#honor harrington

[shannon-foraker]

Toll of Honor by David Weber is in at my bookstore! I preordered it and am heading to pick it up!

Who else is excited for it? Did you preorder?

@stitchlingbelle @brachylagus-fandom @pratchettfan87

#honor harrington #honorverse #honor harrington novels #david weber #toll of honor

[frogblast-the-ventcore]

The M1911 in Starfield, and its updated version, the XM2311.

The tweet is being literal btw - Earth became uninhabitable between 2150 and the early 2200s - which I must admit does somewhat disappoint me as a narrative device.

More under the cut.

There are other "Old Earth" weapons as well, and I'm convinced each one is a reference to a separate sci-fi property:

1) the shotgun is very clearly Hicks' shotgun from Aliens. The MP40 pistol grip/endcap is the giveaway.

2) the VSS is very probably a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. reference, with it being called a "Hunting Rifle", and with how its parts are colored.

3) the 1911 is probably an Honor Harrington reference - considering a PC with the "Kid Stuff" perk can obtain a unique one from their father, just like Honor herself did.

4) the AK is probably an Elysium reference - if there aren't modifications to the "Old Earth Assault Rifle" to make it resemble the Elysium AK, I'll be quite sad.

#starfield #starfield spoilers #aliens #honor harrington #elysium #s.t.a.l.k.e.r. #weapons #m1911 #ak 47 #ithaca 37 #vss vintorez

[stitchlingbelle]

So I recently saw this post and decided to be completely self-indulgent and write about the two specific characters who turned me into the person I am: Belle and Honor Harrington.

Belle* is a fairly easy one to explain. I'm a brunette who grew up on Disney movies and was just old enough to be hit with a lot of "you can't be the princess, you have brown hair". I'm also a voracious reader. And then, I switched schools and became The Weird New Girl overnight.

So when a brown-haired book-reading princess who everyone thought was weird appeared on the screen, I imprinted on her like a baby duckling. Here was all the validation I craved, that I could look like me and be me and read books and still have a happy ending. I clung to that all the way through middle school, high school and into college before I finally made it out the other side (ie, found my people and some self-esteem of my own.)

Honor Harrington is a bit more complicated. I have a deep and abiding love for that book series, and have for going on fifteen years now, but Honor herself is actually not my favorite character.** I didn't see myself in her, or aspire to be her.

What I eventually realized was that I wanted to live UP to her. Every time there was a passage about Rafe or Scotty or some other junior officer doing their best for her, I wondered if that would be me. If I would be good enough, try hard enough, be clever and brave and compassionate enough, to be one of 'hers'.

There's a scene where she has a bunch of cadets over for dinner and one asks a question that reveals they've had a look at some files that are officially off-limits, but unofficially are juuuust barely accessible if you're very, very dedicated. And it's said that caring enough to find them is a mark of being 'the right stuff' in senior officers' minds. I found myself caught up in wondering, would I have found them?

And that was all fantasy to me for the first bit of the series, which is heavy on the military action, a career I have never been cut out for. In-this-alternate-universe-would-I-be-a-Jedi levels of engagement. But it nagged at me.

And then the rest of the series happens, which is increasingly political and increasingly fraught and increasingly personal, as Honor actually becomes one of the people doing the politics. And while Weber leans a lot more monarchist than democratic in the books, the necessity of participating in your politics-- and thus your government and your society-- is one of Honor's major areas of growth and a key ideal set out by her and the people around her.

And I thought, I can't be a war hero. But I can do that.

I'd always been a voter, but I became a write-to-your-senator person, and then a donate-money person, and then a protest-march person, and then a volunteer-who-specializes-in-legislation person. Slowly I became more and more the sort of person I think Honor would be proud of.

So thank you to both my girls, and the people who made them, for making me.

*The Beast, being a miserable outcast, also spoke to me pretty strongly in middle school, but it took a lot more maturity to see that later on.

**That would be Thomas Theisman. Definitely also a character to live up to, but his impact on his junior officers gets a lot less page-time. And most of his storyline revolves more around direct action than civic engagement. (God, I'd love to see a committed lefty tackle that theme in restored-Republic Haven...)

#desperately wanted to title this 'Beauty and Honor' #as a little Robin McKinley nod #but it sounded too pretentious in my head so #BatB #Honor Harrington #yes the irony of Honor Harrington making me a leftist does not escape me #and would probably make poor David Weber cry #oh well

[alphamecha-mkii]

The Service of the Sword Cover Art by David Mattingly

#Honor Harrington #Honorverse #The Service of the Sword #David Mattingly #Sci-Fi #Mecha #Spaceship #Covers #Cover Art

[grayrazor]

Horatio Hornblower...in Space!

#star trek #star trek ii: the wrath of khan #the legend of the galactic heroes #die neue these #John Grimes #honor harrington #captain harlock #treasure planet #battle at procyon

[litcityblues]

'Honor Among Enemies' --A Review

I’m back on the Honor Harrington train for 2024 with Honor Among Enemies and this time, Honor is being recalled back to active duty with the Royal Manticoran Navy– only this time, there’s a little bit of a hitch. 

When last we left her, Harrington had been forced into exile on Grayson. Her longtime nemesis, Lord Pavel Young had killed the man she loved Paul Tankersly and in turn, Harrington had killed him. In exile on Grayson, she had set to work building out her Steading and confronting extremists on Grayson that want to overturn what they consider to be a dangerously modern new order which gives women things like ‘the ability to have an education’ and ‘the right to speak in public.’ Having see that challenge off, she’s still on Grayson when Manticore comes calling again.

Things are not going that great in their ongoing war against the People’s Republic of Haven. After a coup throws the Peeps into chaos for awhile, they’ve now recovered their footing a bit and the war is getting rougher for both sides. While the Peeps and Manticore are going at it, however, a new problem is bedeviling Manticore: pirate attacks on their commercial shipping have increased, especially in the lawless Silesian Confederacy and if something isn’t done about it soon, the commercial houses will be forced to stop shipping and the economic consequences of that could be disastrous for Manticore.

They can’t pull any of their big ships off the front line of the war, so who do they turn too? Why the one Captain they can rely on to do more with less because she has a proven track record of doing just that: Honor Harrington.

Harrington and company (her armsmen are with her, her faithful steward Mac, Cardones, Gibson, Harkness– familiar faces that have served with her before in the previous books all show up) get to work souping up the Q-Ships (fast picket ships, not heavy hitters typically) with enough armament to stand up to potential pirates and then they head out on convoy duty and the adventure begins.

I’m kind of torn on this book: it feels like a step backward from the previous two books, which saw Harrington go through some trauma (losing Paul) and then retreat in exile to Grayson where she confronts more challenges (because that’s what these books are about) but more importantly, heals herself a little bit. I’ve said it before and I’ve said it again: the sheer numbers of losses that Harrington goes through in terms of people under her command that she loses would have an affect on anyone and I really liked that Weber took the time to have her actually sit with that and come to terms with it a little bit.

This feels like a reset back to the formula of the early early books. Yes, in the arc of the series, you probably need this to be a bridge novel to get Honor back into the Manticoran fold (and I think that’s exactly what this is about) but it feels like a retread in many ways. She’s facing overwhelming odds and doesn’t have the biggest, fastest,  heaviest armed ships– but she’s got ingenuity and good old fashioned know how to confront the problems and get the job done, but pays a cost for it. It’s more or less Basilisk Station stuck in a blender and throw in some pirates for good measure and it’s kind of disappointing.

Her antagonist from Basilisk Station shows up: Klaus Hauptmann, shipping magnate is the one who pushes Manticore to do something about it and even suggests sending Harrington, because he figures it’s a win-win: either Harrington gets the job done and protects his shipping or she dies trying and a woman he dislikes is taken off the board. Standard issue villain stuff for the series, but for some reason he decides to actually go out there himself! With his daughter!

I don't want to make it seem like it's all bad with this book, to the contrary there are a few interesting developments worth touching on:

First, this we get to meet the Andermanis for the first time and they are a wild blend of German/Chinese culture and I like them. They're a player in galactic affairs, but they're not as big of heavy hitters as Manticore or Haven, but they've got some game and they're very interested in the Silesian Confederacy and have a vested interested in making sure it's not a complete mess, so are friendly to Honor and company as they pass through on convoy duty. (i feel like we're going to see more of them in future books.)

Second, we've got the Wanderman Plot. War being what it is, Honor's crew has it's fair share of ne'er do wells and trouble makers along with really new, green recruits and one of them, Wanderman, runs afoul of the biggest and baddest asshole of the crew, Stielman and after he gets his shit kicked in, everyone knows who did it, but Wanderman won't admit it. He gets taken under the wing of the Marine Contingent, learns to defend himself and eventually, gets his own back against Stielman. It's a nice B-Plot and I hope we see more of Wanderman in the future-- I'm betting we will, since Weber seems to bring folks back now and again in this series- usually when you're least expecting them to show up.

Finally, we get some Treecat Action and Nimitz, Honor's Treecat gets a mate with the Engineer's Treecat, Samantha. That means that they're going to have go on maternity to leave until she's delivered her babies and we explore Honor's slightly souped-up bond with Nimitz that isn't quite full telepathy, but does allow her to sense the emotions of other humans and she actually shares that with the Engineer, but... because this is Honor Harrington and she can't have nice things and happy endings- at least not complete ones, the Engineer ends up dying and she feels the breaking of the bond with his Treecat, Samantha, who does survive, but it traumatized and depressed by the experience.

Overall, I'd say by itself, there are better books in this series. When you put in terms of the arc of the entire series, this feels like a bridge novel (we'll have to see if that proves correct when I get to the next one in the series) but I'm also left with the notion that it was kind of a necessary novel as well, despite feeling like something of a retread. For sure, Honor is back from exile. She's also thinking about promotion- if not to Commodore, then to Admiral and while she acknowledges she will miss just commanding a starship, she also doesn't seem to hate the idea of getting to develop the big picture strategy of the war either. Some interesting things in this book, but largely, just okay for me, so My Grade: ** out of ****

#honor among enemies #honorverse #honor harrington #david weber #book review

[haveyoureadthisscifibook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

#scifi #books #On Basilisk Station #David Weber #Honor Harrington #poll #result: no #l: English

[runedscope]

Whats up my fellow Lore fans

#fantasy #science fiction #lorblr #lord of the rings #tlt #game of thrones #wheel of time #honor harrington #issac asimov #book #booklr

[devotedlymagnumthing]

This year I finish listening to mainline Honor Harrington books or so I can see how much weeb stuff Webr put in it

#honor harrington #bookblr #reading #david webr #i want tankersly back

[kyliafanfiction]

One of the most amusing things about Esther McQueen’s attempted coup is she only launched it before she was ready because she thought Pierre and Saint-Just were about to liquidate here, but all they really had was Saint-Just getting ready to liquidate her as soon as Pierre gave him the go-ahead.

Which meant she had more time. But she didn’t realize it, and boom. There it goes.

Though, given that Saint-Just stuffed a bunch of Nukes under the Octagon, she was probably always doomed.

#Honor Harrington #Esther McQueen #Oscar Saint-Just #Rob S. Pierre #People's Republic of Haven

[shannon-foraker]

Just played Ticket to Ride while another group was playing Ticket to Ride Europe and boy do I have some Honorverse headcanons for it!

Thus, here's the cracky Havenites all play Ticket to Ride Space Edition.

Eloise's poker face gives her an advantage and the bloc of lightly allied (much in the way of glances is employed to ensure that the Navy can block the Commissioners from winning) RHN officers keep struggling to read her. Except Javier, who unofficially isn't a part of the secret naval alliance.

Strategic thinkers take longest route every game.

Shannon uses math and pathfinding to run the odds for everything in her head.

@stitchlingbelle I think you'd like this?

#honor harrington #honorverse #honor harrington novels #shannon foraker #eloise pritchart #javier giscard #ticket to ride #game night #au idea

[boatmediatourney]

🛸Spaceship Media Tournament🛸

BRACKET A: Round 1, match 10

#spacemt polls #spacemt round 1 #spaceship media #boat media tourney #rocket ship galileo #honorverse #honor harrington

[stitchlingbelle]

So I was thinking a while back about something David Weber said about casting Honor, that Honor herself, living in a post-racial society, would not care who played her*, but that in our modern world it does matter.

And this sent me on a long trail of thought about several things, but mostly representation and cultural changes since David first started writing the series and it suddenly hit me:

If they were to try to update the story, it'd be amazing to make Honor trans.

It would play well with her issues with her looks, especially her height (dysphoria anyone?), and make more sense of things like needing Mike to teach her about makeup. (Not to say Allison wouldn't be delighted to teach her once she came out, but what if she didn't until the Academy?)

In terms of the ongoing plots and themes, it would really modernize the Grayson sexism arc. Bad enough to have women in the military, how about telling them to throw their whole concept of gender out the window? Depending on how it was done, it could also add some more focus to her status as a genie and the themes of the Beowulf/ Mesa arc, what's an "allowable", biosculpt alteration vs what's an illegal mod... (And advanced tech makes it totally possible for her to have a uterus and keep that surprise pregnancy plotline if they like.)

I dunno, I just thought it would be an interesting take.

*(in-universe of course it would be a biopic and god she'd be so embarrassed she'd just die. Mike would organize a watch party. Somebody write this before I have to...)

#honorverse #Honor Harrington #trans

[alphamecha-mkii]

Honor Harrington: Tales of Honor: The Secret Fleet - Ship Models by Jonathan Lauer

#Honor Harrington #Honorverse #Tales of Honor: The Secret Fleet #Peoples' Republic of Haven #Star Kingdom of Manticore #Sci-Fi #Mecha #Spaceship #Jonathan Lauer

[paramouradrift]

Do you like ships? Are you a fan of science fiction? Have you ever read Honor & Vengeance On The High Seas and thought to yourself, "But who is the mind behind the madness? Who is responsible for the hard turn into tactics and logistics? Who is fixing all the damn spelling mistakes!?" Have you ever wondered for what terrible sins of the past must we bear the torments of the present and the dark shadow of the future? Does the phrase, "Blood for the Blood God!" ("Blut für den Blutgott" in the original German) mean anything to you?

May I present to you, a fic by ThirdWavePorrimist (AO3 only), all honor and glory be to her name.

If you like H&V, this is your jam. If you like Warhammer 40K, this is your jam. If you have read the Honor Harrington series and thought, damn this is hot shit, this is your jam.

Go read it or we can't be friends.

#fic #fanfic #fic rec #crossover #warhammer #wh40k #honor harrington #space #h&v #and y'all thought my worldbuilding was impressive

[litcityblues]

"On Basilisk Station" --A Review

Last year, I plunged headlong into the delights of the Vorkosigan Saga (I'm still going to be working on that one this year) but I wanted to add a series that's been lurking on the bookshelves of my parents for years now that I've never gotten around too- and that's the Honor Harrington series by David Weber.

(My Dad has a ton of Eric Flint books, so I've read a lot of the 1632 books-- though I'm way behind on those as well, as there seem to be more and more every year. But, a long-time collaborator of Flint's in multiple universes? David Weber.)

One thing that I found surprising right off the bat is that a brief dive into David Weber's wiki page reveals that he hasn't (at least from what I can find) ever been in the Navy. That both surprised me and impressed me. Granted, we're talking about space navies with the Honorverse, but the level of detail about ships, command structure and philosophy, and basic procedures seems like it should come from someone who's experienced it firsthand, but I guess not. That Weber lists C.S Forester and Patrick O'Brian, as influences on his writing is unsurprising and honestly, makes me want to put both authors on a future TBR list because what Weber has crafted with On Basilisk Station is the beginning of an immersive and well-crafted universe that I found to be compulsively readable and I know after one volume, I'm going to get through every one of these I can get my hands on.

On Basilisk Station introduces us to Commander Honor Harrington, newly graduated from the Royal Manticoran Navy's advanced tactical course and awarded her first commander, the light cruiser HMS Fearless that's undergoing a major weapons refit. Harrington discovers, much to her displeasure that most of her normal weapons have been stripped out and replaced by an experimental 'grav lance' commissioned by Admiral Sonja Hemphill.

Unhappy, but always ready to do her duty and expecting her new crew to do the same, Harrington and the Fearless use the grav lance to great effect in one round of war games, but taste crushing defeat after crushing defeat in the subsequent rounds as the grav lance, while devastatingly effective at close range is less effective once people know what to look for.

Admiral Hemphill, embarrassed by the failure of her experiment has the HMS Fearless assigned to picket duty on distant Basilisk Station, a posting generally regarded by the fleet as where the screw-ups and embarrassments get sent so they're out of the way. There, Harrington meets an old nemesis- Captain Lord Pavel Young, a spoiled son of a nobleman, whose career has been stuck in neutral due to an attempt to rape Honor at the Academy several years earlier. He is using her arrival as a ploy to ruin Honor's career and takes his heavy cruiser Warlock back to Manticore for some 'emergency refits' leaving Honor and her light cruiser as the only military presence in the system.

Harrington (unsurprisingly) sees this as a challenge and not a setback and to the surprise of local officials on Basilisk Station and the planet Medusa itself actually starts doing her job and finds out all kinds of interesting things. She cracks down on smuggling, and finds a drug manufacturing ring planetside that's selling hallucinogenic drugs to the sentient species of the planet inciting them to furious violence and whoever is behind that is arming them as well.

What the Fearless finds begins to cause a political stir back home on Manticore as well- and forces who want to discredit an isolationist faction who wants to withdraw from Basilisk Station work to delay the higher-ranked Lord Captain Young's return to the system to let Honor and the Fearless continue her work.

Eventually, they find out whose behind it all: the People's Republic of Haven, intent on gaining a strategic foothold in the system to drive Manticore out attempting a coup de main. Honor's complement of marines handles the native uprising planetside, while the Fearless runs down the Sirius, a Havenite Q-ship disguised as a freighter, who is running to signal the rest of their forces to move in. Harrington sends a message to Manticore advising them that the invasion is imminent and moves to engage.

The subsequent battle is costly to the Fearless in terms of damage to their ship and crew, but Honor manages to get the Sirius within range of their grav lance and uses it to destroy the Sirius.

Honor returns home to a hero's welcome, and a promotion, but unfortunately, the HMS Fearless is too damaged to salvage, but a newly constructed heavy-cruiser, christened as the new HMS Fearless is her new command.

Overall: When can one achieve mastery of any given subject? I don't know if a debut novel is enough to declare Weber a master of military science fiction, but for sure, On Basilisk Station confirms that Weber knows what he's doing and is pretty damn good at it to boot. I like that we don't get lost in world-building-- Weber drops us into the political situation from the word go and builds out as necessary from there. We don't get a sprawling history of humanity's diaspora out to the stars or anything like that- we're in the story and off and running.

I also like that Honor is presented as a character who is not morally flexible (at least so far in the series.) When given orders, she follows them to the letter and expects her crew to do otherwise. She recognizes the importance of when to push and when not to get the best out of her people and while her Executive Officer Commander McKeon struggles with her arrival and his own feelings about it, eventually, she wins him over as well. As a character, she leaps off the page.

My Grade: **** out of ****, a strong debut for this series. Send me volume two and sign me up for the next posting, because I'm all in on Honor Harrington.

#on basilisk station #honor harrington #david weber #science fiction #book review