Help me read Honor Harrington

[Tarana]

"Sir" is an honorific applied to the first name, not a title applied to the surname.

Oh, that's why they always say Sir Paul when referring to McCartney. I always that was just how the UK Press said things about celebrities (i.e. Madge for Madonna).

OK... I'm going to be starting the Honor series in January. Are the short stories in the Baen Free library or an omnibus?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

Too many American authors use the form "Sir Lastname,"

Who does that?

(of course in science fiction, the writer could simply state the custom is different where ever and when ever the story is set.)

[Lemurion]

Seanan McGuire for one... very good writer but that bothers me.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

Seanan McGuire for one... very good writer but that bothers me.

But a knight's wife is "Lady <surname>", not "Lady <firstname>".

If you've ever read "Pride and Prejudice", you may have noticed that the neighbours of the Bennet family are "Sir William and Lady Lucas", whereas Lady Catherine de Bourgh, as the daughter of an Earl and hence a title holder in her own right, is addressed as "Lady Catherine".

[fjtorres]

Treecats are sentient aliens, not pets.
They are (more or less) symbiotically bound to their humans; if the human dies, they usually die of depression. Exceptions are rare and significant.
Treecats on starships are supposed to appear out of place: they are resented by many/most(?) crewmembers, who see them as pets.

Spoiler:

Treecats have secrets; their humans and assorted friends share some of them.
One such is that treecats are as smart as humans and toolmakers but, being telepaths, non-verbal and their societies are non-tech rather than pre-tech.
Their attachment to certain specific humans is not entirely voluntary but those that bond go among humans hoping for a bond.
In latter volumes, treecats use humans to establish off-world colonies and we get to see something of what their hidden communities are like.
In latter volumes, treecats decide to reveal some of their abilities--specifically their intelligence and empathic abilities--and learn sign language.
Humans bonded to treecats...change... Humans descended from bonded humans appear to change more.
Of note: most Manticoran rulers of the last few centuries have bonded.

As for Grayson: the planet is strategically important in the Havenite Wars and no society caught in such a conflict can avoid getting caught in it. They are the product of their history and environment. Which latter volumes slowly reveal. Judging them by present culture and mores is to miss some of the elements Weber is playing with.
Honor of the Queen is a cornerstone of the series, not a casual throwaway.

As for the series itself, it is structured as three phases, so far.
The first six volumes cover the rise of Honor Harrington from merely a promising naval officer to a prominent political figure at the galactic level.
The next six or so cover her roles in the Havenite Wars and eventually the series expands beyond her to focus more on the broader (and deeper) conflicts at play.
It is only late in the series that the broader background hinted at in the early volumes (like the amount of traction and support Haven gets from the Solarian League from the beginning) come to the foreground.
Certain aspects of the background are clearly latter additions and enhancements but most of the latter developments are at least subtly hinted at from the beginning.

Spoiler:

The single biggest exception being the genetic slave thread which really needed at least passing mention much earlier.

The series starts out as straight SF military action but the series over time expands its scope and becomes a ringside view of an Epochal War at a galactic level. Which is a bit more demanding but also rewarding.
And no, the series is not likely close to ending.

[Critteranne]

Originally Posted by Teknikal

I read the first one didn't think it was anything that special then lost interest in the second one within a chapter or two I just found the whole going to a sexist planet plot a bit insulting as a male and gave up with the entire series.

Oh I really liked what he did with that planet. He really played with our expectations there, and then turned them around. Honor makes some mistakes in that book. One of them is the way she initially views and approaches Grayson.

I don't know if it's still there, but there was a one-star review of Honor of the Queen by someone who never finished the book. On the basis of the beginning of the book, he accused Weber of being some kind of flaimming PC liberal who hated men. Weber?!

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by Tarana

Oh, that's why they always say Sir Paul when referring to McCartney. I always that was just how the UK Press said things about celebrities (i.e. Madge for Madonna).

OK... I'm going to be starting the Honor series in January. Are the short stories in the Baen Free library or an omnibus?

They are all in omnibuses and I believe most if not all are either $% or free.

I have the entire series (short stories and all) up to book 13 (I think) in ebook format, and it was not a spendy undertaking.

There is also a Baen/Weber approved site that uploaded the free content that came on the discs with the hardcovers.... iA link was posted on MR somewhere. If I can find it I will post the link here, unless someone else knows it of the top of their heads.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Graham

On Basilisk Station is excellent as are the next half dozen or so. For me it starts to go downhill after that - and yes, the treecats are part of the problem for me.

Graham

Kind of what Graham says (although I do not recall where I stopped.)

If the first isn't your thing, I doubt the series will work out because frankly I thought the first 3 or so were the strongest.

I feel that way about mumble Dresdenmumble. I love UF. I love them whether they are male protags or female. I like Frank Tuttle, John Levitt, Benedict Jacka and many other authors. I managed the first mumbleDresden. I even started the second. And yanno, I just do not get the attraction. So I moved on to something I liked better!

[Xanthe]

Originally Posted by Critteranne

Oh I really liked what he did with that planet. He really played with our expectations there, and then turned them around. Honor makes some mistakes in that book. One of them is the way she initially views and approaches Grayson.

Me too! What it appeared to be when first introduced wasn't any place that I would want to be, but I really enjoyed how Weber changed, over the course of the books, both my perceptions and those of the fictional characters. I grew to consider the concept of The Tester as a perfectly viable aspect.

It's so hard to discuss this series without giving spoilers, because there are so many twists and turns to the stories of the characters and places as the timeline progresses.

[Lemurion]

Baen just released the e-ARC of book 1 of a new Honorverse subseries set about 400 years earlier, by Weber and Tim Zahn.

I grabbed it yesterday and enjoyed it. It's a decent book and so far stands on its own.

[mcrow]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Kind of what Graham says (although I do not recall where I stopped.)

If the first isn't your thing, I doubt the series will work out because frankly I thought the first 3 or so were the strongest.

I feel that way about mumble Dresdenmumble. I love UF. I love them whether they are male protags or female. I like Frank Tuttle, John Levitt, Benedict Jacka and many other authors. I managed the first mumbleDresden. I even started the second. And yanno, I just do not get the attraction. So I moved on to something I liked better!

IME, almost every series that goes for more than a trilogy starts to take a down turn shortly after the 3rd book. Some can make it to 5 books, but that's not very frequent. However, I think when the author switches things up and changes who the protagonist is or the time frame the story takes place in, it can be almist unlimited. Sort of like The Lord of the Rings and other middle earth related novels.

In any case, most series focus on one protagonist and there is only so much you can do to keep things interesting that way, IMO of course.

Not that people can't enjoy later books in long series but I think unless you are very loyal to a character or author it gets hard to read after a few books.

[fjtorres]

One of the things Weber has done in the latter volumes is devote extensive coverage to the supporting cast and even spin off several characters into their own stories/sub-series.
There's easily a couple dozen recurring characters from the first two volumes who are followed over the decades of the saga. From manties to peeps and officers to non-coms. It helps maintain the tension because while the odds of Honor herself dying are understood to be zero when you're reading book 3 of a 14 volume series, the same cannot be said for other sympathetic fan favorites, quite a few of which buy the farm as the series moves on.

There is good reason why the series has become known as the Honorverse.

Weber himself has made it clear he expanded the scope because there were only so many deathrides he could send Honor on. Sooner or later, any truly competent commander gets promoted.

[mcrow]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

One of the things Weber has done in the latter volumes is devote extensive coverage to the supporting cast and even spin off several characters into their own stories/sub-series.
There's easily a couple dozen recurring characters from the first two volumes who are followed over the decades of the saga. From manties to peeps and officers to non-coms. It helps maintain the tension because while the odds of Honor herself dying are understood to be zero when you're reading book 3 of a 14 volume series, the same cannot be said for other sympathetic fan favorites, quite a few of which buy the farm as the series moves on.

There is good reason why the series has become known as the Honorverse.

Weber himself has made it clear he expanded the scope because there were only so many deathrides he could send Honor on. Sooner or later, any truly competent commander gets promoted.

Yes, I have seen that he has expanded out the series to other characters like the non-Honor Harrington "honorverse" books. It hink there are something like 7 or so that don't have her in them at all, if I have it right.

[mcrow]

After reading through the thread, you guys/gals convinced me to give the 2nd book another try.

[jbcohen]

Anyone know what David Weber is working on for publication in 2014?