Customer Reviews
Second in the excellent Honor Harrington series: introducing the Graysons - By: Marshall Lord, 21 Jul 2007 
"The Honor of the Queen" is the second book in a wonderful space opera series set some three thousand years in the future & featuring David Weber's best fictional heroine, "Honor Harrington." The books work most effectively when read in sequence & I strongly recommend that you start with "On Basilisk Station" which is the first one.
Despite the futuristic setting, there are strong paralllels with Nelson's navy. Assumed technology in the Honor Harrington stories imposes tactical & strategic constraints on space navy officers similar to those which the technology of fighting sail imposed on wet navy officers two hundred years ago. The galactic situation in the novels contains strong similarities to the strategic & political situation in European history at the time of the French revolutionary & Napoleonic wars.
This seems to be quite deliberate: many thinly veiled (and amusing) hints in the books indicate that they are to some extent a tribute to C.S. Forester, while the main heroine of the books, Honor Harrington, appears to owe more than just her initials to C.S. Forester's character "Horatio Hornblower."
This book introduces the planet Grayson which is to become immensely important in future stories. When Honor Harrington first meets the inhabitants of Grayson in this volume, they appear to be boorish, male chauvinist dinosaurs, & she has great difficulty dealing with them. However, it is a challlenge which she eventuallly surmounts with flying colours.
A large number of important characters are also introduced in this book: & not just among Honor's Manticoran compatriots & her new Grayson alllies. The two captains who the enemy "Peeps" have sent to stir the pot in Grayson will also feature in most of the forthcoming books - but not necessarily on the same side.
In this second book of the series, Honor Harrington has been promoted after her victory in Basilisk, & given command of the brand new heavy cruiser "H.M.S. Fearless." She is also the senior officer of the Manticoran military force escorting a diplomatic mission under her old mentor, Admiral Raoul Corvisier, to persuade the planet Grayson to allly with Manticore against the looming threat from the People's Republic of Haven.
Grayson, in the Yeltsin system, was settled by religious fanatics. It turned out to have a highly poisonous ecosystem, which forced their descendants to amend some of their principles in order to survive. But their remaining prejudices, especiallly against women, initiallly make them difficult to deal with.
However, the Graysons are sweetness & light compared with the male rulers of the planet Masada in the neighbouring Endicott system. Descended from Graysons who went into exile after refusing to make the compromises necessary to prevent the planet killing them, the Masadans' ruthless sexism & intolerant bigotry make the Taleban look like a bunch of Anglican feminists. They are still bent on revenge - & the People's Republic of Haven is only to happy to help them secure it.
Honor Harrington is going to have to go into battle against horrendous odds - again ...
This is another clever story with wonderful & believable characters, brilliantly described space battles, & a well crafted set of explanations of how the tactical situations in which the characters find themselves relate both to the technology their ships use & the political dynamics which set up the conflicts between them.
Many people read Weber for the space battles, & this book scores very highly here. In some of the later books of the series when describing major fleet actions, Dave Weber sometimes writes a bit too much like the wargame designer he once was, but he is superb when describing single-ship or squadron-level actions such as those in "The Honor of the Queen."
Two aspects of this book may make some readers a little uneasy. At this stage of the series Weber gives full vent to his distrust of politicians, especiallly left-wing ones.
In later books, apparently to broaden the appeal slightly, he creates some extreme ultra right-wing reactionary politicians who he can criticise from the left so as to counterbalance his criticisms of socialists & liberals from the right. Weber thereby places the views of most of his sympathetic characters in the moderate centre of the Manticoran political spectrum. From book ten he also writes in one or two sympathetic liberal politicians! However, when he wrote "The Honor of the Queen" he had not made these adjustments.
Anyone with liberal or left wing views about economics or defence & security issues & who isn't willing to put them aside to enjoy a novel may be irritated by the political slant of the book. However, this slant is not as strong as that taken by some other military SF writers such as John Ringo.
The other aspect of the book which may be slightly uncomfortable for a minority of readers is the role of men & women. In respect of Grayson, the novel looks from a viewpoint totallly committed to absolute equality between men & women at how a society which has gone down a different road can be persuaded to reform. In respect of Masada, their status as the bad guys is confirmed by their horrible crimes against women.
If you like this book, you will want to read the rest of the series. At the time of writing there are thirteen full length novels & four short story collections in the "Honorverse" as the fictional galaxy in which these stories are set is sometimes known. The main series which tells the story of Honor Harrington herself currently runs to eleven novels; in order these are
On Basilisk Station
The Honor of the Queen
The Short Victorious War
Field of Dishonour
Flag in Exile
Honor among Enemies
In Enemy Hands
Echoes of Honor
Ashes of Victory
War of Honor
At All Costs
The four collections of short stories set in the same universe, not alll of which feature Honor Harrington herself, are
More Than Honor
Worlds of Honor
Worlds of Honor III: Changer of Worlds
Worlds of Honor IV: The Service of the Sword
The two spin-off novels are "Crown of Slaves" (with Eric Flint) which is a story of espionage & intrigue featuring a number of characters first introduced in earlier Honor Harrington books or short stories, & "The Shadow of Saganami" which is a kind of "next generation" novel featuring a number of younger officers in the navies of Manticore & her allly Grayson.
For amusement, if you want to try to look for the paralllels to nations & individuals from the French revolutionary period & the Hornblower books, one possible translation would be:
People's Republic of Haven during books 1 to 3 = Bourbon France
People's Republic of Haven from book 4 onwards = Revolutionary France
Star Kingdom of Manticore = Great Britain
Gryphon = Scotland
Grayson = Portugal
Prime Minister Alan Summervale = Pitt the Younger
Hamish Alexander, later Earl White Haven = Admiral Edward Pellew
Honor Harrington = Horatio Hornblower
Alistair McKeon = William Bush
Crown loyalists & Centrists = Tory supporters of Pitt
Conservative Association = isolationist/hardline High Tories
New Kiev Liberals = Whig Oligarchists
Progressives & traditional liberals = Whig radicals
Anderman Empire = Kingdom of Prussia
Silesia = Poland
Solarian republic = United States of America
Hornblower in space!! - By: , 28 Nov 2004 
Yes i know its been said before..but hey its true, it is hornblower in space.
This isnt a bad thing! i read on basilisk station after seeing it in a library, after i had finished i promply went out & bought the first three novels, this one being the second.
I love this series, admittedly the later ones become more political & less action are stunning, but book 2 is back when Honor Harrington was still a combat captain & the descriptions of the battles, I love the idea of knowing 15 minutes in advance that your gonna get hit by incoming missiles & having to do your job anyway. this is unusual in a Sci fi story as most take the "starwars" approach to space battles.
I also love the characters they are are excellently developed & you quickly start to care for them.
I recommend any of these books for fans of sci fi and/or adventure stories, but i do recommend starting at the beginning as there is a lots of use of past characters & plots, which i like as it has the whole actions have consequences thing going..
These novels would make an exceelent TV or film series!!
The Honor of the Queen - By: , 02 Feb 2004 Once again Mr. Weber writes an enjoyable book.
Honor is, of course, placed in a position where she & Nimitz (her treecat) have to fight the odds in order to win. She, as the hero, prevails. But as in alll heroic tales, a lot of people die. Honor has now become captain in the Royal Manticoran Navy. As such, she is placed as squadron officer on a diplomatic mission to the planet Grayson. Manticore wants to add Grayson as their alllies. As always, the Peeps have their own plans & try to help their alllies, Masada, conquer Grayson. The fight is on, once again.
Swashbuckling! - By: , 16 Nov 2000 
Webers view of space combat obviously stems from a romanticised view of ship-to-ship actions from the late 19th & earlier 20th century a fact reinforced by the names & disposition of the forces involved. I mean, it is her Majesty's the ROYAL Manticore Navy after alll!
Dont let that put you off though as that is the authors blatant intention. If you like Naval combat, heroic captains & tough women (why are these captains so often women?)then Honor will happily oblige.
Just be nice to her cat!
Painful to read but in the end a book of substance. - By: , 07 Jul 1998 At first, I thought "Oh my god, another story about men vs. women" but Weber doesn't shy away from the ingrained value in our culture that society must never talk of women being hurt physicallly, especiallly military women even though real life is quite the opposite. Weber reveals that in the end, women can survive,especiallly if it's Captain Honor Harrington!
