READ FIRST: Are you new to Honor Harrington?

Subject: READ FIRST: Are you new to Honor Harrington? Fri 14 Nov 2008, 2:17 am

If your new to David Weber's Honor Harrington Series then your in for a big ride. Below is a short synopsis of just who Honor Harrington is.

Honor Stephanie Harrington is a fictional character, and the heroine of a series of science fiction books set in the "Honorverse", written by David Weber and published by Baen Books. She is known among the Sphinxian felinoid treecats, by one of whom she has been adopted, as "Dances on Clouds."

An officer in the Royal Manticoran Navy (RMN), the space navy of the Star Kingdom of Manticore, Harrington bears a striking professional resemblance to both the real-life British naval officers Admiral Lord Nelson and Captain Thomas Cochrane, as well as the fictional character Horatio Hornblower. (Weber references the creator of Hornblower at least once, a minor instance of "breaking the fourth wall", as an homage.) Like Nelson, she loses an eye and an arm in combat;[citation needed] her initials are the same as Hornblower's, and like all three officers, she has a genius for tactical command throughout the series and becomes a living legend by using those skills in several major engagements—battles for which the press nicknames her "The Salamander" for always seeming to be "where the fire is hottest." By the tenth main-line novel (Ashes of Victory) Honor has emerged as a strategist of note as well, and has been promoted to the rank of Admiral in both the Manticoran and Grayson space navies.

Other parallels with real history include the political situation. During much of Harrington's career, her native Star Kingdom of Manticore is at war with the neighboring People's Republic of Haven (PRH), a conflict that bears more than a passing resemblance to the Napoleonic Wars between the British Empire and France.

Some of the battles described in the Honor Harrington series resemble real-life sea battles. For instance, the long stern chase described in On Basilisk Station has some parallels with the actions of HMS Kent at the Battle of the Falklands during World War I. Similarly, the deathride by Sarnow's battlecruisers in The Short Victorious War bears a resemblance to similar maneouvres by Admiral von Hipper during the Battle of Jutland. The final actions in The Honor of the Queen contain elements from the battles of the Barents Sea and North Cape during World War II, as well as the Battle of the River Plate