On Basilisk Station

Honor Harrington, Book 1

By: David Weber

Narrated by: Allyson Johnson

Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Having made a superior look a fool, Honor Harrington has been exiled to Basilisk Station in disgrace and set up for ruin.

Her demoralized crew blames her for their ship's humiliating posting to an out-of-the-way picket station.

The aborigines of the system's only habitable planet are smoking homicide-inducing hallucinogens.

Parliament isn't sure it wants to keep the place; the major local industry is smuggling; the merchant cartels want her head; the star-conquering, so-called "Republic" of Haven is up to something; and Honor Harrington has a single, over-age light cruiser with an armament that doesn't work to police the entire star system.

But the people out to get her have made one mistake. They've made her mad.

A Note from Author David Weber
There's been some confusion—not to say, um, energetic debate, readers and fans being readers and fans—about the correct pronunciation of "Manticoran." The truth, alas, is that a stitch was dropped. An error occurred. A mistake was made… and it wasn't Audible's fault. It was mine. Before Audible recorded the very first Honor Harrington book, narrator Allyson Johnson and I not only corresponded by e-mail but actually spoke to one another by phone. She wanted to make absolutely certain she had the correct pronunciations for names, places, star nations, etc., and I tried to make certain all of her questions were answered. And so they were. Unfortunately, at some point in the process, I replied to one of her e-mails by telling her that "Man-ti-core-ahn" was pronounced "Man-tik-er-ahn." Exactly how this happened is more than I can say at this point, except to blushingly disclose that the original e-mail remains intact, confirming to all the world that it was, indeed, my fault. I can ascribe it only to a temporary mental hiccup on my part and crave your forgiveness. If, however, you must blame someone for the mix-up, that someone should be me and not Audible, who have done everything they could to get it right.

©2002 David Weber (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Fascinating sci-fi action

Gripping story told with aplomb by an excellent reader. You'll find yourself awaiting the sequel!

My fav

One of my favorite book series out there. I've listened before, and will again, I guarantee it!

Great story, some tech issues

Awesome story, looking forward to all of the honorverse novels while we wait for the next Safehold story arc. Frequent issues with skipping throughout the narration, however.

Great hard science fiction!

I've heard of this series of books but it took a while to get to it. Now I'm sorry I waited so long. This is great hard science fiction. Honor Harrington is an interesting and consistent character without taking over everything that happens in the book. I love the explanations of the navigation, ship drives and how time works across multiple worlds. The reading by Allyson Johnson is excellent and really compliments the story.

super and brilliant series!!!

I love this series, this would be my fourth time listening to it! the action is pretty cool, and heartfelt!

One of my favorite books of all time!

Why the Honor Harrington Series has never become a major motion picture or TV series... I have never understood! IMO It's far better than Star Trek or Star Wars.

Wanted to like the book, I really did

It's not bad, but this is the setup for a long series and he spend a good deal of time discussing the political situation and how the technology works. I found the enemies plans a bit dull and the end resolution unsatisfying. I liked it enough that I'll try the next book at some point, hoping that now that things are setup he doesn't need to do it again and the story will thus be more satisfying.

Its just.....

When I start a book, movie, game, really anything I feel a huge impulse to see the story through regardless of my personal feelings about whether or not it's good/bad. Honor Harrington falls somewhere in between. The character development is lacking, the depth of detail about logistics and weapons agonizing. The storyline didn't feel like a beginning of a series, rather a filler story inside what should be a different story...hard to explain I suppose. I was intrigued with Honors ( our lead character) storyline, which kept me listening. I haven't heard the other books but if I did come back to this series, it'll only be because of wanting to see where Honors career takes her and if a real story might develop.

Wow

I thought the story was very good. I enjoyed having a book read to me, and the storyteller did very well.

Good, but the written version may be better

Quite a good book, exciting. I wish the background characters had been more developed, but Honor's a bit larger than life and her personality (and the politics & history) managed to fill the void for me.

It's a bit difficult to follow the 'science' when listening to the audio (may be better to actually read the book as well). The author places a lot of emphasis on the tone of Honor's voice so it's a bit annoying that the narrator's performance is so dissimilar.

Very good story, but I think I would have gotten more out of the written version.