Classic book review: "On Basilisk Station" by David Weber.

"On Basilisk Station," by David Weber, first published by Baen Books in 1993 (and I'm looking at my copy from the first paperback printing in that year as I type) was the first book in the series, introducing the far future space navy officer Honor Harrington and beginning the creation of the "Honor Harrington" science fiction universe also known as the "Honorverse."

This series has grown to contain, currently as of December 2025, more than forty books, set in a future universe in which mankind began to disperse over much of the galaxy, starting in 2103 AD.

This story is set about two thousand years in our the future: according to the calendar used ine the novel it is set in 1900 "post Diaspora" by the calendar used within the book, which corresponds to 4006 AD (or Common Era, CE)

These stories have sometimes been described as "Ms Hornblower in space." 

"On Basilisk Station" is dedicated to Cecil Scott Forester, the author of the Hornblower stories: the dedication reads

"To C.S. Forester,

With thanks for hours of enjoyment,

years of inspiration,

and a lifetime of admiration."

And that is only the first of a number of open homages to C.s. Forester in this and subsequent novels.

The assumed space travel and weapons technologies described in the book presents fifth millennium (by our calendar) space navy officers with tactical and strategic challenges and opportunities extremely similar to those presented to wet navy officers in the age of Nelson and Napoleon by the early 19th century technology of fighting sail.

The galactic political context has significant points of similarity to that in Europe in  the late 18th and early 20th centuries, with the Star Kingdom of Manticore representing Britain, the People's Republic of Haven representing France.

At the start of the book Commander Honor Harrington of the Royal Manticoran Navy takes command of her first major ship, the cruiser HMS Fearless. The character of Honor Harrington is a bit like a cross between the fictional Horatio Hornblower and the real Admiral Nelson, in a 41st century setting. She is very well presented and not long into the book she comes to feel to the reader almost like a real person.

HMS Fearless has been given some very unusual armament, which would normally make her very vulnerable in a typical battle according to the usual rules favoured by contemporary naval experts. First in training exercises, and later in the book in real situations, Honor Harrington has to try to create the highly unusual situations in which Fearless's unique armament might be devastatingly effective.

That is soon far from the worst of her problems. After the exercises, Honor and Fearless are sent to join the squadron which performs defence and customs duties for the solar system of Basilisk. As soon as they arrive, the squadron commander, an officer with whom Honor has what one might call a "history," announces that his flagship is in need of urgent repairs and he is taking her back to Manticore to oversee them, leaving Honor to defend and police an entire inhabited solar system, a job for a squadron,  with a single cruiser. She's been set up to fail. But failing at her job is something Honor Harrington will never do. Which is just as well, because the challenges she is about to face are far more serious than anyone in the Star Kingdom of Manticore realises ...

A really excellent book.

You can find it on Amazon at

On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington Book 1) by David Weber, at Amazon.co.uk

There is a graphic novel version, "Tales of Hon: On Basilisk Station" which is essentially the same story except that instead of being described in contemporary time is is being narrated by Honor Harrington from her perspective a number of years in the future at the time of the subsequent novel "In Enemy Hands."  

And for the real detail freaks, for some incomprehensible reason the creators of the graphic novel fiddled around with the dates both in the Honorverse calendar and the internal chronology of Honor Harrington's life, so if you try to compare the dates in the graphic novel with those in the original books, they don't match up.

You can find the graphic novel at: Tales of Honor Vol. 1, on Basilisk Station, by Matt Hawkins, Jung-Geun Yoon and others at Amazon.co.uk:

This book is part of the Honor Harrington Universe and you can find the series page for my reviews of books set in this universe at

Book Series overview: David Weber's "Honor Harrington" universe book reviews.