On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington, #1) in What's the Name of That Book???

Oct 04, 2007 Wealhtheow rated it did not like it

Shelves: sci-fi

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 fo ...more

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Mar 07, 2017 Esther rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: e-book, author-male, __mine-and-i-m-keeping-it, science-fiction, space-otherworld, strong-women, zz-2017, zz-2017_from-my-own-shelves, mil-scifi

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I am not quite sure how to review this book: for great chunks of the prose it was the worst written book I have read in some while (though not quite as long a while as I would like) but after an exciting conclusion I felt I had enjoyed the story and was seriously interested in reading the second book of the series.

The world is constructed from labyrinthine explanations using jargon whose meaning is often less than clear. In the descriptions of politics and other interactions the author carelessl ...more

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Jun 17, 2011 Holly rated it it was ok

Shelves: sci-fi-or-alt-reality

I'm really sick of men thinking that a strong female character is pretty much a male stereotype with boobs. I don't even think most men act as woodenly as she does.

But, unlike some people, I did like the six legged psychic kitty. ...more

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Jun 29, 2012 Michelle rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, ebook, free

3.5 stars, with a half taken off due to long-winded descriptions of theoretical spaceflight physics, which is I'm quite sure what many people like about it, but that sort of lecturing really screws up the flow in the middle of a white-knuckled battle sequence.

Military fiction, whether as a book or a movie, really isn't my thing. Movements of troops, hostile interactions between the officers, "you can't handle the truth," etc = snore. But put that business on a spaceship, and BAM, i'm in. This pa ...more

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Aug 21, 2011 Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

Dates approximate. A re-read, I think, but I'm not certain. More like 2.5. It was interesting to compare this with some of Elizabeth Moon's work, in my head. (And indeed, I can't avoid it.) Not at all sure that Moon doesn't have the edge, in some areas. This was clearly a first/early book. My recollection of the series is that the techno-infodumping only gets worse.

Every time I look at the cover I can't help thinking that Nimitz, the treecat, looks more like a walrus. ...more

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Oct 14, 2009 Karina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

I'm eagerly waiting for the release of Midst Toil and Tribulation, and decided to finally check this one out. I don't know exactly why it took me this long to do so... I knew there was a free ebook in Baen Library, but I guess I just don't like reading on a computer; but now with the Kindle Touch it changes things. :)

Some reviews of the Safehold series, mentioned that it was similar to Honor Harrington except for the setting (i.e. low tech in Safehold, high tech in space in Honor). And I love Sa ...more

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Dec 23, 2015 Misha rated it liked it

Shelves: female-protagonist, doorway-plot, doorway-people, doorway-place, science-fiction, read-2015

I have been meaning to read an Honor Harrington book for a while now. This was definitely solid military SF and Honor is a strong and noble character. But, unlike Bujold, this lacks some drama and character backstory that I usually appreciate. Maybe Honor's character develops more throughout the series, but I would have given this 4 stars if there had been more character depth explored here. ...more

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May 10, 2013 Laurie rated it liked it

Shelves: 2016

There were some tedious parts of this book with long explanations of how space travel works in this world, but overall I really liked Honor Harrington and her crew. A good example of a strong, competent older woman who is a great leader, with no personal drama. Solid sci fi, skim the detailed descriptions of travel through hyper space if that it not your thing.

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Jul 12, 2012 Bryan457 rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own-it, science-fiction, science-fiction-military

I enjoyed this just as much listening to it as I did reading it.

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Jan 03, 2017 Sarani Rangarajan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

An explosive beginning and intro

To Honor Harrington, who is well named. She doesn’t let anything come between her and duty and somehow had the ineffable leadership thing going for her, as well as extreme competence. It’s a space navy book; absolutely worth reading.

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