Heris Serrano [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Moon (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1041 pages
• Publisher: Baen Publishing Enterprises (August 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0739431595
• ISBN-13: 978-0739431597
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,032,015 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Elizabeth Moon grew up on the Texas-Mexico border, a voracious reader and early writer. She spent much of her early years in a hardware store where nothing was in shrink-wrap or little plastic containers, and mule collars still hung on the back wall. She has a history degree from Rice University and a biology degree from the University of Texas at Austin, plus some graduate work in biology at the University of Texas at San Antonio; between the first two, she spent three years on active duty in the USMC. Her bibliography includes 20+ novels and 30+ short fiction works, nearly all in science fiction or fantasy. REMNANT POPULATION was a Hugo finalist in 1997; THE SPEED OF DARK won the Nebula Award in 2003.

When not writing, she likes to wander around taking pictures of wildlife and native plants, bake bread, eat chocolate, sing with a choir, and laugh.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

167 of 173 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars WARNING! Consist of reprints! Otherwise GREAT!, August 14, 2002

By 

"lordmikal" (Hanford, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heris Serrano (Paperback)

First and formost - do not make the mistake that I made. This is NOT a new novel, this book consist of reprints of the original novels: Hunting Party, Winning Colors and Sporting Chance. So be forwarned.

Second - the novels contained are very entertaining, engaging and fun to read. If you like female heros and/or military Sci Fi then you need to check these out.

Normally I would give these stories either 4 or 5 stars, but because these are reprints of her novels from 1994/95 and that information is not in the description, the best I can do is 3 stars.

56 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Captain Heris Serrano, Sweet Delight, March 18, 2003

By 

Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Heris Serrano (Paperback)

Heris Serrano (2002) is an omnibus edition of the first three novels in the Familias Regnant series, including Hunting Party, Sporting Chance, and Winning Colors. Heris is a Commander in the Regular Space Service when she is framed and set up to be court-martialed, but takes the offer to resign instead. She accepts an interim job as the captain of a private yacht while she searches for a way to be reinstated. As a scion of a multi-generation RSS family, Heris has not had much contact with the ruling families and encounters a number of surprises. Moreover, there is more widespread corruption within the RSS than she expected.

In Hunting Party (1993), Heris gets the job as the captain of Lady Cecelia's yacht, the Sweet Delight, with six guests aboard at family insistence. Heris will command the crew and Bates will command the staff, including the cook and gardener. The first voyage will be to Sirialis for the fox hunting season. On the way, Heris learns that all is not well with the ship and crew.

In Sporting Chance (1994), the Sweet Delight returns to Rockhouse with the heir apparent aboard, along with various bodyguards and several crew replacements. The prince seems to be a little slow and Lady Cecelia brings this to the King's attention. The navigator, Sirkin, is outstanding, but wants to be with her lover, Amalie, who is by no means exceptional; Heris hires Amalie as general labor on a 30 day contract, hoping that she will shape up or that Sirkin will wise up. On top of all this, Heris expects troubles from smugglers due to events in the last voyage.

In Winning Colors (1995), Heris gets two temporary crewmates aboard the Sweet Delight: Brun as a favor to Lord Thornbuckle and Koutsoudas as a favor to Arash Livadhi, a RSS captain and former classmate. Moreover, a court has decided that Heris now owns the yacht despite Lady Cecelia having recovered from her rejuvenation difficulties. Furthermore, Lady Cecelia decides to visit the Xavier system just as the Compassionate Hand is raiding the planet.

Winning Colors provides the first appearance of Esmay Suiza, the senior surviving officer of the RSS Despite after the crew has learned that the former captain was a traitor and mutinied against her. Her actions in the Xavier system lead to Esmay becoming the main character in the next book of the series, Once a Hero.

This series is very British in tone, with dashing young heroes, dinner parties and fox hunting. However, some of the dashing heroes are young women: Esmay, of course, but also Brun in another way. However, the mixture of bumbling and competence would be unbelievable if not for historical precedent; the British are famous for the success of its talented amateurs. Nevertheless, it is the professionals of the RSS that provide the solid core of competence in this series.

This series illustrates the author's talent at characterization as well as her understanding of both surface and spatial combat. The contrast with the technological level of the Paksennarion series is great, but the characterization is just as interesting. This series, however, is quite similar in tone and ambiance to the Sassinak series written with McCaffrey and Nye.

Recommended for Moon fans and anyone who enjoys space adventures with both covert operations and spatial combat.

-Arthur W. Jordin

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a great Book!!!, March 28, 2003

By 

Erik Weikum "EAW" (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Heris Serrano (Paperback)

This book is really, Hunting Part, Sporting Chance and Winning Colors all in one big book! If you love the Serrano/Suiza series this is a must have! This sets up all the history, the muder, the mystery, the politics and the past battles so that once we introduce Esmay Suiza into the circles of the Serrano navel family we know exactly where Heris Serrano has been. If you've read the books that center around Esmay Suiza, you definately need to read this book, it will give you a much clearer picture of what all is going on in the Regents Familia. This 3 books in 1 will also give you a window into why Admiral Serrano treats Suzia the way she does... SO all in all its definately worth the reading time and the cost of the book!!