But there is also somthing of a rebuke here. The commission is mostly, she knows, to get her away from her (and the family's) embarrassing situation and let things cool down. Returning home to her wealthy family's influential interstellar shipping firm, she finds herself placed in the captain's chair of one of their older and more decrepit freighters, the Glynnis Jones, on what is meant to be its final voyage to the scrapyard. While both series feature brave and resourceful space opera heroines rising to the occasion in trying circumstances, Moon's Kylara Vatta begins her adventures in disgrace, thrown out of the military academy upon which she has staked all her future dreams. Tweets by novels of Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War series look for all the world like Honor Harrington knockoffs, but they aren't. Book cover artwork is copyrighted by its respective artist and/or publisher. (Dec.All reviews and site design © by Thomas M.

Still, series fans should enjoy it and, with so many plot threads left unresolved-who will assume leadership of the Family? what waits in battle for the young lovers?-there's little doubt that epic will continue into the next millennium. Even with the proliferation of subplots, the novel moves slowly at times and may appeal more to readers who appreciate romance than space opera. Meanwhile, young lovers Esmay and Barin are betrothed, despite some difficulties with their military posts and the bad feeling between their families. As a suitable new home is found for the bastard children Brun was forced to bear in Rules of Engagement, Miranda allies herself with a former aide of Thornbuckle's who has survived the assassination and is now battling opposing elements within the Family. When Bunny Thornbuckle, head of the dynastic Family, is assassinated, slimy Hobart Conselline maneuvers into power as the new council speaker and solidifies his position with harsh new laws aimed at isolating Thornbuckle's widow, Miranda, and his daughter, Brun. Continuing her epic, intergalactic series set in the distant future (Rules of Engagement, etc.), Moon's latest novel follows the tumultuous romance of Esmay Suiza and offworlder Barin Serrano while tracking a bevy of new political intrigues among the Familias Regnant.

Trading in Danger by Elizabeth Moon