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A review by bubbledncr
On Basilisk Station by David Weber
3.0
Parts of this book are entertaining, but other parts are difficult to get through. I read this as part if my book club and didn't pay much attention to the author's name, and a few chapters in I checked to see if this was written by a man, because it felt like it was.
As a character, Honor Harrington is the perfect example of what men think a strong female character is, that makes them a feminist for liking. She's attractive without being conventionally beautiful, a badass, and excels at pretty much everything she does. Which is ultimately the problem. She has no faults, no internal conflict, no character growth at all. She's the same perfect badass at the end of the book as she was at the beginning, and her only problems are the result of things the stupid people around her did. She's just powering through the messes other people made. There's at least one chapter that is just two men discussing how awesome she is.
And the author constantly feels the need to remind us she's a soprano.
The other characters in the book are more interesting, but there's so many that it's hard to keep track of them. And there are interesting and exciting parts of the story, but they're broken up by pages and pages of complicated and unnecessary exposition. At one point, there is a chase sequence that is interrupted by several pages on the history of hyperspace travel. There are other chapters where characters just discuss every possible strategy available before deciding on what to do. If I hadn't skipped over sections like these, I would not have finished the book.
I wish Honor was a better developed character, because she is entertaining, just too perfect and shallow.
As a character, Honor Harrington is the perfect example of what men think a strong female character is, that makes them a feminist for liking. She's attractive without being conventionally beautiful, a badass, and excels at pretty much everything she does. Which is ultimately the problem. She has no faults, no internal conflict, no character growth at all. She's the same perfect badass at the end of the book as she was at the beginning, and her only problems are the result of things the stupid people around her did. She's just powering through the messes other people made. There's at least one chapter that is just two men discussing how awesome she is.
And the author constantly feels the need to remind us she's a soprano.
The other characters in the book are more interesting, but there's so many that it's hard to keep track of them. And there are interesting and exciting parts of the story, but they're broken up by pages and pages of complicated and unnecessary exposition. At one point, there is a chase sequence that is interrupted by several pages on the history of hyperspace travel. There are other chapters where characters just discuss every possible strategy available before deciding on what to do. If I hadn't skipped over sections like these, I would not have finished the book.
I wish Honor was a better developed character, because she is entertaining, just too perfect and shallow.