On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington) Mass Market Paperback – January 1, 2002

Okay, let me clarify - my husband suggested I read this 15 years ago because I was in the Navy (us type) and it would appeal to me to read a badass story about a female officer being a badass. Well, I sat down with it and couldn’t ever get into it. I’m super ADHD and that (as well as life) got in the way. The description of the ship and suchlike were somewhat interesting but not enough to keep my attention.Those aspects of the book are part of what my engineer husband loves so much; I found about as interesting as watching paint dry…so it depends on who you are when it comes to those descriptions. However, the action and political intrigue MORE than make up for the engineer geekfest.Weber writes very well and his action/dialogue is quick paced and very dynamic. A few times some of it dragged but honestly, it probably needed a slowing down a bit just to catch my breath.Once Honor started letting down her guard and showing her personality, I fell in love with her character. She’s gritty, smart, tenacious, and brave but also very human and able to admit she is. She has doubts and stress like anyone else and her fight through adversity is so very REAL, even in a sci-find setting. She also genuinely cares for her crew and treats them as a good leader should. All officers should be made to read this, IMHO.Can’t wait to read the rest and see more Peeps blown to kingdom come.

A really decent scifi military yarn with a female lead. I'd heard about the Honor Harrington series for years and years ever since it was first published, and finally got tired of hearing about it, so I broke down and bought a copy of the first book.I liked it a lot. It wasn't the terrific eye popping read that others had built it up as being, but it was well written and had a kind of grounded-ness and understanding of geo-politics that a lot of other science fiction authors simply lack. Even so Weber seems to scimp a bit on descriptive prose, but gives enough scenery to be functional for the story. His strength is in keeping the story moving with good reasonable characters who aren't over the top caricatures found in so many other fiction offerings (scifi and non-scifi alike).What I really liked is that this opens up the opportunity for me to read other books in the series, and because it was written by someone who has an understanding of military matters and doesn't try to disguise experimental social psychology as science fiction, but writes straight forward stories with some speculative elements regarding how mankind might splinter in the future, and how because of our nature that we'll face similar problems as people split and divide themselves. Ergo we as a species will face the same challenges with new advances.That's what science fiction is all about, regardless of what everyone else has told you.And Weber brings his narrative style to some really good story telling. No allegories disguising some psychologist's agenda, no Freudian imagery, no disguises whatsoever. Just good honest straight story telling. Any themes or "messages" therein you discover for yourself.If I had a nitpick about this first installment, it's that again there isn't enough descriptive text for the climactic finale. It's more Weber in his story telling style that dominates. Not a bad thing, but, well, buy yourself a copy and judge for yourself.A few descriptive shortcomings, and the aliens in the story aren't fully explored, but it's still a satisfying read.Enjoy.

Below this update . . .I tend to chat nonstop . . . It worse as I get older.Robert A. Heinlein holds a special place - My Favorite Author - because of the juvenile books I read when I was five. I have all of his books that I can find. That can’t change. I own thousands of books - all science fiction. Of these a fraction have been re-read. Some get read over and over. RAH is almost memorized.Now, in 2022, I realize that David Weber is drafting off the rear bumper of RAH. Part of a tight group of authors I can read over and over. As they are published I buy each Weber book as it is released. Some I have bought in four different editions — if you don’t find yourself charmed by the many continuing stories of David Weber… check your diet, see a doctor, maybe a therapist . . . You have my sympathy.I am currently buying what might be called my third version of this series. '§©≥ßå' you may ask -- is this guy nuts?About 2004ish I found a used paperback ( an Honorverse book ) somewhere around the third book -- I was stuck right there. I proceeded to buy as much as I could used and filled out the rest, as new, when they came out.My paperback library weighs many hundreds of ponds -- so around 2011 I started in re-purchasing them as e-books. There are hundreds of these because I knew what I wanted from decades of reading and they fit in an iPad or equivalent -- so, two pounds? FANTASTIC!!!Now I want to have them read to me -- guess what! They still weigh about two pounds. So I am buying them from Amazon/Kindle so I can have the audiobooks too.You need to know that David Weber used to write advertising copy. OK?Anyone will tell you that . . . he runs on a bit.He spins a great yarn and you really need to immerse yourself in the several long winded series that he has produced because he has a great imagination and can construct a narrative you can see in your mind.This is not an easy thing to do when the subject is a space battle with many ships, many sides, sometimes many dimensions, on top of a bunch of characters that you WILL become involved with.I own many other examples of loosely focused narratives where the reader must work to overcome the writer's . . . best he could do . . . efforts at writing a book.That "ain't" David Weber. You will get all the detail and more that you will need to be carried along with the story.BASILISK STATION -- It will seem and all descriptions will lead you to believe that these books stand alone as novels. This is true, technically.In reality this is a tome of gargantuan proportions in many small bites ( bites of several hundred pages ). It is one work. Most of you will want all of it.One day -- there will come to be an abridged edition in several big bites. All the extra verbiage will have been tightened up and where some of the later books re-discuss narrative events you will already know about but that are being told again from sometimes vastly different perspectives -- all will have been edited down to a economy of words that will still take many days to read.There are at least two dozen books written within the Honorverse. They are of a piece. They mesh well together. You will want all of them.You Have Been Warned.***** Dec. 28I have exposed another benefit in having read these books many times; I know what words are being spoken even if the pronunciation is mangled.There is a notation in the description from David Weber, in it he admits culpability for the esoteric pronunciation of the word -Manticoran-.Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am a stickler for pronunciation and word use. For a time I was an English Conversation Teacher which only makes me more hard headed in these matters.Working in live theater will inform those who know that the Director and Producer make choices like these.Apart from the weird sounding 'Manticoran', there are a zillion names of stars and technical terms that are just odd as spoken in these narrations. It seems to me that they went for 'art-sey-fart-sey' rather than techno-geek ( I would be techno-geek ).In Sci-Fi, I base noun pronunciation on the Arabic, Greek and Roman practices. Speaking a smattering or more of four European languages I have an insight into just how things ought to sound -- as you work your way through the 14 audio books presented here you will find that the diction and pronunciation degrades as you go along.If I were not a huge fan I would be pissed off.*******This has been my fifth reading. [ now the sixth ] Frankly, I am rather astonished by those who can find no pleasure in this book. The 'science', though fanciful, is not too deep nor prominent. There are many rather extensive soliloquies and internal character processes committed to text that slow things down from time to time. But if you know where they are, these are easily scanned over.Some will criticize the characters as being unrealistic and just so many "white hats" and "black hats" without good foundations. It might be too late to explain the premises of SF and Space Opera at this point. This is Heroic Fiction in Space! Look at the cover. What were you expecting?

Great space story. I loved the characters, especially Honor, such a strong woman. It is very military, which isn't my thing. I admit to zoning out occassionally when they were planning some things, I am more of a get into the action type person, but I really enjoyed this epic story. I'll be picking up more stories in the future.

Excellent space opera with fantastic world building and lots of very interesting characters.Well worth reading.

I finished it and am curious about its sequels, so in that regard, it did its job. Some of the mysteries were interesting, and I like the type of 'Hornblower in Space' vibe it's going for. However, I found the flow to be very hindering in reading. Info-dumps happened in the middle of high-tension situations where I just wanted to hear why the captain suddenly decided to do this dramatic XYZ, but instead get a history lesson about their means of FTL transportation... at the end of the story where that very means of transportation has been talked about at great length before.It's flaundering of inworld lore and technology often gets in the way of its storytelling, and its rather frantic way of switching perspective mid-paragraph can make it hard to follow. There are a lot of names, and I just couldn't remember who was who and did what again at some point. And then when the final climax happened, the tone suddenly shifted and turned too close to horror for my taste.So it is definitely flawed, but it also has a lot of potential. I don't know if there was a better entry into this series, but it served its purpose, and I am curious what our good captainnwill face next.

A great introduction to the Honor Harrington 'verse, "On Basilisk Station" hits all the strong points of the series that become expanded and strengthened at later points: the society of the Star Kingdom of Manticore, a soldier's duty vs political manoeuvering, the horrors of war and how people die no matter what one does, how someone's petty attitude can cause large scale problems... and the importance of creating bonds within a team of people that has to work together. Plus, it has many impressive moments, particularly the battle at the end, when you can actually feel the main character's despair because she has got herself and her people into a fight they might not be able to win.For anyone that likes war stories, this is highly recommended (hence the 5 stars).

David Weber has written the definitive sci-fi political, tactical and scientific conflict novel of the century. Exaggeration? Not one bit. He’s included indigenous beings being manipulated by external (off world) entities for their own politico/military machinations; internal parliamentary and admiralty squabbles on the home planet; tactical warfare and noble bravery of the most selfless kind; personal integrity & sacrifice; and the science of space travel in exquisite detail. I couldn’t put it down. Thank you David.