Science Fiction

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Lemmy World Rules

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Tenthrow

Just finished the first Honor Harrington book (self.sciencefiction)

submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by wjrii to c/sciencefiction

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...maybe a little too on the nose with channeling Horatio Hornblower and Jack Aubrey, there's some truly problematic stuff with the native Medusans that goes all but uncommented upon, there's some reactionary politics that may just be de rigeur for 20th century military sci-fi (I don't know... would be happy to be educated), and the characterizations are almost beside the point, I guess.

On the plus side, the world-building is starting out pretty meticulous in a satisfying way (except for Manticoran dates, which is there for good in-universe reasons, but Weber seems to be using it to be the one ongoing reminder that this the distant future and not exactly England in Space), there's a nice hyper-competence problem-solving ship's crew vibe that will feel familiar to Star Trek fans, and the descriptions of actual shipboard action are very engrossing. Stylistically, there's nothing to write home about, but it's clear prose and allowing for the aforementioned weak characterizations, there's nothing egregious either.

I am cautiously optimistic going forward, and if you had the budget (or could get an animated series greenlit), it seems to me that the universe and Honor herself could be spruced up and modernized into a really compelling space opera franchise that would be well-paced for TV.

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[–] wjrii 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Napoleonic high tech (for the day) warfare seems close enough to the topic for me. I cannot stress how committed "On Basilisk Station" is to translating jargon-heavy Royal Navy historical fiction into space.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago

Let me put it this way...

At one point, I was imagining the author giggling madly at 3 am as she calculated how much rattan you'd need to support a cannon on an airship's gundeck.

Enjoy