On 2010-03-10 Shaun Thomas, Chicago, IL wrote: Though it almost lost me in the prologue, David Weber has created a universe of characters I now consider one of my favorites.
The prologue is rough. The People´s Republic of Haven is having economic problems, you see, so of course the only solution to this is... war? Thankfully, Mr. Weber handles this gracefully so it doesn´t seem as if a cavalcade of cartoonish villains are rubbing their hands with anticipation at the prospect while laughing maniacally. Instead of an outright attack on Manticore, they opt for wrestling away a strategic wormhole instead, due to the control of shipping lanes it brings.
Honor Harrington is herself a compelling character. She has a very unique pet ´cat, is early enough in her career that she constantly questions her own motivations and decisions, and as necessary, has the deck stack firmly against her. The last provides most of the plot momentum; she must overcome bureaucratic posturing, lack of supplies and Navy Intelligence, outright undermining of her efforts to clean up Basilisk Station, and her own lack of experience. She´s clearly the skilled underdog we´re meant to support, and it actually pays off.
While there´s a lot of military and space jargon, it´s not so heavy as to be distracting. David is no Alastair Reynolds here; the reading is much lighter, more of a detective story with a sci-fi tint. That said, I didn´t expect much from an introduction to a 10-book series, mostly because that´s the first indicator of pulp fiction. Yet something about the mix of characters, setting, and plot managed to snag me. I plan on reading at least a couple more to determine the likelihood the recipe will go stale.. And summed up by saying Not the Pulp Junk I Expected. Currently On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington) has an overall rating of 8 over 10.
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Baen claimed Introducing Commander Honor Harrington, here is a major new series from a major new author. The Basilisk System was a place to sweep incompetents, fools, and failures under the rug . . . or to punish officers with enemies in high places. Commander Honor Harrington has enemies, and she´s about to make more of them--because the people out to get her have made one mistake: They´ve made her mad.
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