Anyhow, a short, spontaneous review from Niklas.

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Overall

I really liked the setting, with mixed human colony powers that fight over territory and such, expansionists versus conservatives... And aside from the medusans, there weren't any aliens at all, which was nice for a change.
The decision to incorporate pistol duels was a nice touch, sounds so "olde british", in a way.

Death

I'm glad Weber decided to use the ingredient of Death with care and temperance, for example the Dune series has so much death and sorrow in it all the time that it gets really, really depressing at times. The worth of a person's life is too low in Dune.
In this book, I was comfortable with the patrol duties Honor executed at Basilisk WITHOUT having to shoot and hack people all the time.
For once it was "just another boring and hard day on the job", not continuous martial law and people die die die. I am really enjoying the peace time in the book, there are more options. Like in old TNG, pre borg. It was, just...nice.
I have no doubt there's gonna be turbulence in the coming books, but this is good too.

Timeframe

I was a bit confused by the timeframe of this book at first, they count their years AD "After Diaspora", from when the first colonist ship left Old Earth. When exactly was this???
I can't convert what year it would be according to OUR calendar...
On the other hand, it's nice that it's a little vague, I don't really need to know how long it's been, it's more interesting to read about of the history they made THEMSELVES, after founding Manticore and Haven.

Honor Harrington and Equality

Honor Harrington is an interesting character, not Demi Moore (too cocky) and not the bland, perfect hero that is so overrepresented in some books. But I like "determined military girl".

Is the english pocket cover art of "Basilisk" accepted by Weber as a canon image of her? I like it, although they made Nimitz' eyes red instead of green. And Ms Harrington is described as not wearing makeup in the book, whereas on the cover of "Basilisk" she does have lipstick and eyeliner.

The equality between the sexes is very nice. That was hard to uphold, of course, when I read what the medusans did to skimmer captain Frances Malcolm in the start of the terrible medusan uprising.

Meow!

The "treecat" idea is nice, Nimitz seems to read his mistress quite good, and it reminds me of Ellen Ripley and her Jonesey.
It's a nice touch that the 'cats are so accepted in the military, and that Honor even wears a special pad on her shoulder for him to grip his claws in.
I'm also glad she gets ANY physical contact (a la cat) with someone as she must get terribly lonely as captain. And stroking a cat lowers blood pressure!

Crew matters

The delicate chemistry between the officers (and other crew as well) was very interesting, especially the measures Honor had to take to make them function properly and trust her.
The functions and actions of a captain can be so diverse and complicated sometimes, it seems.

Spaceships & Other Technology

The technical bit was great. I liked the spaceship flora very much. It's been long since I heard the term "dreadnought", and they have it in "super"-flavour, as well. Yum!

The ships sounded more non-aerodynamic compared to Star Trek, in fact more like the Sulaco from Aliens or the ships in Starship Troopers.
(I was just wondering, in what size order did the cutter, skimmer and pinnace come?)
I can't wait to read about that newly built of the "Star Knight" class, it sounds yummy.

The weapons and other technology felt fresh and new to me, what with the impeller drive, the impeller "wedge", laser-burst torpedoes and that crazy gravlance!
I hope they make the 'lance work better in the other six books, it sounds just as untamed and unrefined as the Defiant's cannons in the beginning.
The countermeasure equipment was exciting, as was the intricate details of missile combat.
I don't think I've ever read such a thoroughly depicted space battle as between Fearless and the Sirius.

An unusual aspect of their shields was that some part of the shield belt could take pretty much anything because of its nature, composition and energy feed.
It had something to do with the impeller nodes, which I guess works as "shield emitters", I guess.
Apparently they varied in size from civilian to military grade. Mmm...

I liked when Honor dashed past that "Crown Courier" with her ship, severely denting it with her shields, then practically sticking her head out the window, saying "oops, sorry did that hurt??"

The chase of the Q-Ship Sirius had me sitting on the edge of my seat, that was a cliffhanger. The order for full emergency military power was right on the spot. Just throw them traffic laws out the window!!!

I also liked the author's vessel designation of HMS instead of USS or some federation/union/confederacy/empire/gov-force shortening. We have a queen here!
Also, the term "officer of the crown" simply sounds good. Is David Weber from the UK?

Conclusion

I really enjoyed this book and will jump at the other ones shortly, looking forward to many lovely hours in this new universe.
I just have to learn not to read too much at a time, I want to stretch out the fun, it always feels so sad to put down a good book that you've finished. This book flew past way too fast.

Oh no, I may even have to ration the chapters! Only four per day, young man!!! (builds character)

Trust me, the series gets better. I'm re-reading 'In Enemy Hands' again - and enjoying the personal interplay. The space battles also get better. You will find views of the ships in the flyleaves of the later books.

This is one of the authors whose works I can read multiple times (also Heinlein, Niven, Pournelle, Clancy). Get hold of Weber's 'Mutineer's Moon' - it is part 1 of a trilogy - and also exzcellent.

Well there's no way I can stop now that I've gotten the scent of these books. This summer will be nice.

I have read many "mainstream" sci-fi/space opera novels and short stories, and I don't think HH is pulp fiction at all. It satisfies both my gizmo-appetite (ship details, field tactics and such) and that for personal interaction, hidden agendas, mind games, conflicts.

Anyhow, if anyone here is reading, or will read, the Honor Harrington novels then be warned, I shall spoil some.
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Let's see now.

Honor of the Queen
Got her gloves off and got down and dirty in unarmed combat, the 'cat was very impressive.
Interesting development of the grayson situation of course. They brought up some good issues.

The introduction of the peep Sultan class was cool, I've noticed them later on as well.
The treatment of the female Manticoran crew at Blackbird Station really caught me offguard. I had a hunch what was going on but Weber is really merciless in his descriptions...

The Short Victorious War
Battlecruiser Reliant class HMS Nike, *sigh*. Lovely boat, saynomore, saynomore.
Funny, I don't remember much apart from the beginning of the book and the end battle, she didn't spend much time "dirtside" on Grayson, did she?
I was pleased Pavel Young was introduced again into the story, I'd forgotten about him. Little did I know...

Field of Dishonor
I really got moved at certain parts of the book, I don't know what it is but I've never been so immersed in a book before this series. The quick, unforeseen death of Paul Tankersley even made me swear through my teeth.
Honor's prowess with the pistol was an interesting turn of events, too. I was expecting some outdrawn mind-game or something, not such an exhibition of terror!
The banishment to Grayson did it's job on the drama too, I hadn't started thinking of the interesting change of scenery yet, just the disgrace of it.

Flag In Exile
Poor girl. Of the books I've read so far, this one was certainly the most physically demanding for her. Introducing swordfighting was great, again (in the last duel) I had anticipated an outdrawn match were Honor finally defeats the fanatical pig through luck or something but this was gruesome.
I found new respect for superdreadnoughts, and the way they restored the captured peep ships and threw them back at them, very cocky. Alfredo Yu could've been used more, I hope his time's not up yet.

Honor Among Enemies
Q-Ships! And on our side for once!!! The newfound uses of the missile pods felt good, and the element of surprise when they whipped around on unsuspecting piratesgave me tingling sensations in the groin.
Also the sidestories with the peep captain was good, they can't all be crazy expansionist assholes.

The common respect among officers, regardless of navy, was nice, although maybe the peep captains were a bit too grateful in the ending of the book, saluting to Honor and having dinner with her all the time. Of course, what choice did they have? They were alive!

It really saddens me to know there's only three books left. I always feel that way when finishing a good book. And a whole series? *sigh*
It was hard with the original Dune books, but at least I had a glimpse of hope there, when I heard they would make prequels and maybe later on even continuations on the last original book.

I suppose Weber won't continue on the Harrington saga after "Ashes of Victory"? Of course, I haven't read it, so no spoiling!! :-)

Those other three books, "More than Honor", "Worlds of Honor" and "Changer of Worlds", are they any good? I mean, since Weber didn't write them, only edit them...
Should I read them AFTER "Ashes..." or squeeze them in somewhere between book #7, #8 and #9???

Yes, there is indeed room and 'untied threads' - the author could indeed continue writing should he care to.

I NEVER read 'guest writer' stuff (okay, maybe Kzin Wars).

Sometimes during my vacation reading I surprised myself, when I got to parts like Honor's family watching her "hanging", or when she met up with them on the Harrington Steading spaceport and my dad suddenly started talking about some mundane stuff in the newspaper or telling me to grab the dishes this time.
I could go "Hey!!! I'm on the last twenty pages of this here book, there's a LOT of bad stuff happening right now, a LOT of bad stuff is going down, OK??? Um, sorry."