Responding to Rose's top ten post. Because I love women and book discussions. They unabashedly tend to peel back the covers and allow an emotional peek.10. Wesley Matthews: Before I fell in love with Haven, Grayson was my favorite, and Wesley was one of the first characters I ever fell in love with. He absolutely exemplifies Grayson's best self, and I will never forget his courage, his kindness, or the way his character changed - and yet remained so essentially the same - from the moment we met him. He didn't appear nearly enough, but every time he did, I fell a little bit more in love.
You know Rose, now that I think about it, Wesley was the first Grayson that won me over as well. I would wager it to be the same for everyone regarding Wesley. I remember feeling that he really didn't seem like he was a native Grayson. It was as if he himself had spent a lot of time off planet, just as Benjamin.
IIRC, Michelle Reynaud of
OBS fame was the first non-Manticoran character I'd've invited to dinner.
9. Warner Caslet: In the early days, Warner was my Havenite love. What can I even say about his courage, honor, gift for tactics, and self-honesty? Watching him walk away from the nation he loves so much is still one of the most painful moments of the series for me, and though in the end he really had no choice - and did far more for Haven fighting for her from the outside than he would have dying in her service - I still wish things could have ended just a little bit differently. He could have been another Tourville.
It does make you wonder how he would have fared at the Battle of Manticore slinging missiles for Haven. Or just what he could have accomplished for Haven and would have done to a few Manticoran ships had he not defected and survived the purge. I can't honestly say that it was difficult for me to see him defect. Because I really didn't like Haven. At that point in time to me, Haven was more about individuals somehow born on the wrong planet.
I remember a discussion in a past thread regarding who was the bad guy between Haven and Manticore. Yet, there were NO officers defecting from Manticore.
And he really did do more for Haven defecting than staying. In defecting, he died to Haven. Can we say martyr? Nice call Rose.
8. Sonja Hemphill: What can I say? Sonja hits all my buttons. I've loved her for her tactless, cranky, insufferable, good-hearted self almost from the start, and after Field of Dishonor, I was absolutely sunk. I've always had a weakness for tactless, socially-impaired geniuses, and Sonja fits the bill superbly. (Now can we please have a few dozen chapters chronicling her adventures with her soulmate Shannon out at Bolthole??)
I honestly think she was a social piranha because no one understood her goals, her vision. White Haven didn't until Honor beat him over the head with it. I can imagine everyone talking behind Sonja's back "What does she think she's doing?" "She's gonna kill us all!" "WTF!"
When you're a genius. You're a genius all alone.
However, I personally didn't grow to like her until well on in the series. It was difficult to forgive her for
OBS.7. Michelle Henke: How do I love Michelle Henke?? Let me count the ways. I love the way she rises to every challenge, even when she thinks she can't. I love her sarcasm, her sense of humor, and the fact that she feels far more like an everyday person than towering giants like Pritchart, Theisman, and Harrington. She's not larger than life - she's just a brilliant military officer doing her job under extraordinary circumstances, and I love how human she is. I love her weakness for doughnuts, the way she moans and groans about having to do too much with too little... she's so wonderfully real, someone I'd love to sit down with and have a drink or three and trade stories until we're laughing ourselves silly. She's just... she's absolutely wonderful, and I adore her, and while I do agree that nobody but Honor Harrington could have carried this series, if we could keep Michelle's point-of-view coming as often as possible, that would be just lovely, thank you.
Ditto. Her sense of humor was always icing on the storyline. She just didn't act as if she is fifth in line for secession. I mean that in a good way. I'm sure Honor saw her friendship as remarkably profound, a sort of who'd-a-thought-it? I will always nurse wishes to see Michelle as temporary Queen. Something tells me she is harboring as much political savvy as Truman harbors tactical acumen. Let it out RFC, LET IT OUT, as only a wizard can. A mad wizard.
But doesn't part of you wonder what impact Michelle would have made as a political MDM? Imagine her as close a friend to Honor as she is yet deciding to go into politics at the last minute instead. Michelle would have ripped a few political asses on quite a few occasions when they tried to pull that same shit on Honor. Michelle would have been a Matsuko&Montaigne rolled into one and injected with steroids! That'll make a hell of an M&M&M-MDM.
But really, can you imagine certain political pieces of the pie served up together? I liked passages that featured flies on the political walls. Remembering Anton and Cathy cooking up her future strategy.
6. Abigail Hearns: My beloved Grayson princess - what isn't there to love about her? The more I see her, the more I fall in love with her. It's like someone's taken a Regency-era heroine, gifted her with extraordinary tactical ability, and packed her off to the Navy, and I absolutely adore how she remains completely feminine and so very much a woman of Grayson even as she blazes a trail for all those who would come after her - and does it magnificently. If we could just keep her point-of-view segments coming... oh, who the hell am I kidding? She needs her own series, stat, and I'd buy every new release in freakin' hardcover.
Yea.
The Princess and the Navy. That's a title I'd like to read. I like the way she accomplishes her duty yet remains princess like in all she does too Rose. And that
can't be easy, when the nasty realities of war has a tendency to make any lady want to cuss like a sailor and piss like a man. She won me over when she strongly decided "The tresses and the dresses are non-negotiable."
But does anyone else see a little of Scarlett O'Hara from Gone With The Wind in her when she was a little girl standing on that balcony?... "As Tester is my witness, I will never be helpless again!"
5. Michael Oversteegen: When I was twelve years old, I was introduced to a character by the name of Lord Wyldon of Cavall in Tamora Pierce's Tortall series - and ever since, the sight of an honorable conservative aristocratic military man is enough to make me melt like butter. (See also: John Chandler Simpson.) And I still melt like butter every time this man appears on the page. If Abigail is a Regency heroine, Michael is most definitely a Regency hero - a dashing aristocratic officer whose honor, sense of duty, and noblesse oblige make him the stuff of too many romance novels to count. And if I can't have him as one of those, I'll take him just as he is - making me swoon every time he shows up.
I
knew you had inhaled and gotten a literary high on substances I'd never tried. I've never heard of that series. Feeling a little slighted again. An interesting observation, at around the same age, it seems as if the sight of an honorable conservative aristocratic military man had the same literary effect on you as a strong female character had on me. I now feel a literary kinship to you Rose. The fact that you're a Grayson Princess with long hair as well has nothing to do with the crossed fingers behind my back. Honest. I'll have to place the Tortall series on my long list that's growing atritin'ly agin' me. (Fair Oversteegen impression?)
4. Estelle Matsuko: The first Honorverse character I ever fell in love with, bar none - the squeals I most definitely did not make when she reappeared as a main character could have woken the dead. In the Andromeda Galaxy. She is... I love her to pieces, because she is extraordinary. I love her grace, her composure, the way she wears silk over fire. I love the way she can make anyone do anything she wants them to do, at any time, and make them think it was their idea in the first place. I love that she is in instant command whenever she walks into a room, even if she's the smallest person there. I love her for the way she grieved so intensely for her NPA personnel back in OBS, the way she worries over her new charges in Talbott, and the way she will let no one stand between her and getting the job done. I love that she can stare down a Solarian admiral with battle steel in her eyes and kick off her shoes under her desk. I absolutely adore her.
"Silk over fire." Now that ignites an uncalled for lust in my loins. That
was kinda nice the way she handled the Solly admiral huh? I liked the way she quickly assessed Honor's disgust with Pavel Young. And the way she absolutely could not contain her disgust with past station commanders in the light of Honor. There's no way she could contain her glee for Honor. "Girl, loosen your tunic, kick off your shoes and prop your feet up on my desk. You are family!" - had to have been her internal POV.
I'd really like to see Estelle fall in love though. It almost has to be someone on station. Then we may be treated to someone being a sounding board when she needs it, as Anton is with Cathy. In that regard it'd be nice if she fell in love with someone who understands politics as well as Anton.
3. Augustus Khumalo: It was most definitely not love at first sight with this one. In fact, when I first met him, my first instinct was to hug Estelle and say, "Oh, you poor girl - another one?" But it wasn't Monica that brought me over to his side, even if it was Monica which brought him over to his own side. No - the way Loretta Shoupe and Victoria Saunders regarded him started softening my views toward him before Terekhov ever set off for Monica, and so by the time he arrived in the system and told President Tyler to go fuck himself, I had, quite predictably, lost my heart. You see, give me the overlooked ones. The ones who don't know how good they are until the stakes are monumental and they have everything to lose. Give me the quiet ones, the not-so-flashy ones, who get the job done in the background while the others take all the glory. I love his grumbly temper and his sarcasm and his enormous heart and his dogged work ethic. I love him for everything he is and everything he isn't, and the Talbott Quadrant basically thinking he walks on water is, in my opinion, only his just due.
I love your expose on Khumalo. I'll have to go back and review Loretta Shoupe and Victoria Saunders' regard. I'm curiouser than the cat now. He certainly won me over when he supported Terekhov. I have to say I didn't see that one coming. It's just that Khumalo seemed like a desk with an impeller drive - a misplaced paper pusher who woke up one morning on a starship. I respect his ability and good sense to admit being tactically inferior to another. That takes a big man, who is comfortable living inside his own skin.
2. Thomas Theisman: I don't have the words for Thomas Theisman. I honestly don't, except to say this - he is the kind of human being we should all strive to be.
Yep, Theisman was almost too good to be true for Haven. I think he was somehow Manticoran.
1. Eloise Pritchart: And here she is. My baby, my darling, the love of my life. She's not just my favorite character from the Honorverse, she's in my top five list of fictional characters from anywhere. Her heart, her drive, her passion, the way she keeps going in the face of unimaginable grief - there is nothing about her I do not love, and I only wish I had the words to do her justice. She is incredible, she is unbelievable, she is an inspiration, and she will remain my favorite until... well, until ever, basically, because she is a living symbol of hope triumphing over despair and a beacon in the darkness.
~*~
On your top five list of fictional characters anywhere? That's momentous. I appreciate that tidbit. It's a tasty morsel. She certainly had to be a very strong woman emotionally. I don't know how the heck she did it. I was expecting an emotional breakdown at any moment. One thing is for certain, it would NOT have bode well if she had been bonded then. Treecats have a tendency to mimic your insides with that metronome of a flicking tail. But let's face it, her decision to hyper across into Manticoran space at the crescendo of hostilities was all courageous, brilliant and geniusly reckless. To Haven, it was like taking your King and somehow placing her in the middle of the board on the opening move. But the moment Eloise stole my heart was during her interaction with Michelle. An interaction that even threw Henke a bit off balance. I love those exchanges. "Oh I think we can do better than a view of chicken wire out of a window." Good enough paraphrase?
I enjoyed your post Rose. Again, I've always loved women and book discussions. You all seem to so effortlessly let your hair down.
Damn, am I back on the hair thing again? Perhaps I need a therapist. I know, I'll find one with long locks.
