watervole | Book review - Trading in Danger

auntygillian recommended Elizabeth Moon to me, and I'm glad she did.

I'm already a fan of Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan novels and I've also enjoyed the only book that I've read so far in Dave Weber's Honor Harrington books. They're military SF of a kind that I enjoy with enough emphasis on character to counterbalance the military tactics (though I also enjoy the tactics).

Thinking about it, I enjoy Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe novels for exactly the same reasons, even though they're Napoleonic rather than futuristic.

'Trading in Danger' is the first novel in the Vatta's War series and Ky Vatta, the main character is the daughter of a major trading family who has broken with family tradition by enrolling in the military academy. However, her career plans come to an end when she is kicked out of the academy as the result of something she did to try and help a fellow student. Her family come to the rescue and find her a trading job with an old ship due to be scrapped.

In true SF heroine tradition, she instantly resolves to try and find a way of preventing the ship being scrapped, and also manages to get herself caught up in the middle of a local war where her military training enables her to behave with a lot of practical sense.

The book picks up as it goes along. The first few chapters didn't really feel like SF (the writer was a lieutenant in the US Marine Corps and uses that to create a good military feel), but as we get out into space, that changes.

My only real quibble is that one big piece of the plot is left unresolved. This is understandable as this is the first book of a series, but the characters act as though they know this and don't agnonise over the problem nearly enough. I felt there should have been a lot more speculation as to who destroyed the ansibles, even if it wasn't going to be resolved in this particular novel.

However, overall, this is a book I'd recommend. It was an enjoyable read and I finished it quickly and will certainly read more in the series.

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I've not read Moon's Vatta's War series, but I have read The Serrano Legacy, and the Deed of Paksennarion, and found a lot to enjoy in them. I'm not that fond of military SF, but I like the way Moon presents her military characters, flaws and all. And she also does some great older women characters, both in The Serrano Legacy, and in Remnant Population, a standalone novel. The latter is about a woman who refuses to leave when the colony she is part of fails, and does whatever the planetary equivalent is of stowing away.

I also really enjoyed one of her sub-plots, in the Serrano Legacy, which is similar to Our Mrs Reynolds, if Saffron had been who she pretended to be. I like the way Moon works this story out.

The Serrano Legacy is eight books, and I think the stories really should have been wrapped up in six books, but they're a good read. You can read the first three books as trilogy, as they focus on one heroine, and then the second focus on another, who appears briefly in the third book.

I've been wondering about the Vatta's War books, so I might well pick them up. Thanks for the recommendation.

Yes, I really liked this one too. I think I liked it more than the one that followed, because I like "trader" SF more than military SF, and there were more knotty trading problems in this one than in the next one.

Hmm, it is VERY convenient for me now that I am actually sitting at the table in the cente of Europe and use this fact as an excuse for a/my English b/my silly talk.
Finally I am here after some watching and reading and yes, I like it because it seems I can write about anything...
I only want to comment on Sharpe: I found a VHS among other used ones with S.Bean on it - of course, that´s WHY I tried it as I had never before heard of Sharpe. I watched it three times in one weekend, partly because I liked it, partly because of the language. B.Cornwell has some translations into Czech here but NOT Sharpe books. I agree with you about these stories - the first thing I did after my visit to Britain in spring was to spend most of my money on 4 "Sharpes" - and then live on a baguette and water for the rest of the trip:-)
I am impressed with your wide range of reading - at present I am stuck with all B7 zines I have got from you. Yesterday I spent an hour reading in a bath until the water was cold, my husband shaking his head in disbelief. Well, that´s that...

Hello! Great to see you on LJ.

You can indeed write about anything here. Sean Bean is very watchable. I saw the videos first and then went to read the books afterwards.

I am reading a lot at present. My neck has improved and reading does not hurt as much as it used to.

Blake's 7 is very close to my heart. As a child, I watched what must have been re-runs with my mother (along with new Dr Who). I went on to become a fully-fledged SF fan when I discovered SF books in our local library. It wasn't until I was in my late 20s that I realised my mother was still a huge Blake's 7, original Star Trek, Journey into Space etc. SF 'media' fan. I started taking her to conventions and watching Babylon 5 (and Buffy!) with her. Instead of being a great rebel, I discover that I was a second-generation fan all along :-) I'm hoping Mum will be able to come to Novacon next November, and more conventions after that.

But it all started for me with Blake's 7, my first 'grown up' SF!

Hi Vera, nice to meet you. What is it about Sean Bean that women find so attractive? My mum thinks he's wonderful too. You certainly aren't the only fan who's spent hours reading in the bath until forced to get out because the water has gone cold. I have been known to let some of the water out and top it up from the hot tap in the past :)

He's not that great ... :-)

Sean Bean... Yum. I need a Sharpe icon.

(Actually, he's a more complex and interesting character in the books, but that's partly due to the inherent limitations of TV scrips and I hope to write a long posting about that someday)

Sean Bean? For many women I think it's the stubble, and for me also the northern accent.

Elizabeth Moon, yes I'd recommend Remnant Population too. I read that one first and preferred it to the trader novels.

I can do the northern accent but I think I might have let the stubble get a bit too far ;)

Welcome to LJ!

I have yet to actually manage to watch or read any Sharpe, though I do intend to. Oddly enough, I have one of the Sharpe books on tape. My book-on-tape policy is "buy something which you think you will like, which is also read by an actor you like". This book-on-tape is read by... Paul McGann (the 8th Doctor). 8-)

And as for B7, you may know my stories under this name. 8-)

Welcome to LJ, and Blakes 7 on LJ, and everything :)

Book review - Trading in Danger

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