On Basilisk Station cover art

On Basilisk Station

Honor Harrington, Book 1

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On Basilisk Station

By: David Weber
Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
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About this listen

Having made a superior look a fool, Honor Harrington has been exiled to Basilisk Station in disgrace and set up for ruin.

Her demoralized crew blames her for their ship's humiliating posting to an out-of-the-way picket station.

The aborigines of the system's only habitable planet are smoking homicide-inducing hallucinogens.

Parliament isn't sure it wants to keep the place; the major local industry is smuggling; the merchant cartels want her head; the star-conquering, so-called "Republic" of Haven is up to something; and Honor Harrington has a single, over-age light cruiser with an armament that doesn't work to police the entire star system.

But the people out to get her have made one mistake. They've made her mad.

A Note from Author David Weber
There's been some confusion—not to say, um, energetic debate, readers and fans being readers and fans—about the correct pronunciation of "Manticoran." The truth, alas, is that a stitch was dropped. An error occurred. A mistake was made… and it wasn't Audible's fault. It was mine. Before Audible recorded the very first Honor Harrington book, narrator Allyson Johnson and I not only corresponded by e-mail but actually spoke to one another by phone. She wanted to make absolutely certain she had the correct pronunciations for names, places, star nations, etc., and I tried to make certain all of her questions were answered. And so they were. Unfortunately, at some point in the process, I replied to one of her e-mails by telling her that "Man-ti-core-ahn" was pronounced "Man-tik-er-ahn." Exactly how this happened is more than I can say at this point, except to blushingly disclose that the original e-mail remains intact, confirming to all the world that it was, indeed, my fault. I can ascribe it only to a temporary mental hiccup on my part and crave your forgiveness. If, however, you must blame someone for the mix-up, that someone should be me and not Audible, who have done everything they could to get it right.

©2002 David Weber (P)2009 Audible, Inc.
Adventure Fantasy Fiction Military Science Fiction Space Opera Space Transportation
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What listeners say about On Basilisk Station

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Promising beginning of a Sci-Fi series

What did you like most about On Basilisk Station?

The story advances with steady pace and never lost my attention.

What did you like best about this story?

Even though the storyline was a little bit too obvious or rather predictable, I very much enjoyed it. The most interesting parts were the criminal investigations carried out by the main characters.

Have you listened to any of Allyson Johnson’s other performances? How does this one compare?

I did not listen to other performances of Allyson Johnson yet.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

How to use a terrible new idea for saving the day.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A fun mix of politics & space fleet combat

This is my first venture into Weber's writing and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Good narration and Honor is a great heroine. It's fun to see how she deals with her opponents both internal and external and how she wins her sceptical crew over to her methods.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

a fleet story of epicness

I couldn't give it a 5 star because of the sad bits in the story. performance was great and I think this is the start of a beautiful series

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Space Hornblower...

A Sci-Fi re-working of the classic Hornblower novels, and non the worse for that. Honor Harrington is both likeable and believable within the framework of the Honorverse. The characters are quite well drawn and Nimitz is a good device as well as an engaging character. If Weber occasionally gets too involved with the technicalities it is important to understand how and why some of the tactical decisions are made and it makes the story line more credible within it's framework. Well worth a listen (or a read), and if it appeals there are many more in the series, and if it does not it is still a ripping yarn in and of it's self. The only thing I would do is tell the reader that the planet's name is "Mantocore". Not Mant'kr. That is endlessly annoying.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

How it Started

As a big fan of the Harrington series amongst others in the Universe it's taken me many years before I actually started on the audio side of things. With so many books this is a good start as Honor is such a strong character and merges well with the technical and action thats found through this audio. The audio overall is pretty good although I do wish for a bit more variety in the tones from the narration, perhaps because so many audios now have such good production the quality seems better than you would expect.
Saying that however this is still a 5 stars overall.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Onward and Upward

Had been recommended this series by a number of friends and having just listened to the first book, I am pleased to recommend this book to other listeners. A fresh piece of writing presented by a snappy narrator - though for some reason I'm not sure if accents would still be a relevant part in the future as is made out - not a complaint, just a view

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Didn't need a biography

To know the author is a Christian conservative. That doesn't decide if an author is good or not, but the fact that it bleeds through so thoroughly in his writing does.

I'm giving book two a chance.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Great if you like 'Military' detail

Thought I'd give this a go. Saw it described as 'Military Science Fiction' and wondered what that'd be like. Unfortunately, it wasn't for me really. I did however listen to the end. It was actually a very good yarn but I found all the detailed descriptions of battle tactics and hardware very heavy going. Suppose I'm just a 'make the jump to hyperspace and get on with story' sort of reader. I don't need detailed descriptions of how that might technically be possible. It was sort of the same story with the detailed politics bits. Others will love it so if that's you you'll love this.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

What a great Series

I love this series the main character and her backstory are superb. As for treecats just wow I love the Stephanie Harrington Stories as well (See Treecat Wars). This story (not just this book but the whole series) runs over a spread of decades and each book is a complete and interesting story ion its own right but its highly recommended to listen or read these in order. With the quality of Voice Artist use in these books its actually really easy to both read and listen your way through the series. Something not always possible for me. The story is a bit long winded in places but well worth taking the time to to press through skip. Highly recommended.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Most annoying narrator EVER!

Is her voice synthetic? Sure sounds like it. Goes through my head like a buzzsaw.

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