Trading in Danger

Vatta's War, Book 1

By: Elizabeth Moon

Narrated by: Cynthia Holloway

Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

The first of the acclaimed Vatta's War books, the exciting military science fiction series that features a swashbuckling spaceship-captain heroine who mixes commerce with combat.

©2004 Elizabeth Moon (P)2008 Tantor

Highly Recommend

Let me start by saying I'm an Elizabeth Moon fan and have enjoyed everything she's written - some more than other, but to date I can't say I didn't like anything she's written.

This is fairly typical Moon - strong female character with strong work ethic and sense of right and wrong, independent, decisive leader, a little on the innocent/naive side, but learns lessons - gets into trouble for all the right reasons and works hard to get out of it generally with some help from tough "gunnery sergeants" (Moon was a Marine and some of the best stereotypes generally show up in her work).

I give this audiobook a 4 out of 5 because it's a good book if you like her style, although in my opinion not her best book (which I happen to think is the Deed of Paksenarrion). Also, the narrator could be better - her reading is a little stilted - areas where a character should be speaking casually are read too literally and I'd like to see her develop a greater range of character voices. But she does ok and I enjoyed both the story and narration enough to download the next book in the series.

I really like this book

I have read the book many times. I like the story and plot and characters and I am a fan of the author but I am having trouble with the reader. Her pseudo haughty delivery plus nasally Midwestern twain that finishes off the words sounds phony. She is reading words not telling a story. The reader hasn’t prepared herself for the reading, her phasing is often wrong or is off just enough to be irritating. I am hoping to overcome my objections to the reader because I would like to get the rest of the series. Maybe as the reader gets into the books her delivery will improve.

A Fantastic Start

I am very happy that I decided to purchase this first installment in what has turned out to be a rather good series. Serving as an introduction to the world of Ky Vatta, quite literally and in terms of the rules and conventions of Ms. Moon’s universe, the first book embodies the Vatta family mission of “trade and profit,” in the face of political intrigue, sabotage, civil war and piracy.
Through it all, the indomitable Ky overcomes inexperience, uncertainty and an acute shortage of credit to gain the confidence of her crew, what will turn out to be a ubiquitous band of mercenaries, and the father who sent her into space.
Thoroughly drawn, the story and the world in which it comes to life are extremely engaging and entertaining. The characters are fun and mostly likable, if at times forgivably annoying. All in all, it’s a great listen and worth checking out.

Good Adventure with strong female protagonist.

What did you love best about Trading in Danger?

The story was well put together. You want to go further when you come to the end of the book.

What other book might you compare Trading in Danger to and why?

"On Basilisk Station", by David Weber. I liked them both for the strong female protagonists, the military theme, and the fast paced well-written stories.

What about Cynthia Holloway’s performance did you like?

It was well read and appropriately paced.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Great story but the narrator really drops the ball

The story is well written and Elizabeth Bear has down a really solid job on the novel, even though it very much hits the common tropes of science fiction. The story really reminded me of David Feintuch's A Midshipman's Hope in that both are about the trials of new captain in command of a ship. David's character was more forced into the situation rather than Vatta's decision to become captain before stepping onto the vessel.

The narrator was incredibly frustrating and really almost destroyed the whole experience of the novel. While the narrator didn't talk in a monotone, she did a horrible job in reading. Every word was separated and some words horribly mispronounced. She did try to separate the characters with different voices but this is the first audiobook where I found that she didn't have a wide range of "voices" for the characters and often felt as though other characters were talking because of the limitation of her voice. The only character that was really unique was because she took the accent from an Australian accent to a German accent to an American accent to a French accent and then finished with a Scottish/Irish accent - and all in one freaking sentence.

Will I read Elizabeth Bear again?

YES

Will I listen to another novel narrated by Cynthia Holloway?

NEVER

New and refreshing

I always look for this. A new look at the future possibilities. Different look at old military action.

Great read in true Moon style!

Another great story by Elizabeth Moon. I have enjoyed this series many times over the years.

About the narrator

There is a lot of criticism of the narrator. I'll grant that she is more of a reader than a performer. I don't mind this at all. I've listened to the entire series and enjoyed them all, even though there were times where I wondered if I was listening to a Nora Roberts in space novel.

At the beginning of the first book, I could see why some people complained about her. However, I decided that her enunciation had more to do with having a regional accent. I have trouble with how females sound that are from Minnesota for example until I listen to them awhile.

Actually, her enunciation is very clear and she is way above average in pronouncing words correctly.

As for the author, she uses shift where I would use watch, and office where I would use day cabin, etc. So if these are the kinds of details you can't get past, you might pass on it.

It also requires a bit belief suspension in places in regard to how people would think and act but I find that necessary in real life too.

An interesting beginning to an SF series

The first book in a space opera series.

Kylara Vatta is the youngest of the Vatta family who owns a very successful space shipping firm. But Ky wants to be a soldier and so she goes to the military academy even over her family’s objections. However, another cadet tricks her and she’s kicked out in disgrace. She’s now an embarrassment to her family so they want her out of sight. At least until everyone forgets her troubles and her mother can marry her off.

However, her father and brother conspire to give her a star ship to captain. The ship is an old one and in fact Ky is expected to take it to a scrapyard. But along the way, she finds opportunities to trade and takes them. Unfortunately, the ship breaks down and leaves her and her crew in the middle of a war, without a functioning FTL drive, so Ky will have to grow up fast and think quick.

This is Ky’s coming of age story as a captain. For her maiden voyage, she’s been given a very experienced crew. She knows that and learns to rely on them, even though at first she wants to do herself everything she can. Her previous experience at the academy serves her well and even though she isn’t a teenager, she still has some flaws to overcome. Other people don’t expect much from her because of her youth and those who know about her previous blunders think that she wants too much to help other people. But she’s very resourceful and a no-nonsense character. She also has a dark side.

The other major characters are the crew members. One of them Ky has known off and on her whole life. I also rather enjoyed a certain senior Vatta captain when he made an appearance later in the book. Ky’s family is very supportive of her but they definitely treat her like a little princess who needs to be rescued. But that did mean that even if Ky had screwed up, her family would have bailed her out which diminished the danger somewhat.

However, only Ky herself is really a memorable character. Also, the story devotes more time to business dealings and trying to get enough money for repairs than action. I was a bit thrown by the fact that this universe uses ansibles for communication because I though Ursula Le Guin invented them.

Even though this is the first book in the series, it doesn’t end in a cliffhanger. But I enjoyed the book enough that I’ll continue with the series.

Oh boy, I found a new series

This is my first time read a Elizabeth Moon book. I had never heard of her before I listen to the interview with her and David Weber. After listening to the interview I was interested enought to give her a try. I enjoyed the story of a young girl from a shipping family that was asked to resign from the military academy because she helped an underclassman find a priest outside of the school who then went on media campaign against the school. Her father makes her a cargo ship Captain (she had her master's license) and sent her off in a old ship to make some trades on way to wrecking yard. The story is interesting and their is lots of adventure, suspense and battles. She is attracted to the military life and the story sets up and leaves you with the question will she stay as a cargo captain or join a mercenary company. This is the first book in a series and set up the character and story line for the series. Cynthia Holloway did okay narrating the book. Can not wait to start book two.