Marque and Reprisal

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: Captain Kylara Vatta has only recently come out of a full blown war, only to land directly into another one. Or is it a different one? Kylara finally makes her way to Lastway, the originally scheduled final stop for her commercial carrier when she receives disturbing news of attacks on her homeland and on Vatta Transport and the family. But unfortunately, the communication ansibles have been knocked out and she is playing in the dark. Her military training is what spurts her to take the offensive, and even though she does not yet know who the enemy is, she begins to prepare her commercial ship for war time defense. Yet, she struggles to balance her financial and is constantly interrupted by attempts made on her life.

And then, totally unexpectedly, her cousin, Stella shows up. The "bimbo blonde" who gave the family codes to her first lover and is generally viewed as useless by the family. Except that Kylara realizes that Stella, much like herself, has been pigeonholed by the family and underneath the bubblehead, there is a sophisticated spy who has been working for the Vatta family business for years. Stella has brought along partners, Rafe and the young Vatta cousin, Toby; and the terrible news that both of Kylara's parents and Stella's parents have perished in the attacks.

Kylara quickly makes use of her new resources and launches a serious mission that entails survival of her ship and crew, saving Vatta family members, and identifying and removing the enemy. Except that they still have no idea who the enemy is. Rafe, whose background is as obscure as Stella's, provides some clues. And Kylara gains an unexpected ally when a mercenary force offers its services to her ... for a small fee: trade and profit.

All her allies have secrets, but so does Kylara herself. Someone she knew at the academy sends her an unusual package, the contents of which could help, but also hinder, Kylara's mission. And she has yet to divulge to her friends how she feels about killing people.

In all, this second book in the series matches the first for characterization and plot. It's slow moving at the beginning, but the second half of the book picks up pace quickly, like its predecessor. Circumstances twist so that the heroine is forced in a direction that leaves few choices. Kylara is a likeable, yet not perfect, heroine. She makes mistakes, some of them deadly, but lands on her feet in the end, earning respect from her peers and readers alike.

As with all of Moon's books, this work makes for an enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: Moon at her best
Review: I was a little doubtful before the start of this series. A family of freighter operators? I was pleasantly surprised to find Trading in in Danger an excellent book, and the sequel, Marque and Reprisal is even better, possibly Moon's best SF warfare book in years. Ky Vanta is a combination of Herris Serano and Esmay Suiza, so if you liked Moon's other series you'll love this one. The action and tension are maintained throughout, with a complex plot and great characters. This is one of those rare books I picked up and didn't want to put down, much better than her Suiza series, which is pretty good in itself.

Rating:
Summary: Satisfying space opera action
Review: Kylara Vatta isn't sure she's cut out for the boring life of a space trader--the role her super-rich merchant family slotted her into. But when interstellar communications are cut, and the entire Vatta family is attacked and nearly eliminated, Kylara finds that the trading life can be anything but boring. Somehow, she's got to stay alive, get her ship loaded when the insurance companies refuse to insure anything Vatta, get some defenses up on her slow ship, and decide what to do. When her great-aunt sends Kylara's sexy cousin to help, Kylara isn't sure whether she's moving ahead, or falling behind. But the strangest thing is the official letter of Marque--authorizing her to go after her planet's enemies--but in a superslow and defenseless merchant-ship?

Author Elizabeth Moon brings back fond memories of the glory days of space opera. Two young women, both considered failures by their family, are now all that stands between their family and ruin (that is, the two of them plus some highly potent fruitcakes).

MARQUE AND REPRISAL doesn't have the depth of character or really complex plotting as do some of Moon's fantasy, but if you're looking for solid space-opera adventure, you won't be disappointed.


Rating:
Summary: EXCITING BOOK, GREAT READING
Review: Kylarra Vatta is back. Our indominable heroine from TRADING IN DANGER. In that book she was kicked out of the Space Academy and given an old vatta ship to take to be sold for scrap. Not only did she save the ship, get it upgraded, she managed to get caught up in a war. At the end she had to decide if she wanted to trade for Vatta, or go out on her own.

As MARQUE AND REPRISAL begins she has not decided what to do when news comes that Vatta has been attacked and her family killed. Someone is trying to destroy Vatta and ISC. ISC controls the ansibles that keep the planets in touch and control the movement and distribution of goods for trade. It seems the war she got into in the 1st book was just the first shot in an attempt to destroy both companies.

Ky doesn't know if she is the last Vatta or if others live. When her cousin Stella arrives with Toby, the only survivor of one Vatta ship, and Rafe, a very mysterious con man, she sets out to find out who killed her family, rescue whoever is left, and bring as much harm as possible on those responsible. She reminds us of Heris Serrano and Esmay Sousa, full of honor, courage, determination and just plain old guts.

Rafe has several names because he is a deep cover spy for ISC. Ky doesn't trust those good looks a bit, she has been bitten once to many times.

The action is fast, the situations explosive, and you are on the edge of your seat. This is Elizabeth Moon at her best. Don't miss it.


Rating:
Summary: An explosive start to a new series
Review: Letters of marque and reprisal were the thin legal cover given to private armed warships allowing them to attack other vessels and not be considered pirates. Well, sometimes to not be considered pirates.

In this well-paced and well-written space opera, Moon uses a traditional plot device, placing her young heroine in danger with no backup and just barely enough resources to fight her way out of it. The pacing is fast and the plot is sound. The characterization is almost entirely static and not a particular strength of the novel, but it is plenty good enough to sustain the story.

While this is technically the second book in the series, the first one was substantially inferior and really does not have to be read in order to enjoy the current offering. And have no doubt that this is a series -- far too many plot threads are left open at the end of the novel for it to be anything else.

The setting is the deep space version of the Caribbean, where trading vessels ply the spaceways between independent planets, pirates prey on the traders, and the only military/police protection available are mercenaries and privateers. The most successful of these tradeship consortiums is Vatta Transport -- until someone attacks both the Vatta family and the Vatta company in one devestating blow. At the same time, someone has also attacked the company that holds the exclusive monopoly on faster-than-light interstellar communication. Since ISC and Vatta have longstanding ties, the two attacks are almost certainly tied together.

With the family in shambles and all communications compromised, it falls to Ky Vatta, the young hero of TRADING IN DANGER, to somehow survive, gather up her remaining family, and strike back at whoever has attacked Vatta. Along the way she picks up a few more resources and a few more allies, but also makes a few more enemies.

Rating:
Summary: Rousing adventure tale...
Review: Marque and Reprisal is space opera in the classic 1950's vein, reminiscent of, say, Heinline juvenile novels of that vintage. Basically this is a fast paced adventure yarn that revels in its use of pulp magazine forms from that era.

In case it isn't clear, this is the second book in a new series, and this book makes no effort to be a standalone entity (although you could probably read it on its own, you shouldn't bother: TRADING IN DANGER, the first, is a perfectly good read).

Moon's a good writer and she uses all of her considerable talent to distract the reader from questioning the amazing coincidences and other events that populate the plot here. She's got the pace and breathlessness of space opera down pat and her arm-waving moves you right along, wondering where heroine Ky Vatta will end up and how she'll get there. The core story is fun. The twists and turns come briskly and are entertaining.

I found the front half of the book a bit odd. The technology, writing, and "sandbox" of the book is lifted right from the 50's, before cell phones and the Web and so forth... and that style directly aped XIXth Century sailing adventure novels. Horatio Hornblower would feel right at home striding the deck with our (somewhat two-dimensional) cast of characters. It isn't just a space opera, but a solid pastiche of what used to pass for pulp magazine adventure stories. Even the incredibly-convenient-but-wholly-improbable "open door in the alleyway" bit is entirely in keeping with the homage.

As the book progresses, things get a bit more modern in their sensibility and style and the action bits at the end feel more like 80s Hammer's Slammers than 50s Starship Troopers.

I fret for the future of this series, which seems to be building up a number of inconvenient facts and a lot of stray detail and inconsistencies, but this book and its predecessor are good solid fun. Well recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Buy two! Buy a dozen! Give them for Chrishannukwanza!
Review: Moon kicks it into high gear again! A wildly satisfying space opera, with strong influence from the historical past, engaging characters and strong plotting. Take my advice, and don't start this on an evening when you have to go back to work the next day; you'll be bleary-eyed and drunk with exhaustion. Current authors attempting work in the same sub-genre could learn a LOT from Moon. There is nothing cardboard, trite, or hackneyed here.

If there was ever an Heir Apparant to the great C.J. Cherryh, it's Elizabeth Moon.

Rating:
Summary: Great Space Opera! Moon Delivers Again!
Review: Once you start MARQUE AND REPRISAL, it's a hard book to put down. I heard Elizabeth Moon read an excerpt from this before it was published, and had to wait impatiently for many weeks to find out what happened next. MARQUE AND REPRISAL is a delightful read for anybody who enjoys a good space opera. If you like strong female characters, you'll love it.

MARQUE AND REPRISAL is apparently the second volume of a great new series from the reliably fine Moon. I missed the first in the series (TRADING DANGER). I will go back to read it, as I loved this one. If you read this out of order (as I did), note that Moon does a great job of telling you what you need to know. I never had the annoying sense of having missed something.

MARQUE AND REPRISAL delivers everything I look for in a space adventure series novel. The book kept me up late, as chapter after chapter had me asking, "What then? What's next?"

At the beginning of MARQUE AND REPRISAL, we meet Kylara Vatta, reluctant tradeship captain. She wanted a military life, a life of adventure, but was expelled from the Slotter Key Spaceforce Academy. Life is looking boring and mundane. Very quickly, though, life becomes anything but boring or mundane. Someone is out to destroy the Vatta family. Someone who had connections with the Slotter Key government. Ky Vatta is up against a conspiracy. They are almost certainly out to get her, too, and she does not even know why.

Over the course of the book, Ky gathers a motley crew, a cast of characters we enjoy meeting, and that we will look forward to seeing more of in future books. A very few Vattas survive, and one hooks her up with a charming and unreliable con man, Rafe. We even rescue a Jack Russell terrier, Puddles. I don't want to say much, as I don't want to spoil any surprises.

MARQUE AND REPRISAL delivers a satisfying ending, but leaves enough still to explore that we can hope for many more volumes of this highly entertaining series. I am going back to read TRADING DANGER, and can't wait to read the next installment!


Rating:
Summary: Captivating, even with a few flaws.
Review: Overall good quality. Interesting and varied set of characters, and good character development. Decent size. Reasonable amount of action, especially in later chapters. Great punchline at the end of the next-to-last chapter. Well thought out and believable space battle scenes.

Having said that, there are some deficiencies that keep this book from acheiving top-quality status: 1) Lack of action in the early-mid chapters. 2) Puppy character serves no pupose in this book - maybe he'll devlop into something in a follow-on book in this series. 3) Some unbelievable coincendences - like when fleeing Stella and Toby find back door ajar on security zealot/spy Rafe's antique book cover business on remote planet's space station, and Rafe is old flame of Stella. 4) (Possible spoiler follows) The technological leap of having inter-solar ansible communication technology going from huge 100 man platforms into a few secret ship-based platforms is believable enough, but then we have the unbelievable leap in technology of an ansible turning out to exist as implant in Rafe's skull, and then being magically transferred to Ky's implant during "mind meld" - This ridiculous sequence is totally out of place in the book, and indeed serves no purpose in this particular book; it is an obvious lead in to a next book with Ky having this "super" capability... while this situation seriously detracts from the quality of this book, I'm even more afraid of what it could portend in future books from this series.

Rating:
Summary: Great Read when is the Next volume in the series!!
Review: The second in a series with Captain Kyarla Vatta young scone of the Vatta traiding family on Slotter Key is a great read. I received the book yesterday afternoon and finished reading it for the first time last night. I could not put the book down. The action and the personalities kept me rivited to my chair.

Much better than the first book in the series, the author Elizabeth Moon does an excellant job of developing the characters and the plot without any sudden radical twists; yet at the same time keeping you following the story line without the inevitable outcome known long in advance. Not to spoil the story for anyone the ending does not come out like I expected. Still it is a very good read and a wounderful characterization of the young Captain as she developes her skills, adjusts to meet the changed circumsances, and finds she must make many difficult decisions quickly. She has advice from her crew and other employees, however the buck stops with her the Captain of Vatta shipping and daughter of the CFO.

Elizabeth Moon has made even relatively minor patricipants real. They are there and you can clearly see them, thier thought processes, and the action.

Great Job keep the series coming.

I strongly recommend this book. Its even better than the first book in the series; however that book should be read first if you are looking at the whole series. It will place somethings and actions in a clearer context for the reader.