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Worlds of Honor #1
More Than Honor
New York Times bestselling author David Weber invites David Drake and S.M. Stirling, two of today's top writers of military science fiction, to join him in an exploration of Honor Harrington's universe. Here is the first entry in the Worlds of Honor anthology series, stories set in David Weber's New York TImes best-selling Honorverse.
Contents:
*A Beautiful Friendship [Star Kingdom (Honor Harrington)] (1998) / novella by David Weber
*A Grand Tour [Honor Harrington Universe Short Fiction] (1998) / novella by David Drake
*A Whiff of Grapeshot [Honor Harrington Universe Short Fiction] (1998) / novelette by S. M. Stirling
*The Universe of Honor Harrington [Honor Harrington Universe Nonfiction] (1998) • essay by David Weber
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Contents:
*A Beautiful Friendship [Star Kingdom (Honor Harrington)] (1998) / novella by David Weber
*A Grand Tour [Honor Harrington Universe Short Fiction] (1998) / novella by David Drake
*A Whiff of Grapeshot [Honor Harrington Universe Short Fiction] (1998) / novelette by S. M. Stirling
*The Universe of Honor Harrington [Honor Harrington Universe Nonfiction] (1998) • essay by David Weber
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384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
230 people are currently reading
1196 people want to read
About the author
David Weber
321 books4,514 followersDavid Mark Weber is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1952.
Many of his stories have military, particularly naval, themes, and fit into the military science fiction genre. He frequently places female leading characters in what have been traditionally male roles.
One of his most popular and enduring characters is Honor Harrington whose alliterated name is an homage to C.S. Forester's character Horatio Hornblower and her last name from a fleet doctor in Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander . Her story, together with the "Honorverse" she inhabits, has been developed through 16 novels and six shared-universe anthologies, as of spring 2013 (other works are in production). In 2008, he donated his archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.
Many of his books are available online, either in their entirety as part of the Baen Free Library or, in the case of more recent books, in the form of sample chapters (typically the first 25-33% of the work).
http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidw...
Many of his stories have military, particularly naval, themes, and fit into the military science fiction genre. He frequently places female leading characters in what have been traditionally male roles.
One of his most popular and enduring characters is Honor Harrington whose alliterated name is an homage to C.S. Forester's character Horatio Hornblower and her last name from a fleet doctor in Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander . Her story, together with the "Honorverse" she inhabits, has been developed through 16 novels and six shared-universe anthologies, as of spring 2013 (other works are in production). In 2008, he donated his archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.
Many of his books are available online, either in their entirety as part of the Baen Free Library or, in the case of more recent books, in the form of sample chapters (typically the first 25-33% of the work).
http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidw...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
June 6, 2024
Great fill in stories to the main series. Very nice insights to characters and events. Very recommended
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January 16, 2015This is an anthology of three short stories and a host of technical information (non-story, but about the story universe). The first story is a precursor to one of the David Weber spin-off series about Stephanie Harrington, Honor semi-famous ancestor who was first to befriend a tree cat.
I found the story wonderful and it was one of those rare tales that was something I could share with my daughter. Tree cats, an 11 year old girl, and a mystery over celery and an adventure on a wilderness world. What more could you ask for.
The second story, by David Drake, another space opera veteran, was also wonderful, but different. Drake's style is very similar to Weber's and the story blends well with the Honor-verse.
The third story is actually the untold story of a coup attempt in the Peoples Republic of Haven. The event is referenced with scant details in the long Honor Harrington Series and told in greater detail here. The stile is slightly different than Weber's, darker, smoother and highlights a wonderful thing about the Honor-verse that Weber (with collaboration from others) has created.
Weber's "Honor-verse" has room for other great writers to share. The stories from others, like Drake, aren't outside the main story. Where he can, Weber includes their work and allows it to influence his. The reason I stopped reading the first book of the Crown of Slaves trilogy is because it is about a character started by David Drake in a short story in the third anthology. Rather than re-telling it, Weber simply referred to it.
I became frustrated looking for the character and where they came from until I found a wiki-Weber-info website that tracked down the story.
That highlights one of the few problems with the Honor-verse and all of the stories. I really, really like the way Weber has all of the story plots intertwined with his main Honor Harrington story. I like the spin offs and thse short stories are fabulous for sci-fi shorts.
The problem is that they do not fit together seamlessly. The first book might fit in between Honor 8 and 9 of a trilogy and then overlap the next two honor books. The stories use the short stories as background info and setting, or even as fodder for characters but that's hard to track down and requires extra effort to keep straight.
Still these are three excellent short stories. You do not have to read any other story to enjoy them. (More the other way around.) I recommend them to anyone who enjoys short sci-fi stories. (Especially the first one.)
I found the story wonderful and it was one of those rare tales that was something I could share with my daughter. Tree cats, an 11 year old girl, and a mystery over celery and an adventure on a wilderness world. What more could you ask for.
The second story, by David Drake, another space opera veteran, was also wonderful, but different. Drake's style is very similar to Weber's and the story blends well with the Honor-verse.
The third story is actually the untold story of a coup attempt in the Peoples Republic of Haven. The event is referenced with scant details in the long Honor Harrington Series and told in greater detail here. The stile is slightly different than Weber's, darker, smoother and highlights a wonderful thing about the Honor-verse that Weber (with collaboration from others) has created.
Weber's "Honor-verse" has room for other great writers to share. The stories from others, like Drake, aren't outside the main story. Where he can, Weber includes their work and allows it to influence his. The reason I stopped reading the first book of the Crown of Slaves trilogy is because it is about a character started by David Drake in a short story in the third anthology. Rather than re-telling it, Weber simply referred to it.
I became frustrated looking for the character and where they came from until I found a wiki-Weber-info website that tracked down the story.
That highlights one of the few problems with the Honor-verse and all of the stories. I really, really like the way Weber has all of the story plots intertwined with his main Honor Harrington story. I like the spin offs and thse short stories are fabulous for sci-fi shorts.
The problem is that they do not fit together seamlessly. The first book might fit in between Honor 8 and 9 of a trilogy and then overlap the next two honor books. The stories use the short stories as background info and setting, or even as fodder for characters but that's hard to track down and requires extra effort to keep straight.
Still these are three excellent short stories. You do not have to read any other story to enjoy them. (More the other way around.) I recommend them to anyone who enjoys short sci-fi stories. (Especially the first one.)
January 22, 2018
2018 re-read. I love the first short story in his collection, as much as any of the main line novels.
July 12, 2023
I'd like to thank Baen for an eARC of the 25th anniversity reissue of the first Worlds of Honor anthology, part of the Honorverse. Honor Harrington is not a character in any of the three stories collected here, but all take place in the Honorverse. This anthology contains stories by David Weber, David Drake, and S.M. Stirling. It also contains a 50 some page note on the "Universe of Honor Harrrington" providing details on the physics of interstellar travel, political structures, the history of Manticore, and more. If you are into world building, this section is great; for me, not so much.
But the three stories are great, and highly recommended. Of the 40 or so books in this series, I have previously read the first three.
But the three stories are great, and highly recommended. Of the 40 or so books in this series, I have previously read the first three.
December 16, 2017
A collection of three short stories by three different authors, all set in David Weber's Honorverse. As with any anthology it's a mixed bag - the first, from Weber himself, was a delightful tale of the first contact between humans and treecats; the second, from David Drake, was an interesting story of an architectural holiday gone wrong; and finally a frankly meh story from S.M.Stirling set in the peeps part of the universe. The book was then padded out a bit with some universe history and background which felt a bit dry and unnecessary. Apart from the first story - probably for completists only...
November 22, 2021
4.5 stars. This was 3 short stories and a history lesson wrapped up in one book. Each story grabbed me, but the first one especially. I enjoyed how each of them set the scene, introduced characters as well as locations, and then let the plot develop. Some of the plot twists were either so obvious from telegraphing, or pulling from memory due to being expressed in other works. I did not realise how much I missed this universe until I picked this up, so I'm going to have to continue very soon.
May 29, 2012
As is often the case with collections of short fiction, I enjoyed some parts of this book better than others.
A Beautiful Friendship (David Weber)
I really liked this story, which chronicles the first meeting between humans and treecats. David Weber later expanded this story into a YA novel with the same title, and as soon as I finished reading this version I went onto the Baen website to purchase and download the novel so I could read it too. I liked seeing more of the treecats as full-fledged characters.
A Grand Tour (David Drake)
This was my least favourite portion of the anthology. It wasn't badly written, but it seemed only tangentially connected to the rest of the Honor Harrington universe. It really seemed like it could have easily been dropped into another science fiction universe simply by changing the names of a few places and groups of people.
A Whiff of Grapeshot (S.M. Stirling)
This short story fills in background for an event that was mentioned more or less in passing in the book In Enemy Hands. I liked this one a lot, and the events it covered really work best in short story format rather than as part of a novel as a whole.
The Universe of Honor Harrington (David Weber)
And this one read like a history book. Which, to be fair, is more or less what it is, so it fulfils its purpose in that regard. I enjoyed it for the background information it provides, but it isn't really a story. It was a slow read, and probably not strictly necessary, but for people who will read through all the appendix information and footnotes in various books because they find them fascinating this is an excellent addition. I do like how well everything hangs together.
Out of the collection as a whole, my favourite part was definitely A Beautiful Friendship.
A Beautiful Friendship (David Weber)
I really liked this story, which chronicles the first meeting between humans and treecats. David Weber later expanded this story into a YA novel with the same title, and as soon as I finished reading this version I went onto the Baen website to purchase and download the novel so I could read it too. I liked seeing more of the treecats as full-fledged characters.
A Grand Tour (David Drake)
This was my least favourite portion of the anthology. It wasn't badly written, but it seemed only tangentially connected to the rest of the Honor Harrington universe. It really seemed like it could have easily been dropped into another science fiction universe simply by changing the names of a few places and groups of people.
A Whiff of Grapeshot (S.M. Stirling)
This short story fills in background for an event that was mentioned more or less in passing in the book In Enemy Hands. I liked this one a lot, and the events it covered really work best in short story format rather than as part of a novel as a whole.
The Universe of Honor Harrington (David Weber)
And this one read like a history book. Which, to be fair, is more or less what it is, so it fulfils its purpose in that regard. I enjoyed it for the background information it provides, but it isn't really a story. It was a slow read, and probably not strictly necessary, but for people who will read through all the appendix information and footnotes in various books because they find them fascinating this is an excellent addition. I do like how well everything hangs together.
Out of the collection as a whole, my favourite part was definitely A Beautiful Friendship.
June 1, 2012
"A Beautiful Friendship" is the best part of this anthology. I loved this story.
The other two "A Grand Tour" and "A Whiff of Grapeshot", I found less enjoyable, however. "A Grand Tour" didn't seem to make much sense, and "A Whiff of Grapeshot" was quite gruesome, although it was an interesting look at the political developments of the PRH. It does leave me to wonder what will happen next, where they are concerned.
The remainder of the anthology, "The Universe of Honor Harrington" is a very interesting behind the scenes look of the nuts and bolts: from Warshawski sails to the History of Manticore; The House of Winton to The Solarian League and much more.
The other two "A Grand Tour" and "A Whiff of Grapeshot", I found less enjoyable, however. "A Grand Tour" didn't seem to make much sense, and "A Whiff of Grapeshot" was quite gruesome, although it was an interesting look at the political developments of the PRH. It does leave me to wonder what will happen next, where they are concerned.
The remainder of the anthology, "The Universe of Honor Harrington" is a very interesting behind the scenes look of the nuts and bolts: from Warshawski sails to the History of Manticore; The House of Winton to The Solarian League and much more.
August 11, 2017
More Than Honor shows us the first Contact between treecats (Celery Bandits! :D )and humans, covers a scuffle with Haven, shows us what happened with Ester McQueen and gives background information on the Honorverse! :D This is all presented in a fast paced roller coaster of a ride filling missing details from other books that will have you in turn laughing your head off and staying up late to see how things go! D
More Than Honor is brilliant, fast-paced, clever, gripping and action packed! :D Highly recommended! :D
More Than Honor is brilliant, fast-paced, clever, gripping and action packed! :D Highly recommended! :D
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 16, 2016
More like 3.5
Interesting, but there are things about the novel that just don't add up.
Interesting, but there are things about the novel that just don't add up.
August 26, 2018
Weber, David, David Drake, and S. M. Stirling. More than Honor. Worlds of Honor No. 1. Baen, 1997.
In the Golden Age of science fiction, publishers often farmed out successful genre series to many low-paid writers, seldom good, mostly bad or indifferent. Tom Swift, for instance, is the creation of many different hands, most of whom are known for nothing else. At least one publisher created a whole fake biography for a phony French writer of routine space opera. These days, we are well used to television and movie series farming out novelizations to multiple writers, sometimes pretty good writers. Alan Dean Foster comes to mind, and many others made a small pile in the Star Trek and Star Wars worlds. More recently, icons of science fiction like Larry Niven have begun doing the same thing, attracting well-established writers to continue and develop their fictional worlds. There may be more Known Space stories now by others than by Niven. The Honorverse is a good example of the trend. Stirling has his own successful postapocalyptic series of Emberverse novels, and Drake is himself an icon of military science fiction. It is no surprise that these stories do such a good job of setting up the world that you could begin your reading of Harrington stories with them. The first story by Weber about the Harrington family’s first contact with treecats is a very logical place to begin the series. Enjoy.
In the Golden Age of science fiction, publishers often farmed out successful genre series to many low-paid writers, seldom good, mostly bad or indifferent. Tom Swift, for instance, is the creation of many different hands, most of whom are known for nothing else. At least one publisher created a whole fake biography for a phony French writer of routine space opera. These days, we are well used to television and movie series farming out novelizations to multiple writers, sometimes pretty good writers. Alan Dean Foster comes to mind, and many others made a small pile in the Star Trek and Star Wars worlds. More recently, icons of science fiction like Larry Niven have begun doing the same thing, attracting well-established writers to continue and develop their fictional worlds. There may be more Known Space stories now by others than by Niven. The Honorverse is a good example of the trend. Stirling has his own successful postapocalyptic series of Emberverse novels, and Drake is himself an icon of military science fiction. It is no surprise that these stories do such a good job of setting up the world that you could begin your reading of Harrington stories with them. The first story by Weber about the Harrington family’s first contact with treecats is a very logical place to begin the series. Enjoy.
April 2, 2019
This collection of short stories/novelettes was very uneven.
"A Beautiful Friendship" by David Weber was excellent. It tells the story of the first encounter between treecats and humans. I fell in love with the characters and want to read more.
"A Grand Tour" by David Drake was just horrid. It really had nothing to do with the "Honorverse" other than a few trappings. He could have used "Federation," "warp drive," and "impulse engines" just as easily and it would have had as much to do with the Star Trek universe. Furthermore, I was taught that "Melungeons" was a less-than-polite word. To have all the stereotypes present for those people (and they straightened up and did well under the supervision of the superior Manticoreans) was offensive.
"A Whiff of Grapeshot" by S. M. Stirling told the story behind the Leveler Uprising. I'm not much for the Havenites, but this did fill in plenty of background and was well-written.
"The Universe of Honor Harrington" by David Weber was at times more technical than I liked and my eyes glazed over. However, I am glad I stuck with it as I learned more about the political background of the worlds.
This collection is for fans of the series. It deserves 3.5 stars; I rounded up because of the first story.
"A Beautiful Friendship" by David Weber was excellent. It tells the story of the first encounter between treecats and humans. I fell in love with the characters and want to read more.
"A Grand Tour" by David Drake was just horrid. It really had nothing to do with the "Honorverse" other than a few trappings. He could have used "Federation," "warp drive," and "impulse engines" just as easily and it would have had as much to do with the Star Trek universe. Furthermore, I was taught that "Melungeons" was a less-than-polite word. To have all the stereotypes present for those people (and they straightened up and did well under the supervision of the superior Manticoreans) was offensive.
"A Whiff of Grapeshot" by S. M. Stirling told the story behind the Leveler Uprising. I'm not much for the Havenites, but this did fill in plenty of background and was well-written.
"The Universe of Honor Harrington" by David Weber was at times more technical than I liked and my eyes glazed over. However, I am glad I stuck with it as I learned more about the political background of the worlds.
This collection is for fans of the series. It deserves 3.5 stars; I rounded up because of the first story.
December 10, 2018
Following GR's rating system, this collection was ok. It wasn't strong enough to stand on its own and it doesn't quite mesh with the main Honor series, but it wasn't painful to read through.
In more detail, for me A Whiff of Grapeshot was the best of the lot; conversely I'm not feeling any inclination to read A Beautiful Friendship after what was a fairly run-of-the-mill First Contact story with very unbelievable and somewhat annoying characters. The last entry on the workings of the universe was actually fairly interesting, especially the story of the Star Kingdom and the explanation for the "two of your Earth minutes" trope.
So, in short: I don't want to say I won't read the other anthologies, but this one hasn't really done much to convince me to do so.
In more detail, for me A Whiff of Grapeshot was the best of the lot; conversely I'm not feeling any inclination to read A Beautiful Friendship after what was a fairly run-of-the-mill First Contact story with very unbelievable and somewhat annoying characters. The last entry on the workings of the universe was actually fairly interesting, especially the story of the Star Kingdom and the explanation for the "two of your Earth minutes" trope.
So, in short: I don't want to say I won't read the other anthologies, but this one hasn't really done much to convince me to do so.
June 28, 2018
Waste of time. First story is just the first few chapters of A Beautiful Friendship. Second story was boring AF. Third story was actually mildly interesting. Last section was a bunch of dry data that I thought was pretty interesting and is why this book gets two stars instead of one star. I highly recommend skipping this one.
June 19, 2021
The first story was brilliant with very good characters and storyline. Based on this first story I was all set to recommend this book to friends...but it went downhill from there. If this book just contained the first story I'd rate it a 5 plus. But unfortunately the extra 2 stories and the horrid last chapter brought the work much less a must read then a feh.
December 23, 2024
By far, my favorite short was the one that later became the start of A Beautiful Friendship... the rest weren't very memorable...
May 28, 2018
Must have for fans of Honoverse! Origin story for the treecats and a history primer for the Star Kingdom of Manticore. Also, for fans of David Drake's RCN series, the "Grand Tour" story is an interesting precursor.
August 5, 2021
4 stars for the first story, 1 for second, 2 for third, and 4 for last "story". It would've been more consistent and coherent if it was all written by Weber, but alas. Nevertheless, it's great to be back in that universe without rereading the original Honor Harrington series.
March 1, 2023
Almost cried during the first story, gave up on the rest.
Please PLEASE, someone who knows him, beg Mr. Weber to write more stories about the treecats! I want to know what happened to Climbs Quickly and Stephanie.
Please PLEASE, someone who knows him, beg Mr. Weber to write more stories about the treecats! I want to know what happened to Climbs Quickly and Stephanie.
May 15, 2023
More than Honor
I found Honor Harrington and David Weber many years ago, and habe bought the books, and audio books, and Kindle books......because I love them. It is the quintessential good vs evil, with good prevailing.
I found Honor Harrington and David Weber many years ago, and habe bought the books, and audio books, and Kindle books......because I love them. It is the quintessential good vs evil, with good prevailing.
September 27, 2023
Tri poviedky, z troch rôznych kútov Honorverza, každá trochu iná a zaujímavá iným spôsobom. Cez čo som sa neprehrýzla bol dodatok, v ktorý má čitateľov zoznámiť so svetom na takej trochu inej úrovni, ktoré do poviedok/románov sa len ťažko vtesnávajú. Možno niekedy nabudúce.
November 9, 2024
The short stories found in more than Honor are compelling reads. It’s a little frustrating that 1 out of 3 were turned into full length novels but they are all interesting and compelling stories in their own right
April 8, 2018
Was already familiar with the first story - A Beautiful Friendship from another of the honorverse stories. Fun read.
January 22, 2020
Worth reading for the first story which is a telling of the first Harrington's bonding with a tree cat. The other 2 stories not so much.
December 14, 2021
Thought I'd give the Honorverse another try. Shortstories by Stirling and Drake were entertaining. I didn't care for the expositive "story" by Weber nor the one about treecats really.
January 10, 2022
Collection of entertaining short stories and an excellent appendix and breakdown of the history. Kind of a long, but necessary read.
April 23, 2022
An enjoyable collection of short works set in the Honorverse, including the fascinating origin story of human bonds with treecats.
August 10, 2022
Best part was "A Beautiful Friendship"
September 20, 2023
Not great , not bad enjoyable enough if you're familiar with the Honorverse. If you're not the stories stand alone. Just a fun romp.
December 10, 2023
A repackaging of stories written years ago. Nonetheless they are well written (except the last one) and worth reading (or re-reading).
Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews