Help me read Honor Harrington

[mcrow]

I didn't like the tree cat thing either but I did enjoy On Basilisk Station anyway. Couldn't get through the second book though.

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

I liked Weber's reinvention of space combat in this series, making it so much closer to traditional (older) naval conflict.

Well, that was true in the early novels. However by about midway through the series things start changing rapidly so that by the current books, the concept of a broadside has been pretty much eliminated.

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Bill

[ApK]

The treecat never bothered me, although I can imagine Weber thinking early on "I have a strong woman protagonist, but I need something else to bring female readers to military SF. I know! Cats! Chicks dig cats!"
As I've said elsewhere, I gave up on the Honorverse after a few books because I thought it bogged down far too much in political and bureaucratic detail.

[BaenSidhe]

Originally Posted by ApK

As I've said elsewhere, I gave up on the Honorverse after a few books because I thought it bogged down far too much in political and bureaucratic detail.

I had the same problem with the political and weaponry details. That's why in the later books, I did a search for treecat/Nimitz and only read those scenes.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by ApK

I thought it bogged down far too much in political and bureaucratic detail.

It's certainly got plenty of that.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by BaenSidhe

I had the same problem with the political and weaponry details. That's why in the later books, I did a search for treecat/Nimitz and only read those scenes.

[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.

[Nyssa]

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.

That planet actually becomes a very important part of the series... I hope you give that book, at least, another chance. I can't say much more without giving too much away.

[Bricorn]

Agreed, the author seems to think ahead, bringing in minor plot elements that blossom a few books down the line. If you like the writing at all, keep going.

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by Bricorn

Agreed, the author seems to think ahead, bringing in minor plot elements that blossom a few books down the line. If you like the writing at all, keep going.

Yes, Weber does seem to do that quite a bit - foreshadowing without its being obvious.

Characters, storylines, planets, etc. all end up intertwined by the end. I don't remember there being any "throw away" appearances.

[Xanthe]

Originally Posted by artifact

So I've tried yet again to read the oft praised and suggested first book of the Honorverse and yet again fizzled out.

I like Space Opera. I like MilSciFi. Women are great (Go Kris Longknife, Vatta, and so on.) What I can't stand is that dang tree-cat. It just bugs me. So please, does it die in the second book and I can grit my teeth and wade through the first one and have the other 27 (guesstimate) novels of the Honorverse to look forward to?

I see one of those cat-things on the cover of one of the later books. I think I'm doomed. Its going to be one of those serieses everyone else adores and I'm left to pine about weeping over my eReader mewling 'if only...'.


artifact

I felt the same way that you did when I found out about the treecat. IMO, cats are fine in other people's houses, unless they have more than two of them.

If a SciFi book cover has one of those feline alien species pictured on the cover (or a dragon), I won't even bother to pick it up. But I womaned-up and read the first HH book because I had read so much praise about the series, and I found out that I didn't mind Nimitz (though I still think that's a stupid name for him, and rather anachronistic of Weber to think that someone of HH's time would place that much importance on Admiral Nimitz). I stopped thinking of him as "cat" cat and instead as a different species with some cat-like similarities. He also serves as a means to bridge HH's social awkwardness in the early books. His evolution as the series progresses is interesting.

Bite the bullet, put up with the stupid mental image of a cat constantly perched on an officer's shoulder, and just pretend that Nimitz is something else that doesn't annoy you. The series is just too good to let a thing like that turn you off it.

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

Nimitz (though I still think that's a stupid name for him, and rather anachronistic of Weber to think that someone of HH's time would place that much importance on Admiral Nimitz).

I would point out that Sun-Tzu, Hannibal, Alexander and Julius Caesar are all remembered well enough 2000+ years after their deaths; well enough that people are still named after some of them.

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Bill

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by bill_mchale

I would point out that Sun-Tzu, Hannibal, Alexander and Julius Caesar are all remembered well enough 2000+ years after their deaths; well enough that people are still named after some of them.

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Bill

They are, but do you honestly think that Chester Nimitz falls into the same category of "military genius" as them?

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by HarryT

They are, but do you honestly think that Chester Nimitz falls into the same category of "military genius" as them?

Whether he was a genius or not, he is perhaps the most important Naval figure in the history of the American Navy in the 20th century. Any student of Naval history, even 2000 years from now, will likely have encountered him. As for the rest, lets remember that people often choose names for reasons other than pure competence.

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Bill

[kennyc]

Yeah, like 'Nimrod.'