Winning Colors

Rating:
Summary: All things considered, an excellent read
Review: Heris Serrano, formerly a captain in the Regular Space Service, has spent the last several years commanding a rich old lady's private transportation instead. Now, in the concluding volume of the trilogy begun by Hunting Party and continued with Sporting Chance, she's offered what may be a chance to go back to the life she loves best. The charming rural planet where Lady Cecelia wants to do some horse-trading lies undefended, and the so-called Benignity of the Compassionate Hand (an outlaw state) has it slated for scorching and annexation. All that stands between the enemy forces and Xavier's frightened population is Heris and her crew. Aboard what? An armed yacht. Aided by a few shuttles, a snail-like ore carrier, and one museum-vintage starship.

This wonderful adventure story gets needlessly complicated in places because of all the subplots we're following as the author moves toward tying up the trilogy's many loose ends. You do need to know the characters already in order to grasp what's going on; I wouldn't recommend trying to read this book first, and reading it as a standalone would be frustrating at best. But it does a fine job of pointing up its theme of maturity, as the younger characters achieve this quality that was lacking when we first met them; and as the older characters start to realize how their potentially endless lives (thanks to "rejuv") will alter their children's and grandchildren's futures. Or perhaps I should say nieces and nephews, not children and grandchildren; because aside from Heris herself, this book's most notable characters are its formidable maiden aunts.

All things considered, an excellent read.



Rating:
Summary: An entertaining read!
Review: I highly recommend that anyone who likes space opera take the opportunity to read Elizabeth Moon. She's a fabulous writer, and her characters draw you into the novels. Heris and Cecelia, each quirky in their own way, make drastic changes that affect everything in their universe... and they do it simply by doing what they feel is necessary.

Rating:
Summary: An entertaining read!
Review: I highly recommend that anyone who likes space opera take the opportunity to read Elizabeth Moon. She's a fabulous writer, and her characters draw you into the novels. Heris and Cecelia, each quirky in their own way, make drastic changes that affect everything in their universe... and they do it simply by doing what they feel is necessary.

Rating:
Summary: Not too bad....
Review: I'll have to admit that I struggled to finish this book. The second half of the book couldn't really keep my attention. I finished the first half pretty quick, then nursed the rest of it along bit by bit.

I would say that while I liked the ending, for the most part, the storyline wasn't tightly spun enough to really give this book the unputdownable quality it needed.

Lots of different sub plots that will eventually link up. A wealthy Morreline is killed by miners in Patchcock, The Famillias is struggling to regroup with Bunny at the helm after the abdication of the King. Cecelia's finally in the pink of health and out to sue Ronnie's family. Ronnie and Raffa have a relationship going against the wishes of their parents. And so on.

This book draws a little more on Heris' military roots as she finds herself in command of a miniscule task force. I thoroughly enjoyed the scenes of Heris in command of her ships. She reminded me a litle bit of David Weber's Honor Harrington in her demeanour and the way she handled the battle.

And we finally meet Junior Grade Lieutenant Esmay Suiza, the character Moon will use to head the series from the next book on out.

Overall, not too bad. But I think the first couple of books in the series were much better than this one. Still, if you're a fan of the Serrano series, it won't hurt to struggle through Winning Colors just so you can get to the next book!

Rating:
Summary: Finishing the Serrano Trilogy.
Review: The "kids" are on the loose and plowing through deadly politics (only just beginning to realize, how deadly politics can really be). Heris Serrano is 'stuck' in a system with her new yacht, while the chance of a major invasion by the fleets of "The Hand" has just exceeded 100%. And Lady Cecelia is slowly coming to the conclusion after her rejuv treatments that the immortality of the "parents" might mean the destruction of the children..

Cool. Part 3 Although I enjoyed the previous two more, this one seemed disjointed. (The series consists of: Hunting Party, Sporting Chance, and Winning Colors)

Rating:
Summary: Finishing the Serrano Trilogy.
Review: The "kids" are on the loose and plowing through deadly politics (only just beginning to realize, how deadly politics can really be). Heris Serrano is 'stuck' in a system with her new yacht, while the chance of a major invasion by the fleets of "The Hand" has just exceeded 100%. And Lady Cecelia is slowly coming to the conclusion after her rejuv treatments that the immortality of the "parents" might mean the destruction of the children..

Cool. Part 3 Although I enjoyed the previous two more, this one seemed disjointed. (The series consists of: Hunting Party, Sporting Chance, and Winning Colors)

Rating:
Summary: Ripping Good Read
Review: The third of Elizabeth Moon's Heris Serrano books is _Winning Colors_. In this book Cecelia, restored to health, has been forced by (unbelievable, to me) legal manipulations to give her yacht to Heris. Cecelia charters it and they head for a horsy world to look at some horse genes for Cecelia's farms. In the meantime Heris has hired Brun, whose father wants to keep her out of trouble, and also Heris has hired an expert "communications tech" from her friend Livadhi's Royal Space Service crew. Also in the meantime, Raffa's family has forced her to break up with Cecelia's niece Ronnie, because of the scandal involving Cecelia's treatment at the hands of her family, and her response: to sue them. Ronnie, at loose ends, agrees to go to the non-Familias worlds of the Guernisi to investigate some suspicious samples of the immortality drugs. When Ronnie (and his friend George) run into trouble, Raffa is sent after them. Also at the same time, a spoiled young rich girl from Ronnie/Raffa/George/Brun's generation is killed by revolutionaries on Patchcock, the source of the questionable immortality drugs. And also (pant pant) the evil mobster empire, the Benignity of the Compassionate Hand (great name!), is planning an attack on, by coincidence, the same planet to which Cecelia and Heris have gone.

You can probably see that this is the third book in a series, and you should probably read the first two first. (Though I think that the book does have enough internal info to allow readers to catch up.) It's a very action-filled, involving, novel. There are some pretty cool space battles, some exciting action involving the young uns, and some hints of serious consideration of the potential problems of super extended life spans. It's another great, fast, read. I liked it. But I must say, it also has some flaws, that cause me to rank it a bit below the second and best novel of this series, _Sporting Chance_. Most fundamental is a certain reliance on some outrageous coincidences. To some extent Moon patches this by having some of the action directed from behind the scenes by a benign (not of the Benignity!) figure, but this too seems a bit pat.

In addition, Moon shied away from attacking the most interesting question she raised head on: that of what to do with the problem of succession when old people never die. I'm inclined to not mind this too much though: indeed she avoids providing pat answers, just asks hard questions. Throughout there's a hint of the author reminding herself that this whole series began as a light-hearted romp, as space opera, and thus "let's not get too serious". At the same time, serious issues are raised, and bad things happen. The whole trilogy is fun and interesting and a ripping good read.

Rating:
Summary: Ripping Good Read
Review: The third of Elizabeth Moon's Heris Serrano books is _Winning Colors_. In this book Cecelia, restored to health, has been forced by (unbelievable, to me) legal manipulations to give her yacht to Heris. Cecelia charters it and they head for a horsy world to look at some horse genes for Cecelia's farms. In the meantime Heris has hired Brun, whose father wants to keep her out of trouble, and also Heris has hired an expert "communications tech" from her friend Livadhi's Royal Space Service crew. Also in the meantime, Raffa's family has forced her to break up with Cecelia's niece Ronnie, because of the scandal involving Cecelia's treatment at the hands of her family, and her response: to sue them. Ronnie, at loose ends, agrees to go to the non-Familias worlds of the Guernisi to investigate some suspicious samples of the immortality drugs. When Ronnie (and his friend George) run into trouble, Raffa is sent after them. Also at the same time, a spoiled young rich girl from Ronnie/Raffa/George/Brun's generation is killed by revolutionaries on Patchcock, the source of the questionable immortality drugs. And also (pant pant) the evil mobster empire, the Benignity of the Compassionate Hand (great name!), is planning an attack on, by coincidence, the same planet to which Cecelia and Heris have gone.

You can probably see that this is the third book in a series, and you should probably read the first two first. (Though I think that the book does have enough internal info to allow readers to catch up.) It's a very action-filled, involving, novel. There are some pretty cool space battles, some exciting action involving the young uns, and some hints of serious consideration of the potential problems of super extended life spans. It's another great, fast, read. I liked it. But I must say, it also has some flaws, that cause me to rank it a bit below the second and best novel of this series, _Sporting Chance_. Most fundamental is a certain reliance on some outrageous coincidences. To some extent Moon patches this by having some of the action directed from behind the scenes by a benign (not of the Benignity!) figure, but this too seems a bit pat.

In addition, Moon shied away from attacking the most interesting question she raised head on: that of what to do with the problem of succession when old people never die. I'm inclined to not mind this too much though: indeed she avoids providing pat answers, just asks hard questions. Throughout there's a hint of the author reminding herself that this whole series began as a light-hearted romp, as space opera, and thus "let's not get too serious". At the same time, serious issues are raised, and bad things happen. The whole trilogy is fun and interesting and a ripping good read.

Rating:
Summary: A good book
Review: This one rates 5 on my personal evaluation, because I want to be recommended anything like it, to put it simply. :-)

Not as good as the previous book, though, this book somehow manages to lack interest in the space battles, which is very odd given the, if you pardon the pun, odds. Also, I was expecting to see the story that Rules of Engagement implies, and it was just not there, which was a let down.

Still, this book is a definite bridge between the civilian action of the first two books and the military environment in the follow ups. The story is sound, the pacing is good, and the action is interesting.

Rating:
Summary: Certainly Not a Starting Point
Review: This was my first and last Elizabeth Moon novel. Something about the cover art appealed to me, but a pretty painting covers an awful book.

Winning Colors suffers from a rambling plot, an unlikely political setting and absolutely dismal characterization.

Adventures remembered by characters are not flashbacks to illustrate a point, but filler snippets from previous books in a series. This device (dating back to the pulp age of science fiction when authors were paid by the word) has no place in 21st century sci-fi.

Much of the disjointed nature of the book comes from the fact that a word-count was being sought. Once Moon reached that count, the book wraps in less than 10 pages. The plot of this book is boring, hackneyed and predictable. Adding insult to injury, the plot that is rehashed here from a previous book in the series seems far-fetched; in addition to being boring, hackneyed and predictable.

There is a principle in series fiction that each installment should, in some way, stand alone. That is definitely not the case here. If you try (as I did) to enter Moon's universe with this book, you will likely be disappointed.

If you have a favorite character from an earlier book, you might find something worthwhile here. In the span of this novel, none of the characters appeared interesting enough for me to care much what happened to them. The excessive number of characters for such a thin plot is not new to series fiction, but in this case they were so unlikable that their continuing presence became an additional irritant.

Try out this book from your local library before you waste $7 on a poor effort.