Valor's Trial: A Confederation Novel (The Confederation Novels) [Hardcover]

Tanya Huff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 3, 2008

The “rousing military adventure” (Locus) continues with a brand new Valor novel.

Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr is a Confederation Marine’s marine. She’s survived more deadly encounters—and kept more of her officers and enlistees alive—than anyone in the Corps. Unexpectedly pulled from battle, Torin finds herself in an underground POW camp that shouldn’t exist, where her fellow marine prisoners seem to have lost all will to escape. Now, Torin must fight her way not only out of the prison but also past the growing compulsion to sit down and give up—not realizing that her escape could mean the end of the war…

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A fast-paced adventure, appealing to the same audience as David Weber’s Honor Harrington series.”
—Library Journal

“As a heroine, Kerr shines. She is cut from the same mold as Ellen Ripley of the Alien films...Like her heroine, Huff delivers the goods.”
—Science Fiction Weekly

“Want mystery, courage, humor, and suspense— wrapped up in grab-you-by-the-throat excitement? Look no further!”
—Julie E. Czerneda, author of Reap the Wild Wind

About the Author

Tanya Huff is the author of twenty-three novels for DAW, including the bestselling Blood Books, the Smoke series, and The Keeper’s Chronicles. She has been the guest of honor at numerous American and Canadian conventions, and her work has been nominated for several awards.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: DAW Hardcover; First Edition edition (June 3, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0756404797
• ISBN-13: 978-0756404796
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,073,198 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the hardcover price..., June 7, 2008

By 

Avid Reader (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Valor's Trial: A Confederation Novel (The Confederation Novels) (Hardcover)

With the price of books these days I always grumble when a favorite author goes hardcover. I think I waited to get the library copy when this series did that in the last book. This time, wanting a good read right now, I bought the hardcover as soon as I saw it was out and was not at all sorry. I savored the book and read it over a few days. Good suspense, great characters; makes you laugh, makes you cry. Kerr, the main character, a female Gunnery Sergeant is "magically" transported from the battlefield and ends up in a cave. (magic is my word, it's all technology) There Gunny is her amazingly competent self, both a killing machine and one-track minded leader of the escape crew, totally focused on getting the other prisoners she meets in these underground caves and tunnels out to freedom. She's ultra tough but has total understanding of newbie recruits' emotions and alien customs. It's fun to see her get around officers, getting them to unwittingly agree to HER plans. Meanwhile her lover, who is told she is dead, goes along with the funniest reporter I've ever read about to track what happened at the battlefield. Their story is juxtaposed between chapters of the attempted escape from the prison. Love the tech guys! What they can do with a sleeve will amaze you. Just a really good read. One that I'm glad now I have in hardcover because it will get read again.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great installment in this series., July 22, 2008

By 

Adrian - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Valor's Trial: A Confederation Novel (The Confederation Novels) (Hardcover)

After reading the first three Confederation novels, I was waiting with baited breath for this one and I was not disappointed. This novel has characters, humour, action, suspense and imagination. Unlike a few books I've read recently, like Jack Campbell's "The Lost Fleet" series, this one is of decent length and you can get lost in it for hours in order to find out how it all turns out.

The story is pretty much what it says on the back of the jacket. Gunnery Sergeant Kerr is MIA, declared dead, except that she isnt. She ends up in an underground prison camp. Being a sergeant in the Marine corp, she promptly plans to escape and in the process makes discoveries that could shake the Confederation to the core and end the war with the Others.

The Good:

- great humour with plenty of digs at all species involved, including the humans.

- Torin is well written in a consistent manner.

- plenty of suspense and action

- good thick book which never has a dull moment.

The Not So Good:

- towards the end I could see an obvious similarity with a scene from The Chronicles of Riddick. Please dont let this be a sign Huff is running out of ideas.

The Bad:

- none at all!


Cant wait for the next one.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Character Evolution, June 29, 2008

By 

Librovore (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Valor's Trial: A Confederation Novel (The Confederation Novels) (Hardcover)

Good military sci-fi is remarkably hard to come by, once you get past the "universe threatened by bugs" stage of your reading. Ms. Huff has created a set of characters that are intelligent, complex and willing to think outside the box; a good representation of actual military professionals, in other words. While this volume stands well on its own, you'll get a lot more out of it if you go back and read the series. The heroine, Torin Kerr, is a bit larger than life but her responses and attitudes are dead-on for an NCO who understands that NCOs really run the military, that the politicians don't always tell the military what's going on and that top brass doesn't always think with its top knob. In this action, she's trapped in an alien prison and must think, as well as fight, her way out, leading not only her own marines but a group of the enemy soldiers as well. Torin's process in coming to understand the enemy military personnel is probably a little simplistic, and Ms. Huff's dependency on the deus ex machina of a sensient alien substance a bit far fetched, but this is overall an excellent read that leaves you considering what you would do in these circumstances as well as what Torin will be up to in the next novel.