From Cornfields to the Cosmos

Nebula Award-winning author Elizabeth Moon continues her interstellar “Vatta’s War” saga with Engaging the Enemy, the third book in the series.  Those who have read the previous books in the series will welcome the return of Captain Kylara Vatta, the young, self-doubting, yet determined heroine who seems prone to difficulties and disaster even when she makes the right decisions.  It is precisely this quirk in Ky’s luck that endears her to science fiction fans everywhere.  During her earlier exploits, we learned a little about Ky, her family, and her family business, Vatta Transport.  We watched as she faced the dangers wrought by the destruction of ISC communications assets, dealings with pirates and mercenaries, assassination attempts, hand-to-hand combat, and the vengeful spite of the family’s black sheep, Osman Vatta.  Put your helmets on and buckle up, because that was only the beginning.

In Engaging the Enemy, Moon treats her fans with a much closer look at Ky’s Aunt Grace, a remarkable woman with a great deal more about her than her outward appearance would suggest.  Aunt Grace struggles to preserve the lives and livelihood of the Vatta family on Slotter Key, Vatta Transport’s corporate home world.  The cunning Vatta matriarch finds she has both enemies and allies as she battles on cut off from communications with all off-world assets and working with tremendously reduced Vatta resources.   Meanwhile, Kylara, now captaining the Fair Kaleen — a well-armed pirate vessel she captured from Osman —as her privateer flagship, begins her earnest quest to avenge the near-total annihilation of the Vatta family and to restore the family business.  Trailing behind her in the Gary Tobai is Stella, Ky’s cousin and ally in the undeclared Vatta’s War.  While catching up to Kylara as she hops from one star system to another, Stella finds reason to doubt Kylara’s motivations and intent, but nothing can prepare either of them for the shocking truth they discover during the trial of Captain Furman, one of Vatta’s most senior merchant captains.

Moon continues to chronicle the events of Kylara Vatta’s life as a young, star-faring merchant captain turned privateer in Engaging the Enemy.  For veteran readers of the “Vatta’s War” series there are answers to be found in Moon’s latest space opera aria.  Unfortunately, since this is but a single volume of the series, readers who are new to this continuing story will finish with far more questions than answers.  The author’s writing style and skillfully placed redundancies allow this book to be enjoyed without reference to her earlier works, Trading in Danger and Marque and Reprisal.  However, readers who have not read these earlier works are depriving themselves of valuable insights and background information, not to mention the pleasure of more of Elizabeth Moon’s entertaining writing.  Whenever the physical action slows, the internal struggles and interaction of the various characters ensure there is no lull in the book’s overall pace.  The author has placed great emphasis on character development — personality traits and motivations — and it is this particular aspect of Moon’s writing that ultimately keeps her audience enthralled. 

Moon’s ability to pen a sweeping tale of science fiction has never been in doubt, but if ever it were, her “Vatta’s War” series would surely lay those doubts to rest.  If you haven’t had your share of interstellar adventure this week, Engaging the Enemy is only a bookstore away.

Marque and Reprisal

Elizabeth Moon

Ballantine Books

2004, hardcover, 324 p.

ISBN 0-345-44758-1

$24.95

Welcome aboard the Gary Tobai, cargo specialist!  Prepare yourself for a crash course in murder, mercenaries, mutiny, and letters of marque.  Writing a sequel to Trading in Danger might be considered a tall order, but Elizabeth Moon proves she’s up to the task with “Marque and Reprisal.”  The daring, young heroine, Kylara Vatta, newest captain in the Vatta Transport fleet, returns in this sweeping adventure filled with action, suspense, intrigue, combat... and a puppy.

After the near disastrous events in the Sabine system, Kylara finds herself, her crew, and her ship facing some very tough odds.  Ky has no choice but to plunge onward relying on her seasoned crew, her training and intuition, and sometimes just a little luck.  Attacks against Vatta Transport, the communications assets of ISC, and the Vatta family itself leave Captain Kylara Vatta of the Gary Tobai isolated from direct aid and consul from corporate headquarters.  She is left with little choice but to improvise after learning of the widespread attacks upon Vatta headquarters, ships, and personnel.  Ky formulates a three step plan that encompasses their best hope for survival: locate and protect surviving Vatta family members, identify the source of the attacks against the Vatta family and assets, and conduct a counterattack against those enemies.

Along the way, Ky gathers allies to help her in her mission.  Stella, a cousin whose past mistakes have marked her as a black sheep; Rafe, a shady character from Stella’s less than laudable early years; fourteen-year-old Toby Vatta, lone survivor of the destruction of the Ellis Fabery; and the mercenaries of the Mackensee Military Assistance Corporation.  Attempts on her life by unknown assassins, run-ins with the police while her ship is docked, problems caused by failure of the ISC communications system, the attempted destruction of her ship, and the sense that disaster is always lurking just out of view all combine to keep one turning pages.  My pang of disappointment at the end of the book, when I realized there were no more pages to read, was tempered by the knowledge that Engaging the Enemy will be available next spring.  I know I’ll be waiting in line for my copy.

Marque and Reprisal stands on its own but, since it was intended as the second in a series of novels, it may suffer a loss of impact and continuity if one has not read Trading in Danger, the first book of the series.  Enough background information is doled out to cobble together a vague awareness of earlier exploits, but reading the books of the “Vatta’s War” series in order will lend a much greater understanding of the action in Marque and Reprisal, particularly the action detailed in the first few chapters.

Not reviewed.