Honor Harrington
- Thread starter Thanos
- Start date
Opinions vary a lot. Some people (like me) see her as a pretty decently drawn and executed hero in the Napoleonic Naval Warfare tradition of Forrester, Kent, Parkinson, Pope, and O'Brian. Others I've seen have described her as a gigantic Mary Sue. Others again think much more highly of the series than I do. Some think she was all right to start with and grew insufferable. I really think you'll have to see for yourself.
Hans
I really enjoyed the early part of the series, say the first 5 to 6 books.
As it moved along, I lost some interest.
Not a bad setting, but
... everything bad that can happen to the hero does, and she fixes most everything afterward, just got a bit too repeative for me.
Dave Chase
As it moved along, I lost some interest.
Not a bad setting, but
... everything bad that can happen to the hero does, and she fixes most everything afterward, just got a bit too repeative for me.
Dave Chase
I was in camp #1, I moved to group #4-- it was cool Napoleonic-themes in space, but got to be too much. Anymore, I skim through the space battles, just touch on the politics, and only pay attention to the personal maneuverings of characters. To relate to Traveller, what more can you do with a character that's become a high-ranking noble, commander of the most powerful fleet in the region, and has so much influence that the Church and royalty in not one, but two, star nations bend over backwards to accommodate her wishes? Time to retire the character and start a new campaign, IMHO.
My recommendation is to read the first half-dozen or so novels, and most definitely the "Worlds of Honor" short-story anthologies. Most of those are written by other authors, and feature minor or original characters. John Ringo has written at least one or two spin-off novels that hold my interest a little more. My wife is reading my copies, and that's the plan I am pushing at her.
The first 3 books were a decent enough read, but Im definitely in the "She's a Mary Sue" camp, and/or "you're supposed to hate her" camp. In any halfway realistic military, she'd never have risen the ranks. She'd also have been lost out an airlock with malfunctioning cameras...
I find the setting almost worth suffering Mary-Sue Harrington.
I made it to book 5 before I grew disgusted enough with Harrington to not read another book.
I find the setting almost worth suffering Mary-Sue Harrington.
I made it to book 5 before I grew disgusted enough with Harrington to not read another book.
In the early books she is one of those individuals that rises to the top during wartime, overcoming the inept peacetime navy and government which eventually gets a clue.
As for whether one likes the character or not, it depends on how you think she fits into the "Napoleonic" culture around her.
I like the series
I enjoy the series especially the later stories where the political/espionage element increases.
Another plus is that Baen is probably the most enlightened publisher going in terms of DRM etc in as much as you can get all of the Honor Harrington books in e-format (ePub Mobi etc) completely free and legal at
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/22-MissionofHonorCD/MissionofHonorCD/
Also check out the main website http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com for (lots of) other free titles
I enjoy the series especially the later stories where the political/espionage element increases.
Another plus is that Baen is probably the most enlightened publisher going in terms of DRM etc in as much as you can get all of the Honor Harrington books in e-format (ePub Mobi etc) completely free and legal at
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/22-MissionofHonorCD/MissionofHonorCD/
Also check out the main website http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com for (lots of) other free titles
I completely agree. This is my experience.
David Johansen
SOC-12
Webber writes great space battles. That being said you can get 500% of your David Webber space battle RDI by reading the Starfire novels, Crusade, In Death Ground, Insurrection etc. And they're 100% diabetes causing Honor Harrington free and have less contrived not real physics at the heart of them.
Any Starfire player should be able to recognize that he's writing his battles (at least the early ones) using Starfire... He was, after all, the line developer for 3rd Ed. (He's also been a putz about it, and forced Marvin to change the setting for 6th ed.) All of the tech of HH 1-5 is just reskinned Starfire 3rd ed tech.
Yes, but the best 3D space battles I've ever read are in Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet series. Actual tactics, what a concept! You have to suspend disbelief at the idiocy of the naval officers to enjoy these books, though.
Yeah, there's a real 2D feel to the whole thing, too. I tried to grok the 3D Saganami Island Tactical Simulator game set in this universe but my eyes glazed over.
David Johansen
SOC-12
The tech in Honor Harrington is deliberately set up to force a two dimensional age of sail naval battle feel. The Star Fire novels feel more one dimensional. Like everything is running up and down a line. Though when you've got one warp point and one inhabitted world that's to be expected I suppose.
oldgamergeek
SOC-9
I believe these books helped cause My Diabetes.
Which said game is an after-the-fact attempt to shoehorn a different game mode to fitting the descriptions.
And since Webber describes combat as a series of effectively 2D engagements within a 3D space, SITS was probably not doing itself any service by being 3D.
I am in the camp that is okay with the first few books. Later on, it seemed like Weber got a case of "diarrhea of the word processor". I also got real tired of the "print shouting" - like internet forum shouting just in printed form. In the later books, it's always "not hundreds of missiles, but THOUSANDS" - not an actual quote, but you get the sense. His writing style got worse as the series went on.
There's that, too. I started losing interest when the fleets were jumping a tech level or two per book.
saundby
SOC-14 1K
I got the first book as a free download from the Baen Free Library, at the time it was the only free one. After reading it, I bought the next three used. I've only read Book 2, and I'm happy with that right now. I think I've read one other Weber book and a couple he co-authored that weren't HH and enjoyed them well enough.
I enjoyed the first two, however.
That said, I had a really hard time getting through the Horatio Hornblower series. I had a really hard time dealing with a tone-deaf viewpoint character. The fact that he was a jackass at first was tough, too, but him being ostentatiously tone deaf really, really put me off. Go figure.
I enjoyed the first two, however.
That said, I had a really hard time getting through the Horatio Hornblower series. I had a really hard time dealing with a tone-deaf viewpoint character. The fact that he was a jackass at first was tough, too, but him being ostentatiously tone deaf really, really put me off. Go figure.
The Sitting Duck
SOC-2
I have every one of them and happen to think they are some of the best Military Sci-Fi i have read. The battles, the political dimension, it all speaks to me.
Jeff
Jeff
