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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
First Honor Harrington book in the space opera. Young captain is sent to the Manticore Kingdom's recently captured but ignored territory to protect people and the wormholes. Of course, political intrigue ensues. Introduction of treecats. Space opera with a bit too much of a focus on military tactics, but still above average. Re-read in 2025.
Takes a while to get going but the story strands and character work pays off nicely at the end. Would definitely continue the series.
Are you a new fan of military sci-fi, looking to dive deeper into the genre? Well, have I got the book for you!
Did you like Starship Troopers but wished Rico's amazing character growth was non-existent? Do you like Halo but wished the Master Chief, instead of visiting vast, incredible set-pieces and saving humanity in thrilling battles, spent most of his time working for customs, searching cargo for shipments of illegal pelts, and arguing about politics at boardroom tables? Look no further than On Basilisk Station!
Meet Honor Harrington. She's the perfect captain. That's not a figure of speech, she's literally perfect. Who needs character growth when she's smarter, cleverer, braver, and more "not beautiful but still striking" than anyone else?! She's always factually correct in every situation, always morally correct too! When she differs from other characters in even the smallest ways she's always proven correct in the end.
Honor's biggest flaw is that she's so perfect that she's constantly making everyone jealous of her. We're told at the beginning of the book, yes told, not shown, that she made some higher up so jealous she was sent to some backwater station (that happens to also be incredibly important??) We're then told (yes told) that this makes her crew act like a bunch of meanies to her. But don't worry! They'll spend the rest of the book apologizing to her once they realize how amazing she is!
Prepare for a whole slew of characters who, while Honor is constantly being described, are as non-descript as possible. The only thing differentiating them is whether they either admire Honor for how amazing she is or hate her (for how amazing she is). Despite her small stature, villains like the heads of cartels, who should be clever and great at manipulation, quake in their boots like buffoons when she confronts them.
Now, if that doesn't sound like the perfect read may I suggest something more exciting like watching paint dry?
Did you like Starship Troopers but wished Rico's amazing character growth was non-existent? Do you like Halo but wished the Master Chief, instead of visiting vast, incredible set-pieces and saving humanity in thrilling battles, spent most of his time working for customs, searching cargo for shipments of illegal pelts, and arguing about politics at boardroom tables? Look no further than On Basilisk Station!
Meet Honor Harrington. She's the perfect captain. That's not a figure of speech, she's literally perfect. Who needs character growth when she's smarter, cleverer, braver, and more "not beautiful but still striking" than anyone else?! She's always factually correct in every situation, always morally correct too! When she differs from other characters in even the smallest ways she's always proven correct in the end.
Honor's biggest flaw is that she's so perfect that she's constantly making everyone jealous of her. We're told at the beginning of the book, yes told, not shown, that she made some higher up so jealous she was sent to some backwater station (that happens to also be incredibly important??) We're then told (yes told) that this makes her crew act like a bunch of meanies to her. But don't worry! They'll spend the rest of the book apologizing to her once they realize how amazing she is!
Prepare for a whole slew of characters who, while Honor is constantly being described, are as non-descript as possible. The only thing differentiating them is whether they either admire Honor for how amazing she is or hate her (for how amazing she is). Despite her small stature, villains like the heads of cartels, who should be clever and great at manipulation, quake in their boots like buffoons when she confronts them.
Now, if that doesn't sound like the perfect read may I suggest something more exciting like watching paint dry?
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Not the deepest book ever written, but surprisingly gritty and a fun military adventure. The ending starship duel was exceptional.
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
First things first, this book is showing its age a little. We have a "not like other girls" scene from Honor, mentions of her having a mans haircut and so on. I was able to move past that because this is from the early 90's and it becomes clear the author has written Honor as a highly capable woman.
This is also very much military scifi, so there is alot of talk of weapons, battle planning, how ships work, how their interstellar travel works and so on.
Honor herself is a great character. She's thoughtful, intelligent and concerned with the wellbeing of her crew. She believes in the duty the Navy has given her and endeavours to fulfil it. Even when it pisses off very powerful people.
We do bounce through a few other POV's and seeing their growing respect for Honor which for alot of them turns into full on admiration is great. It really gives a good sense of who she is to others.
I had a fantastic time and will eagerly be jumpiong into book 2.
This is also very much military scifi, so there is alot of talk of weapons, battle planning, how ships work, how their interstellar travel works and so on.
Honor herself is a great character. She's thoughtful, intelligent and concerned with the wellbeing of her crew. She believes in the duty the Navy has given her and endeavours to fulfil it. Even when it pisses off very powerful people.
We do bounce through a few other POV's and seeing their growing respect for Honor which for alot of them turns into full on admiration is great. It really gives a good sense of who she is to others.
I had a fantastic time and will eagerly be jumpiong into book 2.
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Book Club. Not that great
I wanted to like this book, and it did start well. However, I soon became flooded with military and naval references that were lost on me. I would recommend this book for someone who likes hard military fiction, with a sci-fi slant. This book is less accessible than say Ender's Game or Old Man's war and does focus more on the micromanagement of naval and space warfare. Not really my cup of tea and I stopped reading about a 150 pages in.
adventurous
challenging
funny
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Bookriot Read Harder Challenge 2015: Task 12, a sci-fi novel
Why I chose this book: On my TBR pile, supposed to be a classic with a good female lead.
On reading: I LOVED this and went straight on to the next book in the series. Honor is a great character and it was great to see a female lead without a love interest, for once (though it would be nice to see friends, not just subordinates). The politics were interesting, the world reasonably well fleshed, and my only quibble would be two large physics infodumps which didn't really add anything much to the story for me and could have been handled better in some dialogue.
Why I chose this book: On my TBR pile, supposed to be a classic with a good female lead.
On reading: I LOVED this and went straight on to the next book in the series. Honor is a great character and it was great to see a female lead without a love interest, for once (though it would be nice to see friends, not just subordinates). The politics were interesting, the world reasonably well fleshed, and my only quibble would be two large physics infodumps which didn't really add anything much to the story for me and could have been handled better in some dialogue.