Customer Reviews

Valor's Trial

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

It has been so long since I had read the first 3 books in the series .. "Valor's Choice," "The Better Part of Valor" and "The Heart of Valor," that I had to reread them before I read this book. I enjoyed them as much this time as I had before.

This book didn't disappoint. Torin kicked alien butt. My only quibble .. even tho the action was still hot and heavy, I could tell the book was coming to an end by the number of pages left. I felt it ended on an "Ooooops, better finish this" note. Even so, it's still a 5 star book. If you like believable action and a strong heroine, Torin's your girl.

Valors Trial is the fourth novel in the Tanya Huff Confederation series, although here's to hoping that the adventures of Marine Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr are continued in the future!

This novel is a down and dirty prisoner of war themed novel, and like the previous Huff/Torin Kerr novels, I was treated to the right amount of military science fiction, adventure, military jargon and military life.

Overall though, I enjoyed the honor bound female NCO as personified by GSgt Torin Kerr.

I've spotted one or two reviews that compare this novel with Chronicles of Riddick, the ending chase scene? Well, sure, the mad dash at the end of the novel does have some similarity, but overall, since Kerr didn't whip out twin blades, I'd say Valors Trial goes above and beyond Chronicles in entertainment value as well as concept and execution.

Recommended to anyone who wants to check out some military science fiction with a POW backdrop and some other worldy aliens thrown in for good measure.

I have to say up front that I agree with others, Kerr really understands an NCO's role and the obligations to take care of troops. For me, this was one of the best parts of this series. I don't know that the stories are in any sense revolutionary, but the humor is spot-on, and there is a huge element of realism. Unfortunately, there isn't much humor, and the realism is dark, depressing and a bit hard to read (think Lord of the Flies). I think Kerr has made a huge error by apparently ending this series, and I'm sad that she ended it with a story that's such a downer.

Humans, di'Taykan, and the Krai were invited into the Confederation by the Elder Races who turned their backs on violence long ago. When the Others went to war against the Confederation, the younger races were sent to fight the enemy. Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr has seen more violence in her years in the Corps than most people combined see in a lifetime. She and her squad are sent to the planet Estee where the Others are gathering for a large battle.

Upon landing on the orb, Torin is sent to the front line to pull back the troops, but an explosion knocks her out. When she awakens she is in an underground tunnel and quickly learns that corrupt "Colonel" Harnett and his goons are running things and the three younger races from different battles and places are too weak to fight him. Torin kills Harnettl and his cohorts; afterward she and some soldiers in good shape seek a way out of this buried bunker. However they are stunned when they find Others as prisoners as well. They struggle to find the exit, but when they finally surface on the unstable planet, they have little hope for survival.

There is plenty of action especially battle scenes in this story, but the most interesting twist of VALOR'S TRIAL is survival is the mother of agreements as the Confederacy and the Others ally to live for another fight between them. The different species seem plausible and their wary cease fire to escape the imprisonment seems believable and reasonable. Tanya Huff has written a rousing "Valor" military space opera focusing on strange bedfellows that will appeal to Honor Harrington fans.

Harriet Klausner

Valor's Trial (2008) is the fourth combat SF novel in the Confederation series, following The Heart of Valor. In the previous volume, Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr whacked off the arm of a Marine major and stuffed it into a body bag. When it combined with the rest of the alien, Torin had a face-to-knob conversation with it. Then the rescuers appeared.

In this novel, Gunnery Sergeant Kerr is returning to Sh'quo company. Sergeant Adrian Hollice meets her in the shuttle bay and escorts her to her quarters. Hollice also learns a few things about the Big Yellow alien (or aliens).

In the next staff meeting, Captain Rose says that three Susumi portals have been detected in the vicinity of system ST7/45T2. The Navy has sent the Hardyr to investigate with all due caution. Higher level figures that the whole Ground Combat Team will be deployed when the Hardyr returns.

Meanwhile, Torin is being used as a utility player within the company. Several officers and sergeants are fairly green, so she fills in as needed. Her desk is placed conveniently close to that of the First Sergeant.

The company starts preparing for deployment. Torin's first task is to shake out personnel and supplies to bring the company up to full strength. Some teeth baring is required.

Three tendays later, the Hardyr returns from Estee -- the popular name of the fourth world in the system -- with intelligence on nearly a battalion of Others on the planet. Torin conveys her goodbyes to Craig Rider while she is packing, then starts loading Sh'quo Company onto the Hardyr. With the full GCT boarding, the main loading bay is ordered chaos.

A different kind of chaos is waiting on Estee. The Others are entrenched and have plenty of artillery. Torin is off looking for a missing squad when the whole world turns white, then black.

Craig receives word that Torin is missing and presumed dead. He doesn't believe a word of it. Then he meets Torin's father and neither man believes a word of it. Finally, Craig convinces Presit that the battlefield will be hot news, especially if the Others return to the system. So the two of them go to Estee and find thirty-eight square kilometers of glassy plain.

In this story, Torin wakes in a small cave off a tunnel. She is discovered by a private first class who stinks like someone who hasn't bathed in tendays. PFC Kyster explains his condition and briefs her on the current situation.

It seems that people -- mostly Marines -- appear in the small caves from time to time. Colonel Harnett sends out hunting parties to find the newcomers. These groups strip the dead for equipment and supplies. If the newcomers are near death, the hunting parties often help them die before stripping them.

Kyster was injured when he arrived and was left for dead by the men who found him. The leg has mostly healed and he has found a source of water. Kyster is undernourished, yet still alive. But he is starved for company.

Torin decides to do something about Colonel Harnett. She has Kyster show her the way to the central node where the pipe is located. On the way, she encounters a hunting party that has just killed a newcomer and she disposes of them.

When Torin meets Colonel Harnett, she figures that he is really a staff sergeant with a big mouth. After disposing of him and several guards, she takes charge of the survivors. Although she is very angry at the marines who helped Harnett, she hopes to keep them alive. One tries to take her out, but ends up demonstrating the waste disposal pit.

This tale tells of Torin's efforts to escape from the tunnels. She finds other groups of Marines commanded by field grade officers, but convinces them to let her look for a way out. Then she discovers the Others.

Torin has enough experience to wonder about the situation. Even after finding the Others, she suspects that there is more to the affair than is readily apparent. She isn't really surprised when the rest of the circumstances are revealed.

Highly recommended for Huff fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of military affairs, escape attempts, and a stubborn Gunnery Sergeant.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Another good book in this series; other reviews are accurate.

This review is on the Kindle format. Some words ran together occasionally, which was disappointing but readable. What I found very irritating was the lack of delineation between scene shifts - the next scene would be merely the next paragraph.

No extra spaces, no white space, nothing to indicate that different characters were now speaking. Given the author's tendency to end a scene with a character asking a question, the next paragraph seems out of place until a character is named and you realize that the author is back to another group. This caused me to reread a paragraph or two at each scene change.

Hopefully not a flaw found in the hardback version. Subtracted one star for irritation factor.

If you like the series, you'll like this book. However, I got very confused at the begining because it seemed to jump. For a bit I thought maybe pages were missing. Actually, the Kindle edition just does a very poor job of section breaks. For example, one group will be on a ship & then the dialogue continues with a different group on land without an extra space between paragraphs to note the break in action. It took some getting used to...