Where to start?

I haven't read the Honor Harrington books as yet as I have been busy with the Safehold series. I know there are lots of books. Do I start at beginning or can I start reading at any point?

DianeSilva wrote:I haven't read the Honor Harrington books as yet as I have been busy with the Safehold series. I know there are lots of books. Do I start at beginning or can I start reading at any point?

Since this will be your first time through, it's probably best to read in publication order, which means starting with On Basilisk Station.

For a pretty up-to-date reading order, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorverse ... chronology

The actual table you'll get at the link shows the chronological order, but it's not really good to read them that way at first.

Edit: Just make sure you read the Eric Flint short stories From the Highlands and Fanatic before going on to the Crown of Slaves novel by Weber and Flint.

Edit#2: I agree with Jonathan about OBS and HotQ - TBH, every time I re-read the series, I tend to skip OBS. It's good, but I just don't think it's as good as the rest.

DianeSilva wrote:I haven't read the Honor Harrington books as yet as I have been busy with the Safehold series. I know there are lots of books. Do I start at beginning or can I start reading at any point?

The books mostly build off each other, I think it'd be a bit confusing to jump in later.

Mostly the recommendation here is to read them in publication order; which I tend to agree with. (Although a decent number of people seem to like book 2 over book 1, so while I like On Basilisk Station it probably wouldn't be too weird to jump straight to Honor of the Queen)

I'm sure others will chime in with their own thoughts.

But the important this is; enjoy.

DianeSilva wrote:I haven't read the Honor Harrington books as yet as I have been busy with the Safehold series. I know there are lots of books. Do I start at beginning or can I start reading at any point?

Thanks to everyone who responded . I can't wIt to get started. Love Da vid Webers books. I look forward to being in Honorverse

Jonathan_S wrote:

DianeSilva wrote:I haven't read the Honor Harrington books as yet as I have been busy with the Safehold series. I know there are lots of books. Do I start at beginning or can I start reading at any point?

The books mostly build off each other, I think it'd be a bit confusing to jump in later.

Mostly the recommendation here is to read them in publication order; which I tend to agree with. (Although a decent number of people seem to like book 2 over book 1, so while I like On Basilisk Station it probably wouldn't be too weird to jump straight to Honor of the Queen)

I'm sure others will chime in with their own thoughts.

But the important this is; enjoy.

Wouldn't be too weird to jump straight to Honor of the Queen? I am dumbfounded, perplexed, stupefied, open-mouthed, astonished, taken aback, left aghast...

It is improper to compare later reads to On Basilisk Station. OBS sets the stage. It is the mood music that you play, diamond-tipped stylus on vinyl, before an evening where you expect, anticipate, hope sparks to fly. And if those sparks do fly, and they will in OBS everything else will be strawberries and whipped cream, but OBS is definitely the cake. It is in a class by itself. It is like the first half of a very long movie; you can enjoy the second half, but you may be spared the intimacy. And who wants a read without the tears? Happy tears!

Also, if stranded on a planet and I can only have one book in the series...On Basilisk Station.

If the tooth fairy is leaving a single book in a series...On Basilisk Station.

If I was sentenced to prison and sent only one book...On Basilisk Station.

I'm about to get married. On Basilisk Station IS GOING IN THE PRENUP.

Voyager should have been carrying a copy...On Basilisk Station.

I think it kind of depends, like with book one of the narnia series. Yes its cruical to understand some things, but for some, it would be better to start with HOTQ, read a few, then go back to OBS, as OBS is sort of a standalone in some sense, as its more of a local conflict in some ways, whereas the other books are building up on each other, and building the war and universe.

On Basilisk Station is really where you should start, but it's a bit slow to get going if that bothers you. I wouldn't start with a book past Honor of The Queen. This is my personal favorite book. However, while QotQ pretty much stands alone, all the tech is explained in OBS. However if you just accept it I think it will work. If you want to start with HotQ you should go back and read OBS before going forward.

The first 4 books were actually all written together IIRC, so the whole plotline assumes you have read the preceding books. If you get to the 4th book without having read OBS large parts of the plot won't make much sense.

One thing I'd like to point out is that "publication order" includes the anthologies. The first anthology is critical, since it contains The World of Honor Harrington, which explains a lot of background that isn't easily available elsewhere. On the other hand, several of the short stories really aren't necessary on a first read-through. Anything by Weber, Flint or Lindskold, though, is necessary.

cthia wrote:Wouldn't be too weird to jump straight to Honor of the Queen? I am dumbfounded, perplexed, stupefied, open-mouthed, astonished, taken aback, left aghast...

Starting with Honor of the Queen as the first book is a good way to get into the series for the same reason the first movie will be based on HotQ, rather than OBS.

There are several reasons for this. In OBS, Honor is a largely static character, she doesn't have to adapt to her environments (rather, she forces the main environment of the novel to adapt to her) in any meaningful way. In addition, given the novel's focus on Fearless's crew interaction with itself and their new Captain, the external threat from the Medusans and Haven is very much a sideshow to the internal drama.

Finally, we have the Havenite threat itself: The scheme that Honor ends up thwarting is a very convoluted one. It's overly complicated, and lacks an emotional punch or hook; it's essentially a bit of legal maneuvering. And that just doesn't resonate all that well with a lot of readers.

HotQ, on the other hand, does a much better job at challenging Honor. Not only is she confronted with having to operate in an arena she has very much avoided, she's forced to overcome her prejudices first. Same goes for the Graysons and the reader: Just as Honor is prejudiced about those backwater misogynists, so are we, and learning what makes the Graysons tick, and how they're definitely not backwater misogynists (well, at least some of them) is an interesting process of discovery.

Second, the threat that Honor has to fight against in HotQ is much more visceral, much easier to understand and picture, and the plot gives us ample opportunity to see the buildup, the fight, and its resolution without the odd pacing issues that OBS has (remember that treatise about the how of the Hyperdrive inserted awkwardly just after the chase begins?).

Overall, HotQ is in many ways the superior book, at least in my opinion. It has better, tighter plotting, a much more interesting cast of characters, and presents a more interesting setting with higher stakes than its predecessor.

It is improper to compare later reads to On Basilisk Station. OBS sets the stage. It is the mood music that you play, diamond-tipped stylus on vinyl, before an evening where you expect, anticipate, hope sparks to fly. And if those sparks do fly, and they will in OBS everything else will be strawberries and whipped cream, but OBS is definitely the cake. It is in a class by itself. It is like the first half of a very long movie; you can enjoy the second half, but you may be spared the intimacy. And who wants a read without the tears? Happy tears!

The problem is that almost none of the worldbuilding that was done in OBS is necessary to understand HotQ. OBS sets the scene, yeah. But so does HotQ, and given that HotQ is the stronger of the two books, the recommendation to skip OBS and get back to it when you have decided that the Honorverse is something for you certainly has merit.

OBS is not a bad book, not by a long shot. But it's not as stellar as you make it out to be, either.

Voyager should have been carrying a copy...On Basilisk Station.

Kinda difficult to pull that off, given that Voyager 1 was already well into the heliosphere when OBS was published

As much as it goes against the grain for me to do so, I have to throw my agreement behind those who are saying it's okay to start with HotQ.

Basilisk as a novel improved immensely for me after I'd already read HotQ, because I was able to appreciate the characters and worldbuilding a lot more. Aside from Dame Estelle Matsuko - who I've loved since day one - OBS just didn't "grab" me the way HotQ did. I'd say that's where my love of the series really got started. I'd say you almost have to read OBS after HotQ if you don't start with it, though, because so much of what happens in SVW and FoD hinges on what happens in OBS. Unlike the film version, the novel version of HotQ doesn't have flashbacks to set the context.