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Trading In Danger (Book One of Vatt's
War) by Elizabeth Moon check out website: www.orbitbooks.co.uk
In what turns out to be a time-honoured family tradition, Ky is made captain of an old ship out to deliver its final cargo before being scrapped, being baby-sat by an experienced crew. Ky being Ky, when she spies a chance to make a profitable trade on this opportunity, of course she takes it - right into what turns out to be a warzone.
While it may not be hugely eye-catching, I personally find Moon's vision of a future universe driven by commerce and trading immensely believable: it's nice to see the bloodthirsty mercenaries worried about their corporate image at a key point and much of the plot hinges on the destruction of a communications 'Ansible' owned by a conglomerate that will literally wage war on those responsible. Ky, herself, is a fairly clear-cut character who despite behaving predictably throughout, still keeps reader sympathy because she's blatantly incapable of not doing the right thing. Having had her military career ruined by trusting someone she shouldn't, Ky is always aware that she can be too naïve when it comes to those apparently in need of help, but it still manages to trip her up several times. It's a credit to the character that she never comes across as irritating in this aspect, but just more sympathetic when compared to her resourcefulness that always somehow manages to save the day. There are a couple of plot points that don't seem properly thought out: an odd departure involving a model ship kit that saves the day but Ky pointedly refuses to twig the pretty obvious purpose until it can emerge as a deux ex machina towards the end. There's also the boyfriend she had to leave behind in the military academy, whom we never see or hear from and is criminally under-used until he emerges as actually a bit of a git at the end. By this point, the reader completely fails to understand why Ky has been mooning over him all the way through and the impact of the moment is completely lost. Moon, of course, is more than capable of cranking up the tension when required for the odd action scene, but she also manages to make a plot interesting that relies on trading contracts and agricultural machinery (yes, I was actually getting worried about the fate of some tractors at one point, worryingly enough) for a large part. The contrasts play nicely as Ky is forced to consolidate her various roles as dutiful daughter entrusted with the family name and money, captain trying to achieve her own fate, the military officer she had been working towards and this adds some interesting tensions to the plot. How Moon intends to continue the series isn't obvious: a couple of options are presented by the finale and either one looks to be workable. Her books do exactly what you would expect, admittedly, but as it's done well, it's a pleasure to read. Jennifer Howell
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OTHER REVIEWS - February 2004
BOOKS The Outstretched Shadow by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold The Separation by Christopher Priest First Meetings In The Enderverse by Orson Scott Card Dragon Venom by Lawrence Watt-Evans The Dolphins Of Pern by Anne McCaffrey Reach For Tomorrow by Arthur C Clarke The Mammoth Book Of Best New SF # 16 edited by Gardner Dozois 1610: A Sundial In A Grave by Mary Gentle Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynn Truss Trading In Danger by Elizabeth Moon Richard Matheson: Collected Stories Vol. 1 edited by Stanley Wiater The Gates To Witchworld by Andre Norton Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Mission Gamma: Lesser Evil by Robert Simpson The Killing Of Worlds by Scott Westerfeld Star Trek: The Original Series: Gemini by Mike W. Barr MUSIC COMPUTER GAMES Wallace and Gromit - Project Zoo RPGs & WARGAMES MAGAZINES On Spec: The Canadian Magazine
Of The Fantastic vol 15 no. 2 & 3
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Kylara Vatta is, as warrants the protagonist
on this kind of book, one of the top military cadets in her class.
It's only fitting then that she should get unfairly kicked out of
military academy after a good deed goes horribly wrong and have
to fall back on her filthy rich family shipping business for a new
career as a trading captain.
Elizabeth
Moon is never exactly out to challenge genre conventions with books
like this and that suits me just fine. As an ex-US Marine herself,
her heroine's military way of thinking is always going to be believable
and she has a nice line in clean, uncluttered prose that zips along
with the plot and lets you inside the characters' heads.
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