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

This page is an index page and overview for all the books of the "Honor Harrington" science fiction universe, or the "Honorverse."

This is a set of military and espionage science fiction, currently as of December 2025 containing more than forty books, set in a future universe in which mankind began to dispersed over much of the galaxy, starting in 2103 AD.

The main stories are set about two thousand years in the future, with two prequel series set about 400 years before, in what by our calendar will be the thirty-seventh century (the earliest book in the first Prequel series, "A beautiful Friendship," is set 1518 years after the diaspora, or in 3621 BC.)

The series has sometimes been described as "Ms Hornblower in space" because they contain some very strong and obviously intentional similarities and homage to C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower novels. One of the novels in the series - "Echoes of Honor" - is an almost exact parallel with very much an equivalent plot to the Hornblower book, "Flying Colours."

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 is very similar to that of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, with the Star Kingdom of Manticore representing Britain, the People's Republic of Haven representing Revolutionary France, led by a dictator called Rob S Pierre, chairman of the Committee of Public Safety who obviously represent Robespierre and the Committee of Pubic Safety, though Haven in the novels has elements clearly borrowed from Nazi Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union too.

As the stories develop, so the plotlines develop too, and the later books owe less and less either to history or to the noels of other authors such as C.S. Forester.


As book reviews for all the volumes in the series are added, so will links be added to this page.

At the moment it has a links to the review for the latest anthology of novellas and short stores in the series, "Challenges."

 Book Review: "Challenges" edited by David Weber, the latest "Honorverse" Anthology


The Honor Harrington series

The main Honor Harrington series, currently consisting of fourteen books, covers the career of Commander Honor Harrington, (later Fleet Admiral Duchess Harrington,) from her first command of the heavy cruiser HMS Fearless in the Basilisk system in 1900 PD (4003 AD) through three wars, the first two against the People's Republic of Haven/ Republic of Haven and the third against the Solarian League, through to the final defeat of the League in 1923 PD (4026 AD.) 

  1. On Basilisk Station (April 1992) ISBN 0-671-57793-X / HH1
  2. The Honor of the Queen (June 1993) ISBN 0-671-57864-2 / HH2
  3. The Short Victorious War (April 1994) ISBN 0-671-87596-5 / HH3
  4. Field of Dishonor (December 1994) ISBN 0-671-57820-0 / HH4
  5. Flag in Exile (September 1995) ISBN 0-671-31980-9 / HH5
  6. Honor Among Enemies (February 1996) ISBN 0-671-87723-2 / HH6
  7. In Enemy Hands (July 1997) ISBN 0-671-57770-0 / HH7
  8. Echoes of Honor (October 1998) ISBN 0-671-57833-2 / HH8
  9. Ashes of Victory (March 2000) ISBN 0-671-57854-5 / HH9
  10. War of Honor (October 2002) ISBN 0-7434-3545-1 / HH10
  11. At All Costs (November 2005) ISBN 1-4165-0911-9 / HH11
  12. Mission of Honor (June 2010) ISBN 1-4391-3361-1 / HH12
  13. A Rising Thunder (March 2012) ISBN 1-4767-3612-X / HH13
  14. Uncompromising Honor (October 2018) ISBN 9781481483506 / HH14

The Honor Harrington series has been produced several times in audiobook format, at first in cassette (90 min) format by Library of Congress, narrated by Madelyn Buzzard (books 1–10), later by Audible Frontiers beginning in 2009, narrated by Allyson Johnson.

Spin-offs

There are currently a several contemporary spin-off series, which fill in the picture of the events taking place in Honor Harrington's lifetime, from other viewpoints besides hers, two prequel series set about four centuries before, and a set of anthologies of short stories and novellas. 


Worlds of Honor anthologies

Stories and essays by David Weber, along with other writers invited by him to participate. Some of the stories precede and others are concurrent with the main Honor Harrington series.

  1. More Than Honor (January 1998) ISBN 0-671-87857-3 / HHA1—three stories by authors David Weber, David Drake, and S. M. Stirling plus a Honorverse background history, and including the story in which treecats and some of their characteristics first come to human knowledge.
  2. Worlds of Honor (February 1999) ISBN 0-671-57855-3 / HHA2—five stories by authors David Weber (two stories), Linda Evans, Jane Lindskold and Roland J. Green.
  3. Changer of Worlds (March 2001) ISBN 0-671-31975-2 / HHA3—four stories by authors David Weber (three stories) and Eric Flint. The short novel Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington is built around the Honorverse's eponymous character.
  4. The Service of the Sword (April 2003) ISBN 0-7434-3599-0 / HHA4 stories by authors David Weber, Jane Lindskold, Timothy Zahn, John Ringo, Eric Flint and Victor Mitchell .
  5. In Fire Forged (February 2011) ISBN 978-1-4391-3414-6 / HHA5
  6. Beginnings (July 2013) ISBN 978-1451639032 / HHA6
  7. What Price Victory? (February 2023) ISBN 978-1982192419 / HHA7—stories by Timothy Zahn & Thomas Pope, Jane Lindskold, Jan Kotouč, Joelle Presby and David Weber
  8. Challenges: Tales from the Earliest Days of the Star Kingdom (November 2025) which is reviewed on this site HERE.


Crown of Slaves series

The story of agents Anton Zilwicki of Manticore and Victor Cachat of Haven who, despite their star nations being at war, manage to work together to find out who manipulated those star nations into a war which neither side wanted. This series is concurrent with the main Honor Harrington series.

  1. From the Highlands (short novel in Changer of Worlds) by Eric Flint—introduces the main characters of the series.
  2. Fanatic (novella in The Service of the Sword) by Eric Flint—furthers the character of Victor Cachat.
  3. Crown of Slaves (September 2003) ISBN 0-7434-7148-2 / CS1; with Eric Flint—the two character groups introduced in From the Highlands re-encounter each other at a state funeral in Erewhon. 
  4. Torch of Freedom (November 2009) ISBN 1-4391-3305-0 / CS2; with Eric Flint—Victor Cachat and Anton Zilwicki, the universe's two top spies, work together to undertake a dangerous mission to the heart of Mesa, home of the evil corporation Manpower.
  5. Cauldron of Ghosts (eBook March 15, 2014, hardcover April 8, 2014) ISBN 9781476736334 / CS3; with Eric Flint—Zilwicki and Cachat return to Mesa—only to discover that even they have underestimated the Alignment's ruthlessness and savagery.
  6. To End in Fire (October 5, 2021) ISBN 1982125640 / CS4; with Eric Flint—Agents of the Grand Alliance join forces with Solarians to uncover the vast interstellar conspiracy operating against them.

Shadow series

This series has a similar relation to the main Honor Harrington series that "Star Trek: the next generation" has to The Original Series except that it is set at the same time instead of a century later. It follows Admiral Michelle Henke  (Honor Harrington's best friend) and several graduates of Manticore's naval academy at Saganami Island, and also follows events in The Talbott Cluster, a group of star nations interested in joining the Star Kingdom of Manticore. (Also referred to as the Saganami Island series.)

  1. The Shadow of Saganami (October 2004) ISBN 0-7434-8852-0 / SI1: The novel is primarily set in the remote Talbott Cluster, connected to Manticore via a newly discovered wormhole, and includes characters already introduced in other works, such as Helen Zilwicki and Abigail Hearns.
  2. Storm from the Shadows (March 2009) ISBN 978-1416591474 / SI2: The novel continues the events in the Talbott Cluster (now Quadrant), and continues the stories of Admiral Michelle Henke and other characters from the first book of the series. The events of the book include the results of Talbott government's signing its constitution and becoming part of the Star Empire of Manticore. The shadow conflict between Mesa and Manticore heats up as more Mesa-orchestrated incidents accrue to bring about war between Manticore and the Solarian League.
  3. Shadow of Freedom (March 2013)[16][17] ISBN 1-4516-3869-8, ISBN 978-1-4516-3869-1 / SI3: The novel continues the events in the Talbott Quadrant as the conflict with the Solarian League turns to outright war. Attacks on Manticoran shipping by Frontier Security and continued manipulation by the Mesan Alignment spur Admiral Henke to first react, then adopt a policy of offensive (versus defensive) operations. This culminates in Manticore's first offensive victory of the war, the previous Manticoran victories having been defensive in nature.
  4. Shadow of Victory (November 1, 2016) ISBN 978-1-4767-8182-2 / SI4


PREQUEL SERIES

The Star Kingdom series

This series features Stephanie Harrington, Honor Harrington's distant ancestor, and the first human to be adopted by a treecat. This series starts in 1518 PD, 382 years before the first book in the main Honor Harrington series, "On Basilisk Station."

  1. A Beautiful Friendship (October 2011) ISBN 1-4516-3747-0 / SK1
  2. Fire Season (October 15, 2012) by David Weber and Jane Lindskold ISBN 978-1-4516-3840-0 / SK2
  3. Treecat Wars (October 1, 2013) by David Weber and Jane Lindskold ISBN 978-1-4516-3933-9 / SK3
  4. A New Clan (June 7, 2022) by David Weber and Jane Lindskold ISBN 9781982191894 / SK4
  5. Friends Indeed (March 4, 2025) by David Weber and Jane Lindskold ISBN 978-1-6680-7245-5 / SK5

Manticore Ascendant series

This series, which begins eleven years after the first book in The Star Kingdom series, features Travis Uriah Long, an enlisted spacer in the Royal Manticoran Navy who later becomes an officer, and is the story of how Manticore defended itself against an attempt by a huge secretive corporation called Axelrod to conquer the system. So far none of the characters of this series have met any of the characters of the Star Kingdom series, but they are all living in the same century.

  1. A Call to Duty (September 15, 2014) by David Weber and Timothy Zahn. ISBN 978-1-4767-3684-6 / MA1
  2. A Call to Arms (October 6, 2015) by David Weber and Timothy Zahn with Thomas Pope. ISBN 978-1-4767-8085-6 / MA2 It is expanded from the short story of the same name originally published in the Beginnings anthology.
  3. A Call to Vengeance (March 7, 2018) by David Weber and Timothy Zahn with Thomas Pope. ISBN 978-1-4767-8210-2 / MA3
  4. A Call to Insurrection (February 1, 2022) by David Weber and Timothy Zahn with Thomas Pope. ISBN 978-1982125899 / MA4

A Call to Insurrection won the 2022 Dragon Awards in the Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel category.

Expanded Honor series

This series only has one published novel as of 2024, but based on publisher Simon and Schuster's marketing, is likely to contain standalone stories featuring minor characters from the mainstream novels.

  1. Toll of Honor (April 2024) ISBN 978-1982193317 Most of this book takes place at the same time as "Field of Dishonour" in the main Honor Harrington series, tells the story of largely the same events from the perspective of different characters, and retcons/corrects a few issues. the latter part of the book retells and expands the story of Brandy Bolgeo and Clint Hendren who had appeared in an anthology called Timeframe.

Companion Book - House of Steel.

In 2013, Baen published House of Steel: The Honorverse Companion (May 7, 2013). The book is divided into two sections: a new novella written by Weber titled I Will Build My House of Steel and The Honorverse Companion, a collection of information about the Honorverse setting compiled by a fan group.

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