I really enjoyed On Basilisk Station, the first book in the Honor Harrington series, and the second book did not disappoint. It had all of the stuff that made the first book so amazingly awesome, plus tons more action and political intrigue.
The dynamics in The Honor of the Queen were a bit different, in that Honor has definitely proved herself by now and is no longer the underdog freshman starship commander in the armpit of the galaxy. This time, she’s been given a small fleet, and assigned to an important diplomatic people with a critical potential ally of the Star Kingdom of Manticore.
But she still has a lot of proving to do, this time to the misogynistic people of Grayson who do not believe that women are capable of military command. If that sets off red flags, don’t worry: David Weber is no SJW, and this book was written long before “protect wamen” was a thing. The misogyny on Grayson has nothing to do with mansplaining, manspreading, or toxic masculinity: rather, it’s a culture that treats women literally as property, with none of the rights that women currently enjoy in the West.
One of the things that makes the Honor Harrington books so fantastic is the meticulous attention to detail. The history of Grayson is complex and nuanced, and presents a consistent and believable explanation for why the culture developed the way it did. Weber’s attention to detail extends beyond the world building to just about every aspect of the story: the characters, tactics, politics, and everything else. There’s a bit of handwaving when it comes to the technology—this is science fiction, after all—but not very much. Certainly, there’s no handwaving when it comes to human nature.
The part of the story that I found most interesting was the political intrigue between the Star Kingdom of Manticore and the People’s Republic of Haven. Honor’s enemy counterpart in the Havenite fleet is no pushover—in many ways, he’s just as sharp and capable as she is. Even though the People’s Republic of Haven are clearly the bad guys, I came away from this book thinking that Weber could easily write a book with the Havenite commander as the protagonist, and it would have been just as good. There are definitely bad guys and good guys, but they’re all still people, with reasons for believing the things that they do, right or wrong as they may be.
My only criticism of this book is that the ending felt a bit Mary Sue-ish with all of the accolades and promotions that Honor Harrington received. I still really enjoyed it, but if I didn’t already love the character, there were a couple of things that would have made me roll my eyes. Then again, truth is stranger than fiction, and I’m sure there are people who have received just as many honors and accolades as Honor Harrington did at the end of this one.
All in all, an excellent continuation to the series that builds on the first book and leaves plenty of room for more, especially in the rivalry between Manticore and Haven. Since that’s one of my favorite things about this series so far, I’m very interested to see what happens in the next book!
