Customer Reviews

Heris Serrano

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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

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!!

After stumbling onto one of Elizabeth Moon's earlier books (by way of the Honor Harrington Series). I tried to get all of the books of this universe. I had difficutlies getting copies of the middle story. They were a great read, and went quickly. I love the part of Brun getting Cecilia out of the nursing home. The reader can easily picture the entire mess. While this is a reprint, it is nice to see the three stories put together and readily available.

This is a reprint of three previous titles, but it was great to get them in one book. My paperback's were worn out, I have read them so much. This series doesn't loose it's umph, even on multiple readings! Moon not only has captivating characters, in depth plots, and action: she is a very knowledgeable horseperson. Her involvement in foxhunting, and eventing(among other things) is evident in every page. As an active equestrian myself, I really appreciate her insites into this world.

I love all the Moon books that i have read, great fun.
thank you for getting the Serrano 3 volumes in one.
I will buy it as the set i have is rather ratty.
I hope you start a new series soon.
I am reading some of the old ones again.
Nahid

I am getting to like Elizabeth Moon more and more. I will give this to a fellow I know who is a dyed in the wool space adventure nut - will be interested to see what he thinks. Peg

I have seriously enjoyed all of Elizabeth Moon's novels - was disappointed that this particular book included three of the Heris histories that I already had as singletons... was absolutely hoping that, with this title, I would be getting some more Serrano background.

Although her space opera is not up to the detail of David Weber's Honorverse (and I do like lots and lots of words), a female "misfit" is right up my alley...

I loved all three books - had a really hard time putting it down!

I was disappointed to find that this was just a compilation of three books: Hunting Party, Sporting Chance, and Winning Colors. That was not clear from the purchase page.

The print size is good, and the pages and cover appear to be a decent quality.