INTRODUCINGHONOR HARRINGTONHaving made him look a 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 … 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.
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With “On Basilisk Station” David Weber introduces us to his amazing future galaxy and super-cool heroine, Honor Harrington.
Welcome to the Honorverse! Start here, keep going. This is the series that made David Weber into a #1 New York Times Bestselling author and he deserves every bit of it.
If you’re looking for great military sf, this is your gateway.
I own physical and audible copies of this book and re-read it every year or so.
This is the first, and arguably one of the best, in Weber’s Honorverse series. While the later volumes can be as sprawling as War and Peace, this taut little book does a grand job of creating a space opera version of Forester’s Napoleonic Era hero, Horatio Hornblower. (Weber’s heroine is named Honor Herrington.)
The first Honor Harrington book is tight and fast, and much shorter than some of the later books. How good is it? Weber’s fan club is enormous, and the Royal Manticoran Navy has its own conventions! If you haven’t read anything in the Honorverse, and you love classic space opera, start this series today.
Honor Harrington is an intriguing captain, whose devotion to duty and her crew will keep you rooting for her from beginning to end.
The first book in the Honor Harrington series. It is a must read as it sets the stage for all the books that follow. While the book is full of fantastic sci fi tech there’s a lot of solid science. There’s plenty of action and plenty of “real people personalities” with all the good points and frustrating flaws that entails.
The Honor Harrington series is one of my favorites. He strives for realism in his portrayal of space battles and galactic politics, and Honor is a wonderfully 3-dimensional hero. An excellent start to a really good series.
This was one of the first military sci-fi books I read, and is what made me fall (mostly) in love with the genre. There’s lots of action and gnarly situations that put Honor Harrington in the position of the underdog, fighting against overwhelming odds; all the things that (in my opinion) as good sci-fi book should have.
There is, unfortunately, a rather lengthy section where the author explains the theory/mechanics of interstellar travel, which is a yawn. I recommend skipping that part.
Think of Horatio Hornblower as a woman, in space. Honor Harrington has the same warrior spirit, same nobility of heart, the same standards of excellence, the same ability to inspire others to moral action – without the profligate rakishness common to the seamen with “a wife in every port”. David Weber has created an very relatable character who appeals to women, soldiers, sailors and young adults alike. On top of that, David Weber has created a social-technological background that feels very real. This is a society that could come to be, with technology that is probable based on the level of contemporary human knowledge with a few hundred years more development.
Weber introduces us to a unique mode of normal space travel and even FTL travel. His world-building is excellent and distinctive. He carefully outlines the advantages and disadvantages of how various technology works. His main character is at once powerful and also vulnerable. It doesn’t take long before you want to jump up and cheer for her. I challenge anyone to put down the book during the last few chapters. You won’t be able to.
A fun and entertaining book. However, the main characters seemed rather cliche and sometimes acted stupidly. I also found the technology hard to accept.
Great story. Highly recommended.
This is the first book in the Honor Harrington series. It introduces us to a young navel officer named Honor Harrington who is the central character in the series (Horatio Hornblower in space). This book is excellent and David Weber does an great job of building a universe where in the far future you have the small but powerful Star Kingdom of Manicore with a constitutional monarchy (think England circa 1860) squaring off against a much larger People’s Republic of Haven (think 1960’s Soviet Union). Of course the capitalistic Star Kingdom enjoys a huge advantage in technology and better training than their corrupt and imperialistic neighbors. In the background there is the powerful Solarian League composed of hundreds of core worlds, which is supposedly neutral in their dealings with the two groups of worlds on the fringes of the known universe. Excellent start to one of the best sci-fy series out there today!
Great story, read every book in this series. Reads like To Clancy except in science fiction genre.
Some of the best space battles I’ve ever read. Honor is a fantastic character… I can’t believe they haven’t made a movie of this!
The Honor Harrington series is the best Space Opera series of all time.
This book is my favorite David Weber. As indicated in other reviews, I love good sociology as part of my science fiction.
Don’t look at me like that, sociology is a science!
And David Weber is not only the master of military sci-fi, but also political sci-fi with a good bit of sociology thrown in.
Love this book. One of the few David Weber has written with a truly alien species – and what would happen to younger culture meeting a space faring one.
I was drawn in by the concept, story, and character. It had a tendency to dump information, but if you’re interested in the political play between governments and their military, you’ll enjoy the segues rather than be distracted by them.
The first of the Honor Harrington series. I have read this book a couple of times
Such a great series, I have read it multiple times
The first of the Honor Harrington military science fiction series. Noteworthy in that this female character lives in a society that sees men and women equally. Four stars only in light of the next one is even better.