Customer Reviews

Victory Conditions (Vatta's War)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Victory Conditions is the conclusion of the five volume Vatta's War space opera series by Elizabeth Moon. The other books in the series are:

Trading in Danger
Marque and Reprisal
Engaging the Enemy
Command Decision

Summary: The Vatta's War series covers the actions of Ky Vatta and her surviving family as they attempt to recover their lives and deal out justice following a devastating attack against their family and their interstellar holdings. Classic space opera with ships and space battles, intrigue, and romance.

Stylistically, the Vatta's War series appears to be a more mature version of the Heris Serrano tales that hooked me on Moon's writing. Compared to the earlier Serrano tales, the story arc of the Vatta's War collection is more cohesive and end-directed. However, this does not lessen the earlier books. Rather, it illustrates a difference in focus on the part of Ms. Moon.

As with all space opera, the draw for the reader comes in term of voice and characterization. Ms. Moon draws very enticing characters for the reader to care about and has a welcoming and smooth writing voice. Thus, all of the books in the series were easy reading and enjoyable recreational experiences.

Good as it was, Victory Conditions did not leave me as satisfied as I had hoped. Although the writing voice remained solid, the depth of characterization shallowed compared to the other books. I'm certain that "rushed" feel came about due to all the threads that appeared to need tying off to draw the series to conclusion The reading was still entertaining but I missed some of the deeper emotional involvement the earlier volumes carried.

I rate the series overall as very enjoyable and recommended with only mild regret for a relative lack of depth in the last volume. That reservation is counterbalanced by a "solid" and "final" ending that nonetheless leaves potential for future exploration should the author and publisher choose.

Victory Conditions was a solid conclusion to the series, but like the other reviewers, I thought in general it was a bit more rushed and especially "forced" than it needed to be. Moon focuses so much on wrapping up the series that the characterization really suffers as a result. And this is a shame, especially since she has spent four books working through the motivations of her main, supporting, and even small characters.

As a result, the challenges and conflicts that come from interpersonal dilemmas disappear. For example, (spoilers ahead), one girl in the book turns out to know the pirates' secret code language, because her dad works for them and taught it to her. Rather than spending a couple pages helping the girl work through her feelings about her dad, Moon simply has her suddenly recall a memory that paints him as a duplicitous snake and which prompts the girl to show little remorse over his eventual execution.

Similarly, because the characterization has become more shallow, it seems like Moon's own biases and views come to the fore in ways unsupported by the general plot. There is an inane little piece about the incompetence and irrationality of a non-profit professional sitting on the board of the galaxy's largest company. Leaving aside the logical gap (what is a non-profit manager doing on a private ICT company board?), this section is interesting because the rest of the board are pretty one-dimensional, so it's striking that Moon chooses to focus on this element of the character's motivation and personality.

So, unfortunately, the book reads as something of a foregone conclusion. As another reviewer wrote, all the good guys step up, all the bad guys screw up, right on cue. It's all a little too tidy. However, if you can get past these issues, Victory Conditions remains a solid read, particularly after the first 50 pages. Moon's other strengths definitely remain in this book: solid narration; interweaving of politics, military, and business interests; and nicely fleshed out dilemmas between family, jobs, and responsibility. Her depiction of space battles clearly demonstrates some solid research/thinking about the challenges of combat in a 4x environment, and the descriptions of these battles are excellent.

Overall, a good read, but the weakest of the series.

I liked the emphasis on debris fields in space combat and timing difficulties when battling on a system-wide scale. It just all seemed too pat...the good guys stepped up when needed to support, the bad guys fumbled on cue. The conflicts were all resolved and everybody was happy. The plot seemed to roll along without a problem to it's conclusion. Even the medical/psychological problem experienced by the main character was dealt with quickly and efficiently with no noticable after-effects.

I still enjoyed the book, and thank Ms Moon for bring the story to a close. I always enjoy her world-building and the thorough manner in which she crafts her universe.

As a final book of the series i found it a let down.
The other 4 books in the series all were well thought out but the last requires you to suspend your disbelief in order for the story to me completed.So many things arnt concluded or rapped up neatly, it is as if the author couldnt be bothered anymore with this plot
i strongly enjoyed the first 4 novel but the last left me feeling let down especialy after waiting 12 months for it to be released
in general i don't think it is up to the caliber of her other novels

Another fine book from Elizabeth Moon, who brings military experience and knowledge and a bit of a civilian sensibility to her military sf. So what you get tends to have an air of realism and lacks the tone of military "good/civilian bad" that sometimes marks sf of this genre.

The action scenes are great, the dialogue well done and the pacing rapid (sometimes too rapid - I would have preferred a bit more lead in to the final battle).

This is clearly volume 5 of a 5 book series, so new readers beware! Start with book 1 - Trading in Danger - and get to this stirring finale and you will be well rewarded.

If you've already read the other four books in the series you don't really need a review to decide on wether to purchase the final novel: you're buying.

But I too felt that Ms. Moon's muse was on the plane to Hawaii with a Costco sized tub of sun screen before the climatic battle scene was written. After all the build up for the villain in the previous 4 excellent novels the end came much like that of an over aged pet the vet says can't be expected to make the cross country move with your family. Alone in a cardboard box, death confirmed by a dull thumping sound as the car goes around a large curve on the way home. No sense of a worthy foe vanquished after a penultimate battle.

There are many gems in the book but the ending left me unsatisfied.

So perhaps this review should be about "should someone read the series". I know some people wait until the whole series is published before they read it. From that perspective I feel the series is worth the investment. Ms. Moon has created a rich back story to some of her previous work and I feel the sum of the previous work and this work is greater than the sum of the pieces.

I just wish the new editor had called Ms. Moon and told her to contact the muse and tell it to get its fuzzy butt back home for some more work on the final battle.

Vatta's War was never going to be a timeless classic filled with peerless prose, it was a fun and engaging series though oddly lobsided. The details of interstellar commerce, life aboard the various space stations and the minutae of ship to ship combat were all very well realised. Less so the various cultures and most of the characters were pretty cliched. The story felt like it was lifted from a detailed and lovingly created role playing campaign, not necessarily a bad thing but it could've used more fleshing out in parts.
Having said that, most of the series was an enjoyable romp through the spaceways, but Victory Conditions was a weak ending. There were a few too many deus ex machina resolutions to dangling plot strands. The usual formula of two major combat scenarios per book was reduced to just one for this volume, and that was pretty much a foregone conclusion a couple of hundred pages before it actually happened. It lacked the excitement and joie de vive of the previous books and frankly it felt like a rushed job, written simply to meet contractual obligations and tie up a lot of loose ends.
I don't regret buying and reading it, but I hoped for a little more. A good solid ending to the series would've made it a keeper, one to revisit in the future, but I think my copies will be hitting the second hand market pretty soon.

This is the final book in the Vatta's War Series.

Overall this is solid sci-fi action. Nothing exceptional, just fine. It would probably be hard to follow if I hadn't read the previous books, but all the characters are growing nicely into their roles, and the plot rolls along to a satisfying conclusion. It's a quick read, and I enjoyed it fine.

Except for one thing.

The very end is just terrible. The end of the plot about a pirate fleet taking over systems and disrupting communication is fine, obvious, but fine. But after that ends, the book goes on to give a tag about the end of the romantic tension between two of the lead characters. It's a terrible scene. I mean, it's short, but just ridiculous. Not funny, not romantic: I was embarrassed on the characters' behalf. The romance isn't built up in a way that should lead to a scene that is so juvenile. For another character, in another plot, sure, whatever, it's corny but might be okay.

For this it just left me with a bad taste in my mouth about the whole book.

I started with "Victory Conditions", the last in the Vatta's War series, first, but I could pick up on what I needed to of what had previously happened and truly enjoyed this book.

Ky Vatta, a fleet admiral who is quite young to have attained the rank, leads a space station and a fleet of ships. There are smooth and not-so-smooth dealings with her family business, differences in cultural moires because of gentlebeings from different worlds, the first love of a teenager for whom she is guardian, and much more. The admiral has a lot on her plate, and she manages well.

The fast plot and the strong, admirable characters keep the reader on edge. Granted it would be like "prequel" now, but I would like to read the previous books in this series, then this one again, even though this one did stand alone well.

the first 4 books were really quite good, and i agree with the other reviewers that the book felt really rushed. It was disapointing to see what happened to certain characters and the way everything was wrapped up.