Trading in Danger Audiobook By Elizabeth Moon cover art

Trading in Danger

Vatta's War, Book 1

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Trading in Danger

By: Elizabeth Moon
Narrated by: Cynthia Holloway
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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 Adventure Fiction Hard Science Fiction Military Science Fiction Space Opera
Strong Female Protagonist • Engaging Space Opera • Pleasant Voice • Well-developed Characters • Interesting Universe

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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.

Highly Recommend

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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.

I really like this book

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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.

A Fantastic Start

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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

Good Adventure with strong female protagonist.

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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

Great story but the narrator really drops the ball

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