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

sounds too flat

Narrator has a very flat voice (tone). Really sad. Does not due the book justice. Try the version from Graphic Audio.

really enjoying this series

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Already have recommended it, and they liked it too. I actually liked this reader, some people in reviews in this series have complained about her, but the first thing I did on finishing this book was look up what other stories she has narrated as well. I like her reading style, and I could tell and recognize the different characters talking, such that listening to the second book I felt quite familiar with the characters. I liked her expression, and the sort of 'conversational' way she narrated the book. She wasn't melodramatic, or boring, but for me anyway, got the narration just right. As to the story itself, I enjoyed the characters, and thought this book was a good setup for the series. I wasn't sure at first, but after a few chapters it began to pick up nicely.

What did you like best about this story?

Some sci fi stories get all overly coarse with military language, others are overly gory, other get boring with lengthy scientific explanations that don't do much to enhance the actual plot. This story just seemed to go along throughout pleasantly for me without any gripes, and left me wanting to hear more.

Which scene was your favorite?

I had a few scenes that stuck in my mind. One was a hostage situation, caught between the fall of her whole ship, or the loss of one crew/friend. I think the series is good at dealing with hard situations, and putting her with hard choices to make from time to time, and had some good character development in there.

Any additional comments?

I think this is one of those series' where I didn't extremely love or hate it, but it was just about right, and I'm definitely going through the whole series. The first book was a bit slow in that it wasn't an action book, however it would occasionally launch into moments of action and suspense. I liked the mix, because I think it made those tense moments even tenser, after the drawn out moments around them. The second book picks up even more, with more action, intrigue, etc.

Enjoying the series

I recommend both the Vadda at war and at peace. Good narration and story flows well. Enjoyable experience overall.

Substantial story and characters

Would you be willing to try another one of Cynthia Holloway’s performances?

No, but I will have to.

Any additional comments?

Because I love this series I will buy the Audiobooks. But this narrator is very poor and it takes away from the story a bit.

Reader puts more emphasis on "She Said, he walked" then the actual speech.

Like Elizabeth Moon stuff. Science Fiction you should at least know how a radio works.... Acceleration and Thrust..... Comet Orbit.... Airlock procedures.... If pirates are a thing, a serious danger, Antiboarding and mutiny suppression would be required training for All Captains....

Moon's writing is great, Narrator is not so hot

The author, Elizabeth Moon, has written another excellent series here, but the narrator leaves plenty to be desired.

After the first few hours, she figures out the rhythm well enough that listening is fine, but she consistently mispronounces certain words... and after awhile, each time she says those words I want to cringe.

Give it a listen anyway, because it's a great read -- but Moon needs to find better narration for her other works!

Great series!

Great book, great series! One of those that you want to rush to the end just to get to the next book.

Surprisingly Strong Launch!

I won't lie. I got this as part of an Audible sale... and I am awefully glad that I did. The Story gets off on the right foot and hits the ground running; with the hard-luck case main character being affable and endearing.

Elizabeth Moon loves Murphy's law. The Main character doesn't. Moon paint's an "Eve" (video game MMO) like galaxy with a lush cultural and economic backdrop. The story never becomes tedious or boring. I loved it and have recommended it to several people, and now I put fingers to keys and recommend this to you. A great intro to Science Fiction if you're new to the genre.

Narrator Cynthia was a strong, sympathetic, and persistant voice that was ideal for the lead character and her tribulations. Well chosen and performed.

Overall great but some fumbled words

Great story, decent performance but some words the narrator didn't know and really blew it. Distracting.

Good, well written story

Elizabeth Moon has always excelled at writing stories with a military theme, and this one is no exception. I am writing this review as I listen to the 5th book in the series, so I can see where Moon planted the seeds of her characters' development in book one. We get to know the characters quite well, and their internal discussions are consistent and 3 dimensional. There is a lot of action in these books too, and Moon has clearly thought a great deal about what space battles would be like, including even hand to hand combat in zero gravity. The story is well worth the 5 credits to get all 5 books.

I must say, though, that the reader is not going to be one I would seek out in the future. There is just too little distinction between her characters' voices to tell who is talking, especially in scenes which have multiple people. She has no annoying ticks or habits, though, so after a bit of adjustment, I found I paid more attention to the story than to her. The only downside was that if I got the least bit distracted during a heavy dialogue scene I had to go back and listen to it again. I guess the main complaint is that I have to listen more closely to her narration, and I am usually driving while I listen to books. That's why I gave her only 3 stars.