Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: great space opera Review: Space opera hasn't seen anything this good since E.E. "Doc" Smith. David Weber draws on history and Forester's Hornblower to create the Star Kingdom of Manticore and one of it's rising military stars, Honor Harrington. Weber keeps the pace up and the action furious without skipping over character development.You won't come away from this book enlightened about the nature of the universe, but you'll have a lot of fun.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Worth it for the battles alone Review: You can tell the Honor Harrington series is written by someone who knows something about physics, and by someone who ought to be a teacher. It's science fiction, he had to make some inventions, but then he sticks with them. If you don't want to understand why the manticoran fleet won the battle, in sometimes excruciating detail, then this isn't the series for you. Every book in the series pretty much ends the same way. Missle pods, Electronic Countermeasures, Point defense Lasers, Bomb Pumped Lasers, and then reports start coming in from damage control and some of the characters who you have been getting to know are gone, both fleets are smashed and Honor has [made someone else mad]. I'm not complaining, the day the next book comes out I'll buy it in hardback, but I expect it to end with another huge space battle.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Hornblower in Space Review: The title I wrote above says it all. David Weber was inspired by C.S. Forester. So he created Honor Harrington, Captain, Royal Manticoran Navy. Honor's the protegee of Admiral Raoul Courvoiseur. Therefore, she gets it where it hurts. When the Peeps, the People's Republic of Haven, start a war over some new exotic drug that's being produced in labs on the planet of Midgard in the Basilisk System, Honor and her superannuated light cruiser, HMS Fearless, are there. In short, Honor, who was disgraced and banished to the Basilisk System after she'd come out on the long end of the stick in the war games. Her cunning and ingenuity are what make her dangerous.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: A worthwhile sf series begins Review: This is the first of many books (best if read in order) centered on the character of Honor Harrington. Said to be based on CS Forester's _Horatio Hornblower_ series, it follows her career in a space navy, as she moves up in the ranks, fights in battles, and faces personal difficulties. Honor is a strong, decisive officer in the honored tradition who, with the accompaniment of her tree-cat (one of the most interesting alien life-forms in sf) gets in and out of well-paced and engaging situations. There's enough character development to get readers caring about Honor without weighing down the excitement; there are Tom Clancy-like technical descriptions of ships and weapons to please hardware buffs; and the historical analogies are tantalizing as one moves through the series. Highly recommended for hard sf and military enthusiasts; not for those who prefer fantasy or romance.
Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: Addictive if not nutritious military SF Review: The Honor Harrington series is readable and addictive military space opera. Honor is gutsy, principled, competent, compassionate, and tough as nails. She just wants to do her job and do it right. Nimitz, her treecat (or is she his human?) is the male cat-lover's ideal. Two caveats: In the earliest Honor books, especially this one, all conversations follow almost exactly the same formula: Detailed description of every facial tic; tension, cool voices, poker faces, second-guessing, suppressed smiles/frowns/astonishment, taut shoulders, glimmers of smiles/frowns/astonishment in their eyes, discomfiture, abrupt ending; mention that Honor has dark brown eyes and a cool soprano voice; repeat in next chapter. Also, the technology and tactical descriptions can be way too elaborate for some folks. If you don't want to understand how and why the ships work, you may be better served elsewhere. If you like that stuff, you'll love the Honor Harrington novels.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: This book rules Review: My friend was like "read some David Weber." I looked at the cover and it was cheesy and the back didn't sound too terribly good. Still, I got it used and read it. All day and all night. I finished at 2 in the morning and all i can say is what a story. I didn't do my homework, didn't do my chores, and normally I'm a very dilligent guy. I was amazed at how well he weaved in all the tech to the story while still keeping it fast paced and gripping. Go buy this book. Give it a try. If you like SF or just good, war oriented plots, then you will be hooked on this series. I have read this book seriously like 10 times.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: A great start! Review: I really liked this book. I read very good reviews about it, so I bougth it. Let me tell you, after I finished it I got the entire series. Very reallistic characters and action secuences. One thing I particularely liked was this: In a lot of science fiction books I have read I found interstellar human civilizations that are ruled by monarchies, kingdoms and empires, but rarely an explanation of how a human world would come to have such a form of goverment. Don't take me wrong, I have nothing against monarchies, but you just have to see recent history to realize that no new kingdoms have appeared in a long time, and I can count the existing realms were kings have actual power with the fingers of one hand. So you can see how far-fetched it has always seemed to me that our descendants would choose that form of goverment. In this case Weber takes the time to give a plausible explanation of how the planet Manticore became a Kingdom. As far as I can remember it's the first time someone has provided backup for a stellar monarchy. For that alone he has my approval. In fact I found the scenario he came up with very original. It also shows (in my humble opinion) that from the very beginnig there has been something very sneaky about politics in the SKM. If not, how else do you explain that the original colonists of Manticore had the foresight to make sure they held all the cards after the plague. In conclusion, if you like emotion, futuristic settings, and an author who doesn't underestimate your I.Q. then I couldn't recomend something better.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: The Best Started Out That Way Review: I started out on this series way down the line and am now filling in from the beginning. Surprise, surprise! The first book in the series is every bit as well written as the last. When I began reading David Weber, I found his ultra detailed appproach somewhat tedious. Before anything happened you found out what everyone in the scene was thinking and had been thinking for the last 20 years and what their parents had thought and done, the color of the carpet, the barometric pressure, etc.etc. Come on! Get on with the story! But, at the same time, I realized that Weber was building a universe that I would be unable to abandon. It is a pleasant addiction. I am a fan of the Space Opera beginning with E.E. Smith, Phd. and right on down the line. Weber's version is the current State of the Art.
Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: Old SciFi Dog Review: First I really liked this book and I feel very fortunate to have discovered David Weber as an author. In this book you will be interduced to the Honor Harrington's universe. The science and social make up of this universe is as complete and as consistent as the very best of Hard SciFi (including Larry Nivin, Jerry Pournelle, Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov ... etc). The characters are sometimes plane, humorus, heroic and sometimes dispicable. The character developement is complete, and I found the characters believable and real - that goes for both the good and bad gu ... ah, people. Although some may find Honor's character hard to believe at times, I have found much wilder characters in actual military history. I especially enjoy Mr. Weber's sense of humor, although I suspect he enyoys pulling our leg a little (a lot?). In all, this book and author deserve to be read and I would have given it 5 stars except some (I have read them all) in this series are even better.
Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: Weber did advanced science right Review: Speaking as a scientist, David Weber obviously did his homework before writing this series. He never conveniently forgets about things like inertia the way most sci-fi *cough*Star Trek*cough* does. Yes, the science comes at you pretty heavy in this first book. Just as you're starting to understand "sidewalls" and "bellybands" he throws "Warshowski sails" and "grav waves" at you. But this isn't just technobabble. This is the basic foundation of the interstellar society he's building. The tech is a fundamental part of the background, and a fundamental part of the main plot. Once you're past the first book and comfortable with the world Weber built, the story really takes off, and I think the 1-2 star reviewers would be pleasently surprised by the next few books in the series. Each sequal is BETTER than what came before and that is a rare thing for an author to pull off. If you don't like Weber's attention to military, science, and storytelling detail, you should at least respect it.
|