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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bigger and Just as Good as Ever, March 6, 2007
This latest installment in Moon's Vatta's War saga has all the adventure and thrills of the earlier novels in the series played out on an ever larger canvas. What began as the story of about a disgraced cadet becoming a captain of an old family freighter, has come all the way to interstellar war. Corporate coups on Nexus II, Aunt Gracie running the Slotter Key Department of Defense, and Ky in command of a real space navy-it's all here. On the other hand bigger is not necessarily better. Just adding more ships does not make for a more compelling space battle. The Gary Tobai/Fair Kaleen fight in Marque and Reprisal is more dramatic than the multi-ship engagements here. The other disadvantage with a sprawling universe is that some characters get short shift. While Rafe gets considerable time in the sun and Ky follows her predictable arc to becoming a celebrated leader, Aunt Grace and Stella are largely ignored for much of the book which arguably leaves it a bit out of balance. There is also a bit of middle-book-syndrome as a good bit of time is spent laying the ground work for a climactic clash in the finale. Overall, Moon does not disappoint but leaves the reader eager for the next chapter, which is, I suppose, the point.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pure light Space Opera -- nothing earthshaking, nothing really new, but good fun., August 12, 2007
In a way there is little to say about the fourth novel in an ongoing sequence. Suffice it to say, perhaps, that Elizabeth Moon makes no major missteps in this book -- if you have been enjoying the Vatta's War series, you will enjoy this one. What else do we need to know?
To begin with, if you haven't been reading this series, I recommend going back and starting with book one. If you enjoy fast-moving space adventure, with involving characters and space war tactics and action and all... these books will work for you. They aren't perfect -- in common with most novels in this subgenre, the main characters are a bit implausibly skilled at the roles they are thrust into, in common with many series novels, the individual novels don't always work ideally on their own.
What of Command Decision, then? By this time essentially four main points of view have been established. Ky Vatta is the nominal protagonist of the series: a young woman unfairly forced out of the Slotter Key Space Academy, who joined her family space transport company and who thus was well-positioned to begin resistance when conspirators destroyed ansibles throughout human space and attacked several systems, including Slotter Key. Stella Vatta is Ky's beautiful cousin, who discovers in herself unsuspected talents for leading a business when most of the Vattas were killed and she was left the only candidate to try to keep the business going. Grace Vatta is Ky and Stella's supposedly dotty Aunt, who turns out to really be a spy, and as one of the few survivors of the attack on Vatta interests at Slotter Key is the natural choice to take a position in the new government. (No Moon books would be complete without a formidable Aunt -- after all, James Nicoll went so far as to dub her previous Space Opera series "Aunts in Space".) And finally Rafe Dunsbarger is a mysterious man, the disgraced son of the CEO of ISC, the company that controls ansible traffic, supposedly a remittance man (i.e. living on an allowance from his family) but actually serving as an undercover ISC agent.
Of these four Rafe's story is most central to this new novel. He has secretly returned to his home planet, Nexus, hoping to find his father and try to understand what's up with ISC and the ansibles. But his father (along with his mother and sister) has disappeared. So Rafe must try to find out what's up with his father -- and in the process figure out what's up with ISC. This forces him to reassess his troubled past life -- and also leads to fun but almost goofy scenes including a shootout in the boardroom.
Meanwhile, Aunt Grace is continuing to root out potential traitors in Slotter Key's government. Stella is pursuing further potentially lucrative business opportunities while still coming to terms with her personal history. And Ky is still trying to expand her fleet, this time with some unexpected help from a very romantic -- and very wealthy -- fellow. She also deals with a nasty system, complete with slavers, and she helps out the Mackensee mercenaries when they are in danger from the pirates. All this means she is faced with another difficult personal choice.
Basically, this is a middle book in a long series. Nothing is really resolved -- but nothing need be resolved at this point. There is plenty of cool action, several engaging good guys to root for in a struggle against some really really bad guys (as ever, Moon's villains are truly villainous). This is pure light Space Opera -- nothing earthshaking, nothing really new, but good fun.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Vatta's War Continues!, March 2, 2007
In the same vein as "Sporting Chance, "Hunting Party", and "Winning Colors", Elizabeth Moon has created an inspiring space drama in her Vatta's War series with likeable lead character Captain Kylara Vatta, her cousin Stella, and Rafe Dunbarger, the mysterious ISC spy.
"Command Decision" continues the story of the remnants of the Vatta family, striving to find Trade and Profit out of the chaos that ensued after their families were targets of mysterious pirates. Kylara, Stella, and Rafe split off into their own intriguing stories in this, the fourth book in the series.
Rafe follows his own trail back to his home planet to find that all is not as copacetic as he had thought. Shaken by what he finds, he susses out the problems with the help of some old aquaintances, only to find that in order to correct the problems, he'd have to change who he is.
Meanwhile, Stella has set up shop on super-polite Cascadia and struggles to find balance as the new CEO of Vatta, all the while dealing with rambunctious teenager Toby and his technological genius.
And of course, Captain Kylara Vatta has gone in search of the pirates that are behind the murder and mayhem scattered across the galaxy. She's not alone, but continues to find herself in hairy predicaments.
I was a bit amazed at who ended up being the Slotter Key Spaceforce advisor on the other Slotter Key privateer's ship, and a little disappointed that it wasn't who I thought it was.
One of my favorite characters from "Engaging the Enemy" didn't get near enough page-time (Aunt Gracie Lane Vatta ROCKS!) in this fourth book. Of course, as always with the fantastic and enthralling writing of Elizabeth Moon, the story ended too soon (300 more pages, please!)
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