The Honor of the Queen (1993)

In the interests of the ongoing dance to prevent the People's Republic of Haven from encroaching on neighbouring star systems with a view to gobbling them up and moving on towards Manticore, Captain Honor Harrington is given the military command of a diplomatic mission to the planet Grayson of the intervening Yeltsin's Star system. But she's just found out that women are treated as second class citizens with no legal rights on Grayson. And no-one has told the Graysonites that she's in charge. Despite her dislike for politics, Honor is going to have to learn diplomacy, and very quickly.

Similar to On Basilisk Station, Honor finds herself in another system, in a difficult political situation, fighting on behalf of people who don't particularly like her, and hopelessly outclassed - on paper - by the military might her opponents (Haven making a reappearance here) can command, but, as ever, she sticks to her personal code of honour. But, despite the reams of numbers which went over my head, the action sequences had me, literally, on the edge of my seat. You know Honor will come through; she has to - but how is she going to make it, against all the odds?

This time, there is an acknowledgement that it is not just sections and armament that is lost when a ship is hit, but scores of people as well, which I felt wasn't obvious in On Basilisk Station. We get to see Nimitz the tree cat launch into furious action, and explore the extent of his empathy, which surprises even Honor. I like the way the scene switches between ships, so we see the split-second decisions and repercussions from both sides during an engagement. It keeps the action flowing, and the tension high, and lets you empathise with the opposition.

This is the second instalment in the excellent Honor Harrington series.

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Lot better read than the first in the series. I think that I may be becoming addicted to the series ( )

An enjoyable read that shows us even with today's thinking and modern technology, we can still be closed minded. Some times we really do need someone to kick us in our rears to get us going.

The book pretty much sets up the later novels with how the politics of the local universe work. ( )

Honor Harrington is back, and this time, the stakes are higher, and much more personal. In *The Honor of the Queen*, Honor Harrington is assigned to escort a diplomatic envoy to a backward colony only recently discovered a few hundred years before.

This means that the colony had left "Old Earth" over a millennium previously. They are the off-shoot of a cult that took to the stars to escape technology. Though they are not necessarily amenable to Harrington and her crew, they are vastly better than their neighbors. The neighbors are an offshoot of the original cult that were expelled from the cult's planet, Grayson, and settled on the nearby world of Masada.

The People's Republic of Haven, who tried to take over a space terminal at Basilisk in the first book as a preparation for invading Manticore (Honor's home star system) are also back. They are ready to ally themselves with the lunatic Masadans in order to gain a foothold in the Grayson system. In effect, the book is about a Cold War-esque struggle between Haven and the Star Kingdom of Manticore.

Given the somewhat backward views on women, Honor takes her ship to do a supply run and leaves a back-up force behind. She thinks this is the best way for the opponents of the Grayson/Manticoran alliance not to use her as an issue to derail the treaty. In her absence, the Haven/Masadan alliance strikes, and the results are devastating losses to both Manticoran and Grayson navies and facilities.

Once Honor comes back to the system, she finds that she is outgunned due to the Masadans having control of a Haven warship that can easily destroy her small escort fleet. If help doesn't arrive in time, she, her fleet, and everyone on Grayson, will all die.

This might seem a rehash of the first book, and iin some ways, it was. The plot line was similar, yet it was unique enough with some twists and turns to not seem like a complete plot re-tread. Really the amount of thought put into the cultures of Grayson and Masada, and Weber's worldbuilding continue to impress me.

The pros of the book also include the respect for religion. Some would think from my description that the author trashes religion, but he does not. This is an in-space version of the difference between, say, Western Christianity and radical Islam/a Koreshian Doomsday cult. Clearly not all religion is evil. Christianity is widely practiced in the novels timeframe, and not trashed. The religious backdrop was a plot element, not commentary.

The other good parts are the same as in the first book. Realism, respect for the enlisted/NCO's, and so forth. However, there were two major problems with the book.

The first one is that the plot is still undeniably a recycled plot from the first book with a few changes, and I wanted to see some originality. The great narrative made some difference to help me enjoy the story, but not enough.

The second issue I have with this is that the character of Captain Honor Harrington is just too perfect. This is not my bias against officers (even fictional ones) speaking, but my bias as a reader. The way that every other character gushes over Harrington (even many of the bad guys, for goodness sake!) just seemed to out of place. It's like she is the best naval officer in the whole history of man. It just pulled me out of the narrative, as I wanted a main character that is believable, not the infinitely, absurdly best ever. I want a protagonist, in other words, not a Canon Sue. I fear that Harrington is headed that way, and it isn't good.

Despite these flaws, it was an excellent read, and while I can't recommend it as much as the first one, I do recommend it for a good read. Give it a try, it's a fun book. ( )

I love this book because it strikes a nerve as far as people being mature enough to facedown what they don't like about themselves and others. I also like how brutally honest it is but also uncovers things that should not be tolerated. If one tolerates bad behavior, who gets hurt the most in the end? Besides it dealing with these social situations it also highlighted Nimitz's skill and gave us more insight into how the bond works. ( )