Command Decision

Elizabeth Moon
Book 4 of Vatta's War series

The war gets real. Ky sets up Space Defense Force and sets out really get serious about her job. Cousin Stella has remained on Cascadia at the new Vatta Ltd. headquarters to run the transport business and Ky has with her some other privateers and a few ships from Bissonet set on revenge. Of course, nothing goes quite right, and yet it all works out in the end. Moon continues to mix the storylines between space battles, planetary political intrigue, and silly eccentricities that come about with the mixing of alien cultures. And the pure brilliance of dealing well with time and space continues to impress. Looking forward to wrapping it all up.

4 stars (out of 4)

Engaging the Enemy

Elizabeth Moon
Book 3 of Vatta's War series

Now with a couple of ships, Ky Vatta begins to develop plans to rid the galaxy of the pirate horde that plagues her family and her business. But she is still a trader, so these plans evolve while traveling to different planets to make some money. At one point, she is at Cascadia when another Vatta transport ship arrives, and challenges her identity. There is bad history between Captain Fuhrman and Ky, and this time it leads to a local trial. I love that the distinguishing cultural characteristic of the Cascadians is politeness. So distinguishing that rudeness is a death penalty offense. Who would have thought... After all the conflict, Ky leaves Cascadia with 3 ships under her control, and a plan for reviving the company and stopping the pirates. Oh, and the Bissonet system has just been taken over by the pirates.

4 stars (out of 4)

Marque and Reprisal

Elizabeth Moon
Book 2 of Vatta's War series

Ky Vatta survived an attack in her about-to-be-junked cargo hauler and begins to discover her talents as a spacer. With much of the intersteller communication network sabotaged, she is making decisions as best she can. Her cousin Stella has arrived in Sabine with a package containing her fathers command level implant (all the company data as CEO) and the two cousins are basically it for Vatta Ltd. Stella also brings a letter of marque from the Slotter Key government authorizing Ky to be a privateer (sort of a legal pirate) to protect shipping lanes. Ky is basically in the middle of an internal struggle: is she a cargo hauler or a fighter. But while hauling cargo, they encounter family reject and pirate Osman Vatta, and the choice is made for her. And in the end, Ky now has a cargo hauler and an armed escort ship. It looks like the pattern for the books in the series is one major conflict per book that wraps up a major part of the story, and clearly moves the plot forward, but doesn't finish. And it doesn't feel like stalling (as middle books often do in series). The story here is big enough for the entire series.

4 stars (out of 4)

Trading in Danger

Elizabeth Moon
Book 1 of Vatta's War series

Ky Vatta is a cadet in Spaceforce Academy, the system defense force for the Slotter Key system. And a member of the Vatta family, one of the largest and most respected interstellar shipping companies in the galaxy. Then she is kicked out of the Academy, and her father (Vatta Ltd. CEO) sends her as captain on a voyage with an old cargo hull on its way to the scrap yard, mostly to keep her out of the public eye for a year or so. Along the way, her life is turned on its head as the company, her family and her first voyage are all attacked. Now she is one of the only people in the family who can begin to sort things out.

This is in many ways a typical space opera. But there are a few things that make this quality sci-fi. Moon doesn't live only in space. There are great storylines on planet, with airplanes, and cars and trains and buildings that seem remarkably "normal". This fits a world where FTL travel happens, but not after hover cars, etc. Moon has created a world that doesn't ignore the realities of the vastness of space even with FTL travel. FTL jump points are out of the solar systems where they must be to avoid collisions with mass. So after jumps, insystem travel often takes weeks. And insystem communication still has lag (sometimes hours) based on the size of the systems. Which means that breaking FTL travel doesn't mean you have to break everything. And Moon has created a world where the protagonist is a woman, and there are strong women characters, but the world is not about strong women, it is about characters. Many are introduced and well into the story line before their gender is revealed. Quincy from engineering and Lee the pilot... male? female? we don't really know for quite some time because it really isn't relevant to the story.

I hope the whole series holds up
4 stars (out of 4)