On Basilisk Station

[[deleted user]]

I haven't started it yet, but I have my copy queued up and ready to go. For those who haven't already picked up a copy, it's in the Baen free Library here.

[Tim]

I've started and am a couple of chapters in. This is the first time I've ever read a book as part of a book club. I'm looking forward to the experience.

Very early days but the book's okay so far. The opening dialogue felt contrived, but I'm not looking for a ‘literary’ pretensions, so I’m happy with that as a way to tell us why Basilisk Station is going to be under threat. Anyway, I love it when we know something important that the main characters don’t.

[Donna]

I first read On Basilisk Station two years ago and have read through the 10th book in the series now. I decided to go ahead and reread it and I'm enjoying seeing the beginnings of the story again. I'm about 20% through at the moment.

[Donna]

After an evening of reading and then waking up way too early on a Saturday morning, I finished the book. I gave it 5 stars the first time around and I enjoyed it just as much this time. I think Weber is a master at battle scenes and they are always tense, exciting and brutal.

It was interesting to realize just how much has happened in the series. Some of the later books do get bogged down in parts with the politics between Manticore and the Havenites, but this book doesn't.

I'm interested to hear what others think about it.

[Charles]

I read this and the 2nd book earlier this year. I found them reasonably enjoyable, but had no strong desire to continue the series; probably because I've already read a lot of military SF from David Drake, Jerry Pournelle, Gordon Dickson, etc. -- not to mention the Horatio Hornblower historical fiction novels of which On Basilisk Station reminded me. Again, I'm not putting this book down by any means, I just didn't find anything new or intriguing that made me want to invest money/time in it, at least for now.

[[deleted user]]

I started reading it yesterday - and granted it was after a 10-hour work day so I might not have my normal self - but I'm still unsure about the book.

I'm 24% in and I like the set up for what appears to be an upcoming conflict at Basilisk Station but I just don't feel any connection at all to Honor Harrington. I'm going to keep reading though as it does have me interested.

[[deleted user]]

Allow me to update my opinion .... I'm at 56% and I while there is still limited character development, I'm loving this book. It's a fantastic read.

[Elaine]

Geoffrey, I have to agree with you about the character development issue. I have now read the first two books in the series, and I started them the end of October. My husband has read all of them and says that the character development takes place over the full series arc -- which is making sense. Most series start with the characters, then the world development and then the politics. This one is moving all three at once. I am definitely planning on continuing the series.

[[deleted user]]

Elaine, I agree about continuing. I enjoyed the first one so I'm on to the next one later this month. (Reading the Dragonriders of Pern opening Trilogy at the moment)

[[deleted user]]

I read the ebook of On Basilisk Station in 2002, long before Kindle, on a PDA with the now obsolete Microsoft Reader. I liked it, at the time,in part because I was new to the ebook scene and the little PDA was exciting and new. Memory has been less kind. I read few more books in the series as airport\travel reads when I didn't want to watch the in flight movie. I eventually lost interest despite having a legally sharable CD with all ten books.

There is not much, if any substance, to the Honor Harrington novels. And I find it hard to separate out the different novels from each other. They just merge into a blob, especially after seven to nine years. They have zero reread potential, IMHO.

I think my biggest beef is the adoration of military life. (Not surprising, considering it's Military Science Fiction.) I don't really agree with the idea that Navy People are somehow especially good; it felt like a lot of good ol' boys in the club backslapping. I'm aslo tired of Harrington being a good character because she is just such a good captain. Military people are just people and I don't want to give praise or blame just because they're in the Navy. (Unless they're Village People in the Navy.)

If you're interested, check out this blisteringly bad review on Science Fiction Book Review Podcast by Luke Burrage: http://www.sfbrp.com/

[Charles]

Greg, I've gotten that same sort of feeling over the last several years for most of what's out there in the way of military sci-fi and military techno-thrillers. I used to eat up lots of that stuff, but now it has become a tired, difficult to swallow cliche: the day being saved by the relatively young, extremely talented military hero who is also highly ethical, moral, etc. -- unlike all the terrible, greedy, or downright evil people in every other walk of life trying to ruin things for everyone else.

[Tim]

I found the book got better as I went along, and by the end I was glad I'd read it.

Overall, I've got mixed feelings. There was a lot of exposition towards the beginning and some felt contrived. On the other hand, a fair chunk of the exposition was about military ship technology and tactics, and I have to say this was well thought out -- far better than the average Star Trek clone. And there was a lot less contrived dialogue than most SF TV shows.

Except for the few bad apples, who are the exceptions to prove the rule, naval officers and crew in the Royal Manticore Navy are all shining examples of decency and honour. There's never any question about who the good guys are and who needs to be shot. Hopefully that gets muddied in later books as I would find that would grate after a while, but I was happy enough to go along with that for this book.
For me, the section that swung it for me to give a good rather than middling review was the ship chase and battle at the end. Tense and felt realistic.
In conclusion, this book does what it intends to very well.

[Sharon]

This has been a long-time personal favorite series for me, with the earlier books in the series better than the later books which get into far too much tech details and political plots for me.

As a former military wife, I understand the 'family feeling' of a military group so that seems normal and understandable to me. I find the characters quite individual, with real personalities, which is something that definitely develops with the series. The fight sequences are vivid and the tension is very well done.

On Basilisk Station is, for me, just plain fun. It's a fast, enjoyable read and I still enjoy these books after a number of re-reads.

[[deleted user]]

I just finished the second book, The Honor of the Queen, last night and I think I could enjoy the rest of the this series when I need a nice, light but well done read ....

AND, I had forgotten until yesterday that the entire Honorverse was available free on Baen's Fifth Imperium site: http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/ so I picked up the next 4 books while I was at it.

[Sharon]

I did eventually get overwhelmed later in the series by the huge (500+ page) novels this series became, with at least half of those pages devoted to technical details or political ramifications. I pretty much solved this for myself by skipping over those sections and just reading the sections that continued the storyline directly. But I have to admit I do have the entire series up to the end of the war and do re-read all of them (still skipping half the later books)with enjoyment.

[Donna]

Sharon wrote: "I pretty much solved this for myself by skipping over those sections and just reading the sections that continued the storyline directly."
I admit to skimming through those sections myself sometimes!

[[deleted user]]

After so many years, I don't remember too many heavy duty tech details; but I quit at book six and only read them with my brain in power saving mode.

[Donna]

I would normally never continue with a series where I was skimming parts of it but there is just something about this universe and characters that I really like.

[Elliott]

My expectations of this book were not high when I picked it up. There are high and low points; I chose to focus on the high points. Weber creates a great setting, he weaves an interesting plot that is logically consistent with that setting, and in the end I rooted for the protagonists to come out on top. Some of the tragedies of the plot were, to me, genuinely tragic.

Could it have been more human? Sure. But really, my only big criticism was that I did *not* need a seven page explanation of how faster-than-light travel works JUST as the climactic chase/battle scene begins! Argh! :)

[Sharon]

Elliott wrote: "But really, my only big criticism was that I did *not* need a seven page explanation of how faster-than-light travel works JUST as the climactic chase/battle scene begins! Argh!"

And unfortunately, Weber is all too prone to do this ... about half of some of the later books in this series are detailed coverage of either technical information or political discussion.

I think it's getting worse the older he gets, as well, which is a major reason he has never been on my 'auto buy' list although some of his books are on my permanent favorites list.