Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable, October 13, 2004
Captain Kylara Vatta has only recently come out of a full blown war, only to land directly into another one. Or is it a different one? Kylara finally makes her way to Lastway, the originally scheduled final stop for her commercial carrier when she receives disturbing news of attacks on her homeland and on Vatta Transport and the family. But unfortunately, the communication ansibles have been knocked out and she is playing in the dark. Her military training is what spurts her to take the offensive, and even though she does not yet know who the enemy is, she begins to prepare her commercial ship for war time defense. Yet, she struggles to balance her financial and is constantly interrupted by attempts made on her life.
And then, totally unexpectedly, her cousin, Stella shows up. The "bimbo blonde" who gave the family codes to her first lover and is generally viewed as useless by the family. Except that Kylara realizes that Stella, much like herself, has been pigeonholed by the family and underneath the bubblehead, there is a sophisticated spy who has been working for the Vatta family business for years. Stella has brought along partners, Rafe and the young Vatta cousin, Toby; and the terrible news that both of Kylara's parents and Stella's parents have perished in the attacks.
Kylara quickly makes use of her new resources and launches a serious mission that entails survival of her ship and crew, saving Vatta family members, and identifying and removing the enemy. Except that they still have no idea who the enemy is. Rafe, whose background is as obscure as Stella's, provides some clues. And Kylara gains an unexpected ally when a mercenary force offers its services to her ... for a small fee: trade and profit.
All her allies have secrets, but so does Kylara herself. Someone she knew at the academy sends her an unusual package, the contents of which could help, but also hinder, Kylara's mission. And she has yet to divulge to her friends how she feels about killing people.
In all, this second book in the series matches the first for characterization and plot. It's slow moving at the beginning, but the second half of the book picks up pace quickly, like its predecessor. Circumstances twist so that the heroine is forced in a direction that leaves few choices. Kylara is a likeable, yet not perfect, heroine. She makes mistakes, some of them deadly, but lands on her feet in the end, earning respect from her peers and readers alike.
As with all of Moon's books, this work makes for an enjoyable read.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An explosive start to a new series, December 4, 2004
Letters of marque and reprisal were the thin legal cover given to private armed warships allowing them to attack other vessels and not be considered pirates. Well, sometimes to not be considered pirates.
In this well-paced and well-written space opera, Moon uses a traditional plot device, placing her young heroine in danger with no backup and just barely enough resources to fight her way out of it. The pacing is fast and the plot is sound. The characterization is almost entirely static and not a particular strength of the novel, but it is plenty good enough to sustain the story.
While this is technically the second book in the series, the first one was substantially inferior and really does not have to be read in order to enjoy the current offering. And have no doubt that this is a series -- far too many plot threads are left open at the end of the novel for it to be anything else.
The setting is the deep space version of the Caribbean, where trading vessels ply the spaceways between independent planets, pirates prey on the traders, and the only military/police protection available are mercenaries and privateers. The most successful of these tradeship consortiums is Vatta Transport -- until someone attacks both the Vatta family and the Vatta company in one devestating blow. At the same time, someone has also attacked the company that holds the exclusive monopoly on faster-than-light interstellar communication. Since ISC and Vatta have longstanding ties, the two attacks are almost certainly tied together.
With the family in shambles and all communications compromised, it falls to Ky Vatta, the young hero of TRADING IN DANGER, to somehow survive, gather up her remaining family, and strike back at whoever has attacked Vatta. Along the way she picks up a few more resources and a few more allies, but also makes a few more enemies.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gathering the Tools, July 30, 2006
Marque and Reprisal (2004) is the second SF novel in the Vatta's War series, following Trading in Danger. In the previous volume, Kylara put down the mutiny and spaced the bodies of the dead ringleaders. Then she discovered that the body of Captain Paison probably had the correct ID chip for her ship. Since the old chip was unavailable, she had to change her ship's registration and she picked the name Gary Tobai to honor the hostage killed by the mutineers.
After telling off the obnoxious Josiah Furman, Captain of the Katrine Lamont, Ky found out from her father that he had not been sent to annoy her, but to provide whatever assistance might be required. Her father also mentioned that Great-aunt Gracie had asked for her to finish off the fruit-spice cake, but to finely slice the pieces. So Ky and her crew had a party and found the cake to be stuffed with diamonds.
In this novel, Ky finally delivers the cargo of agricultural machinery to Belinta. She still doesn't have an implant, so she completes the required paperwork by hand and tries to mail it to the Economic Development Bureau. After a frustrating run-in with a postal clerk, she takes the shuttle down to the surface and hand delivers the papers.
After that, Ky learns that someone had tried to sabotage her ship. At Quincy's insistence, she calls the home office on Slotter Key to report the problem. While she is talking to someone on her home planet, the ansible connection is broken. As she starts to exit the comm booth, a group of masked men come into the Guild and shoot her escort and everyone else within the lobby.
Kylara shoots the man left in the lobby with the escort's weapon. She dials the police number, but has to hide as the other gunmen return to the lobby. After a long while, the police arrive and promptly arrest and restrain her. They finally release her to show them her room and then everyone keels over from a contact poison applied liberally to all the surfaces.
When Kylara regains consciousness in the Slotter Key legation, she is exonerated by the police, but learns that Slotter Key has told the Consul to kick her out and have nothing more to do with her. After passing on this little tidbit, the Consul suggests that she hire a retiring consulate guard with security experience.
When she returns to the Gary Tobai, Kylara finds Riel insisting that he cannot stay aboard the ship. Ky releases him and asks if anyone else would like to leave. She calls the bank to arrange for a final paycheck for Riel, introduces Gordon Martin as the new cargomaster and security chief, and tells the crew to start preparing for immediate departure.
Once in space, Martin finds a stowaway aboard the ship. Jim Hakusar just wants to get off Belinta. Ky passes him to Martin for training and the security chief treats him like a new recruit. In additional to his menial labor, Jim is required to study for basic crew certification.
On the way to their jump point, the Gary Tobai approaches a Pavrati ship and Ky makes a courtesy call to the captain. He warns them that the Leonora system is closed to all traders due to a communication problem. Since they only have speculation cargo for Leonora, Ky decides to skip that system and to continue on to Lastway.
Meanwhile, pirates attack Vatta properties on Slotter Key and elsewhere. Gerald Vatta, the CFO and Kylara's father, is injured in the attack and aftermath. Since assassins are assaulting Vatta family members, the survivors cannot take him to a hospital. He remains alive for a family council, but loses consciousness and dies shortly thereafter during emergency surgery.
Great-Aunt Gracie removes his implant while Gerald is unconscious and then sends it to Kylara in a fruit-spice cake. Stella carries this cake and another with a cache of diamonds on an ISC courier to Allray. There she is asked to accept custody of a Vatta family member being held in protective custody. While she is talking to Toby, assassins chemstun the police station and she barely escapes out the back.
While evading the assassins, Stella runs into Rafe, an old acquaintance and teacher. After discussing the current situation, Rafe agrees to a temporary partnership with Stella and Toby. They retrieve Stella's duffel from the courier, leave a burst message for ISC HQ, and arrange passage to Lastway on a Rose Line ship.
This novel is as exciting as the first one. Death and destruction abound. Moreover, the plot continues to expand in scope. The spaceforce couldn't have provided anywhere near the personal adventure that Ky has found in the Vatta trading company.
Highly recommended for Moon fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of adventure against overwhelming odds.
-Arthur W. Jordin
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