Marque and Reprisal

Vatta's War, Book 2

By: Elizabeth Moon

Narrated by: Cynthia Holloway

Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Although the exciting military career she hoped for never got off the ground, Ky Vatta ended up seeing plenty of combat when she took the helm of one of the commercial transport vessels in her family's fleet...and steered it into a full-blown war. Now the lessons she learned in that trial by fire are about to pay off - because this time, the war has come to her. Someone has launched a full-throttle offensive against Vatta Transport Ltd., Ky's father's interstellar shipping empire. In short order, most of Ky's family is killed, and subsequent attacks sever vital lines of communication, leaving Ky fighting, in every sense, to survive.

Ky is determined to identify the ruthless mystery enemy and avenge her family's name, but she needs not only firepower but information. And she gets both in spades - from the band of stranded mercenaries she hooks up with; from her black-sheep cousin, Stella, who has been leading a secret life; and from Stella's roguish ex-lover, Rafe. Together they struggle to penetrate the tangled web of political intrigue that is wreaking havoc within InterStellar Communications, on whose effective operation their own livelihoods - and perhaps lives - depend.

But the infighting proves to be infectious, and it isn't long before Ky's hired military muscle are turning their suspicions on the enigmatic Rafe, whose wealth of knowledge about ISC's clashing factions and startling new technologies has begun to make him smell like a rat...or a mole. With swift, violent destruction a very real possibility, the last thing Ky needs is a crew divided against itself - and she's prepared to take whatever measures are necessary to ensure that Vatta stays in business, as well as in one piece.

What she is not prepared for is the shocking truth behind the terror - and a confrontation with murderous treachery from a source as unexpected as it is unrelenting.

©2004 Elizabeth Moon (P)2008 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Excellent plotting and characters support the utterly realistic action sequences: swift, jolting, confusing, and merciless. Equally significant, Moon doesn't neglect violence's aftermath." ( Kirkus Starred Review)

Improved Narration, not much different story

This being book 2 of the series you would expect an improvement on the writing, as often happens in series, this is partially true in this instance. the use of "he said", "she said" has diminished to a large degree to be replaced by context identifiers, however the story often has large descriptive sections where very little appears to be happening. these descriptive points are mostly useful to the overall story, but surely could be descibed in a more interesting way or in smaller chuncks.
The performance in this book is greatly improved from the first. Different characters are better seperated by voices, and the female narrator does not attempt to do voices that in the first book sounded terrible.
If you were greatly dissapointed in Book 1, I would recommend stopping while you can. if you could cope with it then continue and enjoy.

Excellent book, terribad narrator

Marque and Reprisal, the second book of the Vatta's War series, is a typically excellent effort from Elizabeth Moon. The plot is strong, the characters are believable and engaging, and the action is excellently handled. No surprises on the writing side.

But the narrator reads as if she understands only the words and not the sentences. And the plot of the book is apparently a a complete mystery to her. This begins with consistent inability to recognize phrases like "attitude jets", (which she consistently reads as "altitude jets") and in many circumstances it's clear from her phrasing that she does not understand the meaning of what she is reading even as sentences.

Furthermore, she reads most characters in exactly the same voice, which is not an advantage, but if consistent is no great disadvantage. But then she reads one character in a strange "accent" that is very distracting.

If it were not for the strength of the underlying material, the narration would be a strong disincentive to buy more books from this series, but fortunately Moon's writing can overcome even this disadvantage.

Recommended if you can look past bad narration.

Twelve year old girls only, listen to this book.

First off, the reader is over melodramatic for
my taste. But then I'm not a twelve year old girl.
The story is written by a girl and not a women, I'm
pretty sure and it shows.

If your a guy that like SF, skip this one.
It's creepy and not it a evil way.
More like reading your sisters diary.
Last time I buy a book because of the cover
or what written on the back.

Nope, can't finish it.

Plodding plot after 9 decent chapters coupled with plodding narration = me giving up before the end.

Marque and Reprisal

Good story, needs a better narrator