The Honor of the Queen

By David Weber and David; Flint Eric Weber

Book Overview

Book 2 in the internationally best-selling Honor Harrington science fiction series. First time in Trade Paperback

It's hard to give peace a chance when the other side regards conquest as the only option and a sneak attack as the best means to that end. That's why the Kingdom of Manticore needs allies against the Republic of Haven--and the planet Grayson is strategically situated to make a very good ally indeed. But Her Majesty's Foreign Office overlooked a "minor cultural difference" when they chose Honor Harrington to carry the flag: women on the planet of Grayson are without rank or rights and Honor's mere presence is an intolerable affront to every male on the planet. At first Honor doesn't take it personally; where she comes from gender discrimination is barely a historical memory, right up there in significance with fear of the left-handed. But in time such treatment becomes taxing and she makes plans to withdraw, until Grayson's fratricidal sister planet attacks without warning. Now, Honor must stay and prevail, not just for her honor, but for her sovereign's--for the honor of the Queen.

Praise for David Weber and the Honor Harrington series:
". . . everything you could want in a heroine. . . . Excellent . . . plenty of action." --Science Fiction Age

"Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant " --Anne McCaffrey

"Compelling combat combined with engaging characters for a great space opera adventure." --Locus

"Weber combines realistic, engaging characters with intelligent technological projection . . . Fans of this venerable space opera will rejoice . . ." --Publishers Weekly

Praise for Shadow of Freedom, #15 in the Honor Harrington series:
"This entry is just as exciting as Weber's initial offering. . . . The result is a fast-paced and action-packed story that follows our characters] as they move from reaction to command of the situation. Weber builds Shadow of Freedom to an exciting and unexpected climax." --Daily News of Galveston

Praise for Mission of Honor, #13 in the Honor Harrington series:
"Weber combines realistic, engaging characters with intelligent technological projection and a deep understanding of military bureaucracy in this long-awaited Honor Harrington novel . . . Fans of this venerable space opera will rejoice to see Honor back in action." --Publishers Weekly

"This latest Honor Harrington novel brings the saga to another crucial turning point . . . Readers may feel confident that they will be Honored many more times and enjoy it every time." --Booklist

Honor Harrington Main Series:
On Basilisk Station
The Honor of the Queen
The Short Victorious War
Field of Dishonor
Flag in Exile
Honor Among Enemies
In Enemy Hands
Echoes of Honor
Ashes of Victory
War of Honor
The Shadow of Saganami
At All Costs
Storm from the Shadows
Mission of Honor
A Rising Thunder
Shadow of Freedom

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1982193697
• ISBN13: 9781982193690
• Release Date: October 2024
• Publisher: Baen
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.9" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Excellent Space Opera and a Rousing Read

David Weber has created Science fiction's equivalent of C.S. Forrestor's Horatio Hornblower saga with his ongoing saga of his heroine, Honor Harrington. With her faithful, and empathic, treecat Nimitz, this series is a true delight. This is swashbuckling, space opera sci-fi at its best, with excellent characters, a vibrant universe, complete with an intriguing socio-political plot which drives the overall plot of the background of this fascinating universe."The Honor of the Queen," the 2nd novel in the Honor Harrington weries, takes place a couple of years after the events of "On Basilik Station." Honor has command of the cruiser Fearless, an up-to-date modern heavy cruiser, and is given command of a small squadron of ships to take on a dilpomatic mission to the planet Grayson in the Yeltsin system. Honor's Star Kingdom of Manticore is seeking allies against the People's Republic of Haven (Peeps) which has been funding its welfare-state economy by conquering and looting worlds.The good news for Honor is that the diplomatic mission is commanded by her mentor, Admiral Raoul Courvosier, detached from the Navy to the Foreign Office for this mission. The bad news: Grayson is a feudal planet, a planet founded by religious zealots, a planet where women don't even have the right to vote, and equality of the sexes is unheard of. to say nothing of the idea of women serving in the military. And no one's told the Graysons that the Manticoran commanding officer is a woman.It's bad enough that Honor has to deal with sexism form the Graysons, but even worse, Grayson's long standing war with the far more extreme and repressive zealots who live on the planet Massada is heating up, dramatically. Even worse, the Peeps are attempting to take advantage of the situation.This is a truly enjoyable novel, with a high fun factor. Mr. Weber does a nice job of portraying the conflicted nature of much of the Grayson high command, and he takes the relationship between Honor and Nimitz even further than before. Mr. Weber's chaacters are fascinating, and a number of characters introduced in this novel will be recurring characters throughout this series.

tremendously exciting, with plenty of surprises

It's fair to call this (the second in the series) a very pivotal book, because the main character's entire future is completely transformed by its events. While the books are designed to stand alone well enough, the only way to understand some of the key relationships is to read them in sequence.Religious and gender issues come to the forefront here, with Honor experiencing attitudes almost unheard of in her homeland. This is the only part of the book that is questionable in its consistency: Honor's emotional reaction to the situation is a little too emotional for someone supposedly raised in such an egalitarian society. Even allowing for a couple of very bad experiences in her career, and that words can hurt some people more than pulser fire, I can't see a character as strong as Honor taking her ball and going away--even briefly--just because the nasty sexists are rude to her. She's too strong a woman for that. However, that said, the remainder of the personal interaction picture in the book is creative, sensible and richly interesting. Weber is not afraid to have permanent consequences to characters and no one's future and health, not even Honor's, are certain.Although Weber takes an awkward turn once in awhile, this is still some of the most engrossing space opera out there--especially in terms of a well-developed heroine who enjoys a growing position of authority and respect. This series will be of special interest to persons of the Christian faith; while the opening pages of this book make you think that you're on the way down the path of stereotyping, as the portrait of Grayson develops, even someone of entirely different beliefs (such as myself) comes to respect and like a lot about Graysons and their faith. Good stuff.

I feel sorry for the Peeps!

As I stated in my title I feel sorry for the Peeps as once again they are pitted against our very formible and lovable Honor Harrington.Honor Harrington this time must stop them from conquering the peaceful but backward planet of Grayson and she and Nimitz foil a assasination attempt on Grayson's leader in a gripping and very violent action sequence.This novel like the other ones in the series has all the right ingredients:above average universe-crafting and characterization.Weber's military action sequences are first-rate!

A VERY Worthy Follow-Up To "On Basilisk Station"!

This book is an excellent piece of work, both from the perspective of character development and from the perspective of technical details. Weber develops highly enjoyable characters of considerable depth, but manages to include enough data regarding technological considerations to actually provide a plausible "guesstimate" of what future military personnel may face as humanity goes out into space. He also includes some interesting speculative sociology, as the star nation Honor Harrington is trying to help are the descendents of extremely conservative fundamentalist Christians, with some very outmoded and counterproductive ideas regarding the "proper place" of women in society. One of the most interesting themes in the book revolves around the mutual discomfort that Harrington and her prospective allies feel toward each other, and how this gradually evolves to respect. Do yourself a favor and read this book!

EXCELLENT!

I was pleasantly surprised that the second book in this series was better than the first (which was awesome). The character development of Honor Harrington in the book is solid and deep. Action packed, good story. I passed this and other Honor Harrington books because of the female lead character. I made a BIG MISTAKE. The is one of the best sci-fi book I have read in a LONG time. Honor Harrington makes other space heros (Cpt. Kirk and company) look like whimps! But read On Basilisk Station first.