Exploring the "Honorverse"

I began reading David Weber's Honor Harrington series about three years ago, starting with War of Honor, the tenth novel in the series. I enjoyed that book so much that I went back to the beginning of the series and began reading the first novel, On Basilisk Station. With those two books, I have found myself drawn into the "Honorverse," the universe of one of the most exciting military science fiction sagas in recent memory.

Author David Weber drew his inspiration for Honor Harrington from C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower series, about an officer in the British Royal Navy, during the Napoleonic Wars. Honor Harrington is an officer in the Royal Manticoran Navy in a futuristic, science fiction setting. Weber's Harrington character is like a female Hornblower in space.

Honor Harrington made her debut in the 1993 novel On Basilisk Station. Commander Harrington assumes command of her first serious starship, the H.M.S. Fearless. Honor's excitement is short-lived, however, as she finds her light cruiser has been fitted with an untested experimental weapons system. She still manages to pull off a great outing in a tactical war game, earning her accolades and enemies among the RMN's top brass. It's the latter-embarrassed by the way she showed them up in the war game-who ship Honor, along with her crew, off to an out of the way picket station in the Basilisk system, where they have set her up to fail.

But the RMN and the political leaders of the Star Kingdom of Manticore have no idea that the Basilisk system is about to become a huge political powderkeg. Smugglers are operating in the system. Native unrest is stirred up even more by a dangerous drug, which makes them violent, and someone is arming the locals with crude rifles. And then there's the People's Republic of Haven, which is looking to expand, and the Basilisk system is a most attractive target.

OBS makes a strong debut for both Weber's series and for Honor Harrington herself. In addition to introducing Honor, Weber introduces a number of interesting characters, namely the crew of the H.M.S. Fearless. Especially of interest is Fearless' executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Alistair McKeon. McKeon harbors a great deal of resentment and mistrust toward Honor, and Weber does a great job of slowly bringing down the wall between the true as Honor earns her X.O.'s trust and respect.

Weber followed up On Basilisk Station later in 1993 with The Honor of the Queen. Honor Harrington is now captain of a new, heavy cruiser version of the H.M.S. Fearless. In THOTQ, Honor accompanies her mentor, Admiral Courvosier, on a diplomatic mission to Grayson, a world where there is no equality of the sexes. Religious fundamentalists who view women as being inferior govern the planet. Captain Harrington faces the challenge of gaining the trust of the Graysons, as the Manticorans seek an alliance to buffer against efforts to expand by the People's Republic of Haven.

The long-awaited war between the Star Kingdom of Manticore and the People's Republic of Haven finally begins in 1994's The Short Victorious War. The PRH is a cradle-to-the-grave welfare state whose welfare has gone down the toilet. The Republic is struggling to continue to support the staggering number of dolists among its population. The Havenites' (or "Peeps" as they are often called) usual remedy to this situation is to invade planets or solar systems that are stronger economically, but weaker militarily. But now they are faced with only weak agricultural powers to contend with, or they could go after the extremely powerful Star Kingdom.

Captain Honor Harrington has been on medical leave recovering from injuries she suffered in THOTQ, yet she is eager to return to space. She gets to do so, this time in command of the H.M.S. Nike. An old nemesis from Honor's naval academy days on Saganami Island returns as well, making things even more difficult for her.

The fall of 1994 brought Field of Dishonor, which is, perhaps, my favorite book in the HH series. FoD moves the series from space battles to the political arena. Honor's naval academy nemesis, Captain Lord Pavel Young, is being court martialed for cowardice in the face of the enemy, yet he remains determined to seek vengeance for every indignity he has suffered because of Honor. Young plans the death of Captain Harrington's lover. The events that unfold in FoD have a significant impact on the Honor Harrington series, and they change the course of Honor's life and career.

Flag in Exile (1995) sees Honor return to Grayson, as she is still grieving her loss from the events of Field of Dishonor. She is on half-pay from the Royal Manticoran Navy, and the Grayson Navy invites her to join as an Admiral. Honor also begins to settle into her role as the first-ever female steadholder in Grayson history. This raises the ire of patriarchal zealots who wish to turn back the clock on their society. And, of course, the People's Republic of Haven can always be counted on to cause trouble. The Peeps have become better organized, and are beginning to learn from their mistakes. They have also decided to advance on Yeltsin's Star and remove Manticore's strongest ally. As Weber's previous books have given us a look into Manticoran society and politics, FiE gives us a similar look at Grayson's societal and political structure.

1997 saw Honor Harrington recalled to active duty with the RMN in Honor Among Enemies. Harrington is chosen to lead anti-piracy operations in the Silesian Confederacy. The Star Kingdom's war with the PRH heats up, forcing the Royal Manticoran Navy to withdraw its forces in Silesia. A huge red flag goes up in the support Honor receives from her critics, who actually view this as a win-win situation for themselves. If Honor succeeds, they also look good, but if she fails, they are rid of a huge thorn in their side. Honor is given a small fleet of armed merchant ships and inexperienced crews, as her enemies have once again set her up for failure. But failure is a word that Honor Harrington still has yet to learn the meaning of.

Honor finds herself in command of a joint squadron of Manticoran and Grayson naval forces in 1998's In Enemy Hands. A Havenite squadron ambushes Honor and her crew, and they find themselves outnumbered and outgunned. Harrington must choose between fighting to the last man and seeing her crew obliterated, or surrendering to the People's Navy. She chooses the latter, and finds herself imprisoned, tortured and humiliated (not to mention sentenced to death) by the Havenite State Security Force. Weber creates a delightfully cold-hearted villain in Cordelia Ransome, the PRH head of publicity. A renegade helps the Manticorans escape, but they soon find the only place they can go is the Havenites' secret prison planet. This is a story that is to be continued into the next book.

David Weber did not fail to satisfy in 1999 with the release of Echoes of Honor. The Star Kingdom of Manticore vows to avenge Honor Harrington's "death" after her supposed execution at the hands of the People's Republic of Haven. But Honor is actually marooned with a handful of her men on the Havenite prison planet known as Hell. She assembles a force of POW's and begins to plan an escape for herself, her remaining crew and the rest of the prisoners incarcerated on Hell. Weber continues to develop the Honor Harrington character, as she is now more emotionally mature.

In 2001, Weber moved Honor from the war theater of space to a different battlefield in the Manticoran and Grayson political arenas Ashes of Victory. Believed to have been dead, Commodore Harrington has just returned from Hell, bringing some 400,000 liberated Prisoners of War with her. The Royal Manticoran Navy promotes her to Admiral and gives her a desk job as a teacher in tactics at the RMN Academy. In AoV, Weber shows us that fighting in the political battlefield can be just as interesting or engaging as almost any military battle.

The tenth Honor Harrington novel, War of Honor, was released in the fall of 2003. In WoH, the Manticoran Prime Minister Baron High Ridge and his allies seek to destroy their two chief political adversaries: Hamisch Alexander, the Earl of Whitehaven, and her Grace, Duchess/Steadholder and Admiral of the Royal Manticoran Navy, Honor Harrington by circulating rumors of infidelity between the two. The peace process between the Republic of Haven (formerly the People's Republic of Haven) and the Star Kingdom of Manticore hits a snag. And the Andermani Emperor Gustav decides to make his imperial presence felt in Silesia.

In 2005's At All Costs, the hostilities between the Star Kingdom of Manticore and the Republic of Haven have resumed and for the first time, the Havenites have the military advantage over the Manticorans. The Star Kingdom is working frantically to rebuild their forces and recover the strength they have lost over the course of the military cutbacks from the High Ridge administration and the liberals in the House of Lords. But the Havenites are also building on a very large scale. That, combined with their manpower, offsets the Manticorans' technological edge. The Peeps have the Star Kingdom on the ropes, and it Manticore is done for.

The cost of war is high for both sides. Despite her confidence that her troops can win, Havenite Eloise Pritchart decides to seek peace. She is willing to meet with Queen Elizabeth III of Manticore to discuss terms for peace. As Admiral Harrington prepares to return to the battlefront, she learns she is pregnant. Honor has her unborn child removed from herself and placed in a tube to keep the child safe in case Honor herself should be killed in battle. AAC is a solid space opera tale in the tradition of the HH series, as Weber provides a masterful balance of action, political drama and character development.

David Weber's "Honorverse" goes beyond the eleven novels of the Honor Harrington series. Baen Publishing has also published four books containing short stories set in the Honor Harrington universe: Worlds of Honor, More Than Honor, Changer of Worlds and The Service of the Sword (generally known as the Worlds of Honor series). These volumes contain short stories by David Drake, Timothy Zahn, Eric Flint, Jane Linskold and several other authors in addition to Weber himself. Many of the stories are about Honor Harrington herself, many others focus on other characters in the Honorverse, and some are even set centuries before Honor was born. But these stories do help to deepen the reader's understanding of the Honor Harrington universe.

Weber has also expanded the Honorverse with the release of a couple of spin-off novels. These books are set in the Honor Harrington universe, but the stories are more focused on other characters. In the fall of 2003, Baen Publishing released Crown of Slaves, which Weber co-wrote with fellow Baen author Eric Flint. CoS is more of a spy story than a military science fiction story, but this book has plenty of action. Relations between the Star Kingdom of Manticore and her ally, Erewhon, have become increasingly strained due to the ineptitude of the High Ridge administration. As the stage is set for Erewhon to defect from the Manticoran Alliance, Victor Cachat, a Havenite agent, journeys to Erewhon in hopes of forging ties which will bring the Erewhonese into an alliance with the Republic of Haven. But rather than give up hope, the Manticorans send a delegation led by Princess Ruth Winton, the adopted niece of Queen Elizabeth III, along with former RMN Captain Anton Zilwicki and his daughter to Erewhon to attend the state funeral of a political leader who has been assassinated. What unfolds is an excellent cloak and dagger spy story.

October 2004 saw the release of The Shadow of Saganami, or as I like to call it, Honorverse: The Next Generation. TSoS is the beginning of a new series set within the Honorverse called the Saganami Island series. Saganami Island is where the RMN Academy is located, and this story follows a group of graduates from the Academy. The Star Kingdom is at war with the Republic of Haven, and a group of midshipmen has been assigned to duty aboard the heavy cruiser Hexapuma. They are sent to a backwater region known as the Talbott Cluster. The graduates find themselves serving under a war-weary captain and a station commander who is not exactly known as a brilliant and insightful leader. This is not exactly what these students had in mind for their first assignment.

While many of the solar systems in the Talbott Cluster have voted to join the Star Kingdom of Manticore, a conspiracy is afoot to prevent that from happening. Many of the Star Kingdom's enemies, including pirates, terrorists, genetic slavers and weapons smugglers, have made a secret pact to destroy Manticore. While the Star Kingdom is fighting on one front against the Republic of Haven, these enemies are preparing for a rear attack against the "Manties." HMS Hexapuma, her captain and her untested crew are all that stand in their way. The Shadow of Saganami provides a great balance of military action and political drama, and it is an excellent read.

The future looks healthy for Honor Harrington and the Honorverse in general. David Weber has said his plans for the Honor Harrington series include about eight or nine more novels. He has also been negotiating the development of a television series based on the HH series. In addition, Weber has announced plans to write nine more novels for the Saganami Island series. It's been a great ride so far, exploring the Honorverse, and I, for one, look forward to many return visits in the future.