I have generally become disillusioned with book series, and prefer to read stand-alone book. But reading the Vorkosigan books by Bujold was so much fun that I reckon that I'll want to read another series sometime soon.
The same person who recommended the Vorkosigan books has also recommended the Honor Harrington books. Although, truthfully, I never got around to reading them until somebody else also recommended them to me. A search here has shown me that dkw has read them and was annoyed at the authors soapboxing, but not whether they're worth reading or not.
I'm also thinking about going straight to the source and reading the Horatio Hornblower novels. I'm intrigued to read about the inspiration for both Miles Vorkosigan and James T. Kirk. I noticed that saxon75 has been reading and really enjoying the Hornblower books.
So, this thread is the place where people in the know tell me to either read the HH books or the HH books. Posted by blacwolve (Member # 2972) on :
Honor Harrington = not worth reading, especially if you're coming off of the Vorkosigan books. I made the same connection, thinking that they would fill the void left by the end of the Vorkosigan series. They didn't. They were distressingly bad, and I was angry for weeks that there were more Honor Harrington books on the shelf than Miles Vorkosigan.
*sits back and waits to be flamed*
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Well, I'm certainly not excpecting them to be as good as the Vorkosigan books.
Posted by Raventhief (Member # 9002) on :
I disagree. You just have to go into them with the right expectations. Great literature they aren't, but the HH books are fun and have some social speculation as well. Oh, and it helps to like cats.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
I don't like cats.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
The HH books are okay, particularly if you like 'technical' sci-fi (that is, the sort of person who thinks the physics of star trek are interesting). I enjoyed them, though they're very much popcorn novels.
For a better take on a sci-fi Horatio Hornblower, I strongly recommend Feintuch's Midshipman's Hope series. Excellent hard sci-fi. Real moral dilemmas. Great characters. Interesting stories (he only takes Horatio Hornblower as a starting point or theme, things get very different very quickly).
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
Popcorn reading describes the Harrington series pretty well. They're sort of Tom Clancy books in space, with a little bit better characterization. And cats.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Has nobody read the Hornblower novels?
Posted by Theca (Member # 1629) on :
Hornblowers? Nope, never heard of that.
You can look at some of the Honor Harrington books free online, you know. Just skim around a bit, see what you think.
Not sure which of those are Honor books, but the Honor of the Queen and Basilisk Station definitely are.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
I have read the Horatio Hornblower novels and enjoyed them immensely. My copies are mostly missing now (after so many moves) and the two remaining ones I have are a completely falling apart version of the Midshipman book and a reasonably intact copy of the Commodore book. I can't bring myself to open the midshipman one lest it disintegrate and I can't bring myself to read the Commodore one without first going back through the series.
I was REALLY wanting to read through them again starting about a week ago. But, alas, I'm afraid I'll just have to get new (used) copies before I can start in.
GREAT BOOKS!
Posted by Theca (Member # 1629) on :
I have to admit I love the David Feintuch Seafort Saga. His fantasy was a bit weird so I never finished reading that short series. But the Seafort Saga always captured my attention amazingly well. Not sure how well written they are, but I think of them as far above the Honor series. It too is compared to the Hornblower series, from what I saw online just now.
I enjoyed Honor Harrington-- as a teenage girl with fairly low expectations for my fiction. So take that as you will. For reference, I was, at the time, also enjoying "The Cat Who..." books.
I found that I enjoyed the short stories set in the HH universe more than the books as I got older.
Posted by King of Men (Member # 6684) on :
I find that the Harrington books get less enjoyable as Honor moves up in the ranks. Basilisk Station is quite excellent. The latest books I don't buy. There is getting to be way too much setup and way too little action. And, fair enough, there's only so many ways you can blow megatonnage out of the skies. I think I might advise you to get Basilisk Station and Honour of the Queen, and stop there to think over whether you like them or not.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Oh, sorry, I have read Hornblower. They're fantastic.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
I have also read one of the Horatio Hornblower books (the one in my local library) and really enjoyed it. Posted by Magson (Member # 2300) on :
quote:I find that the Harrington books get less enjoyable as Honor moves up in the ranks. Basilisk Station is quite excellent. The latest books I don't buy. There is getting to be way too much setup and way too little action. And, fair enough, there's only so many ways you can blow megatonnage out of the skies. I think I might advise you to get Basilisk Station and Honour of the Queen, and stop there to think over whether you like them or not.
Ditto that. The 1st few books were action all the way through. The later ones are 500 pages of set up and 75 pages of action leading to the climax and then it's over. Slogging through the setup just ain't fun.
Have you considered Water Jon Williams "Empire's End" trilogy? I rather enjoyed that one.
Posted by AvidReader (Member # 6007) on :
The Horatio Hornblower miniseries on A&E is excellent. I have all the DVDs and I love them. I like that Horatio is a guy willing to make the hard decision. He doesn't wait around for someone else to tell him what to do. He cares about his men and does what he can to say them.
Much as I love Ionn Gruffudd, the best actor is Richard Lindsey as Captain Pellew. He's a scene stealer.
I have no idea how the show compares to the books, but books are usually better.
Posted by saxon75 (Member # 4589) on :
Of the Honorverse novels, I've only read the first one, On Basilisk Station. As pulp SF goes it's pretty good, but I wouldn't put David Weber in the top tier of pulp writers. The Hornblower novels, on the other hand, are some of the best adventure novels I've ever read. For me, C.S. Forester is way up there. I'd put him above Robert Louis Stevenson.
Posted by Rohan (Member # 5141) on :
You might try Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe's series. Set during the same time perioed as Hornblower but on land, not sea. I've enjoyed them, and Cornwell has admitted that he started out by imitating Forester. Here's the quote:
quote: when I was writing Sharpe’s Eagle I spent hours reading and re-reading the typescript, and every time I got hopelessly depressed thinking that it was no bloody good because the style was so clumsy, and so finally I tried an experiment. I typed out three pages of a Hornblower novel, substituting Sharpe’s name for Hornblower’s, and then I put the pages into a drawer. After three days I read those three pages (which looked exactly like my own typescript) and, to my relief, discovered that I was just as critical of Forester’s style as I was of my own. But he was published. More, he was successful, so clearly I was being too critical. The experience freed me of that worry. Try it yourself. Reproduce three pages of a Sharpe novel on your own typewriter or word-processor, then come back to it and see just what rubbish can get published!
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Yeah, the Sharpe books are good, as are the movies. They star an extremely talented Sean Bean, and influenced his work so much that he apparently tries to reference the role in all his later ones.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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I had no idea... Man.