Meet the Salamander (On Basilisk Station - David Weber)

Member Name: mortimus

Product:	On Basilisk Station - David Weber
Date:	09/05/02 (22 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well plotted, Excellent Characterisation

Disadvantages: You may have a late night

As with any tale there is always a beginning and the beginning of the Honor Harrington Saga is a stunning example of how to begin. It is a an excellent start to a series (He is, I believe, writing the ninth at the moment) that has given me a great amount of joy over the last year since I discovered the wonders of David Weber?s heroine and it has been, to me, a travesty that the series has not caught on over here in Britain.

THE PLOT
The heroine of the piece is Commander Honor Harrington an officer serving with the Royal Manticoran Navy and the epitome of what an officer should be and has achieved her rank for dedication and hard work, unlike other officers within the Manticoran forces. Having just received command of her second hyper space capable command the light cruiser the RMN Fearless she is horrified to discover her new ship has undergone a massive refit of her weapon systems. However this weapon refit instead of being the advantage you expect is in fact a hinderance! All her weapons are experimental and have significant disadvantages within the ?modern navy' and she is expected to prove this mixture in the next set of Fleet Exercises.

Having done her best in the Fleet exercises, she succeeded in taking out the Flagship of the opposing fleet, but not hitting the standards that the Admiral in charge of Research and Development expected Harrington and her crew are exiled to the worst spot in the Manticoran Kingdom.

Basilisk Station is the junkyard of the Royal Manticoran Navy the place where they send the rejects and the misfits. However Basilisk is also one of the nexus points in the trade routes that are critical to Manticore?s economy and a crucial position through which a foreign power could make an attack on Manticore and someone is planning such a move?

With a dissatisfied crew and an ineffective ship Honor must perform her duty and save an entire star system.

THE REVIEW
David Weber has in these nove
ls created a heroine on a par with Horatio Hornblower but that is only the start to this piece. Unlike some of the american space opera novels(I am sorry but that?s the only classification I can give it) he has created an easily identifiable heroine, believable universe and characters that you grow to love as the story progresses. The plot is well developed and has no perceivable weak links to fault. Its depiction of space warfare is very well thought out and marks a major change from the ideas proposed in other books of its type.

The story builds to a highly believable climax and you really are out there cheering from the aisles as the heroine solves the multitude of problems she faces with dignity and aplomb. All in all an excellent start to a series. It has adventure, identifiable characters and a universe you can truly believe possible. If you love your Science Fiction you will love this. It is a shame she has not made a bigger impact over here!

BOOK
On Basilisk Station by David Weber

ISBN
0-671-72163-1

Published by Baen Books

For more information goto

WWW.Baen.com

Summary: