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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
This was my first time reading David Weber and was a little underwhelmed. This is not a knock on his writing, but his attention to his minute attention to the smallest detail. I have read Tom Clancy in the past so know how an author can get lost in detail and inner monologue. By the end of the book, I was hooked on the action that comes towards the end of the book.
I am going to go for the next book in the series to determine if I continue going forwards with this series. Overall this book let me down, but by the end gave me some hope for the series.
I am going to go for the next book in the series to determine if I continue going forwards with this series. Overall this book let me down, but by the end gave me some hope for the series.
This book was a mess. The short version is that this is Star Trek for conservatives and fascist fan-boys written in about as boring and tedious a way as possible. The "bad guys" explain exactly what is happening in the PROLOGUE, so there is no mystery or tension, and it is just a long slog to wait for the "good guys" to catch up and handwave their way to a win in the last few chapters. Calling this "military sci-fi" is a stretch...its really "bureaucracy sci-fi"...Nothing happens for like 60% of the book other than lots of military bureaucracy talk and tepid, petty arguments amongst the crew. The writing is also just painfully bad or outright cringe-worthy—take a look at some of the other reviews for quotes...I didn't bother to write any of this garbage down.
The main character is a cardboard cut-out Mary Sue who is the best at everything (she is a master tactician, genius, award-winning martial artist, incorruptible, completely calm and collected at all times, super strong, has a MAGICAL CAT , etc). Oh, the author throws in a few laughable faux-flaws to try and pretend she isn't. My favorite is that she is supposedly bad at math and thus a bad navigator BUT she can do it in combat through INSTINCT and so it is totally negated and is never actually a hindrance or weakness. She also has low self-esteem about her looks (that this is what the author thinks is a flaw is a whole other thing), but fear not: every male gaze in the book hammers home that this is totally unfounded and she is a total babe. So empowering! She has no real personality other than "lady starship captain". The rest of the cast is completely forgettable, they are all just generic "military guy 1-25". We are told over and over how exceptional this woman is, but she really doesn't DO anything. Her excellence is defined by the fact that everyone else in the military are incompetent aristocrats, and then she is praised like a hero for basically just doing the bare minimum of her job.
The story is basically un-self-aware colonialism fan fiction and conservative propaganda. The antagonists of this book are a nation that represents a conservative idea of a socialist welfare state (70% of the population is on welfare and everyone just sits around doing nothing, so they need to go to war to save their broken economy). The other enemies are the liberals in the protagonist's own nation, who oppose their colonial expansion and subjugation of indigenous peoples (wow, they sound so evil!), and a group of poor "aboriginal" aliens who have the audacity to rebel after having their planet conquered by our "hero's" nation for no real reason other than because they can (they need the local wormhole for a shortcut, but there is no reason for them to have conquered the planet and subjugated the bronze-age culture...they explicitly say they have no resources they need). Oh, and all the characters refer to the native species by a racist nickname for the entire book, including our squeaky-clean captain.
SPOILERS
In the end, the big victory for our hero is slaughtering tens of thousands of "aboriginals" who have blackpowder weapons and have been addicted to drugs by another colonizer with super high-tech weapons. Wow, what heroes! No one thinks for a moment "wow, these poor aliens have been given space drugs and weapons and are a pawn of this other colonizer, maybe we should try to help them or we should just leave the planet, since it LITERALLY HAS NO RESOURCES WE NEED" no one even expresses sympathy for them. They just coldly plan how to slaughter a bronze-age oppressed culture with fucking space fighter strafing runs. The author doesn't even seem to be aware that his hero is the bad guy in this book.
The main character is a cardboard cut-out Mary Sue who is the best at everything (she is a master tactician, genius, award-winning martial artist, incorruptible, completely calm and collected at all times, super strong, has a MAGICAL CAT , etc). Oh, the author throws in a few laughable faux-flaws to try and pretend she isn't. My favorite is that she is supposedly bad at math and thus a bad navigator BUT she can do it in combat through INSTINCT and so it is totally negated and is never actually a hindrance or weakness. She also has low self-esteem about her looks (that this is what the author thinks is a flaw is a whole other thing), but fear not: every male gaze in the book hammers home that this is totally unfounded and she is a total babe. So empowering! She has no real personality other than "lady starship captain". The rest of the cast is completely forgettable, they are all just generic "military guy 1-25". We are told over and over how exceptional this woman is, but she really doesn't DO anything. Her excellence is defined by the fact that everyone else in the military are incompetent aristocrats, and then she is praised like a hero for basically just doing the bare minimum of her job.
The story is basically un-self-aware colonialism fan fiction and conservative propaganda. The antagonists of this book are a nation that represents a conservative idea of a socialist welfare state (70% of the population is on welfare and everyone just sits around doing nothing, so they need to go to war to save their broken economy). The other enemies are the liberals in the protagonist's own nation, who oppose their colonial expansion and subjugation of indigenous peoples (wow, they sound so evil!), and a group of poor "aboriginal" aliens who have the audacity to rebel after having their planet conquered by our "hero's" nation for no real reason other than because they can (they need the local wormhole for a shortcut, but there is no reason for them to have conquered the planet and subjugated the bronze-age culture...they explicitly say they have no resources they need). Oh, and all the characters refer to the native species by a racist nickname for the entire book, including our squeaky-clean captain.
SPOILERS
In the end, the big victory for our hero is slaughtering tens of thousands of "aboriginals" who have blackpowder weapons and have been addicted to drugs by another colonizer with super high-tech weapons. Wow, what heroes! No one thinks for a moment "wow, these poor aliens have been given space drugs and weapons and are a pawn of this other colonizer, maybe we should try to help them or we should just leave the planet, since it LITERALLY HAS NO RESOURCES WE NEED" no one even expresses sympathy for them. They just coldly plan how to slaughter a bronze-age oppressed culture with fucking space fighter strafing runs. The author doesn't even seem to be aware that his hero is the bad guy in this book.
Eh, I tried. It failed to catch me, and it's just not for me. As far as I got, it was 10% story, 90% history/world building/science/anthropology lesson which I just feel like could have been delivered in a more story-integrated way. As it is, it's incredibly dense and incredibly dull. And then suddenly, combat! Wait, what? I have no idea where that came from and it took me a long time to work out that it was some kind of excercise or something.
I may come back to it and give it another try at a later date, because I thought it really did sound interesting and I'm not entirely ready to accept that it isn't. But for now, this is me giving up.
I may come back to it and give it another try at a later date, because I thought it really did sound interesting and I'm not entirely ready to accept that it isn't. But for now, this is me giving up.
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-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:
Complicated
David Weber’s On Basilisk Station launches the Honor Harrington series with a gripping blend of military sci-fi and political intrigue. Honor, a newly promoted officer, is relegated to an isolated post with an underperforming crew and impossible odds. But when she uncovers a major threat to the Star Kingdom of Manticore, she refuses to back down, proving her strategic brilliance and unshakable leadership.
Weber masterfully builds a rich, detailed universe, balancing space combat with deep world-building and political maneuvering. Honor is a compelling protagonist—capable, determined, and principled, yet not without flaws. While the pacing can be dense with technical detail, the tension steadily builds to an explosive finale.
As the first of a 14-book saga, On Basilisk Station sets the stage for an epic journey. A must-read for fans of smart, character-driven space operas. 4 stars!
An awesome introduction to Commander Harrington and her crew- Weber crafted a military sci-fi with lots of political Intrigue, interpersonal crew drama, and amazing battle tactics. It was a heck of a fun time to read, and I look forward to more adventures with Honor and Nimitz
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Here's the deal... the parts of this book I liked, I *really* liked: Honor's force of personality and unwillingness to bend, the competence porn in turning the station around, the pride the crew took in their good work, even the background political maneuvering.
However, reading about military tactics and maneuvers in detail is excruciatingly boring to me. It made the last third of the book an absolute slog and I doubt I will ever go on to read the rest of the series. Shame, but thank you for teaching me I do not like military novels, I suppose!
However, reading about military tactics and maneuvers in detail is excruciatingly boring to me. It made the last third of the book an absolute slog and I doubt I will ever go on to read the rest of the series. Shame, but thank you for teaching me I do not like military novels, I suppose!