David Weber

I have just (January 2006) discovered Honor Harrington and this series have made me an instant fan. Weber has an admirably brisk style (even if he does tend to get bogged down in technical detail of peripheral interest). His descriptions of battles are simply amazing but his characterizations turn his space operas into more than military sci-fi novels. His grasp of military history is astounding as is his meticulous attention to detail. Yet, the best thing about his books is that they depict war in a way that I have not seen in a long time. None of that post-Vietnam angst that is so annoying and so widespread these days. Here's a list of titles in my ever-growing Weber collection.

Honor Harrington

On Basilisk Station (1993)

Humiliated and posted to an obscure faraway station, Honor struggles to gain her crew's trust while simultaneously attempting to discharge her duty as a captain of the Royal Manticoran Navy. Something is also happening on the nearby planet of Medusa whose locals are getting doped up with some hallucinogen that turns them into berserkers. Just as politics back home rear their ugly head, Honor has to decide whether the expansionist People's Republic of Haven has an ulterior interest in the Medusans and the Basilisk Terminus that guards a strategic approach to a wormhole.

The Honor of the Queen (1993)

Honor is sent to escort a diplomatic mission to Grayson, a planet with whom Manticore seeks to establish an alliance to counter the growing Havenite threat in the region. Grayson itself is under perpetual threat from its neighboring Masada whose fundamentalist theocracy is bent on either conquering the "Apostate" or wiping them out. While the Masadans execute their machinations with the aid of Havenite technology, Honor is forced to deal with the male-dominated society on Grayson and its extreme chauvinism against women.

The Short Victorious War (1994)

The People's Republic of Haven finally lashes out due to internal pressure to maintain its basic living stipend. Its carefully orchestrated provocations throw off some of Manticore's most important forces and Honor finds herself desperately outgunned in the path of a major Havenite thrust. Her fierce stand is made personally painful by the presence of her nemesis Pavel Young and her new-found lover, Paul Tankersley, whom she may have to sacrifice to do her duty.

Field of Dishonor (1994)

When Pavel Young escapes the death sentence at his court-martial and simultaneously inherits his father's powerful earldom of North Hollow, Honor acquires a deadly enemy sworn to destroy her in the most painful way possible who now has the resources to effect his desires. While on forced leave on Grayson where she has been admitted as a Homesteader, her lover Paul Tankersley is targeted by a paid killer. Honor's pursuit of justice will cost her the very way of life she so cherishes.

Flag in Exile (1995)

In virtual exile to Grayson, Honor settles to develop her steading and oversee an expanding commercial venture. The opponents to social reform on the planet coalesce to form a clandestine force that melds together legal and religious authority and conspires to turn back the clock. But for that, they need to remove the very symbol of these changes, the woman who had also recently become Admiral in the nascent Grayson navy. Just in time to meet a sneak attack with overwhelming force by Haven.

Honor Among Enemies (1996)

Honor is on her way to rehabilitation and is sent to command a RMN squadron of Q-ships to deal with rampant piracy in the Silesian Confederation. Little does she know that her hollow hulls of ships will have to face real military vessels of the People's Republic. But the Peeps also have decent people among their commanders, and one of them is compelled by his military honor to risk his life and his ship to aid his enemies when he witnesses the rapine and slaughter perpetrated by secessionist madmen.

In Enemy Hands (1997)

Startled by her inappropriate feelings toward White Haven, Honor bolts on an impromptu mission to escort some Manty merchant freighters. Unfortunately, the Peeps seem to have gotten some of their act together and she stumbles straight into a trap. Captured by her enemies, she is humiliated and then sentenced to death as a civilian when the politicians override the honorable Peep military commanders. Honor and her officers are on their way to planet Hell where she is to be hanged.

Echoes of Honor (1998)

Honor and her remaining crew join forces with convicts on Hades to stage a prison breakout, the most dramatic and successful one in history... any history, real or imagined. While she spends two years or so planning, executing, and succeeding in that remote corner of the galaxy, her Royal Manticoran Navy suffers numerous grievous setbacks at the hands of the revitalized Peeps.

Ashes of Victory (1999)

The Manties finally get their act together and White Haven launches an offensive that utilizes all that super new technology that have been developing for years: from the missiles with enormously improved range to LAC carriers. While the Peeps reel in confusion, an abortive coup attempt nearly decapitates their command structure. In the ensuing chaos, deeply buried assassination plots threaten to come to fruition on Grayson as well.

War of Honor (2003)

The incompetent High Ridge government is stringing along the Havenites with interminable peace talks that go nowhere. Meanwhile, the Andermani are on the move trying to assert their influence in Silesia, and Theisman is busy rebuilding the Republic of Haven's Navy in secret. Nobody seems to want hostilities to resume, but the venal Manticoran cabinet and the ambitious State Secretary of Haven are slowly but surely ensuring just that. With Honor tucked away at Sidemore once again and Grayson being snubbed by its senior alliance partner, things are just about ready to blow up.

At All Costs (2005)

The hostilities between the Republic of Haven and Manticore continue despite emerging evidence that convinces Pritchard that the Manties were not responsible for their outbreak. Several attempts to get peace talks started falter through devious interference by some Mesans, and both sides race to impress each other with their might as the balance of power seems to be changing in favor of Haven while the Manties are busy developing weapons of ever-increasing sophistication. In all of this, Honor finds the time to marry and have a baby.

Worlds of Honor

More Than Honor (1998)

Stories by Weber, Drake, and Stirling, with an infodump about the Honorverse by Weber. The only one worth reading is Weber's story about the first bonding between a treecat and a human (naturally, a 'cat from Nimitz's clan and a girl from the Harrington family). Drake's contribution is awful and bears only passing resemblance to anything we've come to expect in the Honorverse. Stirling deals with McQueen's participation in the revolt against the Pierre regime on Haven.

Changer of Worlds (2001)

Three stories by Weber and one by Eric Flint flesh out some background for events in the main line. The first story deals with Honor's snotty cruise, the second with Nimitz and Samantha's visit to Sphinx, the third with the abduction of Helen Zilwicki and her rescue by a cast of unlikely characters, and the last with Esther McQueen's coup against Pierre's government. The stories are all well-written and well-integrated into the main line.

Service of the Sword (2003)

Six stories, with the ones by Weber and Flint being the best. Flint's story is again about Victor Cachat, who finds himself on a nerve-wrecking assignment from Saint-Just right before the regime of Terror is about to collapse. Weber's story is about the first Grayson woman to make a snotty cruise during which she would earn a medal for gallantry. Two stories by John Ringo, one (about a ship full of misfits) humorous and one (about Manticoran spies) badly plotted are still worth reading. The offerings by Timothy Zahn (Manties encounter Havenites testing a Solly super-weapon that turns out to be a fake) and by Jane Lindskold (women flee Masada) are, at best, average.

Honorverse

Crown of Slaves (with Eric Flint, 2003)

Chronologically sandwiched between War of Honor and At All Costs, this spin-off explains the reasons behind Erewhon's withdrawal from the Manticoran alliance and the increasing hatred of Manpower for both Manticore and Haven. When the two local superpowers compete for the affections of the wavering ally, they find a common enemy: slavery. The agents and notional enemies join hands in striking a serious blow to the slave trade and even though some of the shenanigans will leave you scratching your head in bewilderment, the story is quite successful and much more than what one would have expected from a blatant attempt to cash on the popularity of Weber's universe.

The Shadow of Saganami (2004)

The events mostly take place parallel to the renewed war with Haven in At All Costs and concern the distant Talbott Cluster whose pending annexation by Manticore is threatening to bring the Star Kingdom into open conflict with the Solarian League just when it is reeling from the highly successful Havenite offensive. Captain Terekhov is sent to the Cluster to help sort out political intrigue, terrorist activities, destabilization attempts by Mesa, interference from OFS commissioners, local aspirations for hegemony, resistance to the annexation by disgruntled elements, piracy by former Peep StateSec thugs, and arms trafficking by slavers.

Starfire (with Steve White)

Insurrection (1990)

Published first but chronologically after the others in the Starfire universe, this novel centers on the secession of the Fringe Worlds from the Terran Federation, their formation of a Republic, and the Civil War that follows. Mostly told from two perspectives of two very likeable characters who find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict, equally brave, equally talented, equally honorable, and equally determined. The cue for the basic premise is taken from the American Revolution but the rest of it comes from the American Civil War.

Crusade (1992)

Chronologically, this precedes the events in Insurrection. The uneasy peace between the Orion Khanate and the Terran Federation is threatened when an unknown ship emerges from a warp point from his no survey ship has ever returned and opens fire on Orion vessels after using old Terran recognition codes. The Federation assumes the responsibility to do justice to the wronged Orions and an interstellar war is on with a new species, the Thebans who are on a religious quest to free Holy Mother Terra from Satan-Khan. The usual plethora of space combat (this time spiced up with some ground assaults) dominates the narrative but there are also a handful of very sympathetic characters... on both sides of this conflict.

In Death Ground (1997)

Sixty years after the Theban War, a survey ship blunders into an alien system and reveals Humanity's existence to what has to be the most murderous species in the Universe, the Bugs. Armed with slightly inferior technology but improving at astonishing rates, the Arachnids mount mass attacks that overwhelm almost everything the desperate humans can throw in their path. When it is revealed that the Bugs not only regard humans and Tabbies as food but would also raise sentient beings as cattle, the Grand Alliance activates Directive 18 calling for the aliens' complete extermination. But before we can get down to the grim business of slaughtering them, we have to stop them from doing unto us as we plan to do unto them. And then Theban War legend Antonov leads an entire allied fleet straight into a trap which would cost us more than the grievous losses of ships and personnel.

The Shiva Option (2002)

Direct sequel to In Death Ground, this one sees the conclusion of the war against the voracious Bugs. The intimately personal is swamped in the grandiose mass destruction that the slugfest turns into, and the narrative is essentially a chronicle of military campaigns. Much space is devoted to tactics and battle descriptions and very little to anything else, including the morality of the Shiva Option and the ethics of appying it to colonized worlds with indigent populations. Most characters are larger than life, so much so that they become incredible. And yet, the authors are superb in their battle narratives, and the novel is virtually impossible to put down.

Dahak

Mutineers' Moon (1991)

Our Moon is actually a giant warship of the Fourth Imperium and when it recruits NASA astronaut MacIntyre to be its new captain, all hell breaks loose: mutineers marooned on Earth for over fifty thousand years must duke it out with each other for supremacy over this planet only to prepare for the truly apocalyptical struggle with the advancing an incomprehensible alien enemy that destroys everything in its path.