The Honorverse

David Weber's Honor Harrington Series...another end-to-end reading project!

This entry in the 2005 reading sprint was On Basilisk Station by David Weber (Baen Books, 1999 for the hardcover, but the paperback was published several years earlier).

David Weber is one of the more polished writers of science fiction snack food out there. Now, before you get angry, think about it. When we eat snack food, we enjoy the experience. But rarely does it conjure up the fond memories that a home-cooked meal does. Weber is of a similar ilk. I enjoy reading his stuff, while I'm reading it. But, when I discuss science fiction and my favorite books, his name does not come up. Like snack food, I'll keep on buying and reading his stuff as long as he produces it.

Weber was involved in the production of the Starfire series of games (originally from the same folks who brought us Star Fleet Battles). Star Fleet Battles started out pretty simply, one boxed set. Then came a couple of expansions, which added races and ships and rules. Still pretty playable. Eventually the whole system underwent a rewrite (and still seems to be rewritten on a regular basis), adding more and more ships, more and more races, until the whole thing creaks under its own weight. Starfire had a similar history; it started out simply, started growing. Weber got involved in one of the re-writes and eventually co-wrote a series of novels about the game universe.

On Basilisk Station is the start of a series of books dealing with Honor Harrington. Think of it as Horatio Hornblower (get it, HH?) in space. Ships have sails, of a sort, there are lots of broadsides; I haven't come across any cutlasses yet, but swords of another kind do play a role in the series a few books down. There's a good empire (based on England), and a not-so-good empire (a sort of a combination of post-revolution France, a corrupt pseudo-socialist country and a few other things thrown into the mix).

Follow us as we travel with Honor in her career from captain of a ship to eventually (I presume, but I haven't gotten that far) being Admiral.

There's action. Missiles! Lasers! Lots of explosions! Big ships (really, really big ships)! Death! Destruction! Strange societies! Alien cats! Intrigue! Schemes! And more...memorable characters? Not so much.

But like I said, it is snack food. Snack food doesn't stick with you for long. But you sure enjoy it while it is going down.

(Also read this year, so far, were: The Honor of the Queen and The Short Victorious War and Field of Dishonor, Flag in Exile and Honor Among Enemies.)

2009 Update: Re-read On Basilisk Station, The Honor of the Queen, The Short Victorious War, Field of Dishonor. Hoping to get through the series before Mission of Honor comes out next year!

Now that you've read this far, perhaps you'd be interested in buying (when it comes out) the game based on the series?