The Honor of the Queen (Honor Harrington) [Paperback]

 

 

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"The Honor of the Queen" is the second book in a wonderful space opera series set some three thousand years in the future and featuring David Weber's best fictional heroine, "Honor Harrington." The books work most effectively when read in sequence and I strongly recommend that you start with "On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington Series)" which is the first one.

Despite the futuristic setting, there are strong parallels with Nelson's navy. Assumed technology in the Honor Harrington stories imposes tactical and strategic constraints on space navy officers similar to those which the technology of fighting sail imposed on wet navy officers two hundred years ago. The galactic situation in the first dozen or so novels contains strong similarities to the strategic and political situation in European history at the time of the French revolutionary and Napoleonic wars up to 1805.

This seems to be quite deliberate: thinly veiled (and amusing) hints in the books indicate that they are to some extent a tribute to C.S. Forester, while the main heroine of the books, Honor Harrington, appears to owe more than just her initials to C.S. Forester's character "Horatio Hornblower."

(Postscript: I stand by that comment even though Dave Weber, in an author's note to a book which came out after I wrote it, has said that Honor Harrington is based on Nelson, becaused Honor has a number of characteristics in which she is much more like Hornblower than Nelson.

However, after a gigantic battle at the end of book eleven, At All Costs (Honorverse), which roughly corresponds to Trafalgar, Weber has done as much as he could with the Napoleonic storyline, and takes the plot of later novels in a rather different direction.)

This book introduces the planet Grayson which is to become immensely important in future stories. When Honor Harrington first meets the inhabitants of Grayson in this volume, they appear to be boorish, male chauvinist dinosaurs, and she has great difficulty dealing with them. However, it is a challenge which she eventually surmounts with flying colours.

A large number of important characters are also introduced in this book: and not just among Honor's Manticoran compatriots and her new Grayson allies. The two captains who the enemy "Peeps" have sent to stir the pot in Grayson will also feature in most of the forthcoming books - but not necessarily on the same side.


In this second book of the series, Honor Harrington has been promoted after her victory in Basilisk, and given command of the brand new heavy cruiser "H.M.S. Fearless." She is also the senior officer of the Manticoran military force escorting a diplomatic mission under her old mentor, Admiral Raoul Corvisier, to persuade the planet Grayson to ally with Manticore against the looming threat from the People's Republic of Haven.

Grayson, in the Yeltsin system, was settled by religious fanatics. It turned out to have a highly poisonous ecosystem, which forced their descendants to amend some of their principles in order to survive. But their remaining prejudices, especially against women, initially make them difficult to deal with.

However, the Graysons are sweetness and light compared with the male rulers of the planet Masada in the neighbouring Endicott system. Descended from Graysons who went into exile after refusing to make the compromises necessary to prevent the planet killing them, the Masadans' ruthless sexism and intolerant bigotry make the Taleban look like a bunch of Anglican feminists. They are still bent on revenge - and the People's Republic of Haven is only to happy to help them secure it.

Honor Harrington is going to have to go into battle against horrendous odds - again ...

This is another clever story with wonderful and believable characters, brilliantly described space battles, and a well crafted set of explanations of how the tactical situations in which the characters find themselves relate both to the technology their ships use and the political dynamics which set up the conflicts between them.

Many people read Weber for the space battles, and this book scores very highly here. In some of the later books of the series when describing major fleet actions, Dave Weber sometimes writes a bit too much like the wargame designer he once was, but he is superb when describing single-ship or squadron-level actions such as those in "The Honor of the Queen."

Two aspects of this book may make some readers a little uneasy. At this stage of the series Weber gives full vent to his distrust of politicians, especially left-wing ones.

In later books, apparently to broaden the appeal slightly, he creates some extreme ultra right-wing reactionary politicians who he can criticise from the left so as to counterbalance his criticisms of socialists and liberals from the right. Weber thereby places the views of most of his sympathetic characters in the moderate centre of the Manticoran political spectrum. From book ten he also writes in one or two sympathetic liberal politicians! However, when he wrote "The Honor of the Queen" he had not made these adjustments.

Anyone with liberal or left wing views about economics or defence and security issues and who isn't willing to put them aside to enjoy a novel may be irritated by the political slant of the book. However, this slant is not as strong as that taken by some other military SF writers such as John Ringo.

The other aspect of the book which may be slightly uncomfortable for a minority of readers is the role of men and women. In respect of Grayson, the novel looks from a viewpoint totally committed to absolute equality between men and women at how a society which has gone down a different road can be persuaded to reform. In respect of Masada, their status as the bad guys is confirmed by their horrible crimes against women.

If you like this book, you will want to read the rest of the series. At the time of writing there are sixteen full length novels and five short story collections in the "Honorverse" as the fictional galaxy in which these stories are set is sometimes known. The main series which tells the story of Honor Harrington herself currently runs to twelve novels; in order these are

On Basilisk Station
The Honor of the Queen
The Short Victorious War (Honor Harrington)
Field of Dishonour
Flag in Exile
Honor among Enemies
In Enemy Hands
Echoes of Honor
Ashes of Victory
War of Honor
At All Costs
Mission of Honor

The five collections of short stories set in the same universe, not all of which feature Honor Harrington herself, are

More Than Honor
Worlds of Honor
Worlds of Honor III: Changer of Worlds
Worlds of Honor IV: The Service of the Sword
Worlds Of Honor V: In Fire Forged

The four spin-off novels are:
* "Crown of Slaves" (with Eric Flint) which is a story of espionage and intrigue featuring a number of characters first introduced in earlier Honor Harrington books or short stories:
* a sequel, "Torch of Freedom;"
* "The Shadow of Saganami" which is a kind of "next generation" novel featuring a number of younger officers in the navies of Manticore and her ally Grayson, and
* a sequel, "Storm from the Shadows."

For amusement, if you want to try to look for the parallels to nations and individuals from the French revolutionary period and the Hornblower novels with the first dozen books of this series, one possible translation would be:

People's Republic of Haven during books 1 to 3 = Bourbon France
People's Republic of Haven from book 4 onwards = Revolutionary France
Star Kingdom of Manticore = Great Britain
Gryphon = Scotland
Grayson = Portugal

Prime Minister Alan Summervale = Pitt the Younger
Hamish Alexander, later Earl White Haven = Admiral Edward Pellew (at first!)
Honor Harrington = Horatio Hornblower
Alistair McKeon = William Bush

Crown loyalists and Centrists = Tory supporters of Pitt
Conservative Association = isolationist/hardline High Tories
New Kiev Liberals = Whig Oligarchists
Progressives and traditional liberals = Whig radicals

Anderman Empire = Kingdom of Prussia
Silesia = Poland
Solarian republic = United States of America

Yes i know its been said before..but hey its true, it is hornblower in space.

This isnt a bad thing! i read on basilisk station after seeing it in a library, after i had finished i promply went out and bought the first three novels, this one being the second.

I love this series, admittedly the later ones become more political and less action are stunning, but book 2 is back when Honor Harrington was still a combat captain and the descriptions of the battles, I love the idea of knowing 15 minutes in advance that your gonna get hit by incoming missiles and having to do your job anyway. this is unusual in a Sci fi story as most take the "starwars" approach to space battles.

I also love the characters they are are excellently developed and you quickly start to care for them.

I recommend any of these books for fans of sci fi and/or adventure stories, but i do recommend starting at the beginning as there is a lots of use of past characters and plots, which i like as it has the whole actions have consequences thing going..

These novels would make an exceelent TV or film series!!

Once again Mr. Weber writes an enjoyable book.

Honor is, of course, placed in a position where she and Nimitz (her treecat) have to fight the odds in order to win. She, as the hero, prevails. But as in all heroic tales, a lot of people die. Honor has now become captain in the Royal Manticoran Navy. As such, she is placed as squadron officer on a diplomatic mission to the planet Grayson. Manticore wants to add Grayson as their allies. As always, the Peeps have their own plans and try to help their allies, Masada, conquer Grayson. The fight is on, once again.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Another great character driven Mil-SF
The Honor of the Queen is the second book by David Weber featuring Honor Harrington, Captain in Her Majesty's Royal Navy of Manticore. Read more

Published 4 months ago by Mark Chitty

3.0 out of 5 stars Swashbuckling!
Webers view of space combat obviously stems from a romanticised view of ship-to-ship actions from the late 19th and earlier 20th century a fact reinforced by the names and... Read more

Published on 16 Nov 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars Painful to read but in the end a book of substance.
At first, I thought "Oh my god, another story about men vs. women" but Weber doesn't shy away from the ingrained value in our culture that society must never talk of... Read more

Published on 6 July 1998

4.0 out of 5 stars Good way to rile and rivet a reader
Well, if Honor keeps going through ships at this rate, she'll be a large chunk of the Manticoran Navy's expenses. Read more

Published on 15 Dec 1997

4.0 out of 5 stars Honor wins one for women without being politically correct
Another fine book from Weber. His Honor Harrington is one of those characters that you wind up really caring about. Read more

Published on 4 May 1997

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