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

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.

Elizabeth Moon rocks.

I have been an Audible listener since 1999 and this is my first review. I am enjoying this series very much. I thought the first book started off a little slow, but this one made up for that. I am going to buy the third one in the series as soon as I finish this review. Ky Vatta is a cool character. She has hidden strengths.
I disagree with the previous reviewer about the reader's voice. Pleasant and concise.

Book's ok, but...

The narrator seems inexperienced with the English language, yet speaks with an American English accent. Perhaps she just hasn't graduated from middle school yet.

Appealing space opera

Originally posted at FanLit.

“Of course we didn’t do autopsies. We know exactly what killed them — I killed them!”

Kylara Vatta, daughter of the head of the most prestigious shipping empire in the universe, didn’t want to follow in her family’s footsteps — trading is boring and Ky wants adventure and her own life outside of her family’s control. So she opted for a military career. But with only a few months left in the officer’s academy, she was set-up, betrayed, kicked out, and publicly shamed. When she returns home in disgrace, Vatta Transport is happy to have her back in the fold. Her first assignment is to captain a derelict spaceship straight to the junkyard, but Ky has Vatta blood in her veins and can’t pass up an advantageous business opportunity that arises unexpectedly. When this leads her into various forms of danger, and when scammers and mutineers think they can take advantage of the young and inexperienced captain, Ky finds that her time spent in the military academy wasn’t wasted after all.

Trading in Danger is the first installment of Elizabeth Moon’s VATTA’S WAR military science fiction epic. I don’t think this series will appeal to everybody, but it happened to hit a sweet spot for me. I like Kylara Vatta, an intelligent ethical rules-bound military officer with a soft heart who, due to her new circumstances, is beginning to discover that she has a rebellious streak, not to mention a disconcerting appreciation for quickly solving problems with violence. Ky is a little passive and occasionally bewildered in this installment, but this is her first adventure. I’m assuming that Moon plans to show us some growth in this area as Ky begins to adapt to her new lifestyle. Kylara’s crew and family members are also likeable — especially elderly Aunt Grace who bakes unappetizing but invaluable fruitcakes.

The plot is engaging, unpredictable and mostly quick-moving though some of the dialog gets repetitive as Ky explains what’s going on to multiple characters who show up at different times. I enjoyed the focus on transportation, though this may be a personal thing. My husband runs a small freight logistics company, so there’s a lot of talk about contracts, cargo, carriers and consignees in my little world, and I was fascinated by how this might scale up to apply to an entire universe. Surprisingly, this was one of my favorite aspects of the story but, again, that’s just me. (It would be such an awful pun to say “your mileage may vary” so I won’t.)

Trading in Danger is “soft” science fiction, or “space opera” — it’s a little fluffy, focusing on drama and political intrigue, not physics. There’s talk about FTL drives and ansibles (there’s a nod to Ursula K. LeGuin), but no explanation of how they work. I love physics but have to admit that I get bored by long dry theoretical or technical discussions of astrophysics and quantum mechanics. Trading in Danger is a quick and easy read for when you’re in the mood for some non-challenging science fiction. It ends on an intriguing note — Ky has some difficult choices to make about her relationship to her family business. Should she stay with Vatta or go rogue? Whatever, I’m still on board and ready for the ride.

I’m listening to VATTA’S WAR in audio format. These were produced in 2008 by Tantor Audio and are read by Cynthia Holloway who does a nice job. I like her voice and she inflects the narrative perfectly (though she always mispronounces the word “peripheral”). I recommend the audio version.

Best read since I finished the Vorkosigan Saga!

I loved it! An adventure with a female protagonist!! The characters develop and evolve as the story unfolds!

Really needs a better narration

These are excellent stories. The narrator has a pleasant voice, speaks clearly, differentiates dialog sufficiently well, but misreads the written word constantly. I am glad the first 4 are currently available as Kindle edition plus narration for about the same price as a credit; this allows the listener to see what the author intended and understand that the misuse of adverbs, awkward names, and other errors are not the author's. The majority of the transpositions and alternate wordings are not noticeable unless reading along, but if you do read along you'll notice about one error per page. Nevertheless, the story is sufficiently excellent and the reader has enough good points that I still enjoyed the experience enough to spend a credit for the last one. As of March 2017, the first is a bargain price as Kindle plus narration, so I suggest that route to try it; Audible does refund their portion if you don't like it.