On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington, Book 1)

by David Weber

On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington, Book 1)

published

2005 (first published 2002) by Baen

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binding

Mass Market Paperback, 464 pages

isbn

1416509372 (isbn13: 9781416509370)

description

On Basilisk Station (or "HH1" as it's known to the faithful) is the first installment in David Weber's cult hit Honor Harrington seri...more

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All ratings | 5 stars (254) | 4 stars (255) | 3 stars (105) | 2 stars (15) | 1 star (8) | avg 4.15

all | this edition

Kaethe

Kaethe rated it:

04/18/07

Read in April, 2007

recommends it for: scifi/fantasy fans

I should actually give this book only 2 stars, but I'm a sucker for really quick reads in the sci-fi genre (also known as trashy books that aren't difficult to understand). This is a space navy/military book in the style of Elizabeth Moon's Familias/Herris Serrano books, but I liked Weber's book a lot less than Moon's. While there is a female heroine (which I like), I didn't think the story flowed very well, nor were the characters developed as fully, and the beginning was "patchy" whi...more

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Nicolas

Nicolas rated it:

(review of isbn 2290348767)

10/23/08

bookshelves: bateaux, guerre, space-opera

Read in September, 2006

Il est parfois bon de retourner à la bonne vieille tradition du space-op, et ce roman nous propose exactement ça. On y suit donc Honor Harrington, officier de la flotte spatiale, dont la première affectation en tant que capitaine va lui faire subir pas mal d’aventures inattendues. Bien sûr, il y aura des batailles spatiales (des tonnes, même), du combat au sol, de la hiérarchie militaire comme s’il en pleuvait, un peu de politique vue des tranchées, mais surtout, surtout, des VAISSEAU...more Il est parfois bon de retourner à la bonne vieille tradition du space-op, et ce roman nous propose exactement ça. On y suit donc Honor Harrington, officier de la flotte spatiale, dont la première affectation en tant que capitaine va lui faire subir pas mal d’aventures inattendues. Bien sûr, il y aura des batailles spatiales (des tonnes, même), du combat au sol, de la hiérarchie militaire comme s’il en pleuvait, un peu de politique vue des tranchées, mais surtout, surtout, des VAISSEAUX SPATIAUX.
Car, pour l’auteur, le postulat est clair : les bouquins d’Honor Harrington se passent dans des vaisseaux spatiaux, tout comme ceux de la saga Vorkosigan mettent en scène un nabot espion déjouant des complots stellaires. Une fois cet axiome posé, une histoire sympatoche peut se déployer.
Bien sûr, la finesse psychologique n’en est pas exclue et, comme le dit la wikipedia, le sentiment de culpabilité est un moteur très fort dans cette histoire, aussi bien pour Honor que pour son équipage, ce qui donne à ce roman finallement très simple un côté très "honorable", mais surtout très personnel. L’autre point intéressant, et sans doute le plus intéressant, c’est sans doute l’évidence de la reconstitution de l’époque de la marine à voile dont on retrouve tout à fait les ccombats en ligne de l’époque napoléonienne : entre les canons sur les flancs, l’impossibilité de se camoufler, les voiles permettant d’atteindre de plus grandes distances en prenant bien le vent, tout y est et, honnêtement, ça n’est vraiment pas pour me déplaire. Bon, cela étant dit, certains aspects sont quand même caricaturaux : les méchants sont méchants et tordus, Honor et une héroïne dont le seul défaut est de ne pas avoir la beauté d’une déesse. Mais cela n’ôte pas l’intérêt d’un livre qui, pour simple qu’il est, n’en contient pas moins d’authentiques scènes de bravoure avec une mention toute particulière pour le combat finale entre l’Intrépide et ce fichu vaisseau ennemi.
Donc lisez-le, tout en sachant pertinement qu’il ne bouleversera pas votre univers mental, tant il semble si évidement conservateur dans sa vision du monde (mais après tout, ça n’est rien de plus qu’une histoire de soldats, on ne peut donc pas lui en demander plus). En fait, l’endroit où ce livre serait le plus à sa place est le sac de plage, cela étant dit sans aucune volonté de dénigrement....less

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Tina

Tina rated it:

03/20/08

bookshelves: sci-fi-fantasy

Read in January, 1998

I have no idea why I read this book. At the time I read it, I was not a person who read science fiction at all. I liked fantasy but Science Fiction? No.

Baen, the company that publishes this had (and still does) quite a revolutionary policy of putting the full texts of quite a few of their titles right on their website. You could go there and read them for free. Or download them as text and print them off. I think I read the first few chapters of this on their website and decided to buy...more I have no idea why I read this book. At the time I read it, I was not a person who read science fiction at all. I liked fantasy but Science Fiction? No.

Baen, the company that publishes this had (and still does) quite a revolutionary policy of putting the full texts of quite a few of their titles right on their website. You could go there and read them for free. Or download them as text and print them off. I think I read the first few chapters of this on their website and decided to buy it. That was Baen's reason for doing that. He'd wet your appetite by giving you full access to his better authors and then when you were well and truly hooked, you'd pay in order to keep up your habit. I admit it. I got hooked.

The Honor Harrington series is military space opera. In this first book, Honor is a newly minted captain in the Manticoran Queen's navy and has just been given her first ship and is out doing maneuvers. Because she publicly (albeit not purposefully) embarrasses a powerful superior, she and her crew find themselves posted to Basilisk Station, an outpost in the back of beyond where they send fuck-ups and people whose careers are dying.

Her crew blames her for their fate and barely talk to her. But Honor is not the type to roll over and play dead. She has been given a job to do and she does it, with unflinching grace and a spine of steel. Slowly her crew realizes that their Captain is a woman of integrity and honor. The people of Basilisk station are just happy to finally get and officer posted who is competent.

So competent is Honor, that because of her hard line and due diligence, she uncovers a complex plot hatched by the long-time enemies of Manticore, the People's Republic of Haven.

Suddenly Basilisk station isn't the sleepy backwater. It is a hot-spot, a place where long simmering plans of war between two powerful planet systems break out into the open and Honor is right in the middle of it.

The plot is fun. It is something right out of Star Trek:TNG or Battlestar Galactica. There is a LOT of descriptions of battles and tactics, and descriptions of powerful warships. If you are into that, you'll love it. if not, don't worry, you can skip those passages and not miss a beat. The story is so engaging that the more "hard-sciency-fictiony" stuff doesn't detract. And truthfully, the characters are the real stars of this book. Honor is a great construct. She is a balls-out, kick ass heroine. She does not suffer fools gladly, she is tough, smart and full to the brim with integrity. She is also surrounded with a cast of truly interesting supporting characters. Most notable are Harkness, the petty officer with flexible ethics and Alistair, Honor's grudging second in command.

As a whole, this series is fantastic. As an introduction to it, this book certainly whets your appetite and makes you want more of Honor.

And I do credit this series and Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan series with getting me interested in Science Fiction....less

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Scott

Scott rated it:

02/01/08

Read in December, 2004

I read the HH series mostly for the interesting background and space navy technology/tactics. While each book warrants it's own review, some things can be said for them all. Generally, the characters surrounding Honor Harrington are more interesting than Honor herself. Honor is something of a superwoman, except in the realm of interpersonal relationships. It's really her only weakness. Everything else? She's perfect. She's a great tactician, a martial arts expert, and a great leader. Though to b...more

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Zachary

Zachary rated it:

(review of isbn 0743435710)

03/30/08

At first glance, there seems to be nothing extravagant or illustrious about this book. But if you assumed that, you would be horribly wrong. This is the initial book in a series which spans (at present) ten volumes. There is a reason so many people love these books, and this is the one which started it all.

This book, in my mind, is one in which Webber managed to perfectly balance the political intrigues of the Honorverse with the strategical excitement of the military engagements, as well as...more

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Peggy

Peggy rated it:

04/18/07

bookshelves: scifi

Read in January, 2005

This is one of my favorite series. I actually started with book 9 and read most of it on a greyhound trip from Boston to NYC. I literally could not tear my eyes away. But it's cool to read the series from the beginning and see her grow into herself and into her commands. The series also focuses a lot on political tactics and strategy in addition to space battle tactics so her stories always ties into the "big picture." And it's about commanding by example and always staying true to you...more

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Ben

Ben rated it:

09/06/08

Read in September, 2008

This is a book that is only for the dedicated sci-fi geeks like myself. I like the world that Weber created as well as the characters, especially Captain Honor Harrington, but I didn't care for the emphasis on technical aspects of the ships. Weber spent a little too much time explaining the mathematics behind deep space travel and battles between spaceships. The perfect example of this is when Weber inexplicably takes the reader on a four-page detour in the middle of a BATTLE SCENE to explain...more

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S. added it

10/22/08

bookshelves: did-not-finish, posted-on-pbs

I liked the characters and the storyline, but there was just too much detail for my taste. Not that the writing was bad - the characters were interesting as were their interactions with eachother, and the storyline was complex, weaving together nicely. Anyone who enjoys reading military science fiction that has a large amount of detail behind the sceience, politics, and military strategy will enjoy this. But I found myself skimming the detail to get onto the action and character interactions. So...more

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Tracey

Tracey rated it:

03/19/08

bookshelves: e-text

Read in March, 2008

e-text courtesy of the Baen Free Library - multiple recommendations, Fierra the latest.

On the verge of abandoning - this kind of book is why I don't like military fiction --- WAAAAAY too much info-dumping for my tastes. I'm interested in the story itself, I just don't need to know exactly how the ships work & what the details of the defenses, tactics and campaigns are.

The story finally picked up & was pretty enjoyable overall - Honor felt a awful lot like a Heinleinia...more

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Paul

Paul rated it:

03/01/08

bookshelves: sf-and-fantasy

Read in January, 2006

First book in the Honor Harrington series.

An interesting series that draws heavily on 18th and 19th century history. Lots of interesting characters, tactics, and politics.

I always wonder how a planetary civilization can afford to lose so many ships and personnel. Many of the battles in the HH series involve fleets of Doc-Smith-style mega-dreadnoughts with thousands of people on board, that get blown away by the fistful in the first few minutes of a battle. It is amusing to have the shi...more

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Wealhtheow

Wealhtheow rated it:

10/09/07

bookshelves: sci-fi

Read in October, 2007

recommends it for: fans of Elizabeth Moon, Mercedes Lackey, Anne McCaffrey or Tamora Pierce

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 he...more

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Paige

Paige rated it:

02/17/08

bookshelves: science-fiction-fantasy

Has a copy to sell/swap

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Guy

Guy rated it:

06/23/08

bookshelves: have-read-more-than-once, science-fiction-and-fantasy

Read in June, 2008

This is the first book in the best military space opera series ever written. It works on every level: complex and believable world-building, excellent characters, intricate political and strategic dilemmas, carefully constructed plot, tremendous battle scenes, superb writing. Each book brings tears to my eyes at some point (or in some cases, points). You need to like both military conflict and science fiction, but if you do this is, IMHO, simply the best.

Loosely based on C.S. Forester's &...more

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Skwerlie

Skwerlie rated it:

08/06/07

Read in January, 2007

This series was reccomended to me by a bookshop owner after I'd said I enjoyed Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan novels. While both could be classified as military science fiction, I felt the Honor Harrington book was more focused on the "military" side, and found the characters a bit thin and uninteresting. I don't think I'd call it a bad book, it just focused more on the things I was less interested in (clever tactics, technology, politics) and less on the stuff I tend to like in a...more

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Kate

Kate rated it:

09/02/08

bookshelves: books-i-own

Read in September, 2008

I had the fortune to hear David Weber speak yesterday. He is a fascinating man, and has a lot of good things to say on a multitude of subjects. His feelings on writing a strong female character such as Honor Harrington are quite refreshing - he said he first writes a character. Gender is secondary, and almost unimportant. 2,000 years in the future, society finds it unremarkable that a woman is in such a powerful profession, and would never question her capabilities because of her gender. Of...more

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Mark

Mark rated it:

11/26/07

bookshelves: military-sf

Read in January, 2005

Honor Harrington is a genius naval commander who is assigned to a backwater post due to politics. To no one's surprise the backwater turns out to be important and Honor saves the day. Presumably these are in the style of the Horatio Hornblower books, but I'm not familiar with them so I can't say.

I like that the book is mostly about non-fighting operations and only has one major and one minor space battle. The variety helps.

Captain Harrington is competent. Her crew is competent. The...more

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Noah

Noah rated it:

(review of isbn 0743435710)

07/13/08

Read in July, 2008

While this is at times a very thrilling and solidly written military space adventure, I'd like to give you a few warnings. The first, that this book is pretty dry. The drama is good, but the characterization is thin and the detail is a bit unnecessary at times. Secondly, and most important, Weber has a tendency to interrupt his interesting story to take multiple page asides describing in mind numbing detail things like the minutiae of hyperspace travel, or the history of Manticore's colonization...more

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Hepe

Hepe rated it:

08/05/08

bookshelves: ebook

Read in August, 2008

recommended to Hepe by: Baen Free Library

Downloaded from Baen.com. Because my problem is lack of books. Yeah, I need more resources, more books to read. I'd be reading, if only I had access to a book.

Anyone who knows me or has been to my house or has loaned me one or more books knows that I'm being sarcastic. I actually like that Baen does this. And I like that I can put Mobipocket on my BB and always have a book with me (Mobipocket works with the micro sd card). I've tried various readers and haven't found anything I like on m...more

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Temporalrose

Temporalrose rated it:

06/04/07

Read in January, 2004

recommends it for: EVERYONE

David Weber is an amazing sci-fi/fantasy author, especially for those who enjoy military fiction. A lot of times, reviewers will relate the Honor Harrington series to Horatio Hornblower. I wouldn't know. What I do know is that they are amazing, with an amazingly rich and deep universe put into prose. Honor Harrington is one of my favorite heroines of all time. She is intelligent, witty, commanding, and is an amazing character.
One of the aspects of this series I especially love are the hi...more

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Kelsey

Kelsey rated it:

10/01/07

This book, and the whole series, is a great sci-fi opera with a strong female protagonist and a well-detailed political and technological setting. Characters actually change and develop over the series, and the politics and technology of the universe she lives in are explored and detailed in a way that really brings it to life. Every book has several detailed (space) naval engagements, everything from duels between two ships and one against several to major battles between large ships. Should ap...more

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avg rating (all editions): 4.15 (637 ratings)
avg rating (this edition): 4.14 (586 ratings)
number of reviews: 62

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