Book Review - Vatta's War Series by Elizabeth Moon

The last of the first set of borrowed book from Dad. Vatta's War consists of five books: Trading in Danger, Marque and Reprisal, Engaging the Enemy, Command Decision, and Victory Conditions. These are military sci-fi with a good dose of intrigue and character drama. Dad recommend them since I enjoyed Honor Harrington and I'll agree that the two feel similar. I would have to say that a big chunk of that similarity comes from the strong, competent female lead, but there was a lot that was different about them too. For instance Honor Harrinton is a mature, up through the ranks officer while Ky Vatta got never graduated from the academy (not from lack of trying) and is young and impulsive. In short, so as to keep this from being an unnecessary comparison of two excellent worlds, I liked both of them a lot and they are quite different. There are a lot of good things I want to put in the personal favorites section.

Plot: Ky Vatta is the daughter the CEO of widely successful Vatta Enterprises. A family owned and operated shipping company, Vatta is widely respected across interstellar trade routes. Ky, however, is more interested in joining the Spaceforce than in running cargo or sitting behind a desk. That all comes crashing down when she gets kicked out of the Academy. Sent by her family to run an old ship to the scrapyard, Ky is not looking forward to the quite life of a trader. Unfortunately, fate has a way of giving people exactly what they ask for but don't want. Ky's first "milk run" of a trade attempt lands her in the middle of a civil war. While Ky is able to address the challenge and rise above it, fate has much more in store. When her family is attacked and interstellar communications go down Ky decides to put her training to good use. While Vatta started out as the victim Ky intends to make them the avenger.

My personal favorites: There are lots of good characters and great situations that they have to work through. Moon does a good job at keeping the tension going without it feeling overdone. All of the conflicts felt authentic and believable. Ky is a bit of a loose cannon (at first) and grows through her challenges well. The character dramas between the players felt real as well and provided a great context to the over-arching challenges the characters faced. The action was well done and there was some great stand up and cheer moments. I also liked how the characters had their own competencies and weaknesses and how they all played off each other. I was surprised by the direction the story, or elements of the story went at times and wasn't disappointed at all.

Considerations: There is violence, but nothing graphic or gratuitous. And there were some sexual references, but again, nothing overt, graphic, or explicit. There was not any strong language used and the writing was age appropriate for late young adult. In a final comparison with Honor Harrington, these books are lightly more appropriate for a younger audience.

I'm always a little anxious when starting a new series, worried that I'll be able to get into it and will find it enjoyable. The series starts off quickly and just keeps going, ramping up the challenges without leaving you feeling burned out. Trading was just over 300 pages, Marque was about 400, Engaging was just over 400, Command was just under 400, and Victory was just over 400.