Honor Harrington

[Mysterion]

The one I really liked consistently was Drake's RCN/Lt. Leary series.

Have not read any of those, but his Hammer's Slammers stuff is fun.

Everyone's talking space navy not armored cavalry

Yeah, I get that. But thanks for the heads-up, there.

 

[MarianLH]

So what do all the "Mary Sue" believers like about the series?

Or is that the only real sore spot for a lot of people?

I just want to know what happens next.

I wish he'd get a more aggressive editor, though. His dialogue is getting worse. Real people do not talk like that.


Marian

 

[Forbin]

^That's a thing that annoys me with many authors. When people don't talk like normal people it takes you out of the story.

What an author should do is say the dialog out loud when he writes it. If it sounds like you're having a normal conversation with someone, then it's fine. If it sounds forced, stupid, too long, too contrived, etc. EDIT it, dammit!

 

[The Comedian]

^That's a thing that annoys me with many authors. When people don't talk like normal people it takes you out of the story.

What an author should do is say the dialog out loud when he writes it. If it sounds like you're having a normal conversation with someone, then it's fine. If it sounds forced, stupid, too long, too contrived, etc. EDIT it, dammit!

Or throw in a lot of cussing.

"Double dumbass on you!" and so forth.

 

[Reverend]

I tried reading the HH books I really did, but they're just SO BORING (and I've read Dune like 12 times.) Half the books I've started consist of little else but a series of meetings where everyone talks about tactics followed by a review of the ships various weapon configuration followed by the freaky shoulder cat doing something endearing then a bit at the fortress of doom where the baddies talk about their next evil plot. Somewhere in there there's usually a battle where she totals the ship and a bit where she gets all angsty about how horse-faced yet freakish strong she is, but by that point I'm usually skimming like crazy just to make it through a single chapter that I have no idea what's going on. On top of all that, the "Horatio Hornblower in space" allegory is so unbelivably heavy handed I just can't take it very seriously at all.

After having said all that, it's clearly a popular title among some (I had a female friend once who adored it) so I'd really like to hear from some long-term fans exactly what it is about the series they find appealing?

 

[Joel_Kirk]

^^

If you don't mind me asking, Reverend, when did the story/books get boring for you?

I do realize those books are pretty thick, and there are a lot of books in the series...

Too much for me; I tend to go for books in a smaller series, that are written well. I would like to hear your opinions, though.

 

[Star Wolf]

I tried reading the HH books I really did, but they're just SO BORING (and I've read Dune like 12 times.) Half the books I've started consist of little else but a series of meetings where everyone talks about tactics followed by a review of the ships various weapon configuration followed by the freaky shoulder cat doing something endearing then a bit at the fortress of doom where the baddies talk about their next evil plot. Somewhere in there there's usually a battle where she totals the ship and a bit where she gets all angsty about how horse-faced yet freakish strong she is, but by that point I'm usually skimming like crazy just to make it through a single chapter that I have no idea what's going on. On top of all that, the "Horatio Hornblower in space" allegory is so unbelivably heavy handed I just can't take it very seriously at all.

After having said all that, it's clearly a popular title among some (I had a female friend once who adored it) so I'd really like to hear from some long-term fans exactly what it is about the series they find appealing?

An early fan who gave up as the series dragged on here. The early books were good sea stories set on a starship instead of a 1914 cruiser. Douglas Reeman in space if you like. It is better then reading about the Picard Maneuver if you wanted a ship combat story.

 

[sojourner]

The "Picard Maneuver" always sounded like a dance move to me.

 

[Lindley]

I tried reading the HH books I really did, but they're just SO BORING (and I've read Dune like 12 times.) Half the books I've started consist of little else but a series of meetings where everyone talks about tactics followed by a review of the ships various weapon configuration followed by the freaky shoulder cat doing something endearing then a bit at the fortress of doom where the baddies talk about their next evil plot. Somewhere in there there's usually a battle where she totals the ship and a bit where she gets all angsty about how horse-faced yet freakish strong she is

Pretty much sums it up.

But I do appreciate the tactical and strategic ingenuity which goes into resolving each crisis, even if it is essentially just David Weber playing chess with himself. If you don't find that interesting, it's probably not the series for you.

 

[Reverend]

^^

If you don't mind me asking, Reverend, when did the story/books get boring for you?

I do realize those books are pretty thick, and there are a lot of books in the series...

Too much for me; I tend to go for books in a smaller series, that are written well. I would like to hear your opinions, though.

'On Basilisk Station', chapter one. She floats down a tube then spends 4 hours talking about the weapons systems. Took me two days - on and off - just to get that far.

The only reason I kept at it was that the friend that insisted it was a great series shared a lot of the same tastes and was responsible for getting me into Discworld (after a rocky start.) I do have a somewhat high tolerance for sticking with books I'm not enjoying, possibly more of a de-sensitivity as back in my school days, my GCSE English Lit coursework was on 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles'...*shudder* so I did eventually stick Honor out until about the third book ('Short Victorious War'?) but I've yet to see any improvement of for that matter, character development. And no, I don't think promotions, new ships and increasingly long and preposterous titles counts.

I tried reading the HH books I really did, but they're just SO BORING (and I've read Dune like 12 times.) Half the books I've started consist of little else but a series of meetings where everyone talks about tactics followed by a review of the ships various weapon configuration followed by the freaky shoulder cat doing something endearing then a bit at the fortress of doom where the baddies talk about their next evil plot. Somewhere in there there's usually a battle where she totals the ship and a bit where she gets all angsty about how horse-faced yet freakish strong she is

Pretty much sums it up.

But I do appreciate the tactical and strategic ingenuity which goes into resolving each crisis, even if it is essentially just David Weber playing chess with himself. If you don't find that interesting, it's probably not the series for you.

That kind of thing just puts me in mind of Arnold Rimmer reciting his play-by-play top 20 greatest ever Risk victories. I just don't understand the appeal. Mind you, my comprehension is hardly a criteria for something to be considered entertaining. Some people juggle geese.

I suppose the fact that I have a deep seated aversion to those role playing games that require about 500 million rule books and a funny shaped dice doesn't help as I rather suspect most of what I've read so far are in fact just RPG source-books disguised as novels.

The "Picard Maneuver" always sounded like a dance move to me.

I always envisioned it as the sort of thing shifty looking blokes do behind schoolgirls while standing a little too close in the bus queue.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

^^

If you don't mind me asking, Reverend, when did the story/books get boring for you?

I do realize those books are pretty thick, and there are a lot of books in the series...

Too much for me; I tend to go for books in a smaller series, that are written well. I would like to hear your opinions, though.

'On Basilisk Station', chapter one. She floats down a tube then spends 4 hours talking about the weapons systems. Took me two days - on and off - just to get that far.

The only reason I kept at it was that the friend that insisted it was a great series shared a lot of the same tastes and was responsible for getting me into Discworld (after a rocky start.) I do have a somewhat high tolerance for sticking with books I'm not enjoying, possibly more of a de-sensitivity as back in my school days, my GCSE English Lit coursework was on 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles'...*shudder* so I did eventually stick Honor out until about the third book ('Short Victorious War'?) but I've yet to see any improvement of for that matter, character development. And no, I don't think promotions, new ships and increasingly long and preposterous titles counts.

I understand....

 

[Technobuilder]

It's all about liking the characters for me.

I enjoy keeping up with the characters lives and how things turn out for them.

Horace Harkness is a personal favorite, as is Victor Cachat, Alison Harrington, & Catherine Montaigne.

 

[Forbin]

Actually, it's so long between books, I forget who most of the characters are, and it's been SO long since the last book, I haven't a prayerm of remembering anybody but Honor and Nimitz, or what happened in the last few books. And you couldn't PAY me to reread the whole series past, say, book three.

 

[Lindley]

I think a new Honor book came out just earlier this year.

As for what happened recently, Haven and Manticore are fighting again, this time due to covertly falsified diplomatic notes. (It would have to be something like that, considering that for once both sides have perfectly reasonable governments.)

 

[Star Wolf]

Isn't their some type of life prolong treatment in the Honorverse? The problem with holding on to Honor as a character is that we ask how can the war still be going on, its not a low intensity conflict why isn't everybody dead already. On the other hand you could have a Spenser, Jack Ryan or Captain Kirk situation where your character ages out and nobody believes he can physically do what heroes do.

 

[Lindley]

The war has been going for a long time, but most of that was fairly small skirmishes. Large-scale battles are fairly rare, really. And civilian populations aren't targeted (for the most part). That's how both sides still have the manpower to fight.

 

[Forbin]

Prolong - yes. At some point Honor is supposed to be 40 years old, but still looks like a nubile teenager.

 

[Star Wolf]

The war has been going for a long time, but most of that was fairly small skirmishes. Large-scale battles are fairly rare, really. And civilian populations aren't targeted (for the most part). That's how both sides still have the manpower to fight.

Small? They have had major fleet actions and the prolong treatment sounds like a society that doesn't have babies but rather holds own to their own standard of living

 

[Lindley]

They definitely have children. In fact, fertility medicine is expounded upon in some detail (in typical Weber style) in War of Honor and At All Costs.

 

[Technobuilder]

The New Honorverse Books this year were:

Storm From the Shadows & Torch of Freedom (Each respective sequels)

Misson of Honor (HH12) should be out sometime in July 2010.


I'm looking forward to it due to the revelations of both SftS & ToF and how it all follows the events of At All Costs.

I've read through the first 11 books at least twice since I started the series.