Engaging the Enemy

Vatta's War, Book 3

By: Elizabeth Moon

Narrated by: Cynthia Holloway

Length: 15 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

The brilliantly unorthodox Kylara Vatta - black-sheep scion of Vatta Transport Ltd., one of the galaxy's wealthiest merchant houses - is a heroine like no other, blessed with a killer instinct both for business and for battle. Now, in the aftermath of cold-blooded assassinations that have left her parents dead and the Vatta shipping empire shattered, Kylara faces her greatest challenge yet.

There is a time for grief and a time for revenge. This is decidedly the latter. Placing her cousin Stella in command of the trading vessel Gary Tobai, Ky embarks aboard the captured pirate ship Fair Kaleen on a twofold mission: to salvage the family business and to punish those responsible for the killings...before they strike again. Since the network providing instantaneous communication between star systems has been sabotaged, news is hard to come by and available information impossible to trust. But as she travels from system to system, with Stella a step behind, Ky pieces together the clues and discovers a conspiracy of terrifying scope, breathtaking audacity, and utter ruthlessness.

The only hope the independent systems and merchants have against this powerful enemy is to band together. Unfortunately, because she commands a ship known to belong to a notorious pirate - her own relative Osman Vatta, whom she killed for his part in her parents' deaths - Ky is met with suspicion, if not outright hostility. Rumors swirl about her intent and even her very identity. Soon, even Stella begins to question her cousin's decisions and her authority to make them.

Meanwhile, the conspiracy Ky hunts is hunting her in turn, with agents insinuated into every space station, every planetary government, every arm of the military, and every merchant house - including her own. Before she can take the fight to the enemy, Kylara must survive a deadly minefield of deception and betrayal.

©2008 Elizabeth Moon (P)2008 Tantor

Lousy narrator

Years ago I enjoyed reading this series and I expected to enjoy listening to the books now. The narrator, however, is SO bad that it’s difficult to enjoy the stories. Her attempts at different voices are poor and I don’t know where she learned how to pronounce certain words, and her pronunciations may reflect a regional accent, but in standard American English, the second syllable in words like “rigor” don’t sound like they are spelled with the letters “ure”. One of the books mentions a character performing an EVA; this is generally pronounced as the 3 separate letters and I’ve never heard it said like the name Eva. I suggest the publisher make new recordings of all of the books in this series done by a far more able narrator.

I'd like to leave just 4-stars

I'd like to leave just 4-stars like you can do on the mobile app, but someone decided that I have to write a full review or nothing. I like the story and the MC is an excellent heroine who is growing and changing across the series. I'll keep reading.

Swinging for the Moo, and succeeding.

This is another successful saga from Ms. Moon and Holloway. It continues the story of Ky Vatta as she attempts to rebuild her family, it's business, and strike back at those who nearly eliminated them.
Dealing with the reality of politics and business of conducting a war against a coalition of pirates, Ky Vatta must gather forces and resources to fight a growing threat to her family, her world and the planets and people who would suffer if she fails.
This, you could say, is where it gets interesting.

What Next?

Another Elizabeth Moon page turner. It has elements of identity theft, bureaucratic wrangling mixed with cultural differences, inept leadership, family relationships, ever present pirates and space combat. That humans haven't changed in the time it took to develop interstellar travel is a testament to the author's imagination. In the end, our heroine, Ky Vada, lives to see another adventure in the next book.

Hook at the end

The hook she puts into the end of her books are maddening and make you pick up the next one before you can do anything else.

Her Enemies Are Marqued For Death!!!

Barely surviving her last battle Ky tries to rest only to have More obstacles in her way. With Rafe and Martin by her side she makes plans to bring the fight back to those who targeted her. Meanwhile Stella Has her own Problems and Aunt Gracie Lane team with Ky's former "Tor"mentor to find how deep the plot goes. After 3 Books The narrator has eased into the role. No Falsetto's here. Only her inflection changes when she switches characters or male or female. She brings Ky a Human voice and brings the story to life. if you listened to the previous books not much has changed but the continuing story. If you held out this long the story makes it worth the listen.

Awful Narrator

Between the slow, painful delivery, and the constant mispronunciation of words, Cynthia Holloway's narration almost made this book unlistenable.

Good book, mediocre reading

Where does Engaging the Enemy rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I may be biased as I cut my teeth on Dresden Files audiobooks, and James Marsters does a masterful job reading them, but... well, this series takes some effort to listen to. Once I get past the slow-reading-to-a-deaf-chimpanzee vocal style, the story takes over and I can ignore it, but it takes some work.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Engaging the Enemy?

Storywise, I love the evolution of Ky into a command figure, and how she finally steps up to the plate and finds her niche. It does drag a bit at a few points, but only a little.

More Grace, Less Stella

The Vatta's War quintet continues with volume three in the series. The reader, Cynthia Holloway is never a pleasure to listen to, and the reading is less than inspired. But the real problem is that this space opera just hasn't stood the test of time as well as one might have hoped. It's not _bad_, just not as good as it could be. WAY too much angst and anguish and just plain stupidity, and too little decisiveness from the main characters. The one good story arc, that of Grace and Mac Roberts, is too peripheral to carry the weakness of Stella and even Ky. Overall, I'll finish the books, since I bought them. But I can't imagine re-reading them, ever.

good book, not a good reader

I enjoy Elizabeth Moon's books, but this reader's rendition is stilted with poor phrasing and emphasis.