Honor Harrington
The Honor Harrington series by David Weber was one I never got drawn into back when it was new (1993 was the first publish date, I believe). I'm sure I've seen some of the covers over the years. It seems to come up repeatedly in discussions on IO9, however, especially for topics like "What scifi novel should be brought to the big screen?" And since On Basilisk Station was cheap (ie. free) on Kindle, it seemed particular low-risk.
It's interesting that the author has set up a "world" in which there's FTL travel, but starship drives inherently limit naval combat to sort of a 2D plane. The impeller drives inherently create fields above and below ships that are impervious to just about anything, so you get ships designed for broadsides even though they move in three dimensions.
The writing also has a lot of scenes from captains and politicians on both sides of an impending war. That has an interesting affect in painting a clearer picture. It splits a lot of focus, but does help cast enemies in a sympathetic light. After all, most of the military types are just out there trying to do their jobs, win against the enemy and protect their own people. This also sets up a lot of situations where timing is in question, leaving the reader to wonder if reinforcements will arrive in time or not. And further, it clearly projects how many mistakes are made, often due to incomplete information, in war and combat.
I like Honor well enough as a lead character. Around her, there's a swarm of other officers and key players in each book. And her six-limbed, empathic treecat, Nimitz. All good, though Honor herself seems almost too paragonal in her dedication to duty, but I can accept that as a defining trait.
So... three books in, and I'm probably going to keep going in the series. I like it. On the other hand, I'm less convinced it would convert well to the big screen. There is a ton of technical exposition that goes on about strategy and acceleration and missile vectors. While I think the plots would work and there are some naval battle scenes that could measure up to Wrath of Khan in drama in a way more modern, flashy scifi doesn't tend to, I think the burden of converting those explanations of how and why things work would be terribly difficult to adapt well.
It's interesting that the author has set up a "world" in which there's FTL travel, but starship drives inherently limit naval combat to sort of a 2D plane. The impeller drives inherently create fields above and below ships that are impervious to just about anything, so you get ships designed for broadsides even though they move in three dimensions.
The writing also has a lot of scenes from captains and politicians on both sides of an impending war. That has an interesting affect in painting a clearer picture. It splits a lot of focus, but does help cast enemies in a sympathetic light. After all, most of the military types are just out there trying to do their jobs, win against the enemy and protect their own people. This also sets up a lot of situations where timing is in question, leaving the reader to wonder if reinforcements will arrive in time or not. And further, it clearly projects how many mistakes are made, often due to incomplete information, in war and combat.
I like Honor well enough as a lead character. Around her, there's a swarm of other officers and key players in each book. And her six-limbed, empathic treecat, Nimitz. All good, though Honor herself seems almost too paragonal in her dedication to duty, but I can accept that as a defining trait.
So... three books in, and I'm probably going to keep going in the series. I like it. On the other hand, I'm less convinced it would convert well to the big screen. There is a ton of technical exposition that goes on about strategy and acceleration and missile vectors. While I think the plots would work and there are some naval battle scenes that could measure up to Wrath of Khan in drama in a way more modern, flashy scifi doesn't tend to, I think the burden of converting those explanations of how and why things work would be terribly difficult to adapt well.
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