Rating: 
Summary: Step up to the best of SF
Review: On Basilisk Station was recommended by a friend of mine; I now recommend books to him all the time to pay the debt. The Honor Harrington series is an extremely well written story about the life of a military officer in a space-faring society. The characters are developed, their technology (and its effects upon society) is well thought out and explained, and the action is non-stop. Weber has a way of telling a story about the fantastic, while being realistic (important characters die on a regular basis, for example). The thing I love the most about this series is that the main character is not the center of attention because she has some unique powers, born important, or is somehow phophesized; she is unbelieveably competent and motivated.
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Summary: Hard SF makes a comeback
Review: When I first read this book, I was amazed at the attention to detail that Weber gave to the science behind the fiction. Not only did he describe the technology in detail, but he showed how that technology would shape the battles that were fought using it. Even better, most writers of this type of sci-fi neglect characterization, but Weber creates fascinating characters and an interesting plot. All the elements of traditional science fiction are here, intermingled with an old-fashioned space opera.In later books, Weber loses the hard-SF aspect of his books. Worse, Honor becomes a caricature of herself and grows stale, overblown, and predictable along with the rest of the series. In this book, however, the best of both worlds exist alongside each other.
Rating: 
Summary: Sorry to interupt the love fest
Review: I shouldn't carp. Obvious a lot of people enjoy this series. But somebody has to point out the following. (1) There's a lot of silly armchair psychology. (2) Weber's prose style needs a lot of work. (3) There are endless pages of essay and explanation, covering future "history" and "science". Which is standard for a certain kind of science fiction. Except that Weber is not very good at it. His invented history of the Kingdom of Manticore has no logic to it (there's more to Feudalism than a lot of people calling each other "King" and "Duke"), and his lengthy explanations of "hyper-bands" and "gravity waves" read like a bad physics lecture. (4) His battles are described in *extreme* detail. I suppose Weber deserves credit for the work he put into them, but unless you enjoy reading about how people in the future will maim and kill each other, you will not enjoy these passages. (5) Weber obviously wants to be the SF C.S. Forester and/or Patrick O'Brian. But he reads more like a weird combination of Beam Piper and Barbara Cartland! Of course, some people would say that's a *good* thing...
Rating:
Summary: A true Lady
Review: So far there are eight books in this series. Each one is perfect and while they could be read independent of each other I would recommend tackling them in sequence if you want to maximize your enjoyment. The seven titles are, "On Basilisk Station", "The Honor of the Queen", "The Short Victorious War", "Field of Dishonor", "Flag in Exile", "Honor Among Enemies", "In Enemy Hands" and "Ashes of Victory".
The feel of the books is quite similar to David Feintuch's Nicholas Seafort series. It is set in the far distant future amongst a competing variety of human empires. Each empire controls an area of space including its stars and planets. Honor Harrington is a member of the Royal Manticoran Navy, charged with the protection of the realm in service to the queen. In the first book Honor is a commander in charge of a smallish space craft. She has been sent to purgatory, (Basilisk Station), as the direct result of physically rejecting the advances of one of the aristocracy while in the academy, years before.
To make matters worse, her ship is carrying an experimental weapon, to the exclusion of most others, which has just amply shown its shortcomings during Navy maneuvers. Her crew is embarrassed by their recent performance in the exercise and many of them blame Honor for this as well as the posting to Basilisk. Furthermore, when her ship arrives at Basilisk her old enemy is the Captain in charge and promptly leaves the system for questionable repairs, dumping the responsibility of the whole area in Honor's lap with only one small ship to carry it out.
The rest of the story takes us through Honor's efforts to turn things around in the face of an ever worsening situation. We learn to love her as she holds true to the best principles that most people can only talk about. The other characters are well defined and the details of the politics and human dynamics are smooth. A further pleasure is the well thought out military scenarios. The weaponry and craft performance has been designed by Weber to provide a diverse yet plausible array of military confrontations.
Luckily for us, the readers, this future has made available a medical treatment that extends the lifetime of its citizens many fold. For this reason I look forward to many more novels from David Weber, leading me further into the life of Honor Harrington.
Rating:
Summary: Best series ever
Review: I read sci-fi all the time, and end up discarding most of it into a large pile of "highly forgettable" reads. The plots all tend to echo one another with a few minor changes. While Weber's Honor Harrington series is definetly a formula novel, it is a prime example of how to write a formula novel. The characters are likable and the tree cats are unique. Weber does not make the mistake of making Honor perfect, nor does he hesitate to kill off main characters when the plot requires it. He has created an intersting universe, complete with a woman as head of state. I enjoy the chance to read about a female character who is herioc, brave, and tough as nails. It is all too often male characters who get to be this, with a token woman who rarely proves likeable, much less reads as real. Weber populates his world with well rounded and likeable women and men who do things for duty, honor, and of course, the Queen. I have read the entire series and eagerly await the next installation. These are the only novels that I buy in hard back. They are extremely addictive (though I skip entire pages of technical detail, which some will probably enjoy) and I highly reccommend them.
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Summary: Yards and yards of purple prose
Review: I've read a couple of the Honor Harrington books, including this one. The ones I have read are addictive, entertaining, fast reads. They're also gloriously bad, after a fashion. Nobody in these books has a shred of a humor. The yards and yards of internal dialog are all either a) filled with nobility and honor (in the case of Good Guys) or b) filled with evil and shabbiness (Bad Guys). Honor Harrington has a cool soprano voice, and large brown eyes. This is mentioned, seemingly, on every single page. All that said, I am reading all I can get my hands on, they're very entertaining and occasionally touching. There's also a few laughs, though it's not clear the author intends this. I can readily recommend these books, simply be advised that you're getting into Really Good formula fiction, basically the military science fiction equivalent of the romance novel.
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Summary: Emphasis on Scientific Explanation not on characters
Review: David Weber's Honor Harrington books were recommended to me because I read a lot of Elizabeth Moon. However, the two authors have completely different approaches to similar material. Moon focuses on the characters and their interactions, while Weber spends pages explaining how the technology behind the ships was developed. If you're into that sort of lengthy technobabble, this is a book for you. If not, I suggest Moon's Sporting Chance as a good place to start.
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Summary: Ahhh memories
Review: I thought I'd write a review for what I remember as the best series I've read in science fiction. I have pretty much read most of all the greats here. The books itself is not as good as Card's Ender's Game, but the series as a whole is much better. I have to go back and reread the series from time to time just to make sure I don't forget anything, or pick up something I missed before. Pretty much anything this guy writes I buy because its all great. No other series has given me as much pleasure to read. As a college student with a strickly limited budget I must conserve my money and only buy the basic essentials. These books are some of those essentials. BUY THE BOOK, if you disagree you know where to find me. Have a nice day
Rating:
Summary: Si-Fi at it's best
Review: there's not need to say a lot - it doesn't get any better then this..
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic...An addictive series opener.
Review: I came into the series late, just before In Enemy Hands, read them all, & read them again. Basilisk hooked me right away. Well written, superb characterization, & 'realistic' in that neither the heroine or her supporters are invincible or infallible. Honor Harrington, with little support from her crew or superiors, welds her crew into a force to be reckoned with, and saves Basilisk against overwhelming odds. I'm completely hooked. Will continue to reread to keep me going until the next installment. Thanks David Weber.
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