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

Solid story

Any additional comments?

The narrator did a nice job with pacing and characterization. However I got thrown out of the story numerous times because she didn't know how to pronounce a number of words: starboard and throughput, among many others. This happened at least once in every chapter, and we're not talking about truly obscure words.

galactic inner space travel and fruit cakes

This is down to earth daily life on a galactic scale interspersed with high adventure. It reminds me of Sophie, Captain Aubrey and Dr. Matterin in all 20 of Patrick O'Brien's books. Okay Elizabeth Moon, how fast can you rite these? I'm hooked.

Awesome Find

I got this because it was on sale, it is wonderful! I was so surprised because it is always hard for me to try new authors. Now I have another one I have to keep up with. Gladly.
I liked the way the auther can put me on the ship as well as keep up with all of the techno info. The reader is one of my favorites as well. I find myself talking back to my device as if I am in conversation with the characters. lol Cant wait for the next one.

Reflecting todays climate, punn intended

A twisted plot as you never know the whole truth. Which as humans we feel we know the real truth but do we. I found this a little political but didn't mind as there are as many points to real life as there are to fiction. Read the book as it is entertaining with lots of adventure and intrigue, CC

Better to read than to listen.

This story is an interesting story purely from a developed fictional construct. The world and characters are well developed and very detailed, however, the writing in this story is somewhat dismal especially when read out loud. The most common example is "she said" and "he said" constantly with little variation. The author does not use tact to direct the reader an is instead blunt. This bluntness does not work with spoken word and so becomes annoying.
The narrator is decent enough, but suffers from lack of voice diversity. this is not too much of a problem except when dealing with deep voices which can sometimes sound broken.

Great yarn!

There's nothing like a well-written little space opera to make my day. I loved listening to this one almost as much as I did reading it!

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