16 January 2016

On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington #1)

On Basilisk Station by David Weber is the first book in the Honor Harrington series -  a military science fiction series featuring a tough ship's captain in the Manticore navy.

Honor has been given a new ship with her promotion. While she is getting used to her crew - and they to her - they will participate in war games to check the readiness of the fleet. Honor's ship, the HMS Fearless, has been retrofitted with the latest weapon (at the cost of many other useful weapons).

After the first round of games, when she and her crew surprised the enemy and won, the Fearless has been blasted every time. In response, the higher up who had the weapon installed, has assigned Honor and her new crew to the least desirable post in Manticoran space - Basilisk Station.

Basilisk Station is one of the newer parts of Manitcoran space. Manticore is against colonization - even though Basilisk is a valuable portal that saves months of travel time there is political opposition to being there. The post has many detailed rules about what is to be supervised, but historically not much has been done.

When Honor arrives, she finds out that the commander in charge of the station is her least favorite person in all of space. And he has a grudge against her. In order to set her up for failure, he puts her in charge while he takes his ship home for repairs. But anyone who knows Honor knows she will find a way to complete her assignment.

Weber has created a great science fiction series peopled with humans who have evolved with the colonization of different planets. This is a brilliant start to a political, military science fiction series. (Since it is not new you may have trouble finding it in your library. You can buy used copies at www.abebooks.com)

Weber, David. (1993). On Basilisk Station. New York: Baen Books.

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