it made kind of a weird mishmash at times & could be quite jarring.
Overall, it's a great story. The heroine is idolized, even her enemies respect her. If you like the whole military people doing their duty for their queen, persevering against the odds, & holding honor even when it is more practical not to, this is for you. I wouldn't recommend this format, though. Still, I think I'll go on to listen to the next.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
It's been 5 years since I last read this & I didn't mind the data dumps nearly as much even in audio format. It's a big universe, so complex. The tech is well crafted to its purpose, but that also makes it complex. For instance, the way impeller bands & sidewalls work on ships leads to a lot of interesting tactics that are very reminiscent of the Horatio Hornblower series which dealt with sailing ships during the Napoleonic Wars. Since the setting is also a navy, albeit in space, there are even more similarities.
Dealing with an aboriginal species & the machinations of Haven made for a pretty good mystery. The politics behind the scenes were well done. I also really liked how even some of the better secondary characters didn't make it out alive & yet there weren't any Red Shirts. The final battle was nasty & very well described.
While this is definitely a space opera, therefore fairly simplistic in its overall theme, it's definitely one of the better ones. Sure, the heroine is a bit too good to be true & there's little moral ambiguity, but that's OK. It makes for a very entertaining read with enough complexity to keep it really interesting.
I wasn't planning on it, but I'm going to continue reading the series. Now that the universe is established, Weber can go on to tackle a really interesting issue - a colony that was set up along religious lines & keeps women as second class citizens. With their isolation broken, that is changing, but there are some very real issues that are too obvious in our own society. Sending Honor in as the head of the task force is really pushing everyone's boundaries, including hers. Haven & a second planet settled by fanatics are also involved & it leads to a fairly complex mess on several fronts.
Well narrated & highly recommended. I'm also bumping the review up one star to four. Weber's data dumps read far better this time. I'm sure they'll get irritating in later books since many are copied verbatim from earlier books, but this format is fine for the first book(s).
2014 review I've read this book a couple of times before beginning with a free version from Baen's site. I'm proof that a free book can bring in a great return. After reading this, I went on to buy it in paperback & a dozen more books in the series, including the later ones in hardback plus quite a few of Weber's other books. The "Action Heroine Fans" group
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
is reading this in February & it's been a while, so I downloaded this from my local library to listen to. I hope it's as good in this format. I gave it 4 stars in paper.
I only gave it 3 stars in this format. Weber is setting up a big universe & a plot that is based on naval (space) warfare which runs into technicalities, so he succumbs to a lot of technical dumps. He also goes into far more detail than necessary in some cases. While I found them easy to skim over in paper format, in audio they dragged. Luckily, I've been busy in the shop & trying to chase winter away, so I could tune out for a while. I had to.
The reader wasn't bad, but she gave a lot of the characters accents & many of the men had higher pitched voices than I liked. Some didn't, though. Anyway, it made kind of a weird mishmash at times & could be quite jarring.
Overall, it's a great story. The heroine is idolized, even her enemies respect her. If you like the whole military people doing their duty for their queen, persevering against the odds, & holding honor even when it is more practical not to, this is for you. I wouldn't recommend this format, though. Still, I think I'll go on to listen to the next.
August 2, 2019
This is a military SF novel about a competent woman captain, who wins against incredible odds.
The story starts with (evil) People republic of Haven, which faces the problem of high budget expenditures on social safety (dole) and military (space fleet) or/and low incomes due to the low productivity of their planets. Instead of dealing with it internally, they decide to expand and capture some rich systems instead. A very Roman Empire way of solving the problem, but without inflow of slaves. Their first aim in the Basilisk station.
Then we get to the story proper and meet the protagonist. Honor Harrington is a career navy officer. She comes from more or less middle class family and has to compete with aristocratic imbeciles, who fill the Navy. After long years of studying and serving, she finally captains her first ship, cruiserBrainless erm, Fearless. However, during the military training she shows herself too excellent, stepping on quite a few aristocratic shoes, for which they send her to an end of the world, the Basilisk station.
She faces a heap load of problems: her crew blames her for the exile; local matters are in disarray; evil antagonists are brewing local unrest. However, she is a paragon of virtue and competence, so we won’t be surprised is a positive outcome. Here comes my greatest beef with the book: she is just so competent and right and the character comes flat. Instead of hard choices, she just does what is right (or more precisely in line with the law), to hell with the opposition. Such simplicity I guess would have attracted me as a teen, but now I prefer more gray characters and difficult problems with no right answers.
Another great drawback of the novel are massive, and more importantly, dull infodumps. For comparison sake, right now I started Downbelow Station (yes, another station’s book) and it is full of infodumps, but they are interesting!
The story starts with (evil) People republic of Haven, which faces the problem of high budget expenditures on social safety (dole) and military (space fleet) or/and low incomes due to the low productivity of their planets. Instead of dealing with it internally, they decide to expand and capture some rich systems instead. A very Roman Empire way of solving the problem, but without inflow of slaves. Their first aim in the Basilisk station.
Then we get to the story proper and meet the protagonist. Honor Harrington is a career navy officer. She comes from more or less middle class family and has to compete with aristocratic imbeciles, who fill the Navy. After long years of studying and serving, she finally captains her first ship, cruiser
She faces a heap load of problems: her crew blames her for the exile; local matters are in disarray; evil antagonists are brewing local unrest. However, she is a paragon of virtue and competence, so we won’t be surprised is a positive outcome. Here comes my greatest beef with the book: she is just so competent and right and the character comes flat. Instead of hard choices, she just does what is right (or more precisely in line with the law), to hell with the opposition. Such simplicity I guess would have attracted me as a teen, but now I prefer more gray characters and difficult problems with no right answers.
Another great drawback of the novel are massive, and more importantly, dull infodumps. For comparison sake, right now I started Downbelow Station (yes, another station’s book) and it is full of infodumps, but they are interesting!
December 12, 2013
Great charactor interaction, written by someone who understands people skills, man mangement & chain of command in a military setting, it works for sure. Plenty of geek techy stuff as well for yous nerds out there, to the point of glaze forming at times :) i did have to skip a few paras ere n there when the quantom mechanics & warp fueled reactor thinymajigs was a tad full-on but thats jus me & only a minor quibble. There's politics, skullduggery, "other lifeforms", battle scenes both on land & in space PLUS there's a Treecat called Nimitz whose empathic & partial to celery.... of course he is!!
Very enjoyable & glad i found this series throu a recommendation! A proper treasure.
Very enjoyable & glad i found this series throu a recommendation! A proper treasure.
June 25, 2010
3.5 stars. Smart, well-written, well plotted and engaging military science fiction story. The only reason it doesn't rate higher from me is that military SF is not my favorite sub-genre of science fiction. I more partial to world building and "unique" alien cultures and this book (as with most military SF) doesn't address those areas in any significant respect. Still a very good book and a fast read.
January 24, 2020
Felt really dated and somewhat clunky to me.
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