Customer Reviews

Sporting Chance

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Heris Serrano, who resigned her Regular Space Service commission after disobeying orders for good reason, chose not to go back when her chance came at the end of Hunting Party. In this trilogy's second volume, Heris is still captain of Lady Cecelia's yacht; but she now has several members of her former crew with her, including the man who couldn't be her lover in the old days.

After delivering Prince Gerel home following certain embarrassing events on Seralis, Lady Cecelia orders the Sweet Delight into a redecorating company's drydock. As Heris prepares to oversee the yacht's refitting, she feels great uneasiness about Lady Cecelia's safety. But trouble, when it comes, strikes the unconventional old lady down in one of the places where she should have been safest. The family rebel, who never needed anyone before, lies helpless in a blind, mute, paralyzed body; and the only people who know she's aware inside that body, Heris and two of her employer's young relatives, also know that what felled her wasn't a massive stroke. As her enemies move to lock Lady Cecelia away permanently and take control of her vast holdings, the disgraced ex-RSS officer and two young socialites form a desperate plan.

This story works well on all of its several levels. It's a seat-of-the-pants adventure, set in a well-conceived future universe, cast with characters who change in believable ways as a result of their experiences. It also manages to delve into such serious themes as how families behave toward their nonconforming members in time of crisis, how societies treat their disabled citizens, and how fear of aging can stunt - or even warp - not just individuals, but entire cultures. An excellent read!

This is probably one of the most satisfying books in the long series of the Familias. Though the plot unravels a little bit too fast and too easily at the end, the book is packed with action, full with non-related plots that intersect each other anyway.

There is also a comforting sense of completion at the book's end, something which is often missing from Elizabeth Moon's books (on her series).

In THE HUNTING CLUB, we were introduced to the character of Heris Serrano, unfairly cashiered fleet officer turned private yacht captain for a rich eccentric who likes riding to hounds. It was not the most stellar of books but it was interesting enough to hold the attention. It also prepares the way for this one and this one IS a very good read.

In the previous book, the captain helped to foil a plot in which rich nobility engaged in illicit hunting. It was not the hunting which made it illicit, it was the fact that humans were the quarry. An idiot of a prince had let himself get involved in the hunting and the captain, her employer and a group of unlikely spoiled brats saved the day. In this book, these people who know the prince, realize that there is something wrong with him. He may naturally be a spoiled product of privilege but he was not supposed to be stupid. He is. They have stumbled onto a plot which involved royal intrigue, smuggling, power politics and a fair amount of "whodunit".

What started out as a fair series with nothing really special about it is shaping up to become something more.

The first of Elizabeth Moon's Familias Regnant novels, _Hunting Party_, was enjoyable, but the second, _Sporting Chance_, is much better. It was, for want of a fresher word, gripping. It compels reading, it's very exciting, the character are extremely involving, and it has some interesting ideas too. Heris' employer Cecelia has noticed that the Crown Prince appears to have been tampered with: he's acting unusually dull. She tells the King, which turns out to be political folly. Cecelia ends up poisoned in a scary way: she is paralyzed, still conscious but unable to communicate or convince anyone else that she is not a vegetable. She has left Heris her ship in her will: thus Heris becomes a prime suspect. The story follows several threads: Heris takes a secret mission for the King, trying to find the Prince's illegal clones; while Brun and Ronnie, two younger members of the nobility who were "reformed" by Cecelia and Heris in _Hunting Party_, take action to get Cecelia appropriate medical treatment, and Heris' new employee Sirkin deals with a foolish lover who gets her involved in some very dangerous situations. The action is pretty much nonstop, despite much of the story being told from the viewpoint of a paralyzed, incommunicado, individual, and the resolution is solid. My main quibble is that the villains are too too BAD.

After breaking up an illegal human-hunting ring run by rich amoral elites, Captain Serrano and Lady Cecelia land a job babysitting the heir of their kingdom's throne. Much like the annoying young people in Hunting Party, Prince Gerel behaves in a monumentally stupid and annoying manner. The protagonists analyze his behavior, run tests, and find out the moronic Prince is a moron from an insidious attack via drugs. He's too well genetically engineered to be *that* stupid.

Cecelia gets taken out early by the mastermind behind the plot, and half the book is her struggling to retain sanity while tweenage characters from book one (who have now come of age) attempt rescue. Serrano is on the offensive, trying to solve the mystery behind the induced stupidity, while simultaneously fighting legal challenges and the occasional space battle.

Book two outshines book one, the focus on elite past-times which don't interest the reader (horseback riding, fox hunting) are toned down and much better integrated with the main plot line (hot air balloon festival). I wasn't fond of how Moon changed Lady Cecelia's character at the end of the novel, and enough is left hanging that you don't get closure without reading book three -- Winning Colors. An OK transitional book, comparable to Weber's Honor Harrington, but not what I consider great space opera. The book focuses too much on the wealthy and their quirks, and not enough on the people who they rule (but really exploit). Moon could have spotlighted her world's stance on genetic engineering, but instead ignores it beyond the sci-fi trappings. This makes the book more pulp than substance, and as a reader, I wanted more in this area, both ethically and spiritually. Two and a half stars, rounded up.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in this series, The Hunting Party and was particularly delighted with Moon's choice of a smart and capable 80-year-old woman as a major character. (NOTE: be sure to read Moon's "Remnant Population" for another outstanding depiction of a strong older woman).

This entry in the series as not as satisfying for me since there was little interaction between Lady Cecelia (the old lady who owns the yacht) and Capt. Serrano. Still, there was enough action and character development -- not to mention plain ol' good writing -- to keep the book interesting and enjoyable.

However, I had a major disappointment toward the end. SPOILER COMING, SO DON'T READ FURTHER UNLESS YOU'VE FINISHED THE BOOK ...

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I hated the fact that at the end, Moon suddenly (through the magic of 'rejuv') transformed the 80-year old Cecelia into a 40-ish, red-headed beauty. Granted, better that than a 20-something space-faring bimbo with large breasts, but was it really so horrible to have an elderly woman who looked her age be a central figure? I'll read the third in the series but I can't say I am looking forward to it as much.

Elizabeth Moon is a wonderful writer and her books fill a craving.

I really enjoy reading her books and when she and Anne McCaffrey put their heads together it get's really astonishing and gratifying what they can come up with.

In CAPT Heris Serrano, Ms. Moon has a heroine capable of holding her own with, and maybe ever surpassing, Weber's Honor Harrington. Teamed with Lady Cecelia, CAPT Serrano is a formidable opponent capable of handling any action -- or intrigue -- with aplomb. Dealing with the genetic marvels and monsters of some of the more powerful and unscrupulous of the Familias families gives her plenty of scope for both. This book is essential reading if one is to have a full understanding of some of the complex politics covered in the later Suiza books and, unlike Rules of Engagement, tells a complete story that stands alone. Here's hoping that Ms. Moon brings CAPT Serrano back to center stage soon.

The initial pages ramble as the author gathers all the threads begun in 'Hunting Party'. If I hadn't read the two books back to back I would have had to reread the first to know what was going on. The middle is solid and gripping, but the end, I think, sets you up for 'Winning Colors'.