Customer Reviews

Rules Of Engagement

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

There almost seems to be two Elizabeth Moons - the subtle author of _Remnant Population_ and the inept hack of the Serrano novels. _Once a Hero_ was a pleasant surprise - whenever the Altiplano elements appeared in the novel, it shone, and the Fleet bits were innocuous enough to not weigh down the rest. _Rules of Engagement_ reverts to form, unfortunately. The few good bits (the Landsbride sequence) failed to redeem an otherwise awful story. Can we please retire the evil-patriarchal-religious-fanatic trope now? It's the worst kind of bigotry, and makes for a very tired sort of conflict. Also, a certain tendency in recent space opera usually labelled David Weber Syndrome or "We-Love-Honor!" runs rampant in this book. Secondary characters should have lives, agendas, and concerns that do not all revolve around the protagonist. Moon is capable of much more.

After Moon's stunning Once A Hero, I was willing to pay hardcover prices to find out what happens to Esmay Suiza. Unfortunately, Suiza and the other characters seem to have regressed somewhat since the previous novel. This might be bearable if the plot could carry the novel alone (without the help of interesting characters), but even the storyline is rather lame. I'll give Suiza another chance if Moon writes another book, but this one was quite a disappointment.

On seeing Rules of Engagement I bought it and gobbled it down in no time. Elizabeth Moon's stories are great reading: they read fast, they compel page-turning. She's as good as any author of these days at the task of making you care about her heroes and heroines, and at making you insistently turn the pages.

So I enjoyed reading _Rules of Engagement_ a lot. But nonetheless, I wasn't wholly happy with it. Esmay Suiza, heroine of _Once a Hero_, is switching her career path to "command track", and at the same time she has tentatively started a romance with Barin Serrano, the young cousin of Heris Serrano, heroine of the first three Familias Regnant books. At the same time, Brun Meager, daughter of the Speaker of the Familias Council (i.e., nominal ruler now that the King has abdicated), is trying to take a more serious approach to life, and she enrols in some of the same Naval classes Esmay is taking as a civilian auditor. Brun, somewhat innocently, pursues Barin, but Barin is having none of it. Shy Esmay, however, worried also by the difference in rank between she and Barin, puts the worst possible spin on Brun's actions, and chews her out. This gets Esmay in trouble (can't be making the Navy look bad to the Speaker's daughter!), and also annoys Brun, who runs off and manages to get kidnapped by some cartoonish villains from a place called New Texas. The New Texas villains believe in subjugating their women, which involves rape and mutilation when foreign women come their way. The book then follows Brun's struggle for survival as a prisoner of the New Texas folks, and Esmay's struggle to get her career back on track and to be allowed to help rescue Brun.

It's good fun, and there's tons of cool action, but it's severely marred by the awfully cartoonish nature of the villains. I simply didn't believe them, and I hated reading about them. And, again, it seems a divergence from what I think should be Moon's main concern in these books: examining the strains at the foundation of her odd Familias Regnant culture. Worth reading, but not a great book.

I have read enjoyed Ms. Moon's previous work but this book was awful. If you are expecting the pleasant escape of an adventure story this is not the book for you. It is full of lame sit-com type misunderstandings and graphic gratuitous violence. I am all for pointing out the dangers of religous fanatism but this book went too far into the realm of gore trying to make a point.

Rules of Engagement (1998) is the fifth naval SF novel in the Familias Regnant series, following Once a Hero. In the previous volume, Esmay Suiza had again shown her ability to command in combat during the battle against Bloodhorde ships. Then she accepted treatment for her prior traumas and applied for transfer to the command track.

In this novel, Esmay is attending school at the Copper Mountain Base. She is making up the command courses that she missed in the Academy and simultaneously taking the Junior Officer course. While she has been excused from some courses through examination, Esmay is still very busy.

Charlotte Brunhilde Meager is also at Copper Mountain. Brun is taking a few courses to see if she might be interested in an RSS career. Besides, some of the courses -- such as Escape and Evasion -- may be become important to her personally since someone is trying to kill her.

Barin Serrano comes to Copper Mountain for the Junior Officer course. With his time on the Koskiusko and his recovery from injuries inflicted by the Bloodhorde commandos, Barin is behind his peers in his duty assignments. He needs to finish his training and go on to a real ship assignment.

Lord Thornbuckle is the chief executive of the Familias Regnant state. He is also Brun's father. She is the youngest and brightest of his children. Unfortunately, he and his wife have thoroughly spoiled her.

Hazel Takeris is an apprentice onboard the Elias Madero, a heavy trader that takes a shortcut and is ambushed by the New Texas Godfearing Militia. The raiders kill all the men and women on the ship because of their perversion ands abominations. Only Hazel and the little ones -- two boys and two girls -- are left alive.

In this story, Brun and Esmay have a confrontation at Copper Mountain and exchange some heated words. Unfortunately, the whole conversation was recorded on internal scan. Brun leaves the facility in a huff and Esmay is called on the carpet by the commander of the training base.

Then Brun is captured by the NuTex barbarians. She chews them out and threatens them with major force, so they cut her vocal cords to silence her. The surgery is competently performed since it is a common practice on their planet to mute vociferous women.

By the time they reach Our Texas, Brun is definitely pregnant. She even has trouble walking through the corridors and climbing over the airlock fittings. She is immediately taken to a sluthouse, where she has to stay until the baby is born.

Hazel and the toddlers are incorporated in the household of Ranger Bowie. The girls and boys are not allowed to play with each other's toys. Then the boys are allowed to run around the house and the girls are kept within the women's quarters, where they are taught sewing.

Ranger Bowie sends a package to Lord Thornbuckle with pictures of the capture and treatment of Brun. Bunny is horrified at the way his little girl is treated and quickly passes the package on to the Grand Admiral. He insists that something be done, but the admiral tells him that the RSS has too little information to take any meaningful action at this time.

This tale has a very distraught Lord Thornbuckle making scapegoats of Esmay and the Serranos. Luckily, Marta Saenz has been called in to advise and liaise for the Council. She finally sets Bunny straight before he ruins the efforts to get his daughter back.

Meanwhile, Esmay and Barin are having a lover's spat and neither know what to do about it. Esmay is taught a few rules by her cousin Luci and Marta gives her another push in the right direction. Esmay and Barin soon return to their besotted condition. Enjoy!

Highly recommended for Moon fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of naval operations, political practices, reactionary societies, and true love.

-Arthur W. Jordin

I nearly did not buy this book, believing the other reviewers (3 Stars?). Well, I am glad I did not heed their reviews. The book is good. It has more characters than her other books, jumping between them (this may annoy some). The plot is good, the cultures are good. And all round good and enjoyable read.

__________________________________________
Rules is the sequel to Once a Hero (97), and shares some supporting
characters with the "Heris Serrano" trilogy (1993-95). It's reasonably
self-contained, though you'll enjoy it more if you've read some of
the preceeding books, all of which I've liked.

Esmay Suiza (the Hero) is a likeably nerdy young officer. Her heroic
exploits overshadow her difficult childhood, her love life is terrible,
she's had a bad-hair *life*... When Brun, rich, spoiled & beautiful,
breezes into her life with hairdressing tips, & then goes after Esmay's
secret beau... Well! Another reviewer (alright, Christina Schulman)
comments that "these confident, decisive people behave like
insecure teenagers when they're thrown together at Command
School..." Ah, but I think that's precisely Moon's point -- Cupid's
tardy arrow will turn someone like Esmay, a seriously repressed
overachiever, to instant mush. Personal resonance here: Ms. Moon
and I were classmates at Rice in the mid-sixties (though I don't
think we ever met), and I'm willing to bet she was a TRG, just as I
was a TRB -- earnest, nerdy, bad hair, socially-awkward, sexually-
repressed... oh god, it's excruciating just to think about those times...

Anyway, Moon's delightfully Wodehousian aunts-in-space arrive
just in time to save Esmay's butt (and career), and young love
prevails... As usual, Moon's fast-&-furious action, meticulous

military-medical backgrounding, and formidable storytelling skills
carry the day. There's another Suiza-Serrano-Familias novel
coming, and I'm looking forward to it.

Rules is Moon's fifth book set in her Familias Regnant
universe -- a rather implausible interstellar plutocracy with
corruption/kleptocracy/rejuvenation problems -- threatened
by, eg, the Bloodhorde barbs-in-space (Hero) and the NuTexas
Godfearing Militia (Rules). This background was light
entertainment for the Heris Serrano series, but Ms. Moon seems
to have a bit deeper intentions for the Esmay Suiza books, and the
backstory creaks ominously under the load. After this OCC (obligatory
critical carp), I should note that she is simply carrying on an historic
space-opera convention, and the the scratchy backstory will interfere
little (if at all) with your reading pleasure.

Happy reading!
Pete Tillman

I greatly enjoyed Rules of Engagement, even more than the previous book in the series, Once a Hero. This book devotes equal time to Esmay Suiza, Brun Meager, and Barin Serrano. While I felt that almost everyone in the Familias Regnant overreacted to Esmay's blow-up at Brun, the resolution of the book left me feeling satisfied. The bad guys are really bad (despite what other reviewers may say, these sorts of people DO exist today) and the action is exciting. Elizabeth Moon has done a great job creating a universe and characters you can care about.

This book is definately the worst of the series. But unfortunately you'll probably have to read it so you know whats going on latter in the series. Personally I found the book a bit over done. It could have been shorted by 100 pages or so and still gotten the same effect. The idea that you can kidnap the "prime minister's" daughter, gang rape her, and then use her for breeding and not expect to have the a whole pile of trouble coming down on your planet is rediculous. The villians are something out of the 1960-1970's and are just plan moronic. I also find it difficult to believe that if inhabitable planets are becoming in rather short supply that you let a bunch of crazy's keep a perfect one to themselves when your military would find it a walk in the park to disarm said crazy's and use the planet for your population! I enjoy Elizabeth Moon's work, but this is one book that should have had a wee bit more editing!

"Rules of Engagement" is the bravest book in this series by Elizabeth Moon. And it's also the best put together of all books. The result is a work with character and the grit of real life war; a true page turner.

Moon focuses on young heros, Esmay Suiza, spoiled rich brat Brun, and a youngster of the famous Serrano family, Barin. At first, a usual misunderstanding of first love by Esmay and Barin - Esmay is convinced Brun is after her man, which leads to a blow up between the two young women. Unfortunately, the argument wasn't as private as Esmay thought ... the Fleet had a scan on Brun for security reasons.

Out of favour with her seniors, Esmay is in disgrace. Brun decides to leave her course with the Fleet as a result -- and unfortunately, is caught by a malicious bunch of religious fanatics who decide she will make a good breeding woman. Brun faces imprisonment, the embarrassment and humiliation of rape, and is forced to live mute among her captors.

Barin is harrassed by another young, beautiful officer, and Esmay hardly knows what to do with herself as Brun's father doesn't want her anywhere near the rescue operation. But she happens to understand what Brun's going through and even has a good idea on how to free her ... Brun has her own ideas, of course; and Barin, a Serrano, refuses to be left out of the action.

This work is truly compelling. Moon tells an entwined and captivating story of love, hate and the reality of warfare and how heros become heros. The story is complete, the characters are captivating and the scenario believable.

Five stars for this book which outshines all the others in the series.